Nurture your own strength and wisdom so that trust flows effortlessly from others to you. And when one has become powerful and wise, it will become easy to trust others.
- The Human Question by Gideon de Salavia 378 AC.
Chains of bone and bronze bound me to four stone pillars. I stood in a wide, dusty plain, beneath a gray sky, the sun a dull presence overhead. The wind blew through, stirring small tornadoes of dust that drew the eye. This place was filled with emptiness and parched with longing.
There was more here than mere Death made manifest. I had the sense that such a trite word could not fully capture the concepts that had taken shape around me.
I tried to move, but I was tightly bound. The limited movements I could manage felt slow and sluggish. Helplessness overtook me. "Put aside your burden, rest," a sweet, sultry voice whispered. "Surely it is better than suffering. Embrace the comfort of the end."
My will began to falter, swayed by the voice. Yes, it would be easy to finally give up and rest. This was a dream, after all, was it not?
Greenery started to grow around the base of the four pillars. Leafy invaders, tenacious and sudden, grasping vines that grew like snakes, tendrils of fresh life spreading across the ground to my armored feet.
Yes, even in my dreams, I wore armor. For me, it seemed to be the only protection against the madness of this strange place.
Life bloomed in ardent rapture, a rebellious statement against the finality of the dreamscape. White flowers bloomed in unrestrained fever. Something formed from a blizzard of snow petals, coalescing into a form that could only be called Divine.
“You have escaped my attentions for too long…” she drawled, her eyes hungry, and her voice husky with desire.
Iasis, Mother of Monsters, had come.
I tried to speak but my tongue could summon no words.
She looked at me in confusion for a moment, an expression I would not usually associate with a goddess. “Oh, yes, lest I forget…”
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The goddess waved a delicate, naked arm, and the chains that bound suddenly disappeared as if they had never been. Against my will, and suddenly free from bondage, I found myself kneeling.
With a snake’s smile, she looked upon me. “Much better.”
I felt something give way, a snap of a twisted thread. “What are you doing?” I asked her, relieved that some control had returned to me. However, I could not help but notice that my words sounded distant, and not quite my own.
“Why, checking on one of my new and interesting pets, of course,” she cooed. With this, I felt the familiar stirring of a forgotten anger.
My voice came sharper this time. “What and why are you doing this? If this is a dream, then I am the master of this realm!” I shouted, my voice slowly becoming more my own.
I scrunched up my eyes, and willed myself to wake up, only to open them moments later. The goddess was even closer now, the subtle musk and flowery scent of her threatening to overpower my senses. She drew a sharp nail across the line of my jaw.
“Be grateful that I grace you with my presence. There have been many who would have given their lives for such an audience,” she stated, looking me directly in the eye. In the dark ink of her eyes was a primal echo of a different time, a place where one could get lost for an eternity. “And you, currently, are my most favored of all. I am glad that you have visited another of my temples with the mark of devotion upon your chest. For that, and the new life you have brought about, you have found even more favor with me.”
“What are you talking about?” I barked, my anger clouded now with confusion.
“Since times of yore, initiates have come to struggle against my other creations in their devotion to learning more of my mysteries. Fail and they become a sacrifice…”
A scent of lilacs and lavender filled the air as the plants and strange vegetation erupted again suddenly, in fresh ardent bloom. A many-colored carpet coated the desert, but beneath it all lurked a few stray notes of rot.
Wearing nothing more than an enigmatic smile on her sensuous lips, Iasis walked towards me. Where the Divine trod new riotous rainbows of growth leaped up to mark her passage. Kneeling before me, she traced the line of my face before looking me in the eye.
Against my will, I felt drawn to her, and lust bestirred itself even here in this most strange dream. How I longed to wrap my hands around that slender neck and squeeze the life out of her… How sweet it would be to get a measure of satisfaction.
“I skirt close to the lines of Concord in trying to help you, but then again, I have always preferred a more direct approach in my dealing with mortals. Think upon my words and your recent deeds and the meaning shall become clear to you,” she explained gently. “Now will you be a sacrifice, or will you be more?”
My thoughts spun, whirling before they settled and delivered the only suitable answer. “The Adventurer’s Guild,” I whispered.
The Goddess’ smile of conquest was infuriating in its knowing superiority. “Oh is that what you mortals call it these days… how droll. Now, I wonder how much my high priests are earnest in their devotions in this age…” she mused, twirling a finger through hair of liquid ebon.