Tear's of a Goddess

"Is this all your dedication is worth?"

Those same mocking words repeated themselves in Randall's ears.

Randall's sword shook in his hands as he could no longer feel his palms, it was like he had struck a mountain rather than a skeleton.

Staggering back Randall only then took in the sights of his fallen party.

"No. What. How?"

"Randall! Help US!"

Eva shouted to Randall from behind as Luhra and her were being attacked from shadows that flew around them, spectres that tormented them, lifting them up into the air as they were held there.

"This isn't how it is supposed to be. I was told I was the one, I am the hero that wields the light, gifted by the goddess of Virtue herself. This…this can't be."

"Prepare your sword… hero. Show me the dedication of one who serves that bitch."

"She is not a bitch!"

With a shout of pure rage Randall struck at the skeleton again, a strike filled with pure anger as the one that he worshipped and loved was maligned by nothing more than a set of old withered bones.

"You have been trained well for a dog. You don't even know of the goddess to which you preach your undying devotion."

With a single flick of his finger, the skeleton forced Randall to fly through the air as he heavily crashed into the hall doors, his sword tumbling from his grasp as blood spewed from his lips.

For the first time Luhra and Eva watched the skeleton move as it took one slow step at a time, descending its throne.

"Randall believe in yourself! I love you and the goddess loves you! Luhra I'm sorry for this, but it's for the good of the party!"

Calling out Eva ignored the shadows around her as a holy symbol of the goddess of virtue hung around her neck glowed in a pristine white light, temporarily driving the spectres away.

"SACRIFICE!"

With a scream Luhra felt pain unlike any she had experienced before as her legs and arms were being swallowed by a white light, one that was so familiar to her but had never hurt her… until now.

With tears running down her face Eva cried as she turned to face Luhra who was gradually being consumed by the light, "I'm sorry Luhra, the goddess gave me this power to use in times of crisis. When me and Randall return home, I will build a shrine to honour your memory."

"Do it Eva! Consume all of her, we need her power to escape."

Watching on impassively the skeleton watched as the priest and hero turned on their own, sacrificing Luhra to save themselves.

Now covered in white light Randall turned to look at the skeleton.

"I will return and slay you foul fiend. To claim vengeance for the dead and honour Luhra's sacrifice."

"..Plea…se don't. I don't want to d..."

Her words cut out halfway Luhra could only let out piercing cries as the sacrifice sped up, consuming more of her already missing limbs.

"Just accept it Luhra. This is the purpose the Goddess granted you. Be thankful for it and help save us. You were always prepared to be our sacrifice."

It wasn't until the mention of sacrifice that Eva felt a subtle but minute change from the skeleton before her, one that she had felt when they first arrived.

"You come to slay me in the prison in which I was forced. You malign me for besmirching a goddess that you do not know the reality of and now you dare to BETRAY in my presence."

"You.Will.Not.Leave."

With a shriek Eva flopped to the floor as the symbol around her neck burst apart, its power interrupted as Randall watched on in horror.

Barely conscious Luhra felt the pain that had been tormenting her stop, instead she felt a deep penetrating cold invade her body as she opened her eyes. Looking straight into the bottomless eye sockets of the skeleton that now held her in his arms.

"You have been betrayed. Your limbs and body sacrificed to your Goddess of light, who so easily cast you aside."

"Free her you monster!"

"Silence."

With a kick a skeletal foot sent Eva flying as her body twirled through the air before crashing into a pillar with a sickening crunch.

"EEVVVAAAA!"

Ignoring the bawling Randall who crouched over Eva as she struggled to breathe the skeleton looked down at Luhra.

"You who have been betrayed and lied to, who possess a gift, I offer a choice. Become mine, serve me in your entirety and you will live to see worlds crumble, the planes twist to chaos and witness the bodies of gods as they lay bloated and rotten in their realms above, trapped in torment for eternity."

"Swear to give yourself to me and I will grant you the life that runs from you now."

Still in shock and confused Luhra didn't fully understand what was happening. She had been sacrificed by her own teammate and Goddess but now the evil they were supposed to vanquish was offering to save her, her who was now nothing but a cripple.

What kind of life would she lead, would she become a decoration for the skeleton to watch and stare at? To be stuck like that for eternity.

"Foolish one," with an almost gentle touch a bone finger moved a stray piece of black hair from around Luhra's eyes.

"You will become mine, I will grant you the knowledge of the magic's you seek and restore you to a greater state than before."

"The decision is yours. But it will be final."

It was a decision between torn duty and betrayal or a chance to live again.

Luhra closed her eyes and nodded her head slowly, she would make any deal to be able to smite that Goddess in the face and make her suffer.

"So be it."

A pair of bone lips sealed themselves to hers, sealing the deal.

"You are mine. But first I must restore you to perfection."

With slow movements the skeleton lowered Luhra's body down to the ground, carefully, to not cause her any pain.

"Come."

With a snap of his fingers the skeleton ushered in the air, a dark breeze was formed that whisked around the hall as it pushed Randall away as he hugged onto Eva, leaving him howling in despair as she floated towards the skeleton.

"Don't touch her you monster! I will grind you to dust if you lay so much as a finger on her! The goddess will avenge us!"

"I am done playing."

Whilst Eva's body floated through the air towards the prone Luhra, the skeleton rose into the air and levitated above as he spoke down to Randall, his voice once more shaking the air.

"You speak of a goddess that has whipped you into submission. You speak of your love for her and this one that betrays."

"YOU.KNOW.NOTHING."

The might of the skeletons shout forced the staggering Randall to his feet as his body was tossed backwards and pinned against the stone walls by voice alone.

"I HAVE TASTED YOUR GODDESS. I HAVE RIDDEN HER LONG INTO THE NIGHTS AND GRANTED HER THE POWER SHE NOW DARES WIELD AGAINST ME!"

"...Lies… you speak lies… she is the goddess of… virtue.."

A cackling laugh filled the hall as the skeleton scornfully stared down at Randall.

"Her only virtue is that of intolerance and debasement for herself. She was the whore that would sleep with all for a modicum of power, selling herself for the highest price."

Forced against the wall Randall cried as tears fled down his eyes, he had never known terror like this, who was this being to speak of his goddess so?

"Look at you. Your dedication and oath to her is gone, not because you willed it but because she has fled this place, she has withdrawn the power she deposited in you."

Looking within himself Randall felt his heart die as the skeleton was right, the power gifted to him, to all of them was no more. Like a line that had been so simply cut.

"Watch now foolish hero as I grant you a gift. I want you to watch as your final lover is sacrificed in turn to return this one to perfection. I grant you just enough life to suffer until its completion."

"...Kill me… please…Don't…"

"You lost all rights to your own fate when you bowed like a dog to that whore."

Raising both hands high two dark balls formed on the skeletons hands as he intoned over both Luhra and Eva.

"Of the flesh that is torn, the deals forced, the waters waned. I apply a pact of blood and bone, to make this one suffer for her deeds and bind the other to perfection. Through suffering shared perfection will be made again."

Slowly the dark balls lowered and consumed Luhra and Eva as Randall watched on in agony, powerless to stop it as the walls around him swallowed him, forming into his body, keeping only his consciousness alive as he suffered the pain of his body being destroyed.

Taking a few steps backwards the throne rose and restored itself for the skeleton once more as he took his seat, his dark eyes peering closely into the black cocoon before him, watching as Luhra was remade in slumber, as Eva screamed for no one to hear.

Once more tapping his finger the skeleton waited, not knowing how long this process would take, his thoughts a mystery as far away in a temple dedicated to the goddess of Virtue a hooded woman wept as tears of despair and regret ran down her face, her hands cupped together.

Her voice a bare whisper that none of her flock below could hear.

"Why did I open the door?"

If they could hear their Goddess, the fear in her voice would make them abandon all faith they may have held.