Aelia hurried her way through the city, eager to reserve a good spot near to the church, to not have to wrestle her way through the crowd again.

She'd come straight from training with Coric and knew she was sacrificing sleep to be here, and knew too that tonight's work would be very long and very trying. But in her mind, there hadn't even been a decision to make. She had to be here. Besides, she wouldn't have been able to sleep anyway, not with this much adrenaline coursing through her veins.

The Stone God was to address his people.

All her life she'd dreamed of seeing Him. How tall he must be, how strong, how magnificent. But all she'd had to go on were the tales her parents had told her time and time again, like favorite shoes that had been well worn out. But this! This was a real chance to see the Stone God. The greatest of all the Gods -- at least in her mind.

She was to meet Henry at a butcher's near to the city center -- A Cut Above. Then, they'd go together to hear the God's address. It was nearly all they'd talked about the last two nights as they'd worked. And what good nights they had been. Aelia had been able to afford four day's worth of moss to use for her training, from just two nights of work. And that didn't even include the pay she'd receive (albeit heavily taxed, this week) for the job itself.

There had been no corpses rising from the dead trying to reclaim their possessions from her. There had been no more bandits (she had wanted to report the robbers to the city guard, but on account of what was taken, Henry had persuaded her that it was best left alone). Her basic healing spell for moss-burn was improving, not to mention her control of fire over distances was a little more accurate. And best of all, there had been today to look forward to.

All things considered, it had been a very good week, so far.

"You took your time," grumbled Henry, who she found pacing outside of the butcher's.

"Sorry. I was busy and it was hard to get away."

"Oh yeah? With that mage again?"

"He's not a mage. Just a senior. And yes, you know I'm training."

Henry rolled his eyes and Aelia wondered if he wasn't just a little jealous. Perhaps it had been good that Coric couldn't come to the address after all. He had classes to attend, and right now they were more important to him. The news from the address would get to him in no time anyway, he'd said.

They walked at a fast pace towards the square where the Church of Transformation stood, and before long they saw the black tower with the raven bell looming over them.

It was already getting busy and there was still a good while before the address.

Henry barged his way through the crowd. "Excuse me. Sorry! Just need to get past to reach my friends. Sorry!"

Aelia followed close behind before the gaps in the crowd melted back together

They both knew -- or at least, thought they knew -- what the address was to be about.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

No army had marched into the Godless Kingdom the day after Riarmonte had been razed -- much to Henry's surprise. But the Voice of the Stone God -- a little man, but a man more powerful than any other in the kingdom -- had announced that He would be visiting Rhodes to make an address on Friday. It could only be about upcoming war, they decided. The people of the Kingdom demanded retribution. More than that, they demanded safety. Which border town might be next?

So when Henry and Aelia saw the five naked people tied up to stakes outside of the church, they exchanged a curious glance.

Three men had multiple arms. Four arms, four arms, and six arms. The other two -- women -- were even stranger looking to Aelia. They had... what looked like... wings. Huge grey wings that were conjoined to their backs. But the wings were badly torn. Dozens of holes, perhaps from arrows, had been put through them. Occasionally those tattered remnants caught a gust of wind and became a little taut, and gave Aelia an idea of how magnificent they must have once looked.

"I didn't know we had prisoners," said Henry.

"Is that what they are?" She knew how stupid that sounded as soon as it left her lips. Naked people tied to stakes. They were unlikely to be favored guests of the kingdom.

"Well, it's obvious they're augmented soldiers. So..."

Of course they were. In the Godless kingdom, every man and woman played god for themselves. Their bodies were tools for them to shape and shift and distort, with no respect to their creator -- whomever that had been. Aelia had heard about many tales about people with extra legs or arms, or even those with holes in their stomach that they used like pockets.

But she'd never heard any tale about women with wings.

"Do you think they work? The wings, I mean."

He shrugged. "No idea. I hear a lot of their disfigurements are just to make them stand out. Or to look prettier. Some kind of twisted idea of vanity. And look what it's done for them."

There was something horrible about how they'd all mutilated their bodies, Aelia thought. And something sacrilegious, too. Yet the wings were fascinating. She rolled back her shoulder blades and imagined beating her own wings, taking off over the crowd.

"Why would they want to start a war with us?" she asked. It was the same question she'd asked Henry a dozen times already during their shifts, but it still confused her. What was the point in all this death that was to come?

Henry scowled. "They think they can win, Aelia." Then he added something he'd not told her before. "And honestly, I wonder if they might be able to."

She didn't like that answer. "Why do you say that?"

He shrugged. "Our army was trained for the war with the Necromancer in mind. Our paladins and knights, half of our wizards even, are strong against the undead. But not near so strong against other humans. Especially humans like these."

Humans like these, Aelia thought. Humans that could wield multiple weapons at once. That could fly high above them and swoop down like hawks. And gods only knew what else they had done to themselves, what else they were capable of.

"And even after the war with the Necromancer ended, we kept training the same troops in case the war began again. We're unprepared for this. But I very much doubt the augmented attacked us unprepared. If they wanted to provoke a war, it's because they believe they can win it."

"But we have the Stone God," Aelia said.

"Yes. We do." Henry paused. "And yet, they still attacked."

Aelia was about to reply when the raven bell boomed out. For a while, she forgot all about the prisoners and stared at the church doors, waiting for them to open.

But they didn't open.

It was the front of the church itself that began to crack. A huge jagged fissure that ran down from the arched roof to the great doors below.

"What's happening?"

Henry didn't answer. He too was transfixed on the church.

Strange, she thought, seeing as how Henry must have seen Him many times before. But perhaps like her, Henry was enraptured by even the thought of the God. If Aelia had seen Him a hundred times before, it still wouldn't be enough.

The building split open.

The two halves of the front side of the church slowly pulled apart. Smoke billowed into the air and a screech of metal deafened the crowd as gears turned.

And out of the darkness of the church's stomach stepped the Stone God.