Souls Online: Mythic Ascension
Chapter 159: Interlude: The Thirteen Thrones (I)

Chapter 159: Interlude: The Thirteen Thrones (I)

When Arachne opened her eyes, she was extremely annoyed. Her surroundings were filled with shards of debris floating aimlessly, the horizon was endless as dark murky energy swirled about. She stood atop a massive rock and in front of her was a massive stone dais with thirteen thrones made of a dark metallic rock.

"Well this is annoying.."

She grumbled as she looked down at her hands. Using Adam’s body had apparently indirectly influenced her natural form. Her body had unintentionally formed the same shape of Adam’s feminized form. She grumbled slightly but was also slightly pleased with the new look. She now at least looked like a proper woman now and wouldn’t be called a Little girl anymore.

Having finished appraising the changes to her form, she shifted her attention back to the dais. She had no idea where she was but she could feel the powerful surges of Void energy in her surroundings but none of it even dared to approach the dais.

Curiosity and her own natural fearlessness caused her to take a step forward. She didn’t jump from the rock to the dais to clear the gap but instead stepped forward, a pool of black liquid suddenly appeared and solidified beneath her feet like a foothold as she crossed.

She climbed the steps of the dais and found herself standing in front of an empty stone throne with an Amethyst Stone embedded near the top.

Arachne’s lips curled into a small, defiant smirk. Whatever this place was, whatever power it held, she was undeniably amused. Just as she thought about trying to explore the space more, a soft voice echoed in her ears.

"Take a seat Arachne."

A chill went down her spine as the voice was all too familiar to her yet she failed to understand how or why.

’It can’t be her...Can it?’

Now with some hesitation in her actions, Arachne slowly sat on the throne in front of her. As soon as she did, the throne began to rumble, slowly spinning to face the centre. To her surprise, she found out that there were other entities she recognized.

The first one she noticed was the dumb Himbo who was praised as the God of Beasts. He was guffawing loudly as he seemed utterly unfazed with the eerie place that they found themselves in. To others that may seem like a lack of brains, to him was complete confidence in his abilities.

The next one she noticed was the Wind Hag. That woman always annoyed her as she was also acting like she was some kind of gentle saint but her revealing clothing showcased her curvaceous figure and ample chest.

Next to her was the Old Man. The master of Shadows and a fugitive God in the eyes of the Church of Fate. He was silent, his figure obscured in the darkness as if he would disappear with a mere breath.

Arachne’s gaze drifted, tracing the thrones until it landed on a figure that hadn’t been there a moment ago. Or perhaps they had, and she simply hadn’t seen them. Roots spiraled lazily around the base of their throne, pulsing with a faint green glow that flickered like breath

. The figure seated there wore a gown woven from vines and hanging moss, her long hair threaded with blooming flowers that never wilted. Despite her stillness, there was a quiet, overwhelming vitality to her presence.

Arachne rolled her eyes.

’Ugh. The Tree Hugger is here too?’

The Nature Goddess said nothing. She didn’t even blink. Her attention seemed fixed on something no one else could see, as though listening to distant forests dream.

Arachne quickly lost interest. She didn’t get along with sanctimonious types, especially the ones who glorified life despite it only being one part of the circle.

Her eyes caught movement across the ring.

Cold light refracted unnaturally in the air, casting thin slivers of colorless hue onto the nearby thrones. A figure sat draped in robes that shimmered like frost beneath starlight. They were sculpted in elegance, with features too sharp to be called soft, too perfect to be called real. Their hair was like crystallized mist, drifting ever so slightly in some imperceptible breeze. Their eyes were shut, or maybe simply absent of all light.

Arachne squinted. Feminine, maybe. But she knew better about this one.

They had No heartbeat. No warmth. No gender. No life.

Just stillness. The absolute kind. The kind that glaciers envied.

"Dragon God? The others I have an inkling of understanding why they are here but I don’t know why are you here?"

Arachne’s voice was full of irritation as she tapped her fingers against her seat. The Dragon God cocked their head in Arachne’s direction before slowly speaking

"I was invited after I decided to sponsor a child.."

There were no intonations in its voice yet it carried an undeniable authority. The Himbo let out a booming laugh as he slammed his hand down onto the arm of his own throne.

"Hahaha! Seems our little Arachne is now all grown up~! Though I will miss the Chibi version of you~!"

Arachne let out a snarl as she snapped back

"That makes one of us. With your intelligence, You would be the dumbest one at the Kiddie Table, let alone here."

The Himbo furrowed his brow for a second as he tried to comprehend what Arachne had said but gave up after a few moments.

"I will take what you said as a compliment."

He said after he gave up and gave her a wide bestial grin.

Arachne said nothing more as she didn’t want to start a fight here if she could help it, after all she didn’t even know where here was. She instead took a look around the table to see that there were 6 thrones still left unoccupied.

"Does anyone know why or how we ended up here?"

The Wind Hag asked after a moment of silence, scanning the room herself. However her gaze froze when she stared at the 13 Throne where an image of the Sun and Moon were engraved.

On the seat of the throne was a woman dressed in Black, her eyes covered with a jet black fabric and judging by the angle of her head, they could tell she was actually blind.

"Thank you for joining me here today everyone..."

Everyone’s face stiffened up when they heard the voice of the woman sitting there with a faint smile.

Arachne felt a shiver of cold sweat roll down her neck as even she feared this woman who was supposed to be dead.

However, Arachne was the first one to recover and said

"It’s nice to see you again after all these years...Discordia."

She and the others had been summoned by the Goddess of the Void and one of the Forgotten Gods.