Chapter 14






    
It was the stench that woke her. The awful, horrible stench of bile, decay, and death. Demi struggled to regain her senses and, in addition to the smell, she could tell she was in a hot and impossibly humid place that made it difficult to breath. She slowly opened her eyes, though there wasn’t much to see. The large chamber she was in was

Chapter 15






    
As Demi came to, she could hear the familiar sound of rising waves against a shoreline. Her opened eyes were met by the harsh brightness of the sun. Once again, she found herself in the position of trying to recall what had last happened to her.


    
As she rose from

Chapter 14






    
It was the stench that woke her. The awful, horrible stench of bile, decay, and death. As Demi struggled to regain her senses, she could tell that, aside from the smell, she was in a hot and impossibly humid place that made it difficult to breathe. She slowly opened her eyes, though there wasn’t much to see. The large chamber she was in w

Chapter 13






    
Thousands of years ago, the world was ruled by the dark ones. They were horrible malignant creatures that took joy and fulfillment in the suffering of others. Humanity was subjugated by them, acting as little more than their servants and playthings. And, for thousands of years, it appeared that that was how the world was destined to be; the dar

Chapter 12






Ten

Minutes Earlier



    
The entire process had been very surreal. There were no spoken words, but Demi could tell that there was some entity, some consciousness, that was examining her. As the bright light swirled around her, she could see images of various

Chapter 11





There didn’t seem to be much to the room. After the doors had closed, the light began to fade and Demi was left standing in a small room with only a circular elevated platform in the middle of it. She stood for a few moments, inspecting the area and waiting for any indication of what to do. When she received none, she decided to walk onto the platform.

“Alright, le

Chapter 10






Five Years Ago



    
Demi sat on the stone temple floor alongside the goddess Chlora. It was Demi’s first day of training with the goddesses and thus far it mostly involved her sitting still and silent and “clearing her mind”. Chlora called it meditation.

Chapter 9



    
It had been seventeen hours since Demi had made her departure. Since then, Tiama had stayed at the temple, waiting patiently and somewhat dreadfully for the arrival of her sister. She stood at the top of the temple where her wading pool was and looked out at Port Valma. She had considered going to the town and visiting all the people there (perhaps for the last time), but she decided aga