Friday Story Prompt

This one was "Goddess becomes her own Paladin to see how she really acts to her followers. Turns out she's pretty fucking insufferable."


No sex in this one, more just a bit of an idea. I'll try to get some more fun one's up next week!

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"Etain hear me and answer. We've brought low your enemies and showed the strong will conquer the weak. Now we need your aid," I intoned, hands clasped around the handle of my flail. The chains clanked as they rolled around my fingers, shifting as I lifted my hands placatingly to the ceiling. 

Etain's statue wasn't the grandest of things, a woman in grey robes, face shrouded in mystery. She Who'd Bitten the Sun had been cursed to never show her face again, so she'd made it her trademark. The faceless Goddess pushed people to never accept less than their due and to cast down anyone weak enough to think that knees should be bent.

"Etain you huge bitch, come on!"

We weren't getting on very well. Ironic really. Because I was Etain too.

All her chosen were. The Goddess with no face had spat in the sun's face and stolen hundreds for her own, her most loyal taking a splinter of the Goddess into themselves and becoming one of her many reflections. I was the one who had to deal with all the problems the lazy bitch wouldn't do herself.

"Mercia, you are a foul creature. A harlot is what you are."

I could hear her now. A stone mouth speaking words slithered in the ear and across the brain. The voice I used when weak people needed strong solutions, even though it soured in my mouth every time.

"Oh, you care about that now? You've fucked every god and Goddess this side of the Spine. You're upset I cared about someone for a few moments?"

Her silence sent a chill up my spine. The icy wind that comes before an avalanche. Etain had never been one to hold back. But just because she was me and I her, didn't mean I couldn't give her shit. 

"You want to sneer at me fucking one of the Serpent Tongues? Fine by me. At least I'm not still pining after a dead King. You want to trade barbs Goddess. Stop being such a fucking coward and move on."

The statue seemed to quiver under my words. A ripple of power ran through the air, and I felt something in the earth below shift. It was like a rock that had settled deep in the earth suddenly moved.

I fought against the urge to run. Instead, I stood and watched as the entire temple shook. The stones groaned and cracked, and I heard screams from all around.

"A tantrum?" I hissed. "These are your people, and you're just going to kill everyone because things aren't going your way?"

"No, I am making them see the truth of our situation, Mercia. You wanted my help? The Serpent Tongues are at the gates, and you see more interested in sliding them into bed than killing them." the statue growls. 

"At least when I get fucked by them, it's a good time," I spit right back. The fiery-eyed woman warming my bed probably was a spy and not a turncoat, but if I let a thing like that stop me, what was the point in even being part of Etain? Do as you will. Bend the world to fit. 

"Then I'll make it simple. No more cowering in their beds. The people save my city, or I'll not let the Serpent Tongues have the satisfaction of destroying them. I'll bury you both together, and you can spit curses at my name together in hell."

I turned away, the sound of the earth moving beneath the feet of the statues filling my ears. I thought of how long these people had lived without fear, and then it hit me. This really was the beginning of the end. 

Etain had nothing left to give but fear, and she would use it like a flail if needed.

Fear had always been my strength. After all, I was Etain, and she was me. But now I felt it creeping in at the edges, no longer a coiled whip in our hands.

I knew that feeling, something we hadn't felt in a long, long time. "You're scared." 

"Fool, I am a master of my fear. You stare into yourself. You don't know what to do next, do you? You don't know where you stand anymore. You have lost two cities, and you're already losing another. Win this battle, the Serpent Tongues will still win the war. You've decided you've already lost. You're weak, and no part of me is weak."

"But I am a part of you." 

"Then take my word out. Fight or die. All or nothing. I will not have my people eat dust and scrape their heads, not once or ever."

"This is suicide. We'll all die." 

The statue laughed and froze back in place, their last words echoing in the air. "If you believe it, at least die with some spine."

Bitch. I raise my flail and lash it across the altar. Wouldn't be the first to knock chunks out of it. I turn and stride back into a fear-stricken city, ready to wield it like a whip. 

I'm not about to die if it'll make Etain even a little happy. The part of her that is Mercia needs to live if only to stop her ego from growing even more unchecked. It was a war we were losing. The Serpent Tongues were capturing more of her heart day by day. The one warming my bed would become the one standing over it, giving me orders. Unless we fought like hell, bled without fear, and brought ourselves to reason. 

Communion never made me feel better, but it made me feel steel in my heart, and that was enough. Time to tear out some whispering tongues.