Sir Reynold sighed in exasperation, he had no choice but to bet on this Seeker who claimed to be able to find precious metals in the desolate areas of the galaxy, a bet that Sir Reynold had little faith in, but if he could get anything worthwhile from this trip, it would be worth it.

He dismissed the sniveling Seeker, he had not bothered to know the name of. As an Earth god, he could live for ten thousand years, and he was currently four thousand six hundred and thirty-eight years old, he had seen the rise and fall of countless mortal creatures. He had stopped caring about the names of mortals when he became two thousand years old, now he just placed them in a group.

There were either Drivers, Cleaners, Welders, Miners, Warriors, Slaves, Carvers, Divers, Killers….

This was not an attitude unique to Sir Reynold alone but was shared by most older Earth gods.

This was because unlike a god with an Immortal soul, an Earth god’s soul could not contain information without limits, and they would have to find methods to either purge their minds of memories every few centuries or learn how to compartmentalize their thoughts.

There were tools that could be used to assist an Earth god, but they were all very expensive to craft, and except you are beholden to a god who would be willing to allocate resources for such a tool to be created, you were stuck with this problem.

Sir Reynold chooses to compartmentalize his life in this manner, choosing to keep every mortal in a group, except for one person. As if his thought had summoned her, he looked down to see a shape drifting towards him.

A woman with long blond hair and feline eyes that glowed yellow strolled up to Sir Reynold and hugged his armored arm.

The eyes of Sir Reynold softened and he bent down, allowing the woman to remove the great helm from his head revealing his features.

Sir Reynold had the head of a leopard, but his jaws were strange, they resembled those of a man, and this was what made him able to speak articulately. His fur was brown with red whiskers.

“My love. I thought I told you to stay in your quarters. This place does not deserve your beauty.” Sir Reynold gently caressed her face, brushing the stray lock of hair

“I could not help it,” the blond woman said, “I want to always be by your side. Every moment away from you is torture, and my heart cannot take it anymore.”

“My love…” Sir Reynold drew her closer to him and bent down for a kiss. Her lips were warm and welcoming and Sir Reynold forgot himself in her taste. Everyone in the control deck shifted their attention away and focused on their duties, they still wanted to live, and spying on the captain when he was having fun was a quick way to die an agonizing death.

Sir Reynold felt his heart beating in happiness that spread a shocking wave of well-being through his system that he nearly swooned. After all this time, she still remained the same, still tastes the same.

He liked to lie to himself that he still remembered her name, but that was impossible. She died thousands of years ago, and he had made a bargain with the demons, paying a high price to shift her spirit to a new body after the current one grew old.

This was partly the reason why he was among the most wretched of Earth gods, he spent nearly all his resources on this venture. Some may call him foolish, but he could only live for this purpose. What was the meaning of life beside her by his side? Even though he had already forgotten her name.

He was making this gamble for more money. The lifespan of his love was coming to an end in a short hundred years from now, and he needed to renew the contract with a new body or she would be lost to him forever.

Sir Reynold groaned, his lover was especially enthusiastic today as her kisses were more fiery than usual. Wait…it was literally more fiery as a growing heat was spreading down his mouth to his stomach, his eyes opened wide in shock and horror as he watched his lover, and she was in flames! Her body was falling apart and before his gaze, her two eyes exploded with a dull pop from the heat.

Before he could scream out his dread, he was covered by a bright light and he felt a massive force and heat surrounding him, as his body was sent flying back.

There was pain, so much pain, but he did not care. What happened to his love? What the hell just happened?! .

He could feel himself blasting through walls, bulkheads, and through the bodies of his crew members. When he finally landed, he groggily stood up to see that his body had torn through half his ship.

He groggily stood up, the explosion had ripped through a sizable portion of the armor around his chest. His face had been blasted to pieces exposing his grinning skull.

His pain however was nothing, for in his hands were what remained of his love.

The body part gave one last best before it stopped. He was holding her now dead heart.

“AAARRHHH!!!!! I will kill whoever did this! Do you hear me? I shall tear your spirit to pieces and drink your tears. AAARRRHHH….MY LOVE!!!”

Sir Reynold’s sorrowful roar echoed through the ship that was beginning to break apart. He looked up from his grief to see nine glowing figures around him and one of them was playing with the head of his love before slapping its burning face and carelessly throwing it aside.

Disregarding the danger, he leaped forward to cradle her head, just as nine flaming swords plunged into his back. His body freezes and as the swords were pulled out from his body he continues towards the head of his love, his blood staining the ground.

The sword returned stabbing through his body. Sir Reynold shuddered in pain, but his eyes were only for his love.

The swords left his body and stabbed again, and again, and again….