The Goddess of Death and Her Empress

"Is everyone in Haven like this?" The waking elder, Vila, asked as she walked around the temple while escorted by one of Lena's favorite shadows, Valina.

"I am not sure what you speak of, Elder Vila." Valina said. Vila pointed to Valjhana, and how she watched Lena walk around the temple courtyard being escorted by Nuri.

"She watches the young one, Empress Lena, like someone who is starving." Vila said. Valina chuckled a little.

"I guess from your viewpoint, it might appear to look that way. The Empress is special to all Shadows who serve her, and to the ones who watch silently." Valina said with a soft smile. "She is the only one who is able to consume us like the goddess." Vila frowned.

"You think with the mind of a human, elder. You believe that you'll feel pain if bitten. On the contrary, in Haven, pain is quite different. We do not age, or die in Haven. Injuries are almost non existent. Our natures are more primitive, and savage, like our ancestors on the homeland." Valina said, and watched as Vila seemed to understand. "I was once eaten by my sisters as my Offering to my goddess."

"Oh. I see." Vila said, and grimaced slightly. "We have veered away from such things, although I do not know if that is a good thing or not."

"It was painful, elder. Do not doubt, but I do not regret my Offering. I groaned with each bite, but my sisters were not cruel." Valina said softly. "Twelve bites is what it took for me to die."

"You lasted that long?" She asked incredulously.

"I wanted to Offer myself to my sisters, and my goddess." Valina said, and sighed fondly. "That is why the Empress is so important to us. She can do what no one else can, other than the goddess. There, our flesh does not bleed, nor does it produce pain like it did during our Offering. It is fully mixed with pleasure, and is an intimate act. Being eaten is akin to having the most intense sex you can imagine, and yet the release is ten times more pleasurable for us than sex ever was." Valina smiled a little.

"Elder Vila, I must excuse myself. It is my duty to attend to the Empress now. My sister, Valcynie, will take my place as your escort." Valina shivered.

"My Empress calls out to me, and her voice is quite loud."

* * *

"Why did I not know of this, Kyrie?" Lena asked, with a large frown on her face.

"It is the old way of the Elorshin." Kyrie pressed her lips together. "This was their choice, and not my request. Even the ancient Offering method you know of is not my way." Kyrie said. Lena frowned slightly, and started to nod.

"For some reason, I already know that." Lena tapped her chin. "How odd. So how did the Elorshin come up with this method?"

"My teeth." Kyrie said, which made Lena stay silent for several seconds.

"I can see your point, love. Those wonderful teeth, though they are only what you wish them to be, will make them believe you wish to consume them. Fanatics may wrap that around the sacrifice, and soon, it becomes tradition." Lena nodded. "So, Valina, explain to me what you experienced." Valina shivered slightly. For some reason, she could feel Lena's eyes linger upon her, but not like before. Lena was quite upset, and she felt that the Empress had better like the answer, or her anger would become great.

"Offerings were sacred. We took it a step further. Rather than let our flesh rot, we Offered our life to the goddess, and our sisters would eat us." Valina took a deep slow breath to make it appear that she was calm, but she was anything but calm. There was a palpable pressure in the air, and she knew the source.

"Twelve sisters stand ready. Once upon the altar, the first sister knelt down, lifted a leg, and bites a large mouthful off the lower leg. It is quite painful. Once that fails to kill, another sister kneels down to bite her other lower leg." Valina began the story, and felt the air grow heavier by the second.

"When the second one takes her bite, the first takes another. The third kneels down to bite into the thigh, and the other two each take another bite." Valina lifted her head, and watched Lena's eyes narrow.

"Two per leg, one upper and lower. That's four. Two per arm?" Valina nodded. "That's eight. One for the belly, right?" Again, Lena watched her nod. "One per breast?"

"Yes, Empress." Valina said.

"Lips next?" Lena asked.

"No, Empress. The throat." Valina felt the pressure grow until both Nuri and Nadya groaned, and their limbs trembled with the intense gravity that settled on the entire temple.  The Shadows had to escort the living from the temple before they were crushed into paste.

"At that time, this last bite will kill, so..." Valina looked down at the ground. Lena reached out and firmly gripped her chin. She lifted so that she was forced to look her in the eyes.

"Continue, Valina." Lena said firmly. Valina looked at Kyrie, and saw her smirk.

"Don't give up now, little one." Kyrie said. "My mate wishes an answer." Valina shivered.

"The rest g-g-gorge t-themselves." Valina said in a stutter. "The bite to the throat is slower, at the insistence of the Offering." She cleared her throat. "I requested that the last bite take as long as possible, so my sisters can have a good meal." She felt Lena growl, as the noise was so low, it could only be felt rather than heard.

"All twelve, Kyrie." Lena said through grit teeth.

"Are you going to kill them?" Kyrie asked, with an eyebrow lifted.

"If I was?"

"I would not stop you." Kyrie said firmly.

"I will consume them, not kill them." She growled out loud this time. "They ate my Valina, and so I will eat them! And if they ever look at my Valina as food, I will crunch their cores into dust!"

"Valina belongs to me!"

* * *

"We didn't tell them when they were summoned." Valcynie said. "I wonder if we are being cruel to our sisters." Valthyria shook her head.

"The Empress wants to see their intentions. She's already dealt with how those fiends treated her personal servants, and now she wants to see how the Shadows treat her important guards." Valthyria said. She sighed a bit. The Empress was nestled in Nuri's embrace, like she was a chair, with their goddess doing the same in Nadya's arms. She wouldn't mind being the Empress's chair or seat.

When the twelve Shadows appeared, they saw Valina, and approached her excitedly.

"Valina!" One said. "I heard the Empress gave you a name, and wanted to see you so bad!"  The reason that it was important was that as soon as an Elorshin was taken to Haven, she left behind her human life, and became exclusively devoted to the goddess.  She left her name behind, and took up the mantle of a Shadow guard, where the Shadows knew each other intimately, but the rest of Haven only knew them as Shadows.  The hands of the goddess herself. She hugged her quickly, and sighed.

"It's been over a hundred years since we got together." The eager Shadow said wistfully.  Valina blushed a bit.

"I know, but I have been busy." She said softly. The rest hugged her one at a time.

"We've missed you, Valina." Another said. "I haven't had anyone to eat me like you can, and these ones can be a little bit too eager at times." Lena listened in, and tilted her head.

"Valina, introduce your friends." Lena said, and watched with a deadpan face as Valina blushed. The other Shadows bowed deeply.

"Empress, we are a close knit group of Shadows, ones who were led to the goddess when we were young by Valina." That Shadow smiled warmly. "We were young, and filled with doubts, but Valina came to us and chose us to Offer her. We were filled with warmth, and affection for her. When it was my turn to bite her throat, she begged me to hold off until she weakened from loss of blood." She sighed.

"You didn't want to." Lena said. She shook her head.

"We needed her to, as it showed us how serious she was about her Offering." She smiled, and looked at Kyrie. "Without Valina's Offering, we might have doubted even up to our own Offerings." Lena pursed her lips.

"So you don't see her as your meal." Lena said. The Shadow looked at Lena and growled a little.

"Valina is no meal! She is precious to us!" The Shadow felt the pressure within the room increase.

"That is the only thing preserving your life." Lena said. "Approach." The Shadow looked at Kyrie with unsure eyes, but walked closer. Lena reached out and grasped her arms.

"Valina belongs to me, and you must pay the price." Lena opened her mouth impossibly wide, and shocked the rest of the Shadows in the room. Razor sharp teeth sheared clean through her neck, after she swallowed her head whole.

Lena took enormous bites, much more than should be able to fit into her mouth, while each bite disappeared as soon as her mouth enveloped it. The flesh and bone immediately dissolved into the red mist of the goddess, providing only additional power for her. That was why her belly never swelled, nor did she ever become full.

Kyrie chuckled as Lena ravenously took each bite of the Shadow and finished her off. Once she was done, she pulled the core from her mouth, and gently kissed the core.

"Your intentions towards my precious Valina are clear. The compensation is paid. Maybe some day in the future, Valina will speak for you, and invite you to serve." She placed the Shadow's core in Kyrie's hand.

"Send her home, Kyrie. She deserves to be treated properly." Lena smiled.

"She loves my Valina like a big sister."