The land of Geonna was at war. An inhuman army arrived along the western coast, led by an order of evil gods known as the Darum. They swept through the land as the human armies rallied to slow their advance. In response, the benevolent but usually aloof gods that ruled over Geonna descended and fought side by side with the human armies as their commanders. One such god was Quintus, only son of the king and queen of Lirum. His status as prince of the gods meant that his mortal compatriots and even many of the gods of lesser status were wary of approaching him outside of the battlefield. Abigail however was an exception.

Abigail was a soldier of average talent, though known to her comrades to be hard-working and kind. One day, as soldiers human and god alike ate and rested, she struck up a conversation with Quintus, oblivious to his identity as godly prince. When she learned who he was, she saw no reason their friendship should end and continued to enter into an easy rapport with him whenever she would run into him between fierce battles. She was astonished to discover how quickly she had taken possession of his heart. Casual conversations in public areas gave way to intimate chats in secluded places. Abigail considered herself rather plain among her peers, but by Quintus's testimony, her beauty made even the goddesses look dull. Faced with such praise, Abigail was not at all surprised how quickly Quintus took her heart in return. 

So things continued like this for the rest of the war. Quintus led his troops into battle, Abigail never too far away, fighting spear in hand on the front lines. And in the quiet spaces of the brutal campaign they enjoyed each other's company. A year later, the final stronghold of the invading armies was raided. The Darum, with nowhere left to run, were captured and stripped of power, then banished for eternity. With very little fanfare, the Lirum returned to their home in the heavens, leaving Abigail alone.

Before the woman could wallow in her lost love too long, however, a messenger descended from the heavens announcing that in two week's time, a competition would be held, trials of might and athleticism, and the prize was to be Quintus' hand in marriage. Abigail's heart sank at the news, for she knew she was not talented enough to win such a competition even just against her fellow mortals. Against the goddesses who were also sure to compete, there was no hope at all. She was not deterred, however. She was determined to win the hand of her true love. She merely needed to acquire the power of a god, and she knew exactly where to find it.

When the Darum were drained of strength, their powers were drawn into artifacts. These artifacts were then given to the various human kingdoms in case they were ever again on the front lines of an invasion of gods. As a soldier with a long record of service, Abigail was able to secure a brief audience with her king and beseeched him to grant her the artifact for a single day. He initially dismissed her out of hand, as the artifacts were strictly forbidden from being used for mortal conflicts. However after she explained what she wanted to use it for, he agreed, for although it was not life in death, it was certainly a conflict of gods. In addition to allowing her the use of the artifact on the day of the competition, he also informed her that there was a prophecy that whoever Quintus married would one day become not only queen of the Lirum, but the entire cosmos as well. It was this prophecy that made his parents choose to determine the marriage of their son in such a manner.

Abigail thanked the king profusely and trained tirelessly for the next two weeks. She still felt that perhaps her efforts would be futile, that even with the artifact she would surely be outmatched by some more powerful or talented goddess, but her love caused her to shut out such thoughts and put all her efforts into her practice. Finally, the day arrived and Abigail acquired the artifact, a bangle, from the kingdom's armory. She felt the immense power flow into her from the moment she placed it upon her arm. She then ran to the competition venue, a large colosseum, and was surprised by her new divine fleetness.

When she arrived, she registered to be a competitor. The god administering the proceedings took down her name and birthplace and after some examination selected a helmet from a rack of ones identical in appearance and handed it to her. He informed her that all competitors were required to wear this helmet during the competition as a sort of uniform to mark them as a competitor. When Abigail placed the helmet upon her head, a tear streamed down her shocked face, she felt that perhaps her efforts over the past two weeks truly had been for naught.

For when she placed it on her head she once again felt the power of a god flowing into her. It felt different than the power she drew from her bangle. Instinctively, she knew that this helmet held the power of a Lirum: a powerful one, who no doubt committed some crime in some past age. She also knew that Quintus must have arranged for this to be provided to her, to ensure that she would win this competition despite his parents' intentions. She looked at the array of competitors before her and knew that with the power of both artifacts flowing through her, she could crush all of them. 

The first round was a simple foot race. Only the fastest quarter of the competitors would be allowed to proceed to the next round. A goddess who was lined up next to Abigail sneered at her and said to one of her fellow goddesses that this round was to weed out all the mortals foolish enough to enter the competition. As the race began, a wave of women shot out of the gate, far faster than any horse. To the vast, mostly mortal crowd of spectators, it was quite the sight. It quickly became clear to them that one of those women was running around the track far more quickly than the others. Abigail, for her part, had no idea of her own speed and was completely focused on merely running as fast as she could. It wasn't until she reached the finish line that she realized the next closest competitor was not even halfway across the track.

For the next competition, a large god with a flying cart brought out a huge boulder easily twice as tall as Abigail and deposited it in the arena. The rules were simple, each competitor would have one chance to lift the boulder and throw it as far as they possibly could. A few of the contestants who had made it this far still found themselves completely unable to lift it. Many lifted it with great difficulty but either lost balance and quickly dropped it or only threw it a paltry few feet in front of them. Abigail studied the approach each woman took to attempt to lift the rock as technique seemed equally important to power. A tall, muscular goddess was able to toss the boulder fifty feet. She bowed and reveled in the cheers of the crowd at her mighty feat. 

Finally, Abigail was the last contestant to attempt the throw. She carefully got a good grip on the boulder and lifted it aloft. It truly did not feel anywhere near as heavy as she expected given the struggles of her competitors. She took a deep breath and chucked the rock with all her considerable might. The bolder went flying, poised to sail clear over the arena. Before it could endanger the city however, it was struck by a ball of fire and vaporized. Abigail looked over and saw that the flame had come from Quintus, who was attending from a special seat in the stands. He looked at Abigail with a mixture of surprise and adoration, which made Abigail smile.

For the last round, the remaining women stepped into a circle painted in the stand. The rules were once again very simple: the last woman remaining in the circle would become Quintus's bride. Immediately as the competition began, the muscular goddess charged at her. Holding two hands out, Abigail easily stopped her opponent's charge and with a casual flick of her arms tossed the muscular goddess to the side and out of the circle. Seven of the remaining goddesses looked at each other and came to a conclusion: they would all have to work together to take out this mortal who seemed to wield immense power. The first two goddesses who charged at her from the front were easily stopped and tossed out of the ring. A third goddess tackled Abigail from behind at the same time, but found herself utterly unable to move the upstart mortal, the impact feeling like hitting an iron wall. Abigail disposed of this goddess, but then four more lept atop her. With a mighty spin, she shook them off of her, despite their divine grips. 

Then there were only two women left in the circle: Abigail, and the goddess who had sneered at her before the first round. Abigail asked if the goddess still felt that mortals needed to be weeded out of these competitions. The formerly sneering now cowering goddess responded by stepping outside of the circle. Abigail was officially crowned the winner and Quintus came down to officially announce their betrothal. Abigail pulled him into a deep kiss, which Quintus eagerly returned. Privately, he apologized for leaving her after the war, but confirmed his heart was always hers. She assured him that she forgave him and that the important thing was that they were together now, and no one could question their union.

Abigail returned the helmet and the bangle, but found that wielding the power of two types of god at once in her mortal body had forged it into a new type of divinity. Every day she felt her power grow. She knew that one day she would be forced to fight to protect the cosmos and in doing so become its queen. However, that day was far away; for now, she would spend a few peaceful millenia enjoying the love of her husband.