Althea - The Goddess Rebound

Chapter 1

The goddess looked at her daughter firmly as she let out a deep breath. "You know that you have blessed him with a second chance at love. And being a goddess, you must grant him this blessing."

Regret filled her heart as she remembered her last words for him.

"May love find you once more."

Tears poured out of her eyes as her own words screamed back at her like a curse, she placed upon herself. Althea knew that as a goddess she had to grant it to him.

Another love. Another woman.

It hurt her heart as she lowered her gaze to her hands that was tightly clenched together on her lap. All this confession, for what? She couldn't have him anyways, Althea though. What had she done?

"But I shall play a game with destiny this time." The goddess spoke breaking Althea from her own misery of self-pity, and she turned her head up to look at her mother's face with confusion. "I will make you his mate again."

The wind gently blew Althea's silver hair across her face as she tried to digest her mother's declaration. Was it possible? She thought to herself.

"But" Althea looked back at her mother's stern face which held a very serious look on it. "Always remember that love is not a play. He may get a second chance with you as a mate but not without a trial. For if he passes, he will be mated to the goddess herself."

The goddess slowly got up and stood in front of Althea, looking down at her with her own silver pair of eyes that glowed bright now. "I'm willing to give him a chance. I'm willing to give you a chance. At love again."

"For you are a daughter of a goddess. My daughter." Her eyes soften for a while before it turned hard again. "All my life, I have blessed my werewolf children with their compatible other half. Their mate. I created a path for them to find their other half. To their destiny."

"But this time, I'll go against destiny herself. For you, my daughter, were not meant to be with him. You were never destined to be his."

Althea's tears now made the pond overflow as it formed a stream across the green field. Her heart thanked her mother for what she was about to do. For her. For her chance at love again. "Listen, my daughter."

"Although, I will return you back to the land of living, I have a condition."

Althea was now sitting on her knees, looking up at her mother. At the goddess. Pleading her to grant her only wish. "I'll do anything to be with him, mother." She was as desperate as she sounded.

"You shall return as a human. You will have an entirely different appearance. A whole new body. You will not have a single memory, not only of your previous live but also of who you truly are. You will only be a weak, feeble human."

Althea didn't care much about her appearance as long as she got to be with him but if she was to not have any memory, how will she know who he is? "How will he know, who I am?" This time she thought out loud.

The goddess smiled sadly down at her. "That will be his trial. A second chance for him to have a goddess as a mate."

"I will return you to him, but he must look beyond your appearance and accept you as you are. He must recognise your soul. He needs to find it in him to love you again, in whatever form you may be in. Even one without a wolf. A human. Only then I will deem him worthy of you. Of a goddess. Only then I will truly return you to him."

The goddess looked at her daughter with sympathy in her silver eyes. "Love doesn't come easy, Althea. But love can conquer anything. Even though you are my daughter, you shall suffer equal amount of hardship and pain. Maybe even more so than the rest."

She paused as she clenched her jaws. "Since you were not destined to be with him and him with no one. So, my sweet daughter, I ask you this again. Would you leave everything behind just for a chance to see if he truly loves you? Accepts you? The life of suffering that awaits you in the land of living, would you accept it?"

There was no hesitation in Althea's voice as she replied without wasting another second.

"Yes"

The wind blew her word across the field as it now echoed the heaven. The goddess sighed as she fisted her hands tightly. "But know this Althea, if he doesn't accept you this time, he will never have you and you shall never be with him ever again. Mark my words Althea."

Althea nodded her head at that. "It's not easy to obtain love for a goddess, Althea."

"I'll take my chances." Althea replied. This was going to be her sacrifice that she was willing to make in order to be with the one she loved.

The goddess raised higher, her feet off the ground, her hands raised up on either side as she looked up to the sky that crackled with lightnings.

The wind howled across the field as it screamed at Althea to stop. Only it knew of the sufferings that awaited her arrival in the land of living because if he were to reject her again, it will not only torture her, but it will break her soul and taint it forever. And this time, it might end up turning her into a goddess of darkness. A dark and ferocious goddess.

"Let the game against destiny begin."