“Then there is the matter of overall command…” muttered Calder, ignoring the barbarian’s words.

  “Are you dissatisfied with my orders? Do you have problems taking orders from a woman?” cut in Aelayah archly, floating up to us from seemingly out of nowhere with all the grace of a swan.

  “No, of course not, Lady Aelayah. Just that without a Captain to lead us, things have been what the high sort call ‘fractious’ even though we have been winning…” Calder stated.

  The highborn lady looked as if she wanted to roll her eyes. “Then surely it is time to promote someone from within your ranks? As is normal in times of conflict. Is that not why you have a chain of command?” she commented, exasperated.

  “My lady, that is not within our remit, we need the full…”

  Then everything seemed to stop—or at least slow down so drastically that it was as if time itself had frozen. People stood like statues, trapped in mid-motion, each suspended in a single moment of activity. The scene felt strange and unsettling, like reality itself had been paused.

  The song had faded.

  Sound, light, and even sensation had been stifled, as though the world was holding its breath. I tried to rise, but it felt like a mountain was pressing down on my shoulders, an unrelenting weight pinning me in place. Words failed me, my thoughts reduced to a single overwhelming notion: Pressure. A constant, crushing force, pushing me down, squeezing the life out of me.

  "After all I have done for you, I am disappointed in you. Disappointed," whispered an alluring yet chilling feminine voice just behind me, sending a cold shiver down my spine.

  Only a deity could manifest like this. The goddess Iasis had come for another visitation.

  Summoning all my willpower, I managed to rise slowly to my feet, feeling my very Health drain away with even this slight movement.

  "And how have I disappointed you?" I retorted, infusing my voice with as much sarcasm as I dared.

  "Come now, surely you know you must never shirk your duties to outsiders. There are Rules, after all," she remarked, drifting into view as she floated upon invisible ethereal currents. The air around her shimmered unnaturally, distorting reality itself.

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  "And what if I have no idea what you're talking about?" I replied defiantly.

  She fixed her gaze upon me, her eyes dark voids that reflected nothing yet seemed to pierce into the depths of my soul.

  "You truly do not know, do you? Or perhaps your talent for deception is otherworldly," she laughed, her voice a haunting melody that was both beautiful and terrifying. "You have traveled so far—for a mortal. It would be a shame for your thread to be cut too soon, as the wild men of the North say." She paused, spiraling languidly through the air like a predator circling its prey.

  "The challenge—you should have accepted it yourself. It was expected. It is part of the Rules," she declared, her tone cold and unforgiving. Her words sent a chill through me, stirring a deep-seated dread I couldn't suppress.

  "Ezlas? The Guildmaster?" I blurted out in surprise. "But he refused to face me himself!"

  She drifted closer, so near that I could see every flawless pore on her luminescent skin. "Names. Titles. Excuses. Do you think I care for them? They mean nothing to me. We care for our offerings, little mortal, and your actions have tainted what was meant to be mine!"

  A cruel smile curved her lips. "I have come to punish you. To put you in your place..."

  "How was I supposed to know? Are you truly so petty?" I shouted, my voice echoing futilely in the oppressive silence.

  The air grew heavy, pressing down upon me as shadows deepened around her form. The very atmosphere seemed to conspire against me, amplifying the terror that gripped my heart.

  As sudden as this episode was, it hardly compared to what happened next. In this frozen world where time stood still, where even the air seemed suspended, a haunch of meat came sailing toward the goddess. It was a sight so utterly incongruous that it defied all comprehension—a crude object intruding upon this surreal moment. Against all reason, the hunk of meat hurtled through the stillness and smacked into Iasis's back with a resounding impact that shattered the eerie silence.

  The collision echoed, rippling through the still tableau. The goddess stumbled forward, her ethereal composure disrupted by this unexpected assault. The sheer audacity of such an act left me breathless and disbelieving. In that instant, the world lurched back into motion, time resuming its relentless march for a moment, before the stillness reasserted itself with a vengeance.

  "INSOLENCE!" shrieked the petty godling. Her eyes blazed with dark flames, exuding nothing but the promise of death. Whether it lasted a moment or stretched into eternity, the flow of time lost all meaning to me.

  Then suddenly goddess composed herself, quelling her divine rage as only a deity could, and prepared to pronounce her punishment.

  "I have found it," she said coldly, pointing a delicate finger at the frozen image of the wild man, his arm outstretched as if throwing something. "His life will be forfeit unless you willingly return the Blessings I have bestowed upon you. All of them. There is a price for defiance."

  In that movement, she was terrifyingly beautiful—a masterpiece beyond mortal artistry. Her presence rocked me to my core, and in utter shock, all I could do was sink to my knees in a mock semblance of prayer. The weight of her judgment resounded in my ears, filling me with dread even as she vanished and time reclaimed its place in my world.

  Kidu crumpled to the floor. A woman shrieked something, but it was all meaningless.