--- Stone Giantess Fabia POV

Entering a state of balance, middling as my Tiger Kin Mentor calls the position, I leave the restrictions of reality and spirituality flows through me. I am ready to receive as well as send … from the Tiger Kin mediation position I reach forward with my hands and touch the corpse. All other bodies are soulless and spiritless, yet this one is different, is this my opportunity after so long? Moisture gathers in my eyes … emotion while in the middling state?

I gather this emotion and reach out to the slain with reverence and as is the way with Lion Kin; honour the dead, encouraging their soul to return and beget another life. Nothings returns from the corpse … I am certain I have followed both ceremonies exactly, codified and performed with Panther Kin like devotion to procedure and documentation. None of the study … helps. My weeping heart shakes my middling state, yet I can’t admit defeat even though I don’t know how to win …

Grabbing the hands of the corpse my thought is to shake her awake, demand she rise … upon contact my body stiffens, as if storm lightning jolts through me, I am conscious, yet my eyes roll about … a presence contacts me, I identify her, a spirit.

“I am trapped yet you can free me. Destroy the vessel, the ring upon this body’s finger, ensure you maintain your state of oneness with the body … rescue me.”

The warm flesh of her hands, blood pulsing through the thumbs, the coldness of the ring … I crush the circle edge of the band between finger and thumb lacerating both. The release of blood … necessary, washing the ring … this realisation springing forth during the moment, a fortuitous discovery.

A weight falls across my shoulders trying to grind me down, force me to lay prostrate. I resist, yet special energy fills me, invasive, my skin ripples, front, sides and back climbing up to my neck, my chin rises trying to escape. Futile, the extremities of my ears tingle and then the waves crash together, dead centre on the top of my head. My hands lean forward, heavy upon the body for support against my will.

I force my eyes to seek out my children, yet this is a battle I lose … my eyes reach skywards instead while the tingling ripple of my tough grey skin travels from my shoulders downwards. A light pierces my eyes and instead of blindness, an examination. Is this where I am found out?

Years of suffering, dragging my children behind me, they are devoid of choice … they must follow their mother. Is this cruelty? During this time, they don’t play with their own, Beast Kin come and go with their children depending upon their tolerance for my ravings, my conviction about the certainty of raising a deity of life. My endless hope, eventually being perceived by any companions as madness or an affliction. My children finding friends and shortly after suffering separation or worse often subject to pity or mistrust. Remembering my days … before, the ever-nurturing mother I now recognise my failure.

As a devout believer, I know I stay on the true path and continue for their sake, our arduous journey needs to retain meaning. They learn from me by observing my actions, listening to my guidance and they will carry on if I fail given my exemplary example, yet I am tired. I wish to lay down and rest, forever. They need the care of their own and so we return to where we started. I am certain the village will welcome us back … they must.

Her hands grip mine …

{Realm Unlocked and Assigned: Life, +5% Divine Dominate, System Error: unable to assigned Divine Dominate to mortal Soul. Pantheon exists. Ruler God exists. Deferring to Ruler God adjudication.}

Her hands release and fall away. As for the message I don’t understand … I don’t feel any different.

I climb to my feet, my daughter quick to assist. Flexing stiff fingers and moving my head from side to side I believe the worst of whatever this was is over. Where is my son? My heart skips a beat then I follow my daughter’s eyes and locate him.

Calling to him, I rush towards his position without trying to indulge the tendrils of panic rising within me. Forcing a calm within my voice I ask him to report, reverting to familiar normalcy between us and thereby establish control over the situation. I request introductions and the Snake Kin answers with intimidation.

“Why are you far from your Temple?” I demand, staring down upon the Snake Kin my motherly instinct rising.

The Snake Kin shakes her head. “I don’t know, yet perhaps the other in this clearing knows more …”

“Who me?”

My son buckles and I wish to reach out to save him … he recovers without assistance from his mother and looks behind me as I turn to face the new arrival, her ill-fitting robes catching my eye.

She bows. “Alba, Priestess of Aphrodite, thankful for the foresight and courage of the Stone Giantess Fabia.”

I recognise the body now risen and the name … The Snake Kin Initiate bows immediately in response. I find the situation almost laughable, two worshippers of Aphrodite who have never met before nevertheless adhering to a hierarchy without hesitation.

“Are you well now,” Priestess Alba asks me. The genuine concern in her voice a heartfelt surprise.

“I think so, there was a flash of a message and then gone …”

“Has this happened before?” Her eyes are scanning my face, she looks ridiculous balancing upon her toes for extra height and if this were any other time I would probably laugh or smile …

“Maybe … the depth of my meditation was such not much registered except being one with you and urging your Spirit into your body …”

“What made you believe …?”

How do I answer that question? The moment seemed right, or should I go with more honesty? After nearly three years of wandering, trying to convince sceptics, questioning Priests, and listening to living history from various elders I drew some conclusions. Before Gods, upon death the Spirit would sink into the ground, the Soul would rise to who knows where with no intervention needed. After the arrival of Gods, this changed.

“Your Goddess can sunder and destroy the Soul and Spirit from the living, the Goddess Dilia can free the Spirit and Soul from a corpse so they can be carried to the Spirit Plane and Soul Stream respectfully. If a Soul and Spirit are near their corpse some God must be able to reunite both to their recently living body, this act is the missing one, don’t you think?”

Initiate Cyran slithers forward intent to listen I believe, her head low trying in vain to reduce her height. I hold back a chuckle, the flesh body of her Priestess the shortest of all, including my daughter. Similar in proportion to a Stone Giant yet smaller, pinkish skin and body hair like the Frost Giants, black instead of red though.

“That or what you say is never meant to be, separation and renewal only as professed by Aphrodite, Death Realm and Fertility Realm, respectively.”

Blood throbs within me, doesn’t she get it?

“What of you? With your Spirit returned to your body, you aren’t only alive but can now live your life …”

Her face washes pink, while her neck takes on an almost red hue.

“I see no reason to lie, so I must confess the Body and Soul is not of me, my Spirit belonged to the ring, bound there using magic and only released when between your fingers, you broke the circle to sunder the enchantment. I apologise if I have dashed any of your hopes.”

The Snake Kin Initiate flaps her hands while hissing. “I knew, I didn’t think I dreamt … I remember placing you upon my finger and together my magic would assist you in casting a spell or perform a ceremony, one of those anyway. Then I recover and I no longer feel your presence, yet soon after, the Priestess Alba lives in a small Stone Giant body yet pale pink … and more hair. For some reason, I always imagined you as a fish of some sort. Funny hey?”

With patience developed after two years on the road, I wait for the Initiate to finish because I want to be certain the Priestess not only hears my words but consumes them, utterly.

“Your circumstances convince me more. Body, Soul and Spirit can be mixed and matched, the Gods, the great Design or whatever doesn’t quibble as long as those three co-exist at once. Amongst the Lion Kin, when they slay an animal, they immediately apologise to the animal and perform a ceremony of honourable sacrifice to release the animal’s soul from its corpse. With this release, the animal can be born again and provide for the tribe once more. The ceremony is tribal magic of sorts, similar to Faith Magic yet nowhere near as powerful as Realm Magic or Divine Magic. Animals are limited to instinct, yet I believe I could have reunited your Spirit with any animal, and you would then be made complete, you were fortunate someone left a living spiritless body behind.”

I grin and witness her swallow. My words have struck a truth and I need to know what it is. Patience I demand of myself.

“You … you are right in much of what you say … let me explain.” She shuffles her feet about before continuing. “There is another magic called sorcery and to explain its workings would take a great deal of time, but in essence, there is one Sorcery Spell which after the Sorcerer sacrifices a piece of themselves, they can awaken an animal. The animal is aware, can learn and generally assist the Sorcerer in many ways. If the animal, called a familiar is slain then the Sorcerer suffers as their lives are bound together.”

Before I realise, I am on my bottom and the sky comes into view as I lay back …

[Anointing incomplete Neophyte God. Realm: Life. A physical body, therefore, the God will reside on the Physical Plane until conditions are met to reside upon the God Plane. Warning: May be banished from the Pantheon and destroyed by Knowledge God if/when appointed or banished only from the Pantheon at any time by the Ruler God. Offering role … (Y/N)]

Is this my opportunity? It must be, there is no other explanation for the crescendo of chanting from my hopeful believers which enveloped me as I directed her Spirit into the Soulful Body. I entwine my fingers to calm my jitters and then will Y.

{Realm Unlocked and Assigned: Life, +5% Divine Dominate, Total Divine Dominate 5%. Your action to reunite a Spirit to a Body containing a Soul completes the reincarnation of life.}

[Total Divine Dominate equals 1% or more: Incomplete Neophyte Goddess Fabia established.]

{Divine Magic accessible at Divine Dominate 1%: [Assess Aspirant], [Worship (Fabia)]}

[Spontaneous Consecration of Site +1% Divine Dominate. Total Divine Dominate 6%]

Several of these messages flash by, I suspect the homes of those few true believers now venerate a Worship Site in my name.

{Divine Magic accessible at Divine Dominate 6%: [Sanctify Area (Fabia)]}

[Spontaneous Consecration of Shrine within the clearing +3% Divine Dominate. Total Divine Dominate 9%]

{Faith Magic obtainable from Shrine: [Healing]}

{Realm Magic obtainable from Shrine: [None]}

[Consecration of Shrine within the clearing, venerated as a Pilgrimage Site +5% Divine Dominate. Total Divine Dominate 14%]

{Divine Magic accessible at Divine Dominate 11%: [Magiclink]}

Several familiar faces obscure the blue sky above me. When I blink my eyes, concern washes away, my son and daughter reach down to embrace me while the Priestess and the Initiate back away. Actually, far away, almost to the edge of the clearing.

An arm around each of my children and I am quickly into a sitting position. Two grim faces are staring at me, such that I refrain from even trying to smile.

Priestess Alba’s eyes are upon me. “You are unaware, as are your children there is an aura about you now, one which invites those you met to challenge you. I don’t understand why. I resist due to the gratitude I feel towards you, while I am certain Initiate Cyran does for similar reasons. We must take our leave …”

“No!” I shout.

They both look back.

“You are the only ones who can help me now. This aura you speak of. All Neophyte Godlings exude it, the challenges are a test, usually a martial test and for a Godling such as I tied to the Life Realm I fear for the worst. You two though can resist and so I need your help.”

They chat between themselves instead of leaving, I hold on to that as a good sign.

“Dulra mark several trees on the very edge of the clearing with this symbol.” I draw three circles on the ground, the first surrounded by the second and the second surrounded by the third, the symbol making sense, Body, Soul and Spirit all need to exist for life to exist and all need to be never-ending, hence the circle construct.

“What do you need us for?” asks the Priestess.

“I would like to offer you Lay Membership in my name and then ask if you can contribute worship and magic to my attempt to [Sanctify] this area further to establish my first Temple.” There I said it, I revealed my entire plan. Given Aphrodite holds the Truth Realm I am certain her worshippers treasure the truth more than guessing games or uncertainty.

They share a nodding glance and approach me. I place a hand upon each of their right shoulders and cast [Worship (Fabia)]. They both accept the offer of Lay Membership, and their faces relax.

“It would seem Lay Membership is enough to wash away our urge to challenge,” states Alba in a plain tone.

My jubilant daughter runs to assist my son. Did she stand guard over me?

Alba and Cyran exchange glances. Cyran speaks, full of respect though, “A Temple is normally a construct of some sort, trees can grow, they can die, where would your worshippers defend from attack? A single raid on your new Temple would most likely destroy it?”

“With my aura under control, I would think my offer of healing and perhaps as I grow reincarnation would be great bargaining positions with any hostile forces. I doubt I would be as proficient as a War God in killing so why try?”

They both nod in silence and we wait for my children to return. When they do I offer them Lay Membership as well to contribute their worship. I inspect the marks upon the trees, each in turn, and am well satisfied. There are nine trees marked roughly equidistance around the clearing.

We join hands and I cast [Worship (Fabia)] to draw as much worshipping magic as I can in preparation for the following ceremony. While I am separated from my other worshippers and they are bereft of [Worship (Fabia)] to contribute there is a very real sense they pray for my success, nevertheless. I don’t know if the magic I have accumulated is enough and I sense regardless I will need many more worshippers to flock to my Temple to maintain this sanctified ground as a place of worship upon success.

I cast [Sanctify Area (Fabia)] and pour all the worship magic and my magic into the ceremony.

---

I open my eyes and think I don’t, pitch-black darkness surrounds me and at least two others are, as I hold their hands. They shake to check our mutual grip.

“Can we release our hands now?” I recognise the voice of my son.

“Yes, all the magic is spent …” I know my voice trails off in disappointment, yet I can’t disguise my sense of total failure.

A glowing globe of light springs into existence and captures our moment of shock except for the Priestess.

“I dabble in Sorcery as well as worshipping two Goddesses …” There is plenty of gentle mirth to her words. I suspect, for my benefit as I continue to ponder my failure. I remember my encounters with Aphrodite and how my husband became consumed in ensuring her success and the many others who to different degrees helped as well. What do I have? Two reluctant worshippers of Aphrodite as Lay Members and my children. Lifting myself out of self-blame, laughter catches my attention. Watas plays with Issa, now free of his knapsack and waving a strip of dried meat in one hand teasing his sister to take it back and scampering away as she pretends to just miss him.

A hand drops upon my shoulder, and I look up into the pale pink face of the Priestess.

“We will sleep tonight. Once refreshed, at daybreak we will try again.”

I know my jaw drops, yet I can’t recover before she smiles and strolls away to join Cyran, both laying together upon the soft green grass. How soon do I forget the clearing is my Shrine still? A place of Worship dedicated to my Realm and as such a buzz of life echoes out from it.

---

Positioning myself in the dead centre of the clearing, my Shrine, I meditate. A discipline I learnt from the Tiger Kin to reach inner peace. They intend to reach some perfect place, body, mind, and soul. Perhaps their failure due to not considering the Spirit? I chuckle inwardly, thinking I may have truly stumbled upon their missing piece. So instead of being oblivious to my surroundings I am awake and not only sense the trespass I prepare as well.

I cast [Sense Life] and detect the approach of a column of intruders and yet their grasp on life is like a flickering candle in the wind, at any moment they could be blown out. Given the number and assuming regardless of their current state they will soon resort to violence due to my aura I cast [Worship (Fabia)] trying to reach them in worship before they react otherwise. The other oddity is they carry no torches or another light source of any kind …

As pre-dawn casts an eery light upon the clearing I count thirty humanoid outlines, different sizes, some children, the rest adults. They remain asleep when morning light illuminates them, the dull grey skin tone of Stone Giants not easily mistaken. Rough bandages disguise the severity of their wounds dressing day old scabs or worse injuries, male, female, or children aren’t spared. These are runaways, come down from the mountain. The males of fighting age not amongst them, although they didn’t ask their adolescents to sacrifice themselves in the rear-guard it seems.

“They must be your Lay Members now, the only explanation for their docile behaviour?”

“Yes, Priestess. [Sense Life] warned me of their numbers once I felt their trespass and [Worship (Fabia)] converted them, and I suspect being on consecrated ground alleviated the need for me to touch any.”

“A Godling needs a Prophet in the earliest days, I see that now as they can bring the worshippers to you, without your aura spoiling the invitation. I am certain these poor wretches, Stone Giants or not had little fight left in them in any case,” she replies.

I nod towards the Priestess, her assessment true. I doubt even with morning upon them we can wake them so I must repeat my attempt of yesterday. This reminds me of a question.

“Priestess, why do you think today will be any better than yesterday?”

She pauses rousing Cyran and smiles at me. “A hunch. Your Realm is Life, you only need to observe the plants in and around the edge of the clearing and how they turn to the sun. Even beings of flesh and blood would rather bask under warm sunlight than endure the cold dead of night, Frost Giants probably the sole exception." A grin. "So … I would think the perfect time to consecrate a Temple of Life would be under the full light of the Sun.”

“Why is it that you recognise this simple thing about my Realm when I don’t?” My words spill before I can catch them … innocent curiosity.

Returning a warm smile, her hands reaching for mine, she explains, “Because you are recently anointed, deep in your own thoughts believing you must provide all the answers. Instead, gather trusted people about you, better still make them your worshippers and throw some of your problems to them, listen as much as you speak. The Goddess Aphrodite didn’t excel until she found her trusted few, you need to do likewise.”

After breaking our fast on dried strips of meat and water we form our circle again, although I decide to adjust the seating arrangements. I aim to recreate the Life Rune and place Issa in the centre and ask him to be still. A challenge for a two-year-old and yet being a Goddess, he is in awe of me perhaps and holds his position. Dulra and Watas hold hands around their brother, representing the second circle of the Life Rune, while Alba, Cyran and myself hold hands around them representing the third circle of the Life Rune.

I cast [Worship (Fabia)] to draw as much worshipping magic as I can in preparation for the following ceremony. To my amazement, there is an overwhelming influx and I recognise the source, the sleeping Stone Giant Lay Members, unconscious yet answering my call, perhaps via a dream state. I am more confident this time and not simply because of the greater accumulation. I sense a greater synergy, the Shrine gathers in the sun encouraging life in the vegetation that surrounds us, the three circles we have replicated in our seating arrangement and the inclusion of all my living family who have endured with me.

I cast [Sanctify Area (Fabia)] and pour all the worship magic and my magic into the ceremony.

[Consecration of Temple +5% Divine Dominate. Total Divine Dominate 19%]

[Dissolution of the sole Shrine -3% Divine Dominate, Total Divine Dominate 16%]

{Ordination of Priest +5% Divine Dominate. Total Divine Dominate 21%}

{Due to Level of Faith, Dulra El Nasim promoted to Priestess of Fabia, Priest Profession unlocked at Level 3}

{Ordination of Initiate +1% Divine Dominate. Total Divine Dominate 22%}

{Due to Level of Faith, Watas El Nasim promoted to Initiate of Fabia}

[Total Divine Dominate equals 22% or more: Neophyte Goddess Fabia promoted to Minor Goddess Fabia.]

{Divine Magic accessible at Divine Dominate 22%: [Heal Flesh], [Soul Sight], [Cleanse Magic]}

[Worshipper calculation starting …]

[Worshipper calculation stabilises at 22 Souls: 1 Priest and 21 Initiates.]

(System Warning: Place of Worship unsustainable without increasing Worshipper Numbers)

[Place of Worship established: Worshipper Base equals 20 Souls or more +1% Divine Dominate. Total Divine Dominate 23%]

--- Cardinal Pex POV

Climbing each stair, a task within itself, undulating my tail just so to ascend from one to the next and occasionally reaching out with my hands to steady myself against each wall, a burden only someone without choice would make I realise, like me. Stairs are best for bipeds I decide, which of course suited the former Arch Priest of Aphrodite. Given his insistence on placing his office at the height of the Cathedral at the top of many shallow depth stairs within a Snake Kin city, while utilising Lizard Kin, biped guards denoted forethought and planning. Except of course he dallied in my torture overly long towards the end … plenty of time for his Cardinals to climb these very stairs and confront him upon return …

I pause on the landing before his office, soon to be Alasse’s … thinking of her name causes butterflies to dance within my stomach and yet my purpose this day betrays us as much as our Goddess. My will is not my own, I am aware yet there is no fight in me to deny his instructions. With a deep breath, I slide forward and push open the door to his office. The desk remains in place, the cupboard still shifted aside. A search of the office has been done, each stack of parchment haphazard, yet still in stacks. I know I delay. My eyes fall upon the rune circle and painful memories flood my mind; this is the doorway to my prison of months and yet I am drawn towards the gateway to my torture and when he completed his sorcery upon me … the horrible beast gloated … he could have commanded me to forget.

Pushing my magic into the rune circle and in an instant, I am no longer in his office. Smooth stone walls surround me on three sides and my hands caress them on instinct. My prison and my home … I can’t explain why I feel this way and as I slither forward, his Sorcery upon me compels me to bypass the doorway into my home proper, every fibre in my being wishing to enter. Exerting my will to oppose his spell futile and in the same way, I find myself resting upon a coiled snake tail within the rune circle at the other end of the passage. As before a push of my magic into the runes and in an instant I am elsewhere.