1 The Fall of Myth

Why is it on the day of a tragedy and the subsequent days before, there is peace? Beings moving through their day to day lives entirely unaware of the imminent end? She'd reflect on this many times throughout her following life times but we'll talk about those later. This is about the end, her end… And the end of her people.

When this Goddess ruled, the Earth itself was far different from what you think you know of today. Lush trees reaching higher than any redwood and exotic flowers the size of dinner plates. This was a place of myth, filled with every manner of being imaginable. Her people were born directly of the Earth. In early spring the great flowers of the towering trees bloomed, occasionally these blossoms would bare offspring. Towering humanoid beings whose muscle and sinew were made of bark and bled a sticky golden hued sap. In a ceremony they would gather on the first day of The Blooming and with great joy they would carefully collect the little ones from their newly blossomed flowers. Every year she would go with her people and watch with an uncontainable love as they brought the newborns to her to be blessed and welcomed to the light. This isn't the exact time her world would end though. It was far later into the warming season and she was deep within her temple when it began.

The little ones were growing beautifully with small flowers growing where their hair would be and laughter that could be heard for life times. The heat rose and fell over trees forcing her to remain inside the temple walls. Her many priests and priestesses played with the young ones as they clambered up her tail and slid down her wings. She listened for the hazy sounds of her people going about their lives and laughing with each other through the walls. It didn't dawn on her first that she didn't hear anything, let alone that silence was slowly falling across her lands. There was a building electric current running across the carefully placed barriers she had placed at the edge of her domain. She came up slowly, her huge scaled body maneuvering through the great room to the heavy stone doors where she forced them open with her head. Her people were standing entirely still and staring up at the sky.

They came slowly but surely with every force and ounce of their power driving them. This wasn't the first time she'd seen these monks and the floating city but it was the first time they'd come to her land hostile. Drunk on their insatiable power these once peaceful beings were now tearing across the realm, killing whoever they deemed a threat and tearing apart the realm. When they couldn't kill any being they locked them away behind a Gate where that being would remain silenced and weakened.

It was like a storm you couldn't run from or a nightmare that you wish would end before it truly began. She called for her priests and priestesses to reinforce her walls and make them stronger and protect her people. She unfurled her wings launching herself forward and into the air. Her energy crackled and sang outward manifesting itself in thick streaks of white hot lighting. Using her pure energy she forced the floating city to a standstill nearly holding it in place. Lightning shot forth from her wing tips and hit the city's walls. Unfortunately they were prepared for the dragons attacks and the monks gathered together in their ranks. Their power had grown exponentially and it was far beyond anything she could comprehend. They raised their hands high bringing forth a mass of blindingly white energy and hurled it at her temple. She could not stop it or slow it down and to her it was only natural that she threw herself in its path. In hindsight she should've known they were planning on her to take the hit for her people. She should've known they could predict her every movement before she decided to make it herself. But you know what they say, hindsight is fifty fifty and she just happened to come up short.

It struck her directly in the chest, over her heart and shattering the core of her energy. One of the main points on her massive body where her energy gathered and dispersed and they broke it, like a glass flung against a wall. She crumpled and plummeted to the Earth colliding in a violet spray dirt which collectively broke her wings and both legs on her right side. Her subjects gathered around her broken form and stood to fight while her people stood in an around the temple. Garbled growls ordered them to run, that they had no choice but to run, and it fell on deaf ears.

She was forced to lay there and stare helpless as they were descended upon in waves. She couldn't understand the sheer number of monsters that came for her people's lives. There was far too many; so many in fact that were not enough of her people for each monster to kill one person. It was an excess that they apparently found necessary and she was both disgusted and horrified. It was a display of power and she was unimpressed. When they stepped foot on solid ground they did not run or rush forward. They marched in rows, the aged and experienced in the front and the young immature ones in the back. She took note that it was not a expression of rank; every monk in the first three rows were dying. Their power was becoming too much for their bodies to with stand. Thick veins pulsed under just opaque colored skin and their eyes were none existed. They were both firing blindly and using their energy to sense and see their surroundings. The younger ones called forth thick storm clouds and rain fire upon the ground. Her people began to scream and scatter. As they scattered so did the ranks of monks. Bloodlust took over as they broke away one by one and ruthlessly attacked with both energy and their physical bodies. They leavitated and slammed bodies in the ground from cruel heights, disintegrated whole groups of her people as they fled today, lunged and tore apart bodies with their hands. It was a massacre and she was forced to do watch.

The first three rows of the of the monks approached her and her the priests and priestess who remained at her side. They began creating heated and heavy chains made solely out of their energy and manipulated them around her body. The chains clamped down and tightened on her scales and around the bodies of those next to her. She watched the passing carnage as they were drug away into the depths of her own temple. Despite the lack of vision she could still hear the screams. In the great room four the monks leg go of their chains and stalked into the center of the room. They formed a rectangle and energy began to spark in between them; they were attempting to create a gate. It became apparent they were too old to try as their skin chipped away like porcelain. Oozing black gelatinous blood seeped from the chips and missing pieces. They began vomiting blood in torrents and convulsing where they stood. Limbs twisted unnaturally as they were forced into an stiffened yet bent backwards position. An explosion of energy in between them and melted their broken bodies.

If the rest of the monks were phased it there wasn't single twitch of muscle or change in expression. It seemed they cared very little for the loss of their own. In usion they looked down at the goddess and her remaining subjects. Time passed, silence fell upon the outside of her temple, and, those help near her wept loudly. One by one they were unchained and taken to the side. The first priest cursed through tears and screamed at his captors. They didn't care and punched a hole through his chest spraying blood and bark. He died instantly. The second priest tried to fight; his reward was to be suspended in the air and have his limbs slowly ripped apart. Her sole remaining priestess was broken and lifeless on the floor. This made her of little interest so her skull was crushed with the heel of a bare, ugly, pale foot. The last priest was grabbed my throat and dragged near her face. He made no sound merely stared into the Goddess's eyes with intense resolve as if saying he'd have his revenge no matter how many life times in took. The monk ripped is his throat out with his fingers. When they were done they dragged the Goddess to the far back of the room. Half the reming monks placed their hands on her body. She heaved and shuddered as their bodies tore themselves apart literally coating her in their blood and energy. All except for one monk closed the heavy stone doors to the temple surrendering themselves to the same fate. The final monk came to rest upon her head and draped his body across her face in a such way that sealed her ability to speak and covered her eyes, stealing her sight. He died that way, his body turning to living stone.

The Goddess is now trapped in the physical form and her soul retreated deep into body and mind. For life times it stayed there and gathered strength. Time passed slowly for the Goddess as she settled into herself. When she emerged she was strong enough to abandon the body she had been trapped. Softly glowing energy shimmered off the still form like dust and slipped through a crack in the doors binding her. She took in the outside of the temple; so overgrown there was nothing but greenery covering every inch of the intricate stone work. With a deadened heart she turned her back on the green covered building and prepared to move on; seeking out a new physical form. She would have her revenge but first she needed to find her priest's and priestess'.