The Goddess of Death and Her Empress

"Goddess. We are the waking elders of the Elorshin. We bow to the goddess." The elders knelt down, but Kyrie snorted.

"You are not worthy of the temple." Kyrie said and turned her back. Vila's eyes snapped wide open.

"We have served for centuries!" Vila said. "We've always been faithful to your words!" Kyrie turned.

"When it suits you." Lena said, which drew their attention. Kyrie pursed her lips as she turned back.

"Little Lena, this is too much for your spirit. You need some rest, and can not get agitated like this." Kyrie moved the few steps and touched her thigh. Lena smiled, and the pressure within the room faded.

"My Kyrie. Always thinking of me, since I was five years old. My Shadows watch over me day and night, to make sure all respect me when they should." She yawned delicately. "But I am tired. Send Valina to handle this mess, and lay down with me, Kyrie. I miss my Kyrie." Kyrie grinned and wiggled a little.

"My Empress is so spoiled. Ladies, carry her back to bed." Kyrie turned. "Valina. If they won't bow, dispose of them. They have served their purpose admirably, and obeyed for their meager life span. But if they refuse to humble themselves in front of their sisters, whom they will serve for an eternity, they have no more use. You know my heart, Shadows." Valina bowed.

"We worship the goddess, and serve the Empress. Our sisters are the ones we watch over, and protect. We are the hands of the goddess throughout Haven." Valina said firmly, while Lena yawned.

"Valina, assign Sol this task. You and Valthyria have lost your turn. You two are our top blankets. If they don't want to listen to Sol, someone of Haven, replace them directly from the breeders. We do not need to deal with more rebellious ones who are still mortal." Lena yawned again, and tapped Nadya. "Take me to bed, pillows. I'm a little cold." Nadya blushed.

"So naughty, Empress." Nadya said. She and Nuri turned back to the room of the High Priestess, while Kyrie grinned wide.

"You heard the Empress, Shadows. Sol is in charge. Handle it."

* * *

"Still nothing to say?" Valjhana said as she appeared from the mists. Vila shuddered. "If you believe you'll go to Haven when the goddess said to execute you, you're sadly mistaken. Obey, and submit. Or do not submit, and die forever. Your choice." Sol rolled her eyes a bit.

"You're just as sadistic as you always were, Jhana. I can't believe the Empress made someone as hard as you submit." Sol said and folded her arms over her chest. She had a slight pout on her lips.

"Don't worry, Sol. We'll have a little fun later." Jhana said and watched her blush. "For now, there are some people here who have a choice to make." Sol nodded.

"True enough. Swallow that stubborn pride of yours, and submit, or die. The Elorshin belong to the goddess. There is no where else to go." Sol said firmly. Vila frowned.

"We can always go back to the coast." She said. Mileta looked at her.

"The coast?" Mileta asked. "Without the goddess to bless our people, we lose the ability to reproduce! She will return our breeders to female! Not only that, we were put in stasis so we didn't develop the land in nearly five hundred years!" Vila lowered her eyes a bit, and stiffened her lip.

"We are Elorshin!" She said stubbornly. "We were ordered to remain pure!" Jhana rolled her eyes.

"The goddess gave you the chance to understand that your views are wrong. Even Sol spoke up for you, to help you to understand that the Elorshin will remain the Elorshin." Jhana said. Vila frowned.

"What do you mean the Elorshin will remain the Elorshin?" She asked. "I don't understand." Jhana looked at Mileta.

"Is her brain still frozen?" Jhana asked. Mileta sighed.

"I do not know, Shadow." Mileta said softly. "Call the other elders. Vila can no longer sit as an elder. She will not obey the goddess, even though the goddess just spoke to us." Vila turned quickly.

"The goddess was here?" She asked. Mileta looked at Vila, then looked at Valjhana quickly.

"Please!  Something is wrong with her!  Call the goddess!"

* * *

"She's deteriorating fast." Kyrie said. "I thought it was unusual that she was so insistent upon that single detail." Kyrie shook her head. She looked at Lena, and saw her eyes open.

"Can you keep her cognitive for ten minutes, Kyrie?" She asked.

"Up to half an hour. Any longer, and her mind will have deteriorated too much." Kyrie said. "Don't give me that look. She doesn't have your mental strength, my little Lena." Lena blushed.

"It should be enough time." She said. "Sol, prepare the altar. Hannah, have Nikki prepare the forge and sword. Shadows, select willing elders to help her on her way. Valina, Valyria. Find two willing Elorshin to assist the elders." Kyrie pursed her lips.

"Obey. We'll have the first Offering upon that altar in centuries. It must be done quickly, before she loses the ability to cling to her entire self." Kyrie sent them all on the way, and what sounded like chaos erupted in the temple.

"Nadya, Nuri. Lift me. The first Offering in centuries. I must oversee it."

* * *

"Vila, of the Elorshin, are you willing to Offer yourself to the goddess of death, and life from death?" Lena said.

"I am." Her confusion was clear for the moment.

"Remove your robes, and put on the black. The colors of death are your shroud, but only shroud your human life." The elderly woman stripped, with cheeks blazing bright red, and put on the black robe she would wear for the Offering.

"Elorshin, help her onto the altar. The Offering is the most precious day of one's mortal life. You Offer your remaining time to the goddess, and she Offers you endless life on Haven. Each step is symbolic of your willingness to suffer for a moment only." Lena said. "Part her robe like the spirit wishes to part from the flesh." The elders smiled and opened her robe.

"Pour the oil of consecration upon her chest." As the oil was poured, Lena continued. "The oil represents the firm hold our flesh has on our spirit, even to the last seconds. Elorshin, rub in the oil. Valina, Valyria, instruct them." Valina whispered into the ear of the Elorshin woman beside the elder Mileta.

"Allow your fingers to run down over her ribs. Once told, grab hold of the ribs, and pull. Open her chest to expose her heart." Valina smiled gently. "We've all been through this. All the Others have experienced the Offering." They nodded, and did as they were told.

"Vila, of the Elorshin, do you go willingly to the goddess?" Lena asked.

"I do."

"Then we open your heart to the goddess for judgment. The sword will sear the sins you have committed, and send you to the goddess with an open heart." She nodded. "Endure, daughter of the goddess. It is your moment."

The joy on the elder's face, even as her chest was ripped open, and a sword slid through her heart was a sight to behold.

As her fellow elders sucked out each of her eyes, she smiled. As her tongue was bitten off, she still smiled.

"Send her to the goddess. Witness how Kyrie has accepted her in how her eye sockets glow as she dies." Lena said. Kyrie smiled.

"Good idea. It is time to take my Offering home." Kyrie waved her hand, and as the last breath was taken, her eye sockets glowed, and she went limp. Kyrie disappeared.

"Our new sister has gone to Haven." Valina bowed down to the altar.

"Vila's flesh is sacred, but she has not had any ritual cleansings performed upon her flesh. She will be the last of the Offerings burned and placed in the temple crypts." Lena said, as the Others listened.

"The last, Empress?" Valina asked.

"From now on, as I've already discussed with Kyrie, all Offered upon the altar are sacred, and clean. It is the only meat to be consumed by the acolytes. Eggs and fish will be normal. No unclean pork. No unclean beef. No hunted animals that may walk in their own dung." Valina smiled, while the Elorshin elders were confused.

"We'll eat our own dead?" She asked.

"Only sacred flesh after an Offering. Valina, tell her of the exploits that occur in Haven." Lena smiled as her teeth were shown. Long fangs that frightened the elders.

"Young ones, Haven is wondrous. We are given the nature of the goddess herself."