Backstep
1st Level Red Feather
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2006
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Sylvana had accompanied her mother to make yearly early spring pilgrimages to pay tribute to Aleni since she was a toddler, so the path from her home was easy to travel. But she slumped as she walked this year, burdened with a heavy heart as she journeyed alone for the first time, her mother having passed away from a raging fever in the heart of winter. She had no sisters nor female cousins in residence, so it was left up to her to represent her family at the shrine of the goddess of verdancy. She hoped one day to fall in love and have a little girl of her own to pass the tradition on, but had been told by one of the elders that if she only bore sons, a man could make the sacrifice just outside of the sacred space if no one else could, though not with the same efficacy. The pack containing her essentials along with some tiny onion stems and snowdrop flowers, the first fruits of harvest plucked after the snow melted, rested heavily on her shoulder despite the relative lack of weight. Sylvana realized as she neared the small grotto with its narrow, modest stone pillar that she had been weeping again and wiped her eyes.
A hundred strides into the forest, Sylvana was brought out of her mourning when she saw that the tiny clearing ahead, which normally was quite obvious with its circle of stones, was overgrown with plant life despite the early season. “Strange,” she said out loud and approached with a bit more caution than usual. She stepped gingerly over the low ring of rocks, set the sack aside, and lowered the hood of her cloak, showing off the strawberry-colored hair that her mother had often called her ‘great beauty.’
Rather than grab her knife and clear the area straight away, she went to the waist-high pedestal first. She was to take the plants, lay them on the small surface, recite a prayer while kneeling and then head back. When her mother had been alive, they’d make a picnic and have lunch together afterwards, but Sylvana had no intention of doing so on her own, preferring to nibble on a half loaf of bread as she walked home if needed. She laid her hand on the stone in confusion. The only writing on it was supposed to have consisted of an inscription on the side that was there simply to denote what it was, but there were now a series of symbols on the flat surface for the tribute as well. They were in two separate groups of slashes with curved flourishes that looked utterly alien to her.
Sylvana looked around and listened, but nothing else seemed out of the ordinary. Whatever had happened could have occurred anytime from the previous day to several months before since few in their little farming community would have bothered to pay a visit once the harvest had been taken in. After a minute’s contemplation, eager to get on with it, she took the plants out, laid them in their proper place, and knelt down, adjusting her skirt. Reciting the prayer took only a few moments and it was over. She rose to take the pack and leave.
“That was utterly improper.”
Sylvana jumped at the sound of a woman’s voice behind her and spun around, but no one was there. “Hello?” she asked with great trepidation.
“And that’s no way to greet a goddess. ‘Hello?’ The disrespect.” The voice came from all around now, sounding irritated.
Sylvana’s jaw dropped, her eyes dilating in fear and wonder. “Aleni?”
There was a deep, heavy sigh that felt like a strong wind blowing around the circle. “In times past, I was loved and feared. Once, so long ago you couldn’t understand, some were so desperate for my favor they were willing to sacrifice their own infants in exchange for bountiful harvests. Now look at me. Nearly forgotten but for a few poor farmers offering some flowers.”
Sylvana fell to her knees in shock. “This… this is impossible!” She looked up even though there was nothing particular to see except for a gray sky, dimly visible through the treetops.
“And even the ones visiting this poor hovel apparently don’t believe.”
Dumbstruck, Sylvana shook her head gently, this being by far the most astonishing thing that had ever happened to her.
“One of the wanderers from the far reaches of this miserable world saw this shrine and remembered, carving the sigils to summon me properly,” Aleni went on. “That’s how it used to be, you know. I could make my will known to all. It’s a disgrace that your people have forgotten.”
Sylvana’s head spun with the implications of what she was hearing. “I have so many questions.”
“I have only a flicker of the power I once held and no chance of being what I once was. Perhaps I can use what little I have left to amuse myself for a bit at your expense.”
Sylvana’s eyes darted around. “My expense?” She rose and backed up, ready to run regardless of the wonder she was experiencing.
“Indeed.”
Tree roots sprang up from the ground and wound around Sylvana’s ankles, pulling her backwards and landing on her rump with a thud, pinning her ankles to the ground, shoulder width apart.. “W-what’s happening?” More roots sprang up, did the same to her wrists and pulled them down over her head, leaving Sylvana spread-eagled on the ground while she struggled. Smaller roots trapped her knees and elbows, rendering her immobile. “Aleni, let me go!”
“No, you’re going to entertain me.” She sounded petulant.
Vines snaked around Sylvana’s boots and removed them, showing a pair of homespun wool socks to guard against the chill. “What are you doing?” she shook in deep trepidation.
“Whatever I wish. My reach doesn’t extend far, but it’s quite deep.” Those same vines ‘gripped’ the tips of the socks and pulled them away, leaving the feet bare. “That used to be part of the ritual, you know, removing one’s shoes before entering a sacred space.”
Sylvana’s toes flexed in the cool air. “What are you going t-to do to mm-e?” She strained against the roots, which didn’t budge.
“All manner of things.” The wind blew again in a sigh.
Sylvana felt something flit by the tip of her ear and she reflexively turned her head to brush it away. “Nph.”
“No, none of that, poor human.”
Roots formed a halo around her head preventing it from moving, and Sylvana found herself staring up at the treetops again. “Aleni,” she said, swallowing, “what are-”
“I should teach you some honorifics. Perhaps after I’ve had my fill.”
The sensation came back for each ear and she realized it was a pair of caterpillars about the size of her pinky finger, now making their way down either cheek. She winced and tried to shake them away unsuccessfully by making rather comical facial gestures. “G-get these things off - eee!” Her demand ended in a squeak as they moved down the side of her neck.
“A mortal demands something of me. I should be furious.”
Sylvana’s breathing hitched as the caterpillars moved around and laid down in the hollow at the base of her throat. “What are they doing?”
“Waiting.” It was all she said.
Sylvana felt something brush by her side. “What’s that?”
“A visitor. One of many.”
She tried to squirm, but felt something scramble up onto her stomach and she winced. She looked down as much as she could and detected a small brown ball of fur. “Mouse?” she asked. The mouse cocked its head and disappeared under Sylvana’s blouse. Sylvana let out a shriek of offense and descended into helpless giggling as the mouse ran over her bare stomach and along her sides. “Neeehee! St-stoohhaaap!!” She grit her teeth, but couldn’t tamp down on her snickers as the mouse wandered.
“I will ensure it doesn’t make a mess, the same as these.”
Sylvana felt a strange squirming, buzzing sensation around her ankles. “No!” She shouted in panic as she now realized what was going to happen to her.
“Oh yes, my dear girl.” Aleni sounded satisfactorily vicious.
Two dozen creatures of various shapes and sizes crawled over Sylvana’s helpless writhing soles, exploring the milky, sensitive skin. An earthworm trapped itself between two toes, wiggling slimily, while a small, curious snail inched along around the right heel. Some pill bugs marched up and down her crinkled right arch while some ants took up position on the left. Her bare feet became a living insect garden of torment.
Sylvana let out an ear-splitting shriek which descended into helpless cackles. “Neeeaahaaa! Aaahhh g–g-gaaahaaads!” Her eyes were screwed shut and she trembled at the alien squirming sensations, limbs straining. The mouse exited and dashed away, but its bright, oil-drop eyes watched from a corner, as if waiting.
“Good. Let’s try this.”
A small gray fox emerged from the gloom and skulked to Sylvana’s side, sniffing for danger. After ensuring it was safe, it nipped the bottom of the blouse and pulled it up, exposing Sylvana’s midriff.
“Nnnaaahaaa, nnno, d-dont!”
The fox sniffed and serenely licked Sylvana’s quivering, pale navel.
“Oh, I didn’t even have to make him lick, the mischievous thing. Such a curious little creature.”
Sylvana struggled in her bonds, totally at the mercy of the goddess. Her stomach shook as the warm, wet tongue lapped at her quivering flesh and her feet continued to writhe. A few more earthworms slipped between her toes. A-Aaalenn-iiiheee!” She wanted to throw her head back against the ground, but couldn’t.
“The ritual used to involve watering the ground with tears of suffering or gratitude. I will water it with your mirth.”
A pair of tiny snakes slipped into the armholes of Sylvana’s blouse, each one keening against her soft, warm underarms, their forked tongues tasting her flesh. The fox took time to nose around the belly before turning back to the navel at Aleni’s prompting.
As promised, two tears dripped down Sylvana’s ruddy cheeks to splash on the ground. The veins on her neck stood out in strain. “Naaahaaa! Pl-pleeheeaaase st-staaahaap theeeem!”
“No.”
Several tiny snails made their way up the Sylvana’s calves, and over her knees.
“Neeeehaaa haaa! D-doont lllee-heet themmm aaahaa!” She felt a desperate panic build as they disappeared under the skirt.
Aleni observed quietly.
The snails worked their way upwards, their antennae wiggling in consternation as they moved. When they reached the upper thighs, they circled around the lower hips and waited.
Sylvana laughed and yowled in helpless quaking gasps. “Bb-aaaayy th-the gaahaads!” She trembled as she wailed, her body turned into a living garden.
“There are no gods here but myself.”
Sylvana shrieked in a bout of unending hysterics as her feet squirmed with life, her belly was licked continuously, and underarms gently nosed. After what felt like an age, she felt a flutter in her lower belly, reflexively trying to bring her knees together.
“Ah, humans think they have so much control over their crops, their own bodies. But look at you, ready to desecrate the space. What should I do to you if that happens?”
Sylvana, face burning and limbs quivering tried desperately not to lose control. Her laughter came in staggered, rapid wails begging for mercy as she felt the shudder grow in logarithmic urgency. “Nnaahaa I c-caaan’t hhaaa holldd ittt aaahaaa!”
“A shame, that.”
Sylvana let out a high-pitched scream when she felt her urethra open, her bladder giving out in a series of rhythmic pulses, soaking herself. She let out a relieved sob as the fox fled, the snakes withdrew, and her feet were rapidly evacuated. She gulped air. Pl-please,” she managed between gasps, “let me go. Please.”
“After you pissed on my consecrated space? Indeed, I should do worse than what I’m about to.”
The two caterpillars that had been nearly forgotten squirmed awake and headed downwards. “Wh-what are they doing?” Sylvana looked up pleadingly, not knowing if there was a way to make Aleni feel pity.
Aleni didn’t answer, the two caterpillars doing so for her. While Sylvana let out another squeak, they wriggled under her blouse and crawled in an upwards spiral along each breast, causing goosebumps.
Sylvana’s eyes widened. “No! Oh no, please!”
“It’s been so long since people begged for things from me. It’s intoxicating.”
The caterpillars reached their destination and began to dance on and around each nipple.
Sylvana screamed at the alien sensations that assaulted her, clasheing between something ticklish, sensuous, and disgusted. “Aaalennniiiee!”
“It really is amazing what a few crawlers can do to drive humans to the brink of swooning. Such as this.”
The snails moved to explore Sylvana’s womanhood, the hairs glistening with the trails they left behind.
“Oh, gods!” Sylvana sobbed, her nipples hardening against her will.
“I could do this to you for long enough to drive you mad. I could turn your body into an insect hive and keep you here in writhing agony until you die of thirst. I can do whatever I wish.”
Sylvana felt a red haze settle over her, mouth trapped open in helpless gasps. She didn’t trust herself to respond.
“Will you do as I say?”
“Yes! Yeeeehees! Just make them stop!”
“In a moment.”
Sylvana croaked in anguish, sexually teased and in a state of despair. Between her own urine and lack of footwear, she now felt frigid from the waist down despite the unwanted tingle between her legs. She sobbed in misery.
“That will do.”
The caterpillars and snails crawled away much too slowly before Sylvana was finally freed. The roots holding her opened, causing her to curl into a ball. She hugged herself, shaking. “Aleni,” she muttered.
“You will go back and spread my word to all the villages in your land in addition to your own.”
Even as she laid there, tired and disgusted, the words came back to Sylvana about the traveler.
“I need to grow and be what I once was. I need it.”
Sylvana crawled on hands and knees to her sack and grabbed her knife.
“I… what are you doing?” The roots flexed back to life.
Sylvana lunged at the pedestal, and before Aleni could command the forest to obey her, the young woman created a slash across two of the glyphs, distorting them. The roots that had lunged for Sylvana stopped dead and the mouse that had been watching blinked in confusion and skittered away.
“Aleni?” Sylvana demanded, still clutching the knife. “Can you hear me?” The soft rustle of trees in a light spring breeze was her only answer.
She stood there holding the knife for several minutes, waiting for a voice that would never speak to another human again. She slashed several more of the glyphs just to be safe and put her socks and shoes back on, knowing it was the last time she would ever come anywhere near the space as long as she lived, and was determined to dissuade anyone else from doing so. She managed to knock over the pedestal after a few attempts and left the forest.
On her way home Sylvana decided she would light a candle in remembrance of her mother rather than rely on the worship of a deity that wasn’t worth praying to, and she would weather the times of good crops and bad as the coming and going of fate rather than the sadistic will of an infantile supernatural creature. And when she fell in love and bore children she would welcome them no matter if they were boys or girls.
Meanwhile, a fox with a strange taste in its mouth was fleeing back to its den deep in the dark woods because it had been badly spooked away from its usual hunting grounds. It had heard a fading unseen voice screaming in impotent rage.
- If you like what you've read here and you want to support me or request a story of your own, feel free to PM me or check me out at Patreon.com/Backstep
A hundred strides into the forest, Sylvana was brought out of her mourning when she saw that the tiny clearing ahead, which normally was quite obvious with its circle of stones, was overgrown with plant life despite the early season. “Strange,” she said out loud and approached with a bit more caution than usual. She stepped gingerly over the low ring of rocks, set the sack aside, and lowered the hood of her cloak, showing off the strawberry-colored hair that her mother had often called her ‘great beauty.’
Rather than grab her knife and clear the area straight away, she went to the waist-high pedestal first. She was to take the plants, lay them on the small surface, recite a prayer while kneeling and then head back. When her mother had been alive, they’d make a picnic and have lunch together afterwards, but Sylvana had no intention of doing so on her own, preferring to nibble on a half loaf of bread as she walked home if needed. She laid her hand on the stone in confusion. The only writing on it was supposed to have consisted of an inscription on the side that was there simply to denote what it was, but there were now a series of symbols on the flat surface for the tribute as well. They were in two separate groups of slashes with curved flourishes that looked utterly alien to her.
Sylvana looked around and listened, but nothing else seemed out of the ordinary. Whatever had happened could have occurred anytime from the previous day to several months before since few in their little farming community would have bothered to pay a visit once the harvest had been taken in. After a minute’s contemplation, eager to get on with it, she took the plants out, laid them in their proper place, and knelt down, adjusting her skirt. Reciting the prayer took only a few moments and it was over. She rose to take the pack and leave.
“That was utterly improper.”
Sylvana jumped at the sound of a woman’s voice behind her and spun around, but no one was there. “Hello?” she asked with great trepidation.
“And that’s no way to greet a goddess. ‘Hello?’ The disrespect.” The voice came from all around now, sounding irritated.
Sylvana’s jaw dropped, her eyes dilating in fear and wonder. “Aleni?”
There was a deep, heavy sigh that felt like a strong wind blowing around the circle. “In times past, I was loved and feared. Once, so long ago you couldn’t understand, some were so desperate for my favor they were willing to sacrifice their own infants in exchange for bountiful harvests. Now look at me. Nearly forgotten but for a few poor farmers offering some flowers.”
Sylvana fell to her knees in shock. “This… this is impossible!” She looked up even though there was nothing particular to see except for a gray sky, dimly visible through the treetops.
“And even the ones visiting this poor hovel apparently don’t believe.”
Dumbstruck, Sylvana shook her head gently, this being by far the most astonishing thing that had ever happened to her.
“One of the wanderers from the far reaches of this miserable world saw this shrine and remembered, carving the sigils to summon me properly,” Aleni went on. “That’s how it used to be, you know. I could make my will known to all. It’s a disgrace that your people have forgotten.”
Sylvana’s head spun with the implications of what she was hearing. “I have so many questions.”
“I have only a flicker of the power I once held and no chance of being what I once was. Perhaps I can use what little I have left to amuse myself for a bit at your expense.”
Sylvana’s eyes darted around. “My expense?” She rose and backed up, ready to run regardless of the wonder she was experiencing.
“Indeed.”
Tree roots sprang up from the ground and wound around Sylvana’s ankles, pulling her backwards and landing on her rump with a thud, pinning her ankles to the ground, shoulder width apart.. “W-what’s happening?” More roots sprang up, did the same to her wrists and pulled them down over her head, leaving Sylvana spread-eagled on the ground while she struggled. Smaller roots trapped her knees and elbows, rendering her immobile. “Aleni, let me go!”
“No, you’re going to entertain me.” She sounded petulant.
Vines snaked around Sylvana’s boots and removed them, showing a pair of homespun wool socks to guard against the chill. “What are you doing?” she shook in deep trepidation.
“Whatever I wish. My reach doesn’t extend far, but it’s quite deep.” Those same vines ‘gripped’ the tips of the socks and pulled them away, leaving the feet bare. “That used to be part of the ritual, you know, removing one’s shoes before entering a sacred space.”
Sylvana’s toes flexed in the cool air. “What are you going t-to do to mm-e?” She strained against the roots, which didn’t budge.
“All manner of things.” The wind blew again in a sigh.
Sylvana felt something flit by the tip of her ear and she reflexively turned her head to brush it away. “Nph.”
“No, none of that, poor human.”
Roots formed a halo around her head preventing it from moving, and Sylvana found herself staring up at the treetops again. “Aleni,” she said, swallowing, “what are-”
“I should teach you some honorifics. Perhaps after I’ve had my fill.”
The sensation came back for each ear and she realized it was a pair of caterpillars about the size of her pinky finger, now making their way down either cheek. She winced and tried to shake them away unsuccessfully by making rather comical facial gestures. “G-get these things off - eee!” Her demand ended in a squeak as they moved down the side of her neck.
“A mortal demands something of me. I should be furious.”
Sylvana’s breathing hitched as the caterpillars moved around and laid down in the hollow at the base of her throat. “What are they doing?”
“Waiting.” It was all she said.
Sylvana felt something brush by her side. “What’s that?”
“A visitor. One of many.”
She tried to squirm, but felt something scramble up onto her stomach and she winced. She looked down as much as she could and detected a small brown ball of fur. “Mouse?” she asked. The mouse cocked its head and disappeared under Sylvana’s blouse. Sylvana let out a shriek of offense and descended into helpless giggling as the mouse ran over her bare stomach and along her sides. “Neeehee! St-stoohhaaap!!” She grit her teeth, but couldn’t tamp down on her snickers as the mouse wandered.
“I will ensure it doesn’t make a mess, the same as these.”
Sylvana felt a strange squirming, buzzing sensation around her ankles. “No!” She shouted in panic as she now realized what was going to happen to her.
“Oh yes, my dear girl.” Aleni sounded satisfactorily vicious.
Two dozen creatures of various shapes and sizes crawled over Sylvana’s helpless writhing soles, exploring the milky, sensitive skin. An earthworm trapped itself between two toes, wiggling slimily, while a small, curious snail inched along around the right heel. Some pill bugs marched up and down her crinkled right arch while some ants took up position on the left. Her bare feet became a living insect garden of torment.
Sylvana let out an ear-splitting shriek which descended into helpless cackles. “Neeeaahaaa! Aaahhh g–g-gaaahaaads!” Her eyes were screwed shut and she trembled at the alien squirming sensations, limbs straining. The mouse exited and dashed away, but its bright, oil-drop eyes watched from a corner, as if waiting.
“Good. Let’s try this.”
A small gray fox emerged from the gloom and skulked to Sylvana’s side, sniffing for danger. After ensuring it was safe, it nipped the bottom of the blouse and pulled it up, exposing Sylvana’s midriff.
“Nnnaaahaaa, nnno, d-dont!”
The fox sniffed and serenely licked Sylvana’s quivering, pale navel.
“Oh, I didn’t even have to make him lick, the mischievous thing. Such a curious little creature.”
Sylvana struggled in her bonds, totally at the mercy of the goddess. Her stomach shook as the warm, wet tongue lapped at her quivering flesh and her feet continued to writhe. A few more earthworms slipped between her toes. A-Aaalenn-iiiheee!” She wanted to throw her head back against the ground, but couldn’t.
“The ritual used to involve watering the ground with tears of suffering or gratitude. I will water it with your mirth.”
A pair of tiny snakes slipped into the armholes of Sylvana’s blouse, each one keening against her soft, warm underarms, their forked tongues tasting her flesh. The fox took time to nose around the belly before turning back to the navel at Aleni’s prompting.
As promised, two tears dripped down Sylvana’s ruddy cheeks to splash on the ground. The veins on her neck stood out in strain. “Naaahaaa! Pl-pleeheeaaase st-staaahaap theeeem!”
“No.”
Several tiny snails made their way up the Sylvana’s calves, and over her knees.
“Neeeehaaa haaa! D-doont lllee-heet themmm aaahaa!” She felt a desperate panic build as they disappeared under the skirt.
Aleni observed quietly.
The snails worked their way upwards, their antennae wiggling in consternation as they moved. When they reached the upper thighs, they circled around the lower hips and waited.
Sylvana laughed and yowled in helpless quaking gasps. “Bb-aaaayy th-the gaahaads!” She trembled as she wailed, her body turned into a living garden.
“There are no gods here but myself.”
Sylvana shrieked in a bout of unending hysterics as her feet squirmed with life, her belly was licked continuously, and underarms gently nosed. After what felt like an age, she felt a flutter in her lower belly, reflexively trying to bring her knees together.
“Ah, humans think they have so much control over their crops, their own bodies. But look at you, ready to desecrate the space. What should I do to you if that happens?”
Sylvana, face burning and limbs quivering tried desperately not to lose control. Her laughter came in staggered, rapid wails begging for mercy as she felt the shudder grow in logarithmic urgency. “Nnaahaa I c-caaan’t hhaaa holldd ittt aaahaaa!”
“A shame, that.”
Sylvana let out a high-pitched scream when she felt her urethra open, her bladder giving out in a series of rhythmic pulses, soaking herself. She let out a relieved sob as the fox fled, the snakes withdrew, and her feet were rapidly evacuated. She gulped air. Pl-please,” she managed between gasps, “let me go. Please.”
“After you pissed on my consecrated space? Indeed, I should do worse than what I’m about to.”
The two caterpillars that had been nearly forgotten squirmed awake and headed downwards. “Wh-what are they doing?” Sylvana looked up pleadingly, not knowing if there was a way to make Aleni feel pity.
Aleni didn’t answer, the two caterpillars doing so for her. While Sylvana let out another squeak, they wriggled under her blouse and crawled in an upwards spiral along each breast, causing goosebumps.
Sylvana’s eyes widened. “No! Oh no, please!”
“It’s been so long since people begged for things from me. It’s intoxicating.”
The caterpillars reached their destination and began to dance on and around each nipple.
Sylvana screamed at the alien sensations that assaulted her, clasheing between something ticklish, sensuous, and disgusted. “Aaalennniiiee!”
“It really is amazing what a few crawlers can do to drive humans to the brink of swooning. Such as this.”
The snails moved to explore Sylvana’s womanhood, the hairs glistening with the trails they left behind.
“Oh, gods!” Sylvana sobbed, her nipples hardening against her will.
“I could do this to you for long enough to drive you mad. I could turn your body into an insect hive and keep you here in writhing agony until you die of thirst. I can do whatever I wish.”
Sylvana felt a red haze settle over her, mouth trapped open in helpless gasps. She didn’t trust herself to respond.
“Will you do as I say?”
“Yes! Yeeeehees! Just make them stop!”
“In a moment.”
Sylvana croaked in anguish, sexually teased and in a state of despair. Between her own urine and lack of footwear, she now felt frigid from the waist down despite the unwanted tingle between her legs. She sobbed in misery.
“That will do.”
The caterpillars and snails crawled away much too slowly before Sylvana was finally freed. The roots holding her opened, causing her to curl into a ball. She hugged herself, shaking. “Aleni,” she muttered.
“You will go back and spread my word to all the villages in your land in addition to your own.”
Even as she laid there, tired and disgusted, the words came back to Sylvana about the traveler.
“I need to grow and be what I once was. I need it.”
Sylvana crawled on hands and knees to her sack and grabbed her knife.
“I… what are you doing?” The roots flexed back to life.
Sylvana lunged at the pedestal, and before Aleni could command the forest to obey her, the young woman created a slash across two of the glyphs, distorting them. The roots that had lunged for Sylvana stopped dead and the mouse that had been watching blinked in confusion and skittered away.
“Aleni?” Sylvana demanded, still clutching the knife. “Can you hear me?” The soft rustle of trees in a light spring breeze was her only answer.
She stood there holding the knife for several minutes, waiting for a voice that would never speak to another human again. She slashed several more of the glyphs just to be safe and put her socks and shoes back on, knowing it was the last time she would ever come anywhere near the space as long as she lived, and was determined to dissuade anyone else from doing so. She managed to knock over the pedestal after a few attempts and left the forest.
On her way home Sylvana decided she would light a candle in remembrance of her mother rather than rely on the worship of a deity that wasn’t worth praying to, and she would weather the times of good crops and bad as the coming and going of fate rather than the sadistic will of an infantile supernatural creature. And when she fell in love and bore children she would welcome them no matter if they were boys or girls.
Meanwhile, a fox with a strange taste in its mouth was fleeing back to its den deep in the dark woods because it had been badly spooked away from its usual hunting grounds. It had heard a fading unseen voice screaming in impotent rage.
- If you like what you've read here and you want to support me or request a story of your own, feel free to PM me or check me out at Patreon.com/Backstep
