The day the blood rain fell on Avallena was the only time in fifteen years Grace allowed herself to feel genuine fear without first consulting Pelios, the God of Emotions, for his approval. The momentary lapse in judgement lasted long enough for her to blink twice, and before the third she reinforced the solid steel walls of her palm size mental box of emotions before surprise ripped through next. Pelios wasn’t known for his kindness or understanding of his people’s lapse in composure past the age of five, so Grace had to send a quick question up to the god himself, or whoever took his messages- she wasn’t sure exactly how it worked- to allow her mind the freedom to break down the situation around her.

Something that took Grace longer than the rest of her classmates to figure out was how interconnected emotions are to comprehension and critical thinking. It’s difficult to break down a situation without attaching an emotion, whether the person or event is a threat or safe and what action to take in response. By her fifth birthday, to her parents exhausted relief, she understood Pelios was asking to be consulted in every persons every day life and decision making. He didn’t want to decide anything for her, but to grant her the opportunity to figure it out on her own under his watchful eye. She wasn’t sure how to feel about someone having that kind of control on her mind and, subsequently, her body, but it seemed it didn’t matter, not without experiencing the repercussions He deemed appropriate for the insult.

What she always found the most unsettling about the constant monitoring of his pupils emotions was being punished for something that felt so natural, not that she’d ever voice the thought aloud. With punishments varying between each offender it was hard to judge what exactly to expect, and people would rather err on the side of caution than push Pelios limits. Children under five were monitored and properly scolded by their parents and priestesses, while young adults suffered small, pea sized burns on their forearms as a visual reminder to maintain control. It was rare to see adults be reprimanded since it usually only takes one traumatic experience to whip an audience in line. For Grace, it was when she was twelve years old at the market. A sharp sob of terror had drawn her eyes toward a woman having seen her son hit by a run away wagon. The woman lit up like dry kindling on the spot before she even took a step to the boys side. There were others, like old blacksmith Wilson who had cursed the god of death in anger for taking his brother in a work accident when her mother was in gradeschool. Wilson dropped to the ground, left in a coma where he supposedly courted death itself for months before choking on his own blood in his sleep.

With those thoughts in mind, Grace wondered if Pelios was just as perturbed as she was, since her insolence hadn’t been acknowledged. She didn’t think if she asked Pelios what to make of this situation he would answer her anyway, which in her mind, leaving her questions unanswered was punishment enough. She also didn’t want to bring attention to herself if he happened to miss it either. Cowardly, maybe, but a fool she was not. Glass shattering from the bakery windows across the street snapped her focus back to the horror playing out in front of her. It wasn’t just blood raining down on them, but black crows started crashing into what ever lay in their path on the way to the ground. One landed right in front Graces feet, neck twisted at an angry angle to point its beak right at her face. Taking three slow breaths, Graces realized Pelios never acknowledged her request. He was just as quick with his permission as his punishments, so she tried again, this time more desperately, and still there was no response. Her slow breaths turned quick and shallow, palms slick with sweat and blood.

Pelios might have been a cruel God, but he always answered those who called to him. Grace took note that her mental box was still closed up tight, but the key lock was gone. He didn’t take away her right to her emotions, but it was almost worse knowing they were within reach and yet untouchable. Why would he take away her lock?

A piercing, screeching wail sounded by the main fountain adjacent to her, a woman clutched her right eye that dripped bright red blood down her forearm, and there was a man chased by a swarm of black crows that didn’t die on impact with the ground. Chaos rang out all around her and she realized there was no way Pelios would allow such havoc to take place without an explaination. Her mind set off internal alarm bells before her subconscious registered that the mental emtional box was opening of its own accord no matter what she did to stop it.

As she panicked at the multitude of emotions pushing their way out of their confinement, a booming, deep male voice spoke directly into her mind, _Pelios is dead, his control on your people is no more. Use your emotions and see for yourself._

The message must have been spoken to everyone, as the chaos around her stopped as the voice spoke to her. She wasn’t dumb enough to trust a voice she never heard, so she waited to see who around her was. Tommy from her school class was the first to test this voices command, screaming from the pain of his obviously broken arm where he lay in a pool of blood rain. A moment turned to a minute, to five minutes, with no harm to Tommy evident.

The lack of response to Tommy’s defiance seemed to break open the flood gates of those all around her, worse than before. People were crying, tears of joy and sadness, but Grace wasn’t convinced. She pushed a thought back toward where her subconscious felt the voices’ intrusion to find a shadow hiding in the furthest recess of her mind. _Why, what happened to Pelios? Is he alive?_

Rain poured down in sheets so thick it was difficult to see further than a few feet in front of her. An instant reply, low and rumbling, _Does it matter? Do you not feel joy in knowing your body and mind are your own at last?_

_It seems too good to be true. Trust is not an easy gift to give. I won’t be doing anything differently until I know for sure my safety is secure._

She felt a smile, dark and menacing curve around her subconscious, _Because it is._

The rain stopped. Every person except Grace was laying on the ground with sightless eyes facing away from her. There wasn’t time to comprehend what she was seeing, to feel anything other than shock at the revelation when she noticed a brooding, tall form of a man, face masked and head hooded by his dark black cloak standing across the plaza from her. She didn’t have to see that smile from her mind to know it was looking her in the face now.

“Congratulations, you were the only one smart enough to not only question Pelios’s well being, but not blindly follow a command made by an unknown source just because you liked the answer you were given.” The voice wasn’t as booming, but no less chilling to her senses.

“Congratulations? For basic human decency?” Her voice, surpringly, didn’t waver. She knew in her bones she wasn’t speaking to a human.

“You’d be surprised how hard it is to find.”

They stared at each other a moment, until, “You say congratulations as if I won some sort of prize,” she gently probed, “but all I see around me is carnage.”

“You don’t seem one to mince words, Grace, what is it you want to ask me?”

“Honestly, I have a lot of questions.”

“Good, but to answer the ones you’re probably thinking, the blood rain was from my battle with Pelios, to be honest he was just getting repetitive and boring. Your family was not affected since they were too far away from town to reach, but your response to this last piece of information will affect them if you don’t choose wisely,” he paused, looking her in the eyes to make sure she understood what he was about to say next was serious and true, “if you choose to stay, your family will be faced with the same decision as you had to make today, without your intervention, and they could perish before you have a chance to speak to them one last time. If you come with me, and become my bride out of genuine desire, they will be safe, with us, and live their lives out away from humanities limitations.”

Stunned speechless, her mind worked his proposition over and over until, “You say I have a choice, but this doesn’t exactly feel like one, and if I did agree, where would home be? Would my family be truly safe? How do I know they aren’t already dead, we don’t live far from the town plaza. I don’t even know who you are, are you really Pelios’s demise or Pelios himself in disguise?”

He sighed, and finally took his first step toward her, while she took one back, the dance continued until her back hit the wall behind her. If this person is equal to Pelios, he must be a god himself, and what exactly would a god want to do with a twenty year old human woman?

“Maybe too inquisitive and observant for my own good,” he mumbled to himself, before he moved quicker than should be possible to appear right in front of her. The last thing she saw before the world went black was piercing blue eyes boring into her own.