Helen had lived a shitty life from the moment she entered this world.

She had been born in a small, run-down village where a scrap of bread was a rare delicacy, and where the fear of slavers and hunters plagued their minds every day.

They were forced to live in absolute servitude, paying over 80% of their crops and resources every month to the elves who were the masters of the region. Basically, there was nothing left for the people living there.

Helen had been lucky to be born to one of the wealthier prostitutes of the villagers. Apparently, her father had been a run-of-the-mill drunk who had raped her mother along with several other 'friends' of his.

Life was borderline impossible. In fact, Helen had only survived because of luck and her mind that had been forced to grow up far too early, along with a mother that did everything in her power to provide for her daughter, including starving herself just to give her daughter whatever scraps of food she managed to scrounge up.

That had been her life for 9 years.

And then, the elven slavers came.

They descended upon the villagers like hungry vultures, capturing and chaining everyone, and brutally making a show of anyone that resisted. Their entire village, as small as it was, was completely enslaved.

And then, they'd been shipped off in separate groups. She had been lucky to be in the same group as her mother, the only other human being that had ever cared about her.

Through the entire journey, she had been humiliated, starved, tortured and even spat on multiple times. However, the thing that stung the most was watching her mother, along with several other women, be brutally raped. They screamed, and the elves laughed. If they didn't scream or please their 'masters' enough, pain would be delivered, and in terrifying doses.

For over a month, they were forced to march barefoot across a hideous forest with barely any food or water. Disease reaped lives, and those too weak to keep up were brutally murdered by the elves.

Slavers might not be innately bad people, but they needed force and terror to keep the humans in line. Hence, torture, murder, rape, and humiliation were all tools to destroy the resistance of the humans, who were less than animals in their eyes.

And thus, when Helen was suddenly grabbed by one of the more... violent slavers, something in her heart broke. She knew she was about to lose something very important to her. Not her virginity, but instead, her dignity and pride.

And when her mother screamed her name and begged to be taken instead, Helen felt tears stream down her face. She almost never cried, but this time, she couldn't help it.

She cried out for her mommy like a little baby. Like the useless, powerless little girl she was.

All hope was gone, and yet, at that moment, her life changed forever, as did that of all the enslaved humans.

A single word filled with endless dignity and power came from the skies, and with it, the most beautiful being Helen had ever seen, whether male or female.

Her eyes alone seemed able to incinerate everything with a single look, and it made Helen's heart beat with newfound hope.

The hand that had slid down to her ass tightened once before releasing it as her would-be rapist pulled out his expensive elven bow and magical arrows that looked so threatening in all their enchanted and poisoned glory.

However, without even lifting a finger, the arrows were annihilated before they could even come near the being who could only be a goddess. Her golden eyes swept across the elves and a disdainful look emerged on her face, her terrifying eyes holding a trace of ridicule.

Then, Helen watched in wonder as, with a mere wave of her hand, the once invincible elves were literally vaporized off of the face of the planet.

The goddess then turned her eyes towards her group, who had huddled together. She had run back to her mother the moment she was released, and as tears streamed down both of their faces, they too got on their knees and put their foreheads on the ground.

Being ultimately but a child, Helen couldn't help but peek upwards to look at the goddess. Her expression held mixed emotions, and even those were extremely hard to read even for Helen, who specialized in reading people. After all, knowing your target when you pickpocket is important.

As each second passed and the group got more and more nervous, the goddess' expression changed. Softness filled her beautiful face as she slowly levitated down to the ground, and upon reaching it, her large wings that made Helen want to touch them laid down across her back.

"My children." She said, and instantly, Helen felt a bit weirded out, but the adults seemed almost... elated? Helen had one mother only, she thought defiantly.

The goddess walked towards the group like a ghost, the ground itself seemed almost afraid of letting out noise when her feet touched it.

"You have been through so, so much." The goddess said again, and this time, Helen could tell she was close. Very close.

The adults seemed almost afraid to raise their heads, so Helen obviously followed their lead. However, a small, delicate hand softly grasped her chin and pulled Helen's face up.

Cold sweat ran down Helen's back as the goddess looked into her eyes. It felt as though her every secret was exposed before this woman, and Helen didn't like this feeling a single bit. She liked her secrets where they were: Nice and hidden.

The woman gazed deeply into her eyes for a couple of seconds before murmuring, her voice low but still loud. A contradiction in and on itself.

"Children like you should be held sacred. What potential you hold, little one, I can see it in your eyes." The goddess leaned forward, their foreheads now touching. A strange feeling spread out from her forehead through her body, and she suddenly felt like a pile of goo. A happy, healthy pile of goo.

When the woman retreated, Helen felt like she had been reborn. The goddess stepped backward, a slight smile on her lips as everyone stared at Helen in wonder. Including Helen.

She looked at her hands that had once been rugged and scarred but were now much softer. The scars and burns across her body had vanished, and meat once more surrounded her bones, whereas she had been little more than a skeleton beforehand.

The rags that were her clothing had magically mended themselves, and while still rags, they at least resembled clothes now. Helen looked up at the goddess with childlike admiration and quickly slammed her head on the ground so quickly it hurt a bit.

"Thank you thank you thank you!" Helen said. The goddess' smile only got wider.

"It is nothing, child. Remember, treasure your mother, for you will only ever have one." She said as her gaze switched from Helen to her mother, who had been anxiously watching nearby.

"Y-Yes!" Helen stammered, somehow happy and yet also embarrassed.

The goddess smiled indulgently at the little girl. While it was true she had originally intended to just use her as a way to show off her prowess, what she had said came from her heart. She never did have the happiness of a mother, so she knew just how important it was.

Her head turned towards the rest of the now free humans. "I wish not to force you into anything, but it is clear to me that you now have nowhere to go. I assume your village is now gone, and with the elves everywhere, you will only be once more enslaved, and this time, death will be a relief if they get their hands on you"

Her eyes turned sharp as she stared at every person, around 200 people, right in the eyes. Or at least those who dared look at her, which was arguably a small amount of mostly young ones.

"However, I have a proposition for you." She said, getting down to the point. Even now, the faith from these humans was intoxicating, and she wanted, no, needed more. However, she also knew she couldn't force it. She would have to work for it.

"Your home has been destroyed. Your future is bleak. Your past was miserable. Your present is desperate. However... I can change that." She exclaimed, spreading her arms out, wings flaring as her aura roared to life.

The people now all looked up at her, and in their eyes, she was no longer a 'maybe that's a goddess, who knows, maybe she's just a mage'. No, now, she was their star of hope. The one who held their future in her hands.

"Become my followers, and I will grant you a home. Believe in me, and I will grant you power. Obey me, and I will protect you. Become my warriors on this earth, and I will grant you the power to destroy those who wronged you." She said, her voice perfectly smooth, yet to the humans, it felt as loud as thunder. A good and easy trick to impress people. She yet again had to wonder who she had been in her past life for her 'people skills' to be like this, because of she sure as hell never even spoke to anyone before this.

The humans looked at each other for a couple dozen seconds, searching for an answer amongst themselves. Slowly, every one of them, young or old, once more lowered their heads.

The goddess smiled even more.