I led Yhannason to the stairs that would wind up to my chambers. I pointed out many different rooms, spoke a bit about the Rescued, and told her about my plans for national relations. She seemed pleased and kept a smile on her face as we reached my room. As expected, the two light spear-wielding guards dropped into one-kneed positions at the very sight of a goddess. I held the door open for Yhanna and she slowly stepped in, taking account of everything in the room. Both of Elyse’s parents were there.

The High Emperor wasn’t looking, but said, “Ah, Lady, you’ve come back. We were praying to…” He trailed off as he looked over, seeing our guest. Both him and his wife dropped at her feet instantly.

“Rise, mortals,” Yhanna spoke with a bit of properness in her voice, which was new so far.

As they rose, I noticed they didn’t seem to know what to do with their excitement. I leaned slightly over to Yhanna and said, “I think it would be inside their moral codes to want to give you hugs.”

Yhannason laughed, then said to them, “If you wish to do so, you may.”

The High Empress want to wrap her arms around the goddess and covered the air in the phrase “Thank you.” I didn’t know one woman could say it so many times in the span of ten seconds, but she did. After she finally let go with tears running down her face, the High Emperor went to be much subtler, taking the goddess’ hand and placing a kiss on the top of it. “This… is quite the honor, Goddess Yhannason. We were not expecting…”

“Do not worry, I do not care for formalities.” Yhannason looked to Elyse and asked, “May I?”

“Please!” he blurted out as he moved out of the way. Yhannason went over and looked down at Elyse, who was barely conscious, it seemed. She had more color in her face, though, which was good.

“She’s definitely going to make it.” The goddess leaned over and placed a hand against Elyse’s left cheek, cupping her face. Elyse, on cue, slowly opened her eyes. Yhannason smiled and asked, “Remember me, dear child?”

Elyse barely nodded and whispered, “Mmhm, in my dreams. You keep me safe.”

“That’s right, child,” she softly whispered back. She used the same hand to stroke her hair. “You’ll be on your feet again soon, I promise.”

“Thank you.” The quiet whisper barely reached her. The goddess was too kind for us; we didn’t deserve her. I could only hope that all others in Ascentia were as nice and helpful as she. Though, I guess I would learn soon enough that that wasn’t the case.

“Miss Everlock,” Jameson, one of the Rescued boys, spoke up from the door. He was in a bow and at a stout position of attention, probably mimicking the guards. “There is a visitor in the throne room. They are trying to cause problems for you.” With that, he left the doorway with a red face. I assumed he was embarrassed from being unsure of how to address me with all parties present.

I gave a look to Yhannason and she responded with a nod. I fled my chambers down the many stairs to the throne room. I entered, then my eyes widened. Before me, statue guards and Empire guards had fallen to the ground, blood spilling from the real ones. A Rescued worker with long, blonde hair was sitting against the wall next to the door way. I went and kneeled to her, recognizing her as Cassandra. She was holding her hand to her stomach, blood seeping through her fingers. Before her head fell to the side, she gave me a look of fear, pain, and relief, one I wasn’t sure I’d seen before.

Standing up, I looked to the figure at the entrance, surely the reason for the commotion. They were skinny, but hid that fact with a cloak of scales. They held a staff in one hand and another Rescued worker, a boy, in the other. Where their face should be was covered with what looked like a lizard’s head. They didn’t appear to have bathed in a while, judging by how murky and ragged they appeared to be.

I wasn’t about to let another one of my children die here. With an extensive use of my mana, I created an illusion to make the person think I was standing still. Instead, I flew forward to snatch the boy from his arm. He detected me somehow, though, and threw a gust of wind at me with the staff. I faltered and slipped to the floor. Fine, I thought to myself. We’ll do it the hard way. I stood back up and held out an arm in front of me, creating a magic-blocking, invisible shield.

“Your magic is useless, mortal.” Its voice was disgustingly toxic, making me think it wasn’t human.

“Let him go and I will allow you to live,” I barked back at it. The intruder stood still for a few moments, making the room silent. Then, two lines of red appeared across the boy’s neck, each accompanied by his gasps. He was shoved to the ground and I yelled at the intruder, “No!” Without hesitation, I charged and slammed the shield up at it. It didn’t falter, though, and jabbed its staff at me, going straight through the shield. I decided to drop the shield and backed up before spewing flames from my hands. I scorched the floor around it and covered my view of the reptile human being before stopping.

Its laugh was just as disgusting as its voice. “Like I said,” it said as the flames disappeared, showing itself to be unscathed. “Your magic is useless.”

I growled, then extended and formed the God Slayer, the Void sword I nicknamed to be my best weapon, the one I defeated Morak Serihn with. With both hands, I slashed at the intruder.

Ching!

My heart was beating as quickly as I think it ever had as my swing finished. I saw the being standing completely still in front of me, then I heard the same, poisonous laugh follow. I glanced at my sword and saw that it was gone, just my bare hand remaining. As I began to follow up or back away, the lizard head slammed the staff into my chest, knocking me to the ground and the air out of my body. As I gasped for breath, the thing stepped to the side, looking down at me. I barely saw the whites of its eyes through the mask, through the mouth of the lizard. “Pathetic mortal,” it seethed.

“Away from the Empress!” An equally inhuman voice shouted from the side. The lizard head looked to the voice and then went back to fighting, now against my two most loyal soldiers. I just saw the ceiling and sparks flying along with some red covering my vision. I seemed to lose consciousness and when I came back, I was being carried with the ceiling still above me. I felt myself being lied onto a stone table, one of the medical ones. The clothing was stripped from my stomach area and I felt pressure on it, I think a serum-soaked pad to heal the bruising. I forget when I fell asleep, but I remembered seeing a flurry of people checking on me.

--

“…in place now, Goddess.” I started to hear fragments of sentences.

“From Descentia, surely trying to take…”

“…still asleep.”

At one moment, maybe a few hours after I fell asleep, I sprung up into a sitting position with panicked breathing. I swore I saw someone (or something) right in front of me the moment I awoke, but it wasn’t there when my vision centered. I was in my chambers, completely alone. Everything looked normal and Elyse was no longer using my bed, so that was a good sign. I looked down at myself, seeing that I was in sleepwear. How long was I asleep? Not too long… was it?

I struggled to get out of bed from soreness and felt the bones in my feet and legs crack, like they’d not been used in a while. Odd. I went into the bathroom and splashed my face with water. After rubbing my eyes, I looked at myself in the mirror. “Wh… at?” I said out loud. I lifted a hand to my face and drew a hand down the right side of it. Pale. Skin. Not black, not corrupted, but white. My hair was completely brown, not stained with bleached locks anymore. What happened to me? Why am I like this now?

I stumbled out of the bathroom and got to my door, then pushed my way out of it. Outside, there were no soldiers standing guard, which was odd. I used the wall as support to get myself down the halls and came to the first set of stairs. I felt my feet ache with each step, but slipped and tumbled down the last few. Great, now I feel even worse. I got myself back up and saw that my knee was skinned with a bit of blood on it. I decided to push on, making my way down the rest of the stairs. When I reached the throne room, it was completely... empty.

I felt uncomfortable with my surroundings. No one was here- no one was anywhere I’ve been yet. I made my way out into the center of the room and looked around, seeing nothing. I saw flashes of the lizard man striking me down and me being carried away, then fell with aching in my head. I couldn’t just sit still, though, so I began to crawl to the entrance, pain rushing through my body with each step. Where was everyone? Where had they all gone?

When I got to the massive double door entrance, it took me multiple tries to pull one open. I finally cracked it open enough to let me squeeze through. I made my way outside and saw the world I was in, which was extremely different from the one I was in before. The skies were gray and red, the many forests in the distance were scorched, and clouds covered the sun. It was my previous vision of grandeur, but completely different now. I didn’t know why I was here, where everyone was, or what I was to do. After dropping to my knees on the ground, I put my face into my hands and simply began to scream.