For how long did I sleep? Deep in the oblivion of the unaware mind. Consciousness came back slowly at first then in bursts of stimulating thoughts that buzzed about like annoying flies. Light rushed into my eyes from beyond my eyelids and hurt both my vision and brain inside my skull. I was in this state for only a moment as my body jerked awake as if from a bad dream. Suddenly there I was sitting up in the middle of the mountain forest and was left attempting to process where I was. It was late morning and despite being the beginning of winter the sunlight was warm.

The last thing I remembered was some horrible nightmare. There was a sharp pain in the front of my head and I lifted my hand to touch it. Last night there was some kind of cult performing human sacrifice and I had gone there to save someone. Miya! Looking around frantically I spotted her. There she was laying on that big stone slab, her body lifeless with dried blood coming out of the wound in her chest and staining her clothes.

She was really dead.

My left had lifted to my mouth to cover it in shock when I noticed it was covered in blood too. That's when I remembered the rest of what happened. All those people had been brutally massacred by my hand. Looking to my boots I saw they were covered in dried blood as well. For some reason I had completely lost control of myself. I distinctly remember right after that knife entered Miya that something happened to scramble my mind. Not only that but I had felt a rush of power enter me too.

"What have I done? What happened to me?"

No one answered me as I looked upon the destruction I had caused that night. The only conclusion one could come to was that human sacrifice had an actual effect on whatever kind of deity I was. Either it sent one into a berserk state or heightened emotions already present. If it also had a true power boost that would explain why everyone says the goddesses of old were such monsters. Power is addicting and if humans dying in your name gives you a boost it would be something they would have sought after.

That was something I would never do. Whatever these people's intentions with their human sacrifice I would ensure it never happened again, either to me or any other goddess. What about their victim though? Looking to Miya the tears began to well up again. I couldn't protect her. I could almost still hear her voice in the back of my mind.

"Goddess..."

There it was again!

"Oh Miya" I said tearfully. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you."

With another deep sigh I reached out to pick up Miya's body when her voice came again.

"It's alright goddess. You did you're best. I forgive you."

Wait wait wait... That's actually her voice! Where is it coming from? Looking around all I could find was her lifeless corpse. With some focus I made the startling discovery that the voice was coming from inside me! Closing my eyes I focused and thought hard about it. What was going on?

"I don't know either goddess" her voice said. "Its dark here and I've been alone..."

She sounded sad. Also did she just respond to what I was thinking? I didn't initiate telepathy, nor could I would someone that's dead. If she could hear my thoughts perhaps calling out to her again would help.

"Are you there Miya?" I thought. "Is this really you speaking? Where are you?"

There was a pause and then a response inside my head. "I don't know goddess I'm sorry! Its just so dark here... Not cold but dark. I was so scared and lonely until you came. It feels like you're all around me. Oh I'm so thankful you saved me!"

This requires a scan. With a deep breath I dove down into my goddess zone and settled in the familiar room. Looking at the map layout I confirmed there were no life-signs around me aside from some small animals. No humans and certainly no animals. However something truly bizarre was laid out on the map, or should I say above it. Miya's soul signature was floating around the outside of the display. What in the world?

"Miya?" inside the zone thoughts were speaking and I expressed my shock.

"Yes goddess?" came her reply. "Where are you?"

I began looking around in confusion. "Where are you? I'm still reading your soul on my radar! Its like you're... you're..."

It hit me like a lightning strike and sent shivers down my spine. Was her soul inside my body?

The goddess zone room was about the size of forty by forty feet with all the displays of the map, my body readouts, and the door to the library. Beyond it was simply strange black space with various colors and whatnot blurry in the background. I hadn't really thought about it much but what was that space? My mind or subconscious?

"Just stay calm Miya" I said.

Her voice sounded calm. "Yes goddess."

Straining my eyes I scoured that seeming void and to my great shock I saw a glowing light out there! Zooming my vision in revealed a human shape within that light. Was that literally Miya's soul floating within my mind? I'd never gone outside the goddess zone but now I had no choice.

With a flex of my legs I crouched down and sprung up. Like a coiled spring I was sent shooting into the air and out of the imaginary room of the goddess zone into the faintly lit darkness beyond. That glowing human form speed closer as I zoomed though the air. Strangely there was no wind, and being out here felt the same as when you were in the process of waking up: halfway between sleep and awake.

"Goddess!" Miya said in surprise.

The rapid travel brought me up close to the light in only a few moments and before me was something that took my breath away. Indeed it was Miya, or at least it seemed to be. She was floating there and glowing slightly, dressed just as she always had been except without the wound in her chest. Was this like her spirit form? Was this actually her? I willed myself to stop moving and I did, right next to her glowing body. The thing that was most shocking of all was that I was smaller than her! In fact if there had been an outside observer they would see a young woman floating next to a little girl who barely reached her chest in height.

I looked at her awkwardly. "Um... Hello..."

Miya too seemed to be very confused and embarrassed by this new situation. Surely for her seeing the goddess that always towered over her taller than the mighty pines suddenly shorter than her by almost half would be quite the shock.

"Erm... Hello goddess" she said shyly. "W-What is this?"

My brow furrowed as I crossed my arms.

"I... I'm not quite sure Miya. It seems for some reason you're soul is inside my mind, or head, or whatever. Is this actually you or am I dreaming? Can I touch you?"

She simply nodded and blushed. "Of c-course!"

Nervously I reached out my hand and touched the side of her arm. This was all happening within my own inner world but this seemed beyond a figment of my imagination. When my fingers touched her skin a shiver went down my spine. It was like touching her mind for telepathic connections, this was another living being's presence within myself.

The feeling was bizarre and I removed my hand. A quick glance at her face showed that she was also sort of freaked out by this, though her trust in me was clearly still unwavering.

"It seems that you're soul is inside my own somehow" I said flatly as I processed it. "Um... Like I somehow sucked up your soul when you died. Or maybe it had something to do with you being sacrificed to me? I-I'm actually not sure sorry. I know this is scary for you and I don't know what's going on. I failed to protect you and now I'm failing you again."

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Miya laughed and reached out to grab my hand, the familiar tingling hitting me again. It wasn't a bad feeling, just odd. There was a glowing smile on her face as she seemed to be comforting me.

"Oh Goddess Jenna! I'm not scared! Sure this experience is strange to me, but here you are with me so I have nothing to fear! Those people killed my body yes, but you arrived in time to save my spirit did you not? I know you'll care for me."

She sounded so confident in my abilities. This is the sort of faith I remembered having in my father in the beyond. Regardless if I was to be a loving deity to these people I needed to be better. There had to be a way to resurrect her. Magic like that had to exist. Or perhaps some kind of necromancy.

I looked up at her. "I'm going to try and get you back into your body alright?"

Miya gasped. "You can do that goddess?"

"I'm not sure if I can or not. But I'm going to try. Resurrection magic is a thing I remember existing. Also there's something called necromancy as well, though I'd prefer that be a last resort."

"What are those things goddess?" she asked cocking her head.

With a sigh I floated back a bit and uncrossed my arms. "Well resurrection is just bringing someone back from the dead. Its very extreme magic as you'd expect." I then looked to the side. "As for necromancy... Well its bringing back the dead in a less- complete state. You'd be in your body but it'd still be a rotting corpse. Not ideal as you'd imagine."

There was vigorous nodding from her. "I agree goddess! But if you can actually revive me that'd be amazing! You'd have power over life and death!"

My arms crossed again and I tapped my fingers. "Yeah. My portfolio doesn't actually contain either of those things though so that's why I'm unsure if I actually can do them. For now I want to try if I can get you over to the goddess zone."

"You mean that glowing room over there?" she asked pointing.

I followed her pointing and nodded. "Yeah. Its what I call my sort of place inside my mind I guess? I can monitor all kinds of things there. Now hold on!"

After warning her I reached out and floated over to her again. Then I grasped her around the waist and pointed myself at the goddess zone in the distance. With another thought I blasted myself off, soaring through this internal void at incredible speed. There were squeals of excitement from my passenger as the colors blurred around us.

It took only a few seconds to reach our destination. The landing was smooth, it was simply a thought and we were both standing in front of the map. After she got her balance I released her and took a step back and adjusted myself to the strange sight of looking up at her.

Miya looked down at me. "You're tiny goddess!"

My face blushed deep red and I crossed my arms across my chest. My cheeks also puffed up in a pouting face and I looked away in embarrassment.

"Oh I'm sorry goddess!" she said seeing my reaction. "I didn't mean it like that!"

Her attempts to comfort me only embarrassed me further but the efforts didn't escape me. She crouched down like she would have done with any child from the village and put her hand on my shoulders, her smiling face beaming adoration directly into my soul. Her face was flushed as well.

"Its just I never imagined seeing you the size of an actual child!" she continued. "Its- Well its really strange but it makes you even more beautiful and cute!"

Continuing to pout wouldn't solve anything so I took a deep breath and dropped my arms to my sides. Then I looked her directly in the eyes as my fierce determination returned and I fauxed a couldn't care less attitude.

"Yes I'm tiny in here" I said nonchalantly. "Lets all enjoy being bigger than our goddess shall we? After that can we refocus on the task at hand?"

Miya let out a giggle as she stood up again, taking a step back to give me space. She seemed to understand how I was feeling and wanted to avoid hurting my ego.

"Of course goddess. I'll try not to get too arrogant and remember my place beneath you. Thank you for caring so much about a farmer's girl like me."

She began looking around the room as my emotions settled down. It was clear it was all quite fascinating and overwhelming for her. Its not like she would have been exposed to what was essentially a sci-fi control room layout in her life. All the glowing readouts and complicated information dumps would be quite the new experience.

"So what is all this goddess?" she asked curious.

I cleared my throat happy to be able to explain something and distract myself from the awkwardness.

"This is my Goddess Zone. At least that's what I call it. Basically its a place I can come to and see all kinds of information." I began pointing things out. "This is the map where I can see a layout of the world. All the people that worshiper me show up on here. This is the screen that shows my body's workings, and this one shows relevant information on anyone I'm looking at. This over here is like a feed where I can see people's prayers and whatnot."

Miya pointed to the door. "What about that door?"

"That leads to my memories" I said curtly. "I don't think you should go in there right now."

She walked over to it and reached out to touch it but quickly withdrew her hand.

"It'd probably be best if you didn't touch anything in here actually" I continued. "Except maybe this couch."

With a mere thought a large couch manifested itself a short distance away from the map readout table. It was one of those ones with huge fluffy cushions and sturdy armrests on its sides. There were three sections and hopefully didn't manifest with any crumbs or pennies between its cushions.

It seemed to shock Miya as she ran over to it. "What is this goddess? Is it a kind of bed?"

"No its called a couch" I replied crossing my arms again. "You can sit on it, lay on it, anything you want. I hope you understand that having another person's actual soul inside of my own could have all kinds of dangerous consequences I'd prefer we avoid. Besides after what you went though you should relax."

She nodded and tentatively sat down on the middle cushion, her body weight causing her to sink into it as she let out a yelp of delight. Immediately she twisted up to lay on it and began squirming around, her whole body embraced by the softness. After a few moments she let out a long sigh and relaxed, settling down and looking up at me standing there.

"This is amazing goddess! Are you going to join me?"

I shook my head. "I've slept on plenty of couches in my life, at least I remember doing so anyway. Its yours to enjoy, at least until I get you back into your own body." I looked up. "Speaking of which I need to get up there and try that."

"You're going somewhere?" Miya asked sitting up on the couch again. There was concern in her voice.

"Just into my body" I replied. "You can think of this place as inside my head. I'm still in my body but not in control of it. Once I leave here I'll be here still, just all around you like before. I can't actually move around if I stay here the whole time." I shrugged. "Besides we should be able to talk still like before."

This seemed to ease her fears and she nodded as if she understood.

"Yes goddess! Please be safe up there!"

I nodded back. "I will."

There was a bit of concern in the back of my mind as I looked at her on that couch. Regardless nothing could happen if I sat here with her forever. With a sigh I went up into my body again.

My eyes opened again to the morning sun and I lifted my hands to my face. Here I was on the outside again. The rubble of the cave was still there as was Miya's pale body next to me. This was all a very surreal experience.

"Are you there Miya?" I asked through thought.

Her reply came instantly. "Yes goddess! I'm still on the couch thing!"

Very interesting indeed. At least I'm not going crazy and communication is still possible. More importantly she's still safe, even though she's inside me. I'm basically a giant soul gem now, existing as a prison for another. I'd rather fix this right away.

"Ok I'm going to try and put you back now" I thought back.

There was a response from her and so I turned around to focus on her body. Gently I reached down and touched the middle of her chest and closed my eyes. With great focus I imagined her soul leaving my body and entering hers again. To do this I visualized my mana within my body and tried to find her soul within it. I did indeed see her spirit within me but for whatever reason I couldn't move it. It was rooted in place. No matter what I did or how I tried to imagine the process nothing happened.

After trying several times for over ten minutes I collapsed back and let out a frustrated sigh. Nothing I did worked and for whatever reason her soul wouldn't leave my body. Of course I had gotten her cooperation this this but she couldn't force the transfer either. Either her body being dead was a problem or I didn't know the actual process to perform Resurrection magic.

"I'm sorry Miya" I said aloud in frustration. "No matter what I do I can't get you back in your body!"

Miya was taking this surprisingly well as she replied calmly.

"Its ok goddess! I believe you'll figure it out. Its not that terrible being in here anyway. I miss my family of course but being here with you is wonderful!"

This wasn't wonderful, it was terrible. It brought up thoughts and fears about what happens to the soul after death all over again. I had only gotten over that myself after months of contemplating after my death and coming back. Not that I thought Miya would have come back as a goddess too, but who knows why I even did myself?

"Well I'll try and find something in my memories" I thought. "And try to find someone living in the world that knows more about this kind of magic. Surely a mage out there knows something."

"Of course goddess" Miya said smiling.

I looked at her body. "In the meantime we'll need to preserve your body. Then I'll have to go tell your family what happened."

Freezing a body in ice was a surefire way to preserve it, I remember woolly mammoths lasting thousands of years in such a fashion, though they were deep in the arctic. Inside crystals like amber was also a way to preserve something too. I'd try that.

Carefully lifting her body up I cupped it in my left palm. Then I closed my eyes and focused in, collecting mana around her lifeless form and imagining a pretty blue crystal. With great concentration the crystal did appear, forming a perfectly shaped hexagonal prism around the body. It was like pretty see through coffin, her body at rest floating within it.

Taking the crystal carefully in my hand I stood up and turned to head towards Doovlin. I was getting prayers again and from them I could see that I had been asleep for at least two whole days. I'd need to start answering prayers remotely again and hoped Miya wouldn't mind. I told her we were heading out and began walking.