Chapter 34: Wrath of the Goddess
Spoiler (mouse over to view)
The chapter starts with a servant telling Meneire, who is in her garden, that rats have been found in the Temple of Astrea. Meneire, who is incredibly ugly (this is important), is intrigued. We flash to Firiel who is trapped in a cave under the temple, and wondering what Meneire is up to. Then we flash to ?three hours ago? where Firiel and Kain were walking around the capital. It seems that lately edicts about worshipping Astrea have become stricter, and Firiel notices religious memorabilia everywhere. She and Kain discuss this, and he tells her of the rumor that, as High Priestess Meneire has been acting out the alleged will of the Queen for so many years, with the Queen not having made a public appearance in many years, and Meneire being the only one allowed to see the Queen - the public has wondered for a while if the Queen is dead. Firiel is shocked at the thought. Isn?t Meneire only doing that because the Queen is elderly and frail? Kain thinks otherwise: saying the phoenix feather task to stop the invasion which came from Meneire has kept Adale and Leandra busy in the south, meanwhile domestic affairs have become rigid with power concentrated in the hands of Meneire. Firel wants to investigate this, and she, Kain and her baby unicorn Ruu plan to infiltrate the Temple of Astrea, which is out in the woods. When they get in, Kain gives her a bag of items curtesy of the Hermes group, which may be useful to her. He said Hermes wanted her it, because they all idolize her. Inside the temple, Firiel and Kain must choose from 3 doors. Firiel asks which one they should pick, and Kain says it probably doesn?t matter, there will be trouble no matter what. They choose a door and behind it, there was several guards. Firiel throws a tablet that had been in the bag from Hermes, and it causes a smokescreen. Firiel and Kain use the opportunity to run up the stairs and find a room with a monument to Astrea. The monument shows Astrea in her three known forms ?Star Goddess?, ?Goddess of Wrath? and ?The Beast?. Firiel has never seen the beast form, because on religious memorabilia she is almost always shown as the star goddess. Just as she?s observing that the beast form looks like a unicorn, the statue?s eyes light up and a trap door opens under Firiel, landing her in the cave she was in at the beginning of the chapter. She sits on a rock and takes out another item from Hermes - a bottle containing an antidote to a sleeping potion commonly used at the palace. We see a frog croak behind her. She gets up to look for a way out, and is confronted by Meneire and her servant. Firiel tells them her identity, showing the Queen?s stone as proof, and demands to see her grandmother. Meneire takes her upstairs to a parlor where tea has been prepared, and orders her to take a seat. Firiel refuses, saying she urgently needs to see the Queen. Meneire asks her what she thought of the statue. Firiel says she thought the trap door gimmick was childish. Meniere says she was actually reffering to the two ugly forms of Astrea, saying those are the true faces of Astrea. She gives a long speech about how she has watched many beautiful women: Queen Constance, Edilene, Adale, Leandra - even Firiel - and how they use their charms to allure others, but that all women are just hateful jealous beasts. She says that Queen Anne?s blood and the stone shouldn?t make them anymore special than anyone else. She takes out a sword and holds it to Firiel?s throat, announcing that she is going to put an end to the Queenship. [End Chapter]
Funny how she conveniently leaves out Princess Augusta, who is also butt-ugly. Way to cherry pick your facts, villain. :P
Last edited by NoOneSpecial75 at 2:15 pm, Dec 1 2016