The morning sun rose like a cold eye over the trees.
Ashley was pale. Her glow had dimmed to the point where her skin looked transparent as if light was slipping right through her. Her divine halo barely shimmered. She stood on trembling legs beside me, holding her hands against her chest like she was trying to keep her soul from leaking out.
"I'm not feeling well," she whispered, her voice no longer echoing with divine power just a soft, broken whisper.
Then, she reached out and took my hand.
"I'll be sleeping, Alex."
I looked at her. "What?"
She smiled but her eyes were heavy. "I can't hold this form anymore. Not after using so much power to shield the group. I'll leave you with this."
She held out the small golden seed, glowing faintly in her palm.
"The Seed of Sanctuary," she said.
The elves, huddled behind us, had fallen silent. The older ones had already begun to sense something. Some of them were kneeling. Some had tears in their eyes.
She turned to them briefly and gave a small bow the kind a goddess gives when parting from a world she once ruled.
Then her body shimmered like fading starlight
And she was gone.
Just a whisper of wind remained where she stood.
The elves gasped.
One of the elders stepped forward, eyes wide. "She was a goddess?"
I nodded slowly.
"She disappeared," he said. "She interfered with the mortal world She didn't die, did she?"
I looked him in the eye. "No. But she's not well."
"Can she be saved?"
"I don't know how," I said honestly. "But she survives on one thing, faith. From humans. From monsters. From elves."
The elder looked at the golden seed in my hand.
"Then we will build her a statue," he said. "We will pray. We will believe."
"She guided us here," I said. "To a secret place, a holy place. Before she vanished, I heard her voice in my head. She told me she used the last of her power to shield us from the dragon. She can't materialize anymore but she'll keep guiding me."
He bowed deeply. "Then we will follow you, Hero."
I shook my head. "Don't follow me. Follow her."
We marched quietly that day, moving through the forest with only the sound of footsteps and breath. The elves didn't question where we were going they didn't need to. They could feel the pull. Divine energy. A current beneath the soil itself, drawing them forward.
They had known from the beginning.
Even when she hid her power. Even when she laughed and stumbled like a clumsy girl.
They knew what she was.
Because spiritual creatures recognize divine presence even when cloaked in human form.
And they knew something else too.
They knew what it meant when a goddess sacrifices herself for mortals.
We reached the sacred ground before sunset a high, flat clearing at the top of a moss-covered cliff. It overlooked a wide valley below, untouched by kingdoms or wars.
The moment we stepped into the clearing, every elf stopped walking.
The children gasped. The elders dropped to one knee.
I felt it too.
The air was thick with something ancient. Something holy. Like the breath of a god sleeping beneath the earth.
In the center of the clearing was a circle of white stone. Ashley had seen it in a vision. A divine foundation that remained from an age long before kingdoms or cathedrals.
It was meant for one thing.
Planting the Seed.
I knelt in the center and placed the seed into the soil. It pulsed faintly in my hand, then sank gently into the earth.
The moment it touched the stone ring, light exploded.
Golden vines shot outward, wrapping around the circle in elegant spirals. Leaves sprouted mid-air. Roots crawled down into the cliff and bloomed across the entire plateau. A trunk rose upward faster than any natural tree expanding, thickening, growing
In less than a minute, a massive silver tree stood where the seed had landed.
Its branches shimmered like moonlight. Its leaves danced with divine particles. At its base, a single blossom opened and from it, a small statue of Ashley formed, her hands held open in welcome, her face peaceful in divine sleep.
The elves fell to their knees in reverence.
And I… just stood there, staring up at her.
Even fading, even broken she gave everything she had.
Back at the Kingdom
Far away, across mountains and rivers, the King sat in a golden throne inside a marble hall. He was not young. His hair was iron-gray, his eyes cold.
Six days ago, he received a revelation from the Grand Temple: A goddess and a hero would descend into the world to defeat the Demon King.
To the nobles, it was a prophecy of hope.
To him, it was a business opportunity.
"If the Demon King falls," he said to his high priest, "we will seize the moment. The beastfolk and elves will rise again. They will demand freedom. Power. Land."
He smiled coldly.
"We will enslave them again before that happens. All of them."
And so, the royal army had dispatched slavers across the forests.
Hunters in white armor.
Traps in sacred lands.
Scouts with magic to detect divine signatures.
But it had been six days, and no goddess had appeared.
The king narrowed his eyes
"Double the search parties," he said. "Find the goddess. Or find her corpse.
Back at the Sanctuary
The tree pulsed with divine warmth. Birds began to gather in its branches. The air shimmered.
The elves built the first tents beneath its roots that night.
And the statue of Ashley wept.
A single drop of divine essence rolled down its stone cheek.
And in my mind, I heard her voice again. Elves has powerful prayers. You did well.
I will work up soon.
Now go back to the kingdom.