Reincarnated as a random race, of course I got goblin.

Chapter 75 - The Nature of Demigods

As soothing as it is to be nearly smothered beneath the combined weight of ones Servants, the creeping cold of the night makes it impossible to enjoy properly. Yawning with contented faces, the Servants retreat to their homes, and I to my cave. 

Waiting for me is the Avatar of the Demigod of Plant, Yggdrasil. She really does look exactly like my mother, and I'm uncertain if I like it or not. 

"Feeling better? I suppose we should have a chat regarding the path forward." Yggdrasil sits down next to me once I've gotten comfortable on top of my pile of pelts that serve as my bed. 

"Why do you imitate my mother?" I ask, my tone perhaps a little too blunt. Yggdrasil seems unfazed, most likely expecting this question. "This form was chosen to maximize the probability of you being able to suppress the Malice within you to prevent it from attacking me." She pauses a moment, her brow furrows, as if she's contemplating something.

"After all, as the one that built the Divine Spring that let me be reborn, you're the only being in the World currently able to kill me." She admits with a sigh. I get the feeling that if Shadow's been awake, she'd have commentated something to the effect of "She wanted to keep that secret."

"If you'd allow me, I'd like to keep this form, for my own peace of mind. I... I still remember the pain of last time... And I think that as a Demigod, I'm not supposed to fear Death, yet I tremble at the thought of facing oblivion again." Yggdrasil fiddles with the edges of her sleeves, a shadow concealing her expression as she looks down. 

A god that fears death... 

"Uh, if you don't mind me asking, how... how did you die last time?" I ask, curious as to how and why someone would seek to kill a god. Her expression becomes distant, a hint of ice in her stare. She recovers though, shaking her head before responding.

"I suppose... It's better if you know, than to face the danger in ignorance." She takes a deep breath before she begins talking again.

"Before the birth of the Elder Dragons of Plant, Lightning, Heat, and Cold, there were five Demigods. Miraculous Souls born of an inanimate object deeply connected to those Elements bathed in Magic and Divine energy."

"I was one of them, and there were four others, though I never interacted with three of them on account of the stationary nature of my true form." She glances upwards, to the real her towering above the landscape.

"As a Demigod, I enjoyed being worshiped by humanoids as a bringer of fertility to the land, crops grown near me produced trice normal yields and the soil never seemed to run out of nutrients. Of course, that was the result of them worshiping me as much as it was a byproduct of my very existence."

"Then one day a stranger came to the city that had come to thrive around me. His countenance was twisted, dark, yet it held a certain allure to those weak of mind." Yggdrasil shudders at the memory of this stranger.

"I sensed immediately the danger lurking within him. It was ??????-" I cut her off with a sharp yelp of pain. My body, particularly the areas around the missing limbs, prickle with pain, as if the very cells of my body are trying to evacuate the presence of that name. 

"Oh- I'm sorry! I- ... I'm sorry... Of course, you'd have a violent reaction to that- I'm so sorry." Yggdrasil flusters as she holds out her hands, a pastel green light emanating from her palms. Where the light hits my body, I feel a cool, soothing sensation, much like smearing aloe vera juice on a sunburn.

"I- I won't say that name again. I'll refer to it as the Malice, for they are one and the same." She finishes bathing my body in the calming light. I get the feeling that it reacted to something within me...