Warhammer: Starting as a Planetary Governor-Chapter 232 - 233 – Eden: What Does the Goddess of Life Want?

Eden slowly lifted his head, only to see tears trickling down the face of the Goddess of Life, Isha.

She was a woman embodying the beauty of all living things, so lovely that one could not help but feel pity for her.

Her eyes, filled with a pleading gaze, locked onto him as though brimming with countless words left unsaid.

Within Isha's eyes shone a mixture of longing and helplessness—a silent entreaty, hoping he would understand and respond.

At that moment, the entire space seemed to freeze, leaving only the two of them in silent, mutual regard.

Huh?

Eden was baffled. Wasn't this place supposed to be some nightmare constructed by the power of Slaanesh?

Ever since he left Slaanesh's palace—despite having "blocked" Slaanesh—he had still been suffering from the god's corruption.

Fortunately, the Little Sun's power had fended off most of the nightmares, so they hadn't affected him too deeply.

Initially, Eden assumed that this dream was yet another creation of Slaanesh's power, but now he could sense there was another force mixed in.

He could feel that the "dream Isha" before him was genuinely real—some sort of entreaty reaching out from an unfathomable distance.

The authenticity of this connection had gone beyond a mere dream; it seemed that Isha's true self was communicating with him through this apparition.

In other words, the Goddess of Life had somehow invaded his dream.

Yet she was so slow to speak.

"Hey…aren't you going to say something?" Eden finally blurted, unable to hold back.

Isha simply stared at him for a moment, wordless.

He felt exasperated. Mysterious riddle-like behavior could really drive people crazy.

At last, Isha seemed to regain control of her dreamlike body; her gaze sparkled with vitality.

She opened her mouth as if about to speak, but in that same instant, a flash of panic crossed her eyes.

In the next moment, she went back to a vacant, unresponsive look.

With Isha's temporary departure, everything in the dream paused, leaving Eden free to move.

Time stopped?

Because of the Goddess of Life, the dream was now faintly connected to Nurgle's Garden.

Eden could vaguely see, not too far away, a projection from the Garden of Nurgle shimmering in the void.

He saw Isha's slender figure, draped in a gauzy veil, seated on a thorny swing in that garden.

A hazy, rotund, dark-green silhouette was shambling toward her.

It carried a steaming bowl of thick soup, its steps unsteady, followed by a group of merry, singing and dancing Nurgling creatures.

Holy crap—Grandfather Nurgle?

Eden felt a surge of panic. After all, Isha had just tried to contact him secretly, and now Nurgle was here.

If they were discovered, they'd both be in a world of trouble.

Eden tried to hide amidst the surrounding clouds, hoping to stay out of sight.

Although he knew the figure of Nurgle before him was just a far-off projection from the Garden and not entirely real, you never knew what might happen.

This was Nurgle, one of the most powerful entities in the galaxy.

Here in the Warp, energies were more active. Who was to say He couldn't sense Eden's presence across the distance?

The wrath of this "pure love god" was not something anyone could endure.

Back then, when Isha could no longer bear the torment inflicted by Slaanesh, she pleaded for help from other gods.

Nurgle stepped onto the scene trailing clouds of toxic vapors, so moved by his love that He launched a fierce assault on Slaanesh, rescuing the Goddess of Life from captivity.

As to why Nurgle fell in love with Isha, perhaps it was because they both held dominion over life and harvest in one way or another.

Admittedly, Nurgle's kind of "love" was hard to bear, but Isha's situation did improve greatly under His protection—except, of course, for being forced to drink Nurgle's personally brewed toxin soup.

Though physically she wasn't completely bound inside the Garden, she couldn't leave without falling back into Slaanesh's clutches.

Thus, she had been continually sending out pleas, hoping other gods could rescue her.

Eden shifted himself further behind a stray cloud, peeking through a gap at the immense silhouette that was steadily approaching.

Suddenly, it dawned on him that his behavior was rather like hiding in a closet—akin to a cliché scene of an illicit affair.

That realization made him huddle even closer, determined to lie low.

One could never be too cautious when dealing with the Chaos Gods.

If Nurgle discovered him, it would be game over!

"Man…this is a nightmare scenario," Eden muttered with a long sigh. "What kind of bizarre storyline is this?"

Could it all still be part of Slaanesh's design?

As Nurgle's projection drew nearer, Eden noticed changes in the dream.

Because this space was faintly connected to the Garden of Nurgle, the god's pestilential force began to seep in.

The once pristine clouds grew filthy. Twisted flowers and vines sprouted from nowhere, bursting pustules spraying toxic fluids.

One had to admit, Nurgle really was the Plague God: even a mere projection was enough to wreak such horrifying effects.

Worse yet, these signs of corruption were creeping toward Eden's hiding place.

He realized then that he had underestimated the Chaos God's power.

Never should he have casually stepped into a realm created by these gods.

Even if it existed only in thought and dream, their corruption was all too real.

After all, the Warp is the reflection of all minds, and Chaos corruption often began with the psyche before manifesting in the physical world.

In other words, if he became corrupted in the dream, his physical body in reality stood a good chance of mutating as well.

This explained why Slaanesh kept dragging him into dreamscapes—trying to corrupt him bit by bit.

Eden had no real choice here; he'd been forcefully pulled in and had no way to escape on his own.

Now, all he could do was pray that the Goddess of Life would hurry up and finish that soup Nurgle offered so He'd leave.

Otherwise, it wouldn't be long before the creeping plague force reached him.

In the garden, Nurgle handed a bowl of steaming soup to Isha, then stood quietly by, gazing at His beloved goddess with eyes full of anticipation—longing for her approval.

Eager to send Him away, Isha swallowed the seething plague-broth without hesitation.

No sooner had the soup gone down than the viruses erupted inside her. Her slender body writhed in violent mutations as countless decaying branches forced their way out beneath her skin, oozing toxic sap.

However, being the Goddess of Life, Isha possessed tremendous healing and regenerative powers—one of the main reasons Slaanesh had coveted her. With such an ability, she could be subjected to never-ending torment, theoretically forever.

Before long, those plague-induced mutations were suppressed by Isha's own life energy.

The rotted tissue fell away and vanished; her body returned to normal in mere moments, as though nothing had happened.

A result that seemed to disappoint Nurgle—after all, to Him, the faster Isha recovered, the more it proved that this batch of plague-soup had fallen short.

"All right, time to go, right?" Eden mentally urged, hoping for a swift exit.

But Nurgle quickly shook off His dejection and returned to a cheery mood, raising one hand in a gentle wave.

Amid the sounds of buzzing flies, the little Nurglings around the goddess began dancing with uncontained joy.

In step with the Nurglings' performance, rotted shrubs, twisted vines, and bloated flowers all began to sway.

It was as if the entire garden had been plunged into a raucous celebration, with even thicker clouds of pestilent mist enveloping the scene.

From the center of that macabre orchestra, Nurgle would occasionally glance at the Goddess of Life, seemingly hoping to see her smile.

He was trying to please her, to make her happy.

Yet all He got in return was cold indifference: Isha remained motionless on her swing, no reaction whatsoever.

Sure enough, a self-absorbed show of devotion rarely wins a goddess's heart.

What Nurgle failed to realize was that a hidden pair of eyes was tracking His and Isha's every move.

Everything He did was taken in by Eden.

"Ugh—what a terrible dance. My poor eyes…"

Eden never expected Grandfather Nurgle—the Plague God—to be like this. It seemed to be genuine love, though, from the god's perspective.

Perhaps among Nurgle's followers, this was considered a graceful and joyous dance—one of their favorite ways to express themselves.

But from Eden's viewpoint, it was just a swarm of putrid flies and oversized mosquitoes buzzing everywhere.

A collection of decomposing Nurglings and rotting vegetation flailing in a grotesque frenzy.

As they twirled, foul-smelling juices splattered everywhere, nearly splashing Isha.

Still, they were clearly overjoyed—this was Nurgle's camp, after all, united by love and affection.

Eden grumbled to himself, getting more anxious by the second. The longer Nurgle lingered, the greater the chance of Eden being discovered.

Time crawled by.

Hmm…

"Actually, this music might not be that awful. It's kinda catchy?"

Before he knew it, Eden found himself slightly swaying with the rhythm.

What the—

He snapped to attention, shuddering.

This was a sign of deeper corruption!

A quick check of his surroundings revealed the pestilential energy had reached him—vines and flowers had sprung up all around, gradually encasing him.

Worse yet, this was emanating directly from Nurgle.

He could no longer smell the stench of decay; there was even an odd floral scent now.

Moments later, Eden felt a tingling sensation spreading across his skin—itchy but strangely pleasant.

"Yeah…we're in trouble…" he murmured.

He knew well that succumbing to any acceptance of Nurgle's dogma or "theology of life" would deepen the corruption until it took him over completely.

But he did notice that his true body—safely within the Blackstone Throne—was still fine.

Even his clone on the expedition ship was unaffected for now. This corruption was happening only to the consciousness within the dream.

As long as he could maintain his mental defenses—refusing to embrace Nurgle's essence—he could keep the plague from infiltrating the material realm.

The Little Sun's power could temporarily hold back the infection, but using that energy so blatantly could alert Grandfather Nurgle.

Eden was growing desperate. "Why hasn't this Plague God left yet? Doesn't He see how annoyed Isha is?"

Indeed, the longer Nurgle lingered, the more dangerous it became for Eden.

As more time passed, the corruption worsened.

Eden's body was covered in twisted vegetation, blooms bearing thick, pungent sap.

Big lumps of dark green fruit obscured his vision, so he plucked one, eyed it, and after some hesitation, took a bite.

It tasted sweet.

At that point, with corruption covering his entire body, eating a bit of it hardly seemed to matter.

Eventually, when Eden was about to reach his limit, Nurgle finally shuffled away.

Still, Eden did not immediately reveal himself. He waited a bit longer, making sure the god was well and truly gone, before standing up.

By now, he was essentially a walking cluster of rotten shrubs and diseased flowers.

"Whew…that about scared me to death."

He immediately summoned the power of the Little Sun, harnessing its life energy to push back the plague.

As that energy poured forth, the decayed plant life withered away and fell to the ground, vanishing.

But before long, the blight regrew, springing up as resiliently as weeds in spring.

Eden grimaced. "This is costing me so much energy…"

There was no other choice; he had to keep feeding power into it, slowly wearing down the plague's hold.

Then he sensed a gentle yet powerful aura of life approaching—warm and comforting, brightening his mood just by its nearness.

Isha was returning to the dream, once again taking control of the body that manifested here.

She moved gracefully into Eden's line of sight, gentle and poised. The shimmer of her figure through the thin veil gave off a hazy, enchanting allure.

But it wasn't a deliberate show of sensuality—merely the natural and delicate beauty of Life itself.

Wherever she walked, tender green grass sprouted, dotted with tiny blossoms. Very soon, the greenery spread, covering the festering plants and bringing with it a fresh, invigorating fragrance.

Eden could feel the air itself come alive in Isha's presence, as if rejoicing at her arrival.

She raised her head, her clear, luminous eyes brimming with anticipation and longing, yet also emanating warmth and compassion.

And there was a hint of curiosity, too.

Truly worthy of the Goddess of Life—simply by standing there, she made hearts tremble.

She had both the graceful allure of a mature woman and a touch of a young maiden's innocence.

In short, the consummate elven beauty: partly a regal figure, partly a curious girl.

She embodied every nuance of life's splendor, not just physically but also in her very essence.

No wonder multiple gods had coveted her, paying monumental costs just to capture her.

Eden watched as Isha reached out her slender fingers and gently clasped his hand.

The sensation resembled the gentle warmth of early spring sunlight—soft, soothing, and incredibly smooth.

Before he could react, she slowly lifted his hand toward her chest, each motion infused with delicate tenderness.

Gasp—

His hand practically sank right in.

Hey, hey, hey!

What is the Goddess of Life doing?

Nurgle only just left, and now we're doing this? Isn't that…kind of, well, risky?

I'm going to NTR Nurgle?!

(End of Chapter)

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