--Udemmiri

“ HOW DARE YOU?!!!!! ”.

"Nene I can’t go and you know why.”

There was no twitch in the carefree expression her face donned, but as she spoke her eyes sparkled

" Nothing will happen, and if you both meet where we're going then he's a hypocrite. Live a little, let’s just go.”

While her flippancy baffled me I felt some sort of amusement, she wanted a rebellion, and whilst I would have wanted to join in his words drowned my little spark, they were way louder than hers.

“All their gods are nonsense, deaf and useless. Deceiving themselves and other people with vengeful, ugly gods. Anyone who'd willingly go serve those jokes are simply preparing themselves for let downs. Both they and their gods are useless.”

Everytime he'd say this I'd know he was referring to Nene and her mother, both worshippers of the river goddess Uhammiri, with her mother even being a priestess.

With every word spoken, my soul sank, yet with each fall further down, intent on leaving my shell, something pushed, whispering, reminding me of every moment his little whispers sent me sinking, and it rebelled so, I helped.

“Fine. Let’s go.”