Veiled Godhood: Chapter 3 – Rebellion Against a Goddess

Chapter 3 – Rebellion Against a Goddess

“Many women have presented themselves bearing their exposed bodies with the promise to serve me and God. Why are you different?” the archbishop said as Freja dreams about the day they met.

“Because I have both beauty and power,” Freja says as she manifests her black flame.

“A black flame…a dark and yet bright one at that.”

“It’s not only that. Let me touch the shepherd’s staff.”

Intrigued by her, the archbishop lets Freja touch the staff that he uses to lead the faithful and is even more intrigued when he sees her black flame begin to have golden qualities. She then uses this golden flame to make one of the archbishop’s wives dance around in the way that she tells her.

“Impressive! Most impressive! How did you get your black flame to do that?”

“In a similar way to how the black flame can resonate with the Flame of Cognizance. The shepherd’s staff is a blessed relic that radiates with the power of the Divine Flame. It leads the faithful in the Church to follow God’s will, but when affected by the black flame, it can put a veil over people’s souls to follow your will. The power isn’t perfect though as some strong willed people can resist it.”

“That flaw of the golden black flame isn’t much of a flaw at all if you ask me. What you present to me is more than acceptable enough for me to add you to my wives.”

“I am honored, your holiness.”

Through her display, Freja becomes not only one of the archbishop’s wives, but also his righthand man. He made her use her golden black flame to influence his allies, enemies, and more to get his way even when she disagreed with him. She stayed loyal to him so that she could make changes in his philosophy and the way he ruled the Church. To ensure that she had all his attention, Freja would frame the other wives for wrongdoing and make their deaths appear to be accidents. The archbishop knew Freja was behind some of these and was fine with it. He even revealed this to her, which made her bolder in getting rid of the other wives. In the end, she ended up his only wife as the others were either exiled or killed.

Even with the other wives gone, Freja couldn’t completely have the archbishop’s attention as he valued his power more than her, so when she suggested a change in his thinking, he would ignore her if the change limited his power and wealth. It also didn’t help the Freja couldn’t conceive any children for the archbishop just like the other wives. This made Freja come up with a plan to take power for herself instead of trying to influence the head of the Church.

“My queen, my queen,” the archbishop’s voice rings through her head while she remembers killing him.

“My queen, my queen,” the black dragon says to wake her up.

“Hm? What’s the matter?” Freja asks.

“A spy of yours has returned. The priest that you sent out to do your will has betrayed us.”

“I knew he would.”

“It’s not in the way that you thought.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s broken free from your influence, found out from his watchers that it was you who influenced him, and is leading a rebellion to dethrone your rightful role as Saint Queen and head of the Church. I told you that you should enhance your flame.”

“This changes nothing. In fact, this is a good thing. Not only will we make an example of them, but I will also show how my power makes me invincible.”

“Of course, my queen. Forgive my doubt.”

Freja heads out with a small army behind her to quell this small rebellion. She commands her army to surround the large city as she heads in by herself.

“Traitors!” Freja says as her voice echoes throughout the land and the sky turns black, “Come out to face my divine wrath!”

Infuriated by Freja calling her wrath divine, the rebels come out of hiding to attack her all at once. Freja counters the attack by raining down golden black flames from the sky on them, so she can submit their wills to hers, however, very few of them fall to her commands.

“You cannot resist me!” she says while struggling to make the stubborn submit.

Seeing that she’s getting nowhere with the stubborn, she makes their allies fight for her. Though she is still outnumbered, she’s able to use her flame and what little allies she can use as the streets are painted red with blood. During the fight, Freja bolsters her forces by taking the wills of the civilians that she finds hiding in their homes, businesses, and churches.

“Serve the Saint Queen by fighting my foes,” she tells them.

Now, with more forces on her side, the odds are in her favor. Some of the traitors are demoralized by having their family and friends turn on them, which makes it easier for Freja to turn them to her side. After three hours of fighting and bloodshed, the priest that orchestrated this rebellion comes out to meet Freja.

“Stop! Your dark flame will no longer harm anyone else. You will harm no one else,” the priest says as he readies himself with his shield and spear.

“I never needed to harm anyone if you did as you were told,” Freja responds.

“And harm more souls? I think not. Your corruption of the Church and her faithful ends here.”

The armies of both sides watch as the priest and Freja fight. To gain an edge over the priest, Freja uses her golden black flame like always, but she finds that his will is immovable. It doesn’t even work to distract him or take him over his guard. Instead, Freja sneakily uses one of the people she has control over to sneak on a nearby roof while the two fight. Her slave then takes out his bow and shoots the priest in the back. Freja then takes advantage of this opportunity by cutting off the priest’s arms before grabbing him by the neck and making her golden black flame flow through him. Her flame cauterizes his wound so that he won’t die from bleeding out, but at the same time, he still feels like he’s burning from the inside out. Despite all this, the priest still refuses to submit to Freja.

Seeing that she’s getting nowhere with him, but feeling the man’s sense of defeat, Freja strangles the priest while saying, “I will not dirty my blade with your tainted blood! Crawl away from me and sulk in your failure!”

This demoralizes the priest as he runs away while tripping over himself. The rest of his allies lose their faith leading to most of them falling under the control of Freja and killing themselves before confessing their crimes.

Once her army and the rest of the city are gathered around her, lightning flashes through the sky while Freja says, “This is the fate of all who stand against me. Their reward is death and the destruction of their corrupted cabal. No one can stand against us no matter how strong or cunning they may be. No one can stand against the strength of the Church. No one can stand against the divinity of the Saint Queen!”

“All hail the Saint Queen! All hail the goddess of the Church!” the crowd chants.

On the way home, the dragon says, “You were right to use this rebellion in your favor, my queen. The people will now view you as divinity incarnate.”

“I might as well be.”

“You did influence the people to call you the goddess of the Church. You’re not putting yourself on the level of God, are you?”

“I’ve brought peace to the Pillars of Cognizance. They fear me, they bow down to me, and they serve me. I might as well be an angel sent by God for all the good I did for the world in such little time.”

“You’re right, my queen. You are a blessing given flesh.”

With this victory, Freja’s confidence in her ability is restored and her doubts about it are put in the back of her head. She doesn’t even worry about the other woman she influenced as kingdoms within Ecclesia and many from Genus and Gloria come to submit themselves to Freja. There are even people from the Anathema regions that come back to the kingdoms under the Pillars of Cognizance to live as they please with groups of them going to Freja to tell her how much they appreciate her for changing the Pillars for the better. While this is happening, the Flame of Cognizance is dim, however, man’s sense of good and evil doesn’t appear to have changed. In fact, Freja and her allies think that their sense of good and evil is better than it’s ever been, so most chose to ignore it.

Satisfied with her actions, Freja tells her story to be recorded so that future generations will learn from her example. She relaxes in her riches, glory, and popularity as she writes the end of her story.

“I’ve done it, mom and dad,” Freja says before burying her parent’s will in their grave before heading back home to choose her husband or rather husbands to keep her company.