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Elphemina sat – legs folded beneath her, on the flat roof of the temple. Another figure sat opposite her. Above them, the yellow, blue, purple and orange streaks of the dawn sky. The sunlight wasn't at its strongest this early, but was enough for her purpose.
Turning her face upward, she breathed deeply, a single word bursting from her lips as she exhaled. A shaft of sunlight lanced from the sky, enveloping the two women.
As the sunlight bathed her naked form, Elphemina felt energy surge through her. Her eyes – globes of sunlight in her skull, blazed with suppressed power. She heard the figure opposite her cry out. The High Priestess understood what Astianna was going through. She too had cried out in wonder as the power of Mithros surged through her veins when her predecessor had performed the same rites with her.
Both women sat silently, bathing in the glow, well into the morning. When she sensed the time was right, Elphemina rose smoothly to her feet and stretched out a hand to Astianna. Assisting the younger woman to her feet, Elphemina helped her shrug on a light silk robe, before clothing herself in the same. Then she guided her to an opening on the roof, keeping a watchful eye as the younger woman climbed gingerly down a short ladder.
The High Priestess climbed down and joined Astianna in the room below. Bidding her sit on an upholstered chair, Elphemina moved behind her desk and sat down. Astianna's skin and short-cropped red hair shone with a golden glow, as did her unusually coloured eyes.
“It is a... somewhat... unusual feeling, as the power of Mithros surges through you for the first time,” Elphemina said, smiling at Astianna. “I will never forget the day my predecessor took me to the roof.”
Astianna remained silent, her gold-hued eyes fixed on Elphemina as she tried coming to terms with the mighty energies racing through her, and the significance of what had just happened. She had long known she was to succeed the High Priestess, but hadn't expected to be called so soon.
“An ancient evil returned, threatens the world, and I will be going on a journey from which I may not return,” Elphemina said. “In that eventuality, you will know what to do. I know you have doubts. I certainly did when in your position, but you have been eye-marked to follow me since you were a child, and have the strength and ability to be the envoy and guardian of the old ways of Mithros. Return to your quarters now, Astianna, and sleep the rest of the day, for your body and mind need rest and time to adjust.”
As she watched her nascent successor move to the door, she felt a sense of sorrow and pity for the younger woman. Astianna had endured a harsh upbringing and a difficult life before being guided to the temple as a girl. Although the position of High Priestess brought immense power and authority, the responsibility, and burden of carrying the memories of all who had come before her, could be crushing.
Dismissing those thoughts from her mind, Elphemina pulled on a silver cord hanging from the ceiling. Hunger gnawed at her belly – accepting the power of Mithros into her body always left her ravenous. Breakfast was her favourite meal, and she had to eat before performing her next task.
Maggots in the Gloom
A latticework of energy of yellow-green light pulsed between the newly-erected towers at Tor-Arnath, as Surgat and Jakut, the first Gualich to set foot on the human world in aeons, linked minds.
Standing beneath, Herald, the Usurper, and other Suanggi, together with a mass of Bahktak, turned expectant eyes upward. Slitted ochre-coloured eyes glowed with dreadful hunger. A hunger that would soon be sated, for they knew the return of the Masters heralded the dawn of a new era of joyous feasting.
Kirinos-Halbro felt the same hunger and shared the same expectations, but underlying, was a sense of guilt, disgust, and despair.
Guilt that his actions had paved the way for these fiends.
Disgust at himself for feeding on human souls.
Despair at his helplessness and inability to resist the hunger.
Upon dragging him through the portal to their home-world, Beleth had gloated and mocked him, claiming he now belonged to the Gualich, body and soul.
But somehow, inexplicably, part of his humanity had survived. A tiny, tiny spark of light that was his soul remained, buried deep beneath the corruption and darkness. He knew that infinitesimal spark would die if he remained a servant of the Gualich.