Goddess Awakened (On Hold)

Goddess Awakened - Chapter 6

"Antheia."

The whisper came to her through the gloom. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as icy fingers of fog brushed over her exposed skin. After the heat of the campfire, it was like being tossed back into the river once more. The chill of its touch seeped right down to her very bones.

Antheia shivered. Her stomach knotted as she glanced from side to side, unable to make out anything but shadows in the dark. And yet -.

"Who's there?" Antheia demanded. Like being in a cave, her voice spoke back to her, demanding over and over again but growing fainter with every reverberation. "Show yourself to me."

Her angry voice shouted back, fading with each word until the only sound to reach her was her own harsh breathing. Antheia's heart pounded in her chest and her mouth grew dry.

Edging forwards, grit crunched beneath her feet. Her hands clenched into fists at her sides as she moved forwards blindly, her fingers nails biting into the palms of her hands. The sharp pain cleared some of the fog in her mind.

Drawing in a deep breath, her eyes strained against the darkness. It was like all those times before, when she had no one but herself for company, and yet somehow different. It was like a dream and yet unlike any dream she had ever had. Her body had the odd lethargy of sleep and yet, she had never been so alert.

Perhaps the events of the past day had been the dream? Maybe she was still there in the forest, stuck in her own body and isolated from the world. Perhaps time had finally won? There here had been more times than she could count that she had been stuck in a dream - no, nightmare - that there was no waking from. Yet, everything had seemed so real.

It was real.

It had to be.

Antheia shook her head. Fabric rustled as something shifted beside her, the scent of life and death flooding her senses.

Gritting her teeth, Antheia ground out, "Enough games. I demand you answer me."

A harsh cackle flooded through the air, a body emerging through the gloom so close that Antheia stumbled back a step.

The warmth of their rancid breath, an unpleasant mixture of fish and onions, crashed over Antheia's face as they rasped, "Demanding now, are we child?"

Antheia's head snapped back as if she had been struck with a fist. Their barely retrained power crashed over her a moment later like a wave against the rocks. They had been cloaking it before, showing only an ounce of their true strength. She felt it all now. Warm hands caught Antheia's shoulders, steadying her before she could fall. She barely registered them even as her legs shook. Instead, Antheia was consumed by the uncomfortable sensations coursing through her body. The power burned at her nerve endings, sending spasms through her limbs. She could even taste their magic on her tongue.

She grimaced. No, that was just the onion.

Bad breath aside, it was —familiar.

There was a swish of long robes as they stepped away, another taking their place. This one on a tide of floral perfumes.

"We see all." They said, voice strong and soothing even in her disorientation.

A third voice whispered from behind her, so close their lips brushed her ear. It was a warm comforting beacon in the darkness. "All you were."

"All you are."

"All you could be."

Antheia's breath stuttered in her chest. Could it truly be?