((After all this idk how to title it lmao. A bit of a long one this time, and I haven’t written for almost a week so I feel a little.. eh.. but it felt good to get it down, even as a sort of rough draft. Disclaimer: this is an exploratory chunk from a larger project that I’m working on, and is accurate to the original storyline, but geared towards the prompt.))

“Cairen!”

Aella’s voice was shredded by grief and fear, and she struggled against her captor with all her childish strength.

“Aella! Let her go, or I swear I’ll kill all of you!” Her brother’s pained voice came from the shadowy tree line as she was hauled further and further from the feral shrieking of Chaos Beasts, and the sickening sounds of Blessed Silver blades severing corrupted flesh.

No! Her mother was still fighting, and Cairen was not yet strong enough to wield their father’s sword. She had been told to stay with her brother no matter what, but the men who had caught them were just too strong, and there were far too many Chaos Beasts. She had never seen her mother fight like that before; swinging her double sickle blades like twin rays of deadly moonlight as they slashed through the twisted creatures who converged upon her like a sea of darkness. Aella was young, and knew little of fighting, but even she could tell that it didn’t matter how magnificently her mother fought. The Chaos was simply overwhelming.

“Let go of me, or I’ll kill you!” She shrieked, kicking her small legs and lurching against the cold bite of the man’s silver armor. Her mother had told her never to speak as harshly as her elder brother usually did, and to always hold love in her heart for others — but there was only rage filling her chest now. Rage, and terror.

“Shut up!” A ringing exploded in her head, and her body went slack as the shock of the blow to her skull momentarily paralyzed her. “Stupid little Maiden. Your heretic family is Chaos fodder now.” The man’s voice was coarse, and thick with disdain.

“How dare you strike the Maiden. You are unfit to be a Holy Guard.” A new voice filtered through the fog of pain behind Aella’s eyes, and sent a shiver of deep and instinctual dread down her spine. A woman appeared into the moonlit clearing, as if she had materialized from the darkness itself, and approached languidly. Aella’s eyes were watering, but at the sight of this new stranger, she stiffened with a different kind of terror. The man who held her froze as well, his muscles seeming to contract and spasm, crushing her painfully against his armor.

“Hello, little lamb.” The woman’s voice was light, and almost gentle as she moved like a shadow over water, graceful and ethereal. She was robed in gold-trimmed white silk that flowed around her luxuriously with every step, and her long white hair looped across her shoulders in intricate braids and coifs. But the most striking thing about her appearance was the glint of gold above her thin, pale neck. A golden mask that was entirely featureless and etched with strange whorls and patterns completely concealed her face, rendering her even more mysterious — and frightening.

In the background, the screeches of unnatural creatures still echoed through the night, but Cairen’s voice had vanished entirely. Aella wanted to scream at the woman — to demand her freedom, and vent her violent frustration. But her voice was stuck in her throat, and her body refused to cooperate even as the man who held her so tightly suddenly gurgled, and collapsed to the ground. She tumbled from his arms, her palms and knees shredding as stones sliced into them — but still, she couldn’t flee. She couldn’t even lift her head to watch the woman draw even nearer.

“It is time to accept your fate, little one.” The woman waved a pale hand, her long slender fingers like white bone against the darkness, and suddenly the world went still. Silence fell as heavy as iron, and Aella felt her body turn weightless as she was lifted into the air by an invisible force. “You must come to understand that there is no other path for you.”

Aella thrashed violently in her mind, all coherent thought scattered as panic overtook her, but her body remained still as the woman walked towards the forest, and she was forced to follow.

“Look, little Maiden. Witness your destiny.”

The hold on her body suddenly vanished, and Aella dropped to the forest floor with a pitiful wail. Before her was a scene that would remain etched within her memory forever, and torment her into the depths of her soul.

Every trace of the Chaos Beasts had vanished, leaving a singular crumpled form leaning against a broken tree. Beside the form, two silver sickles gleamed in the moonlight, their edges stained with a viscous darkness that rivaled the night. Everything remained deathly still — crushingly silent.

“Mama?” Aella’s voice was little more than an anguished croak, but still only silence replied.

“Go to her. Know that if you do not fulfill your purpose, this is what you doom all of mankind to experience.”

Cairen was nowhere to be seen. Aella’s eyes darted wildly through the trees, searching for anything that might prove this wasn’t real — that the figure in front of her was not her mother. But the forest remained silent and empty. Not even the voice of the Wind could be heard.

She found herself standing slowly, her legs trembling so hard that she nearly collapsed. She gritted her teeth, and stepped forwards. As she approached the figure, the metallic scent of blood mixed with the acrid stench of Chaos assaulted her senses, but she ignored it as she knelt by her mother’s side. It was undoubtedly her mother. Aella reached out to her, her trembling fingers barely brushing over one of her mother’s carefully beaded braids.

“Do you understand? This has happened because of you. You belong to God. And this is what happens when you deny Him.”

Aella understood. She finally understood. Her mother had warned her of the Temple, and who she was to them. As the Maiden — the girl born with golden eyes and the Mark of golden feathers etched into her skin — only she could appease the Golden God of Starfell Temple. Only she could pay the tithe that maintained the Barriers around the four mortal cities. Or so they said.

Her mother had taught her differently. She remembered the Old Gods, and their promise. Although they had long vanished from this world, the Maiden was the child of the Goddess — and the heir to her purpose. She was the only one who could return balance to the Aether, and cleanse the Chaos.

Her mother had always known it would come to this. Aella had never quite believed the stories of Gods and cataclysms — until now. As her mother’s life spilled onto the forest floor around her, she finally understood.

“Goodbye, mama. I will do my best.” Her promise was an inaudible whisper, choked with grief, but her hands steadied as she steeled her heart against the sorrow. She lifted her head and stared at the terrifying woman who had brought this Chaos upon her family, her eyes clear and burning like wildfire. The woman cocked her head slightly, the motion eerily birdlike.

“Take me to the Temple.”

Her command was quiet, but her voice did not waver. She knew what she had to do now. The woman — the Observer, Aella remembered her mother had once called her — seemed to hesitate for a moment, but her voice floated clearly from behind that ominous golden mask.

“Very good. I knew you would understand, little lamb.”

As the world shifted around her, and the forest melted away, Aella only had one fervent prayer, uttered silently as she felt the darkness overcome her.

Please, Eritrea, Goddess of Life, and Eryxis, God of Death, watch over Cairen. Please let him live.