Page 29 of The Dragon's Perfect Omega
In front of me, my biological mother chuckled.
How odd.
For some reason, I hadn't expected such a human reaction from her. That was silly, of course. Just because the woman in front of me was wearing robes and living her life secluded in the mountain didn't mean she wasn't still a woman. Maybe hearing what she had to say wasn't such an awful idea after all.
She looked over her shoulder at me. "It's by the Goddess' grace that we could build into the volcano. She protects us and this place." She touched one of her hands to the dark rock wall of the hallway they were passing through. "Feel it."
What, she wanted me to put my hand to the wall? I shot her a skeptical look.
"Go on," she insisted.
Well, okay then.
I touched the wall to my side. It was warm. As if there were hot water pipes running through it... hot water or hot lava?
"It's the power of the Gods," the priestess explained.
Seriously?
I studied the priestess’ aura. It was still the purest of silver, no darker or lighter spots. No flickers. Whatever she said, she believed it to be the truth. I’d never seen faith as strong as hers.
So why had she acted against her faith all those years ago?
"You don't have to believe now," the priestess said softly. "We can work on your faith later. For now, come with me." She beckoned with her hand and we continued our walk in silence. After another minute, we reached the high priestess' chambers.
"In here," she said, opening the door for me to enter. The chamber was small and so warm that I would have broken into a sweat if I hadn't been a dragon. This was probably the deepest the shrine reached into the volcano. We sat in lush chairs made of comfortable leather. The people of the shrine sure liked their shiny things and luxury items. Little gold trinkets lined the shelves along the far wall, glinting in the light of the chandelier that hung from the low ceiling.
"Why did you call me here?" I started the conversation after studying the room.
She licked her lips, obviously considering her words before she said them. "How much has your mother told you of our history?"
"I know how we're related, if that's what you're asking." I said it as nonchalantly as possible. "I know that you went against the rules of your religion, got pregnant with me and then gave me up for adoption in secret."
Her head moved only minimally as she nodded. "That's half the truth."
"Half the truth?" What was she talking about?
"You might say that I went against the rules of my religion, but I'm not sure how true that is, when I was merely acting on a request from my Goddess."
A request from her Goddess? This conversation got weirder and weirder by the second. "I don't understand," I admitted. Could the priests here actuallytalkto the Gods? I hadn't heard anything like that before.
She subtly shook her head. "Surely you must be getting the visions too."
My eyes narrowed at her. "So I've inherited them from you, after all."
Her face didn't betray her thoughts as she looked at me. "It was ordained."
"Are you saying the visions are how you talk to the Gods?" If so, hers must be very different from mine. Most of the time, the things I saw didn't even make sense to me.
My confusion must have been obvious, because the high priestess responded to it. "You didn't have anyone to guide you or explain to you what you're being shown. I don't talk to the Gods, but they talk to me. The language they speak can be difficult to process without teaching."
"Are you going to teach me? Is that why I'm here?"
"Only if you agree to fulfill your duty."
My duty... I only looked at the priestess. She had no idea how the world worked outside her shrine, did she? "You think you can just waltz into my life and demand that I become a priest because you gave birth to me decades ago?"
"No." To my surprise, her lips tugged up into something that was almost a smile. "That's not the only reason. And I'm not the one demanding this from you."
