The Crown Of Ash and Silver
The burning eased to a dull throb, and the world settled into stillness once more.
The High Cleric lowered his voice. “The Goddess’s will flows through you. Can you feel it?”
Elysia looked at her hands. The gold beneath her skin pulsed in steady rhythm, deliberate and alien.
“Yes,” she said, though the truth was stranger. She could feel something, but it was not peace. It was tension, a second heartbeat she could not name.
“Good,” he murmured. “Through you, the Light shall cleanse the world.”
He turned to the gathered priests.