Third person pov~
"A god?" Barry asked, obviously confused and skeptical. "Is it the purple eyes?"
"I'm serious, Barry. She's one of them."
Barry scoffed, he was not buying the story his dad was giving. "That girl is a weirdo, not a god. Now, will you please take me seriously?"
"So, she has not done anything to make you question whether she's human or not?"
Barry's mind went to the incident that had occured earlier, where she had thrown him into the wall without touching him. Even though it was suspicious, it was too unreal to be true. According to what he knew, the whole goddess thing was a fluke, a lie that was given to the people to prevent suspicions. But now, his father was telling him that God's actually do exist and one randomly washed up on their shore.
"I thought the goddess does not exist."
" She does not. But gods and goddesses so exist." His father said and gestured to a chair. "Sit, Barry. It's time to tell you that which you do not know yet."
Hours later, Barry was in his room, dazed. The creature that he had invited into his home could possibly mean their doom but he still had these weird feelings for her, he still wanted her. He thought if he could have even a goddess as his, there would be no bounds to his greatness, he would have something that all the previous village chiefs never had, a literal goddess.
But he had to tame her and he was not so sure he could tame a goddess, according to his father, it seemed she was here in search of another god named Baurbius. His father had said the god Athelia was in search of might not be on the island but somewhere else but he could also very well be on the island and they were not to get involved because nothing good came out of mortals getting involved in god business.
Barry's father had warned him to let go of any thoughts of keeping Athelia but Barry did not want to do that, the realization that she was a god only made his resolve stronger, he wanted her and he was going to get her no matter what.
The next day, Athelia was nowhere to be found. Barry asked if his dad had something to do with her disappearance but he said he was not. Barry did not believe him but he decided to leave him for a while. He scoured the entire residence again in search of Athelia but she was still nowhere to be found. Defeated, he decided to go to his friend, Peter's place to ask him to look for Athelia together.
He was on his way to Peter's house when he encountered two young men who were talking about an ethereal looking lady, the description sounded a lot like Athelia and he hurried over to them as he enquired where they saw the ethereal looking girl.
"She was with Peter Scarlett." One of them said and Barry felt a tinge of irritation. He had noticed the subtle difference between how Athelia looked at him and how she looked at Barry. It was not a huge difference but it was enough for him.
He hurried over to the Scarlett residence and the sight he was met with made him want to lose his mind in a fit of rage. Peter was seated on a bench in the middle of a field of flowers, like a scene straight out of a romance movie. Athelia was seated right beside him, she was leaning over to him, her arms wrapped around his arms, whispering something that made him smile. She was also smiling brightly, a great contrast to the scowl she had worn on her face the previous day.
Barry had not seen Athelia since she went back to his residence the previous day, that was before he went to meet his dad in the library meaning Athelia could have been here, in Peter's place since the previous day.
He hated it. He hated that the first time he saw Athelia's beautiful and enchanting smile, it was directed at another man, and not just any other man, his own best friend. His closest friend had betrayed him.
"PETER!" He yelled and Peter looked over at the entrance to his compound, his smile got brighter the moment he saw Barry while Athelia's smile faltered, leaving behind a frown. Barry walked towards them, trampling over the gently raised flowers in the garden. Peter quickly stood up from where he was seated, he wanted to protest but he knew his place, Barry was furious at the moment and no matter how close they were, Barry was still the village chief's son and their ranks were not equal at all.
Barry reached Peter and grabbed him by his shirt, yanking him forward before slamming a fist into his jaw. The impact sent a sharp crack through the air as Peter's head snapped to the side. Stumbling back, he barely had time to recover before Barry oued him in again, rage evident in his eyes. But before Barry could manage to land another blow on peter, Athelia thrust out her hands and a sudden force blasted through the air.
Barry's body flew backwards as if struck by an invisible wave of strong wind. He crashed into a part of the flower bed, petals and leaves scattered all around him, the hand grown flowers were crushed by the weight of his body. Peter stood there, stunned.
"Are you okay?" Athelia asked Peter, moving closer to him and checking his face for wounds. Peter slapped her hands away and hurried to Barry's side to help him up.
"Barry." He stretched his hand for Barry to take but Barry slapped it away.
"What the hell are you doing with her? What the hell, Peter?" Barry yelled, clutching his shirt in his hand.
Peter looked between Athelia who was just standing next to the chair and Barry who was on the floor, fuming. "S...she.... She just came." Peter was lost for words, he had not expected that things would escalate. Athelia had arrived the previous night, insisting that she wanted to stay with him and he could not find it in his heart to chase her away. If he had rejected her and she had gone somewhere else, Barry would be furious to know that Peter could have given her refuge but he did not.
That was the reason why he accepted and let her stay the night, he was going to take her back after breakfast but Barry had come before then.
"You traitor," Barry spat as he stumbled up without taking Peter's hand, "I saw her first."
"Barry, I promise you I'm not trying to do what you're thinking," Peter put his hands up on the air, to give a feel of surrendering, "I was going to bring her back to you this morning."
"You should've chased her away the moment she showed up if you were really my friend." Barry yelled, "Or is it that you want to climb up the ranks by getting a goddess, is that it?"
"A goddess?" Peter had a rough idea about what was going on now.
Barry had always been paranoid, he always felt like his younger brother was going to one day covet his position as the future village chief but when his brother died to unfortunate unforeseen circumstances, Barry was relieved. He was also paranoid that if he chose friends from the upper echelons of society, they would cover his position, so he chose to befriend peter, the son of a lowly carpenter and florist. He was always paranoid that Peter was better looking than him, so he always dressed peter up in rags and rubbed mud on his face whenever they were to go out together. He was always paranoid that he would not be able to live up to his ancestors, he wanted something to differentiate him, to make him unique, greater, and he found it, only now he was paranoid that his one and only friend was going to steal her away.
His paranoia stemmed from his insecurity.
"Don't act like you didn't know. I know you've been conspiring against me ever since you saw her, you want her for yourself even though I called dibs and you..." He didn't get to finish his statement as another surge of wind lifted him off the ground and he landed outside the compound this time.
Peter glanced at Athelia who was behind him and was met with an angry expression that he had never seen her wear. She already had either an happy or irritated or proud expression on her face, but this time, pure anger was visible. She took slow steps as she walked past Peter and went to the direction where Barry was launched to, steam exuding from her body.
Barry was in pain, his entire body ached, thankfully he did not seem to break anything in his body but the pain was also excruciating. He was about to attempt to stand when he heard footsteps getting closer, he looked up at Athelia who was now towering over him.
"You dare treat me like a trophy?"