Isaac knelt at the marble foundation which served as an altar to Galmoria. Violet glow misted off the purified water, rising and dissipating. Onyx statues carved to depict three images of Galmoria, The Winged Priestess, guarded the fountain. One pose was of her squatting, her delicate hands flat on the ground between her bent legs; the second depicted her about to leap, black fangs over stone seductive lips and curved talons on her long fingertips. The third statue captured his demigod-mother in mid-flight with a giant scorpion draped along her back between raven wings; the scorpion’s curled tail appeared as if it belonged to both insect and demoness.

“Mother, I demand to know why I have been sent here.” Pacing, he waited as dew from the humid air covered his skin.

From the third statue flashed emerald green eyes, entrancing Isaac.

“Answer now! Why have I been sent to this wretched world?” Isaac peered into the glowing orbs. Galmoria’s seductive lips and deadly fangs were a breath away from his own. “Damn you, Mother!”

Two green streaks shot from the eyes and struck his face like iron balls. Isaac collapsed backwards onto the stone patio.

“How dare you speak to me with such a vile tongue.” Galmoria’s voice pierced the quiet courtyard.

Isaac gathered himself up and shook dirt from his bare chest and slacks. “I offer no apologies. Now, tell me why I am here.”

“To fetch a Paladin child who will serve as a great general for you and your queen’s armies.” His Mother’s voice was distant, but clear.

“My queen?” Isaac knelt before the statue. “Am I to be a king?”

“You will be King of the Tribes, and Lord of the Beasts.”

“If that is your wish.”

“I have knowledge of an ultimate power; a power of such rarity that it cannot be neglected. But it shall not remain hidden from our enemies. We must move quickly. You are to seek out The Beloved in Buckeye for she is the vessel of the child.”

“Am I to kill this ‘Beloved’?”

“Do not harm her. She is the future of our race.”

”As you wish.”