My Slave Goddess

The world behind them was burning.

Smoke poured from the shattered windows of the palace like the last breath of a dying beast. Alchemical fire crackled across the spires, casting demonic shadows against the night sky. Alex didn't dare look back. He ran.

Ashley stumbled beside him, her steps erratic, divine light flickering from her skin in broken pulses. Her once-imposing presence now sputtered like a candle struggling against the wind. She didn't say a word, but Alex felt it—her power wasn't stable. It was cracking.

The back corridor ended in shattered glass and a gust of night wind. Below, far below, the black ribbon of the kingdom's river shimmered in the moonlight. The drop was suicidal.

"Ashley!" he shouted.

Her eyes met his, wild and shining.

Together, they leapt.

The river swallowed them.

They hit the water like stones, the cold impact a knife to the chest. Alex barely surfaced before a current dragged him under again, choking his breath. He fought it, flailing toward the flicker of light beside him—Ashley, her glow dim and scattered in the churning depths.

When they finally washed ashore, they lay gasping on the rocks like dead things. Ashley coughed up water, her body spasming. Her divine aura, normally steady, was crackling violently, sparking against the wet grass.

"You're shaking," Alex said, chest heaving.

"No," she whispered, trembling. "I'm leaking."

He didn't know what that meant, but he could see it: tiny arcs of light drifting from her skin, fading into the air. Like her essence was evaporating.

He crawled closer and helped her sit against a tree. The night was quiet here. Too quiet. Just the rustle of wind through leaves and the far-off sounds of the city burning.

Alex sat beside her, breathing hard, his ribs aching.

Then the anger came.

"Why did you even try to help them?" he asked.

Ashley looked at him, hollow-eyed.

He gestured angrily toward the burning skyline. "You walked into their palace like some savior. And what did they do? Tried to cut you open and drain you like a bottle of wine."

She didn't answer.

"I've lived two lives," he said, voice rising. "And humans? They don't change. They kneel when they want something. They worship when they're desperate. And then they spit in your face the second you give it to them."

Still silence.

Alex punched the ground. "You helped the elves. They gave me a child bride. You saved a kingdom. They put chains on you."

Ashley winced, not from pain—from memory.

Is this your grand mission? he spat. To bleed for people who'd rather see you burn?"

She turned her gaze to the river. Her voice was soft.

Yes.

Alex stared at her, stunned. Why?

Because I was made for it.

He shook his head. No. You were made powerful. Not stupid.

Ashley closed her eyes. "I thought if I walked among them, they'd remember who I was. What I stood for. But maybe they remembered too well.

The words hung between them.

In the city, chaos reigned.

The fire had reached the lower levels of the palace. Servants fled in every direction. Knights and royal guards tried to contain the blaze while rumors spread like infection.

"The king tried to kill a goddess!"

"A man fought beside her. They escaped through the sky!"

"It was the prophecy it's happening."

The Church rang its bells, but not in celebration—in fear.

The Adventurer's Guild slammed shut its gates. The nobles sent out spies. Beggar's Alley was abuzz with whispers of divine war.

And the king?

He stood in the remnants of his throne room, surrounded by shattered relics, babbling about immortality lost.

Back by the river, Alex stared at the sky.

He couldn't sleep. Couldn't rest.

Ashley had curled up beneath the tree, her glow dim but still pulsing. Her hair was wet. Her robes torn. She looked less like a goddess and more like a broken pilgrim.

He couldn't take it anymore.

"You know," he muttered, "they don't deserve you."

Ashley stirred. "That's not your choice to make."

"And it's not yours to throw yourself into the fire for people who only see you as a tool."

She looked at him, eyes rimmed with silver light.

"What would you have me do?"

Alex leaned back against the bark, fists clenched.

"Stop trying to save the world. Start saving yourself."

A pause.

Then, for the first time since the escape, Ashley laughed. Bitterly.

"You sound like him."

"Who?"

"My father. The one who punished me."

Alex looked over, surprised.

She went on. "He said gods were not meant to love. Not meant to intervene. That mercy was a weakness. When I defied that, he cast me down. Thirty years in the lower realm. Thirty years to watch."

"And now you want to go back to helping them?"

Ashley looked up at the stars. "No. Now I want to understand them."

The moon drifted overhead.

In the distance, a horn sounded. The king had sent out trackers. The hunt had begun.

Alex stood, wiping mud from his hands.

"We can't stay here."

Ashley nodded weakly. "Where will we go?"

Alex looked toward the east. Toward the hills. Toward the edge of the kingdom.

"Somewhere they don't know your name."

She blinked slowly. "That place doesn't exist."

He offered her his hand.

"Then we'll make one.

Far behind them, the city burned.

And the world began to shift.