Sera looked on forlornly as the sisters prepared for the ceremony.

It was just after sunset, and they were in the basement of the “Temple,” assembled in a room specifically designed for this event. The chamber was large, probably the entire area of the building above, with thick wooden pillars supporting the masonry ceiling. Though cellars like this were usually dank and filled with spiderwebs and rat droppings, this room was meticulously maintained and looked as clean as any divine temple she had ever seen.

The young woman had spent many hours studying ancient symbols and seals of power and thought she recognized elements from just about every faith etched into the walls and floors of this room. Torches hung on nearly every support post, and Sera would swear that a divine spell must have been cast on them, for they seemed to illuminate the room with pure white light, with hardly a shadow to be found. The floor comprised thousands of carefully laid bricks and paving stones creating intricate geometric designs. They were gathered around the central symbol, a large ring four feet wide and 25 across, with a cross through the center dividing the circle into four equal sections. Smaller circles were paved into the floor on the center rim of each section, with the familiar symbols of mind, body, heart, and life. Sera stood with Persephone by the body symbol. Or, rather, the tall islander stood while Sera slumped against a nearby pillar.

All the non-believers of this fringe religion had very different reactions to these proceedings. Gerhold was furious. He had been charged with keeping the Elementals safe, and now these women were going to appropriate them for themselves. He was the least injured of those who had spent time resting that day, and it had taken iron shackles tied to a post to restrain him. Eventually, they had gagged him as well and secured him twenty feet from the circle in the corner of the vast room.

Sera had wondered why they even brought him down here, but she guessed these women needed witnesses for this event. If they were successful and actually did bring about the salvation of the human race, a knight of the Elemental Order would be a good herald for them.

Celaina sat near her husband, propped up on a cot, still recovering from her wound. She seemed more intrigued than anything else. Once Sera had stopped sobbing and eaten some lunch, she had looked through the books Emoyen had given her and couldn’t deny what they said. She needed a second opinion, and with Gerhold fired up, she had gone to the older woman, hoping for some wisdom and insight into what this cult had gotten wrong. The paladin couldn’t find it. It was clear that the ancient texts noted several times that the savior(s) would be female. The idea that there would be multiple women was less specific, with the Anglican text the most prominent indication of that belief.

When Sera had tried to find a way out of this scenario, Celaina had just smiled at her and reminded her that the Divine Savior was not ignorant. Even if these women transferred all four Elementals into themselves, there was no reason the true Savior couldn’t come right after and call them to himself. Who knows, he might descend and use these women as his servants to purify the human race. Anything was possible, and she couldn't be sure without time to properly study all of these ancient texts that the women had hoarded.

Ethan was barely awake. Natasha and Diedre stood by him, their hands all over his bare torso. Sera didn’t know why he had to have his shirt off, but he did have the heart Elemental, and perhaps they needed skin on skin to transfer it. She looked at the women constantly fawning over him, growing green with envy. It was bad enough that they had stolen her faith and were soon going to steal her newfound power, but to steal Ethan also was too much for her to bear.

Sera had felt the magnetism toward him once they had both obtained their Elementals and knew the body and heart elements clashed sexually, but soon they would both be rid of that power, and what would she have that he wanted then? He was surrounded by far more beautiful and powerful women, and she worried that the connection they would require to make the transfer would be even more intimate than what he and Natasha had already experienced. Surely after this was over, nothing would prevent him and Natasha from living out the woman’s dreams of him.

Or perhaps he would choose Persephone. Sera looked at the goddess of beauty and would hardly blame him. If there was anything that Ethan found attractive in Sera, Persephone had it in far more abundance with an angelic quality that made her sisterhood’s namesake proud. The only saving grace was that Ethan was so out of it from his injury that he probably hadn’t even seen the woman yet. Right now, if he was aware of anything, it could only be Natasha’s relentless attention.

Sera tried to hope that when this was over, these women would have more important things to do than concern themselves with the relationship of two young people. They would be the Saviors of the world. Though, even if they left them alone and Ethan survived this ceremony with some level of desire or passion, what would Sera have? She was trained as a physic, but Persephone would soon make sickness and disease a thing of the past. The young woman was also an apprentice to the Temple of the Divine Savior, but who would follow that faith anymore. She didn’t think she would. According to the divine verses, the faithful alive would first inherit the Savior's renewing power. That wouldn’t be her. Not only did she not believe, but she had used the divine Elemental for her own enjoyment, even using it to kill. No, she would be one of the last to be renewed, assuming she didn’t kill herself first.

With these thoughts on her mind, she gave little attention as the ceremony started.

Jennifer began the proceedings. Each woman held their appropriate weapons, and the Tallashite woman lofted the spear over her head and walked toward the circle’s center. She had started at the three O’clock position, across from Emoyen, who held the dagger. Ethan and his two passionate women were at the twelve O’clock, and Sera and Persephone completed the circle. With the spear above her head, Jennifer sang out, twirling and dancing, full of life.

The other women looked on expectedly, not really knowing what would happen. All they knew was that Jennifer said she could absorb the power of life from the spear, and with it, she would be able to initiate the transfers for everyone else. Now, they could only observe as a hum of power began to resonate through the room. Mist pockets formed in the air with tiny sparks of energy snapping between them as if a miniature thunderstorm was coalescing inside the chamber. The clouds converged on the Tallashite woman in the center, her priestly robes flaring about her as she spun in a dizzying display.

Her dance reached a crescendo, the mist suddenly enveloping her entirely, and then ended abruptly as she spun about and hurled the spear toward the top of the circle. The sound of thunder filled the chamber as the weapon streaked through the air like a lightning bolt. The missile found its target as it punched a hole in Diedre’s chest, yanked her off her feet, and pinned her to a wooden pillar ten feet behind.

“No!!!” Emoyen screamed as she saw the woman she loved nailed through the chest. She dropped the dagger and raced toward her sister, but Jennifer swept her arm toward the paladin and knocked her to the ground. Instead, the killer strode purposefully toward their impaled leader, the rest of the room shocked into motionlessness save Emoyen, who struggled to her feet.

Soon Jennifer stood before Diedre’s quickly dying form, the shaft still quivering from the shock of the killing throw. The shorter Tallashite woman looked the sisterhood leader in the eyes as the last spark of life left her and then ripped the spear from her chest. Electricity sparked through the woman coursing up and down her body like a lightning storm in a tornado.

Sera looked on, her apathy powerless to prevent her from taking in the scene before her. She expected the woman to pass into unconsciousness as she and Ethan had when they had first encountered the Elemental, but this woman had spent over a decade cultivating her life force to prepare for this moment. Also, while being overwhelmed emotionally, physically, or mentally might throw someone into incoherency, being filled with life could very well have the opposite effect.

As more clouds and lightning surrounded Jennifer, Emoyen finally got to her feet and raced over to Diedre’s limp form on the ground. Despite nearly being the same size, the paladin effortlessly lifted the woman in her arms and cradled her head beneath her own, but there wasn’t one breath of life left, and Emoyen screamed. “How could you!”

Jennifer was coming down from the rush of power that surrounded her, and soon only a few miniature thunderclouds floated about her body, and she turned to regard the grieving woman. “It was necessary to transfer the Elemental.” Her voice was passionless.

“But you said-”

“I lied,” the Tallashite woman said, cackling with glee as lightning jumped between her clouds.

With the traitor distracted, Persephone approached cautiously from behind, holding the axe firmly in her hands, but it was still joined to Sera, and it did not allow her to attack the woman sparking power before her. Instead, Jennifer sensed her sister struggling with the weapon and spun around from within the storm and slapped the taller woman aside with the tip of her spear, cutting her across her arm and throwing her into the opposite side of the basement, where she landed hard near Gerhold and Celaina, who were both aghast at what they saw.

“The Supplanter lives!” Jennifer cried as she walked back to the middle of the circle and looked around at any further resistance someone might offer. Sera watched on in shock, but her heart was broken, and she couldn’t summon the courage or the strength to attack, even though Persephone had dropped the axe, and it skittered to a stop near her feet. They had dismissed all the guards before the ceremony started, wanting their privacy and not knowing how it would go.

Emoyen and Persephone weren’t done yet, though. The paladin gave her love one last kiss before gently laying her on the ground, and the islander picked herself off the ground, seemingly unhurt from her vicious collision. Emoyen was wearing her sword and drew it now. The acrobat islander didn’t need a weapon. They both charged the icon of power before them from opposite sides, and Jennifer only laughed, her robes billowing in unseen wind as lightning reverberated around her body. The electricity seemed drawn to the paladin’s sword and armor, and Emoyen felt paralyzed before she got close and was then thrown back in a violent explosion of static power.

Persephone got closer but met a similar fate. Her flying kick bounced harmlessly off her sister, and she was also zapped across the large room, flying completely through one of the support pillars and into the wall, lightning scorching the stone where she fell. The resilient woman wasn’t through yet, but she no longer moved with any speed.

Emoyen didn’t have the same fortitude as the body disciple, and she was smart enough to know that no attack she could muster could possibly get through. She contemplated another strike when half a dozen men poured into the room through the lone door that led back up to the main floor. She saw Quarton in the lead and was shocked that the enforcer had found them. He had been waiting in an upper room, having broken through the back door fifteen minutes ago, and then responded to Jennifer’s cry but found that most of the fight was already over.

Almost over.

Persephone was still trying to rise, and as the life-infused woman in the center of the room turned her eyes toward Ethan, Natasha grew defensive and stood in front of her emotional anchor. “Can you stop fire too?” she asked as flames leaped to her hands and then flashed out at the woman standing only a dozen feet away. The inferno burned away the few clouds and replaced them with a firestorm, but it stayed on the outer surface. As Jennifer fought for control over the attack, she sensed the islander coming in from behind again, this time with Gerhold’s sword in her hand.

Fire and lightning lashed out at the brave woman, and she flew through another pillar and hit the wall so violently that the whole building shook. A terrifying groan echoed through the chamber, and with two posts broken, the ceiling crashed down about her, covering Persephone, Gerhold, and Celaina. The sound of the crash brought a cry of anguish from Ethan, who seemed roused by Natasha’s passionate defense, but he was powerless to rise from his chair, and the pain brought on by the effort seemed to disable Natasha as much as it did him. She cried in agony and then crumpled to her knees as Jennifer stalked toward her and released a powerful but controlled spray of electricity. Natasha lost consciousness and fell to her side.

“Secure her,” Jennifer said, pointing at Emoyen. The stunned paladin put up little resistance as Quarton’s men swarmed around her. Instead, the remaining Angelican Savior turned her attention to Sera. The Tallashite had expected more from the small but powerful young woman, yet she remained docile, slumped against a post at the edge of the circle, waiting for her turn to be rendered insignificant.

Jennifer smiled as she realized Sera would get her wish, but it would come at the hands of the Supplanter in a few days. She walked over to the woman, lifting her chin to demand she look up into the face of the new, most powerful woman alive. “Oh, the power you could have if you only knew,” she said, but Sera stared back at her with dead, passionless eyes.

“Shackle her,” Jennifer instructed. “And have your two strongest men guard her at all times.”

Quarton accepted the order, knowing full well how formidable Sera could be if she ever got the will to apply herself again. Jennifer trusted the men and turned to collect the weapons. The dagger and axe had been dropped in the circle, while the sword had never ventured far from Ethan’s side. Diedre had been holding it when the spear impaled her, and she had dropped it at the young man’s feet. He stirred slightly, still in a haze of pain and anguish at seeing his mentor and friend covered in an avalanche of stone.

“I think you can live without this for a while,” she said as she stooped to pick up the weapon.

Ethan stirred again but didn’t have the strength to say anything. Jennifer laughed at his helpless state. “Shackle the man as well and be careful with the woman.” She motioned to Natasha. “She needs to be kept separate from the others.”

Again, Quarton knew of her powers and instructed his men accordingly. They made sure to bind her arms behind her back and wouldn’t let her anywhere near Ethan for the trip back to the temple. The enforcer then turned to the supplicant in charge and winced at the idea of the woman carrying all four Elementals. She had the axe secured on one hip, having stolen Sera’s sheath, and had the sword on the other. The knife was strapped to her thigh, and she held the spear as if it were a walking stick. Her electrical display was mostly ended, but the hair on Quarton’s arms stood on end whenever he got too close to her.

“Are your men ready to travel?” she asked.

He nodded.

“Good, then we leave tonight. The Order will find out about this and will give chase. We cannot delay.”

With one final look at the collapsed corner in the room, Jennifer followed the supplicant fighters and the prisoners out of the lower chamber and into the streets of Brighton.