Short Little Stories

Rowen stood in the center of the ruins, taking one deep breath after another. She felt the sweat beading on her skin, the fear gripping her heart.

“You are sure about this?” she asked the strange man they had decided to throw all their  hopes behind. She wasn’t even really listening to the answer, even as he mumbled vague assurances.

They didn’t understand, after all. It wasn’t that she was afraid to believe again. No – she was afraid of how much she wanted it.

She had been a child. She knew that now. Happy to be comforted and protected by another. And when her goddess was wrenched away, she discovered just how ill-prepared she was to face the world alone.

She wanted that security again, even as she knew how weak it made her. She hated it, she had gone on this quest to prove herself stronger than that… and now here they were, asking her to walk back into that emptiness. Open herself up to blind belief.

They needed her, and how could she say no?

It seemed an easy bargain, according to their so-called savior. The heartfelt worship or a single soul – the simple existence of a follower for a god that had slumbered alone for centuries – and in return, a way back home. A way to deliver their new companion and end their foe once and for all.

She took a deep breath, tuning out the last of what was being said to her. Tuning out the whine of the jungle insects, the birdcalls, the rustling water in the distance. She closed her eyes and focused inward, and forced that wall open.

I believe, she thought to herself, and she did, and she felt something answer.

She had only a second to realize that it was cold, and dark, and hungry… and then she began to scream.