In Sumerian mythology, Ishtar was undeniably a lover of all. She had sought love from countless gods and heroes, and was incredibly willful and uninhibited.
Then, as Ishtar's other half, an existence one with her in both appearance and essence, how could Ereshkigal not be a lover of all as well?
However, unlike Ishtar, Ereshkigal's love was directed toward ordinary humans.
As the Underworld Goddess, she loved neither heroes nor gods. She simply loved those perfectly ordinary humans.
"Because I'm the goddess who governs death. Embracing death and accepting death—that is my divinity."
"For someone like me, what I see most isn't the deaths of gods, much less the deaths of heroes, but the deaths of you, fragile and ordinary humans."
"Perhaps to you humans, death is both frightening and terrifying. But to me, death is something worthy of respect, and something that must be protected."
"Since you humans are destined to die eventually, how could I not love you deeply?"
At that moment, Ereshkigal finally revealed her true feelings.
"Not allowing death to fall into loathsome fear, showing it respect, and protecting the souls left behind—that is who I am, Ereshkigal, the goddess of the Underworld."
"So when I learned that human history had been destroyed, and that humanity would eventually disappear from the surface, can you imagine how sad and how painful I felt?"
"Watching the number of humans on the surface grow fewer and fewer—either captured by the Beast Goddess's beasts and used as fertilizer to create new beasts, or cruelly torn apart and killed by them—how could I not feel angry?"
"But I couldn't change anything. I couldn't leave the Underworld, so I could only manage the dead here forever."
Under these circumstances, what decision Ereshkigal would make was obvious.
"What I said before wasn't entirely