The moment Ashok interrupted her.
"Since you do not believe me I shall speak of the —" As he spoke, many different thoughts swirled through the mind of Goddess.
For Ashok, everything was unfolding in real-time, each word coming naturally as he spoke. His mind was focused, his thoughts running like a clear stream—calculating, precise. Yet for the Goddess, Ashok's words did not come at the speed Ashok was speaking. They felt stretched, dragged out, each syllable hanging in the air, slow and deliberate like in slow motion.
Her divine perception was not like his—where time moved fluidly and unfettered. Instead, the difference in their power and perspective seemed to distort everything. It was a paradox, an experience of temporal dissonance.
'Have I been too lenient these days? Since when did mortals have the audacity to interrupt the gods? How dare this insignificant creature speak to me so boldly? Does he truly think I am somehow equal to the God whom I saved him from?
But How did he survive hearing my true voice(The Divine Tongue)? No mortal should be able to withstand its power. Maybe because of the Divinity within his soul.
The only reason I have not yet released my power is because he called me by a name... a name I have long forgotten, and the second thing protecting him is the Oath, I once gave to the plane to respect its balance and its existence.
But when... was the last time someone called me by my name?'
'Countless millenniums had passed since that fleeting moment. Endless ages spent alone, trapped in silence, with only the echoes of my own thoughts for company'. The more she reflected on her existence, the more the fury grew. The memories of the Heavenly Beings, of those who had cast her aside, burned like a fire that could never be quenched, especially her brother.
'The day I am free from the plane. The first thing I will do is swallow him whole.'
"three greatest desires—or regrets—"
'This mortal is still speaking. I nearly forgot about him in my thoughts. I think I have to reduce my perception to match his. But, how much more should I reduce, This body is but a small fragment of my true form. A mere reflection, created solely to respond to the summon called using my name. It doesn't even hold a percent of my power yet there is so much disparity. Should I reduce it to 0.1% of my power?'
"that Your Highness can never achieve or fulfill, even after holding such immense power."
'Well, better than before. But why does he keep stating my Desires and Regrets?
Do I even have any desires beyond destroying the Heavenly Beings? And even three at that? Let's see how much a mortal can imagine about my desires' For the Goddess, Ashok's words were, in the end, just a fleeting amusement, something she would discard once she had finished with him.
"Your First Desire, is that you want to feel emotions … both your Home and your Prison"
Ashok's words hung in the air, the Goddess found herself unconsciously lowering her perception to his level. It was an automatic, almost instinctual response, something she hadn't intended but couldn't resist. As the final words left Ashok's mouth, a thick silence enveloped them. A single question echoed in her mind:
"HOW?"
'Emotions, senses, freedom. They are the three things beyond my reach, something that even conquering the Heavens or slaughtering every divine being cannot grant me. That's why I never dwelled on them. Then how does this mortal know of this? Now that I think he does seem highly confident as if he knew everything from the start.
Even his knowledge seemed uncanny from the start. How does he know of my true name? My brother should have erased every trace about my existence, millenniums ago—every name, every record, every whisper of my existence wiped away. And yet, this mortal speaks as though he knows it all as if none of that was ever hidden from him.
He was also not slightly flattered he was surrounded by darkness or when I threw a soul into the Abyss right in front of him. It's as if it does not concern him in any way.' thought the Goddess as her perspective about Ashok started to change.
"How do you know that?" asked the Goddess, for the first time in her entire life there was a slight crack in her cold voice.
"How? That is not the main question. Does your Highness truly think that is the only thing I know about the Highness?" Replied Ashok with a Question.
Ashok, unperturbed by the silence in the air, continued with the same calm demeanor. "This place where I currently stand," he said, spreading both of his hands, "is a small portion of your Divine Realm, which exists within The Last or the Ninth Realm of Hell.
That's not all. I even know the reason why Your Highness holds such desires. And why, despite being one of the most powerful ancient goddesses, Highness can never achieve them."
The Goddess finds herself unable to say anything so Ashok continued.
"The core reason behind your first two desires is the same, Your Highness. It is the main power you wield—the Divinity you possess,
'Divinity of Corruption.'
This Divine power granted you immeasurable strength, making you one of the most formidable beings in existence. A power that can corrupt anything in the world. But the very essence of your Divinity corrupted something irreplaceable. It corrupted your own body, making it incapable of experiencing emotions. In addition, it consumed three of your five senses—smell, touch, and taste—leaving you unable to savor the world around you in the same way others can. The loss of your emotions is the root cause of the chilling coldness that emanates from your voice, Your Highness.
And the reason you cannot achieve that desire lies within the very laws that govern the existence of Gods. 'A God or Goddess can never abandon their Divinity,' for the moment they do, they cease to exist entirely."
'He knows it, he knows it all. But how? How can this mortal possess such knowledge? Could it be that his words have truly been nothing but truth? Yet, there remains the possibility that he is but a pawn of that Outer who blessed him. But if that were not the case, because he seemed to be unaware of the blessing that lies dormant within him? There are too many oddities about him…' thought the Goddess.
"As for the reason behind your greatest desire—" Before Ashok could finish his sentence, the Goddess interrupted him.
"ENOUGH!"