…

  Valencia crouched down, her hands holding muck. After much back and forth, she had managed to get across that the demon would probably attack when they were at their strongest, and that the demon would attack them first as an example.

  Right now though, he hands were full of muck and mud. If one were to ask what she was doing, she would answer them with another question. As it was the only responsible thing to do.

  “What does it look like I’m doing? Making a shrine, that’s what,” she told one of the children that had come up to her.

  It had been about an hour or two after the meeting had finished. She was here, in the middle of town. She was, from what the children would say, pying with mud. It was strange, yet not really, to see her make a shrine to the goddess she prayed to.

  She hadn’t really ever forced anyone to ever attend one of her sermons. In truth, it was really just her reading aloud and discussing the lives of the 41 supreme beings. Her favorite, in all honesty, was Lord Ulbert Ain Odle. The demon god, Lord of Disaster, struck a chord with her.

  Yet, that wasn’t who she was building a shrine to. She was of course building a shrine to her own goddess. Lady Momonga, Goddess of death and the end times.

  The vilgers had never actually seen anything of this master. They had only ever seen her crest, the skull and then the crane of the 41. Yet, as they watched her, Valencia that is, make this statue, they couldn’t help but marvel.

  The thing was about seven feet tall, with her features on dispy. Her hand poised under her chin. Her staff was set in the ground while she held the top. Her smirk pyed across as truly godly. Her clothes, which were made of things that one could find in a swamp, still gave the feeling of the divine.

  The woman was either possessed, or had a knack for creating statues and idles. It was strange to see this, though. utterly alien to see such reverence in this woman that they had now known for months.

  “Ok,” said the child, awestruck, “I like her. She’s pretty.”

  Valencia turned to the child again, her face covered in grime. A small smile graced her face. This one was genuine. To a human, this look would have appeared oddly unnerving yet attractive. To this child, it weas simply a smile.

  “Yes, she is very pretty. I was told by her, herself, that she made her own body, and worked really hard on it. Maybe, of you work really hard on things too, you’ll make something like her prettiness as well,” she said with an odd sort of reverence.

  “You really think so?!” the innocent child asked.

  “Yes,” Valencia responded with a solemn nod, “I do. Now go py with your friends. I have a goddess to build.”

  “Ok,” she responded, her voice happy.

  The child bounded off, her feet carrying her to her mother, then to her friends. There, an argument took pce over who was as pretty as the goddess. That story is for another maybe. Right now, we watch as Valencia molded earth and shaped cy.

  …

  “Uh, Miss Valencia?” asked Shasuryu, “when will she answer?” he asked.

  It had been another hour, and the statue stood finished. Its form was an imperfect copy of her goddess, Yet the vilgers thought it was fantastic. She looked around the area. The stars were out as it was night now, and she and Shasuryu were the only people there. Yet, the night sky was stunning.

  The center of the vilge was devoid of life, other than him and her. She then gnced at him. His gaze was solid, sure of the next line of dialogue she was to say. He hadn’t given it much thought. How could he? The people here only really care about their ancestor spirits, and not a centralized faith.

  “She’s not coming, is she?” he asked, and she held up a finger.

  “Just wait for a minute. I am one hundred percent sure that she will answer my prayers,” she said, her voice rexed and sure as well.

  It was after she had uttered those words, that the air shifted. Her hackles raised, and her mind screamed at her that death was here. She noticed this too, in the way that the water moved on the surface of the puddles around the two of them.

  Shasuryu was shocked as well. His mind was shutting down, her hands and legs wouldn’t respond to him. His voice failed him as his gaze moved. The two of them could tell, she was here.

  She turned her head, her eyes locked onto the divine entity that stood before her. Shasuryu Simply stood, stock still. His gaze lingering on her. her radiance was palpable.

  “Hello Valencia. It’s been a bit. How have you been?” Momonga asked, her passives active, but not fully, “What do you need, little one?” she asked, her hips tilted to the side.

  She stood not even ten feet from the two of them. Her voice rolled over them. Like a bank of clouds, her figure stood over them, powerful and mighty.

  “I ask of you, my dy, That I have some weapons to sy the lesser demons and summons of Jaldabaoth. Please, the people here have promised to pray to you and attend my sermons in your church,” Valencia said, ying on the role of priestess thick.

  “Oh, of course. Here, take them,” Momonga intoned, her voice practiced well enough times in the mirror.

  A gate opened to her right, her hand spyed out in a grasping-for-air gesture. Weapons fell from it. both rge and small. Melee and ranged as well. It mattered not.

  The lizardman simply stood there. His jaw utterly sck. It was only because of his fear for the deity in front of him that he stood upright. Otherwise, he would have fallen over and fainted. In fact, he was rather close to it right now.

  “There, that should be sufficient,” Momonga said, turning her head to the pile.

  In truth, this was nothing. She could make weapons of this level in her sleep. Of course, she didn’t want an enemy that might be spying on her to know that. So she spoke nothing and simply gnced back at Valencia. Her voice unwavering as she spoke.

  “Fail me not, Saint of Death,” she intoned and stepped back into the portal.

  …