When Rhen finds a mysterious, injured woman in the meadow near her home, she had no idea it would change her life forever. Not only does the woman - a priestess - know her father, but not long afterward, she is captured and shipped off to the Easter...
"Where is the priestess, demon?" The words dripped from the dark mage's lips like venom, his crimson eyes boring into Agas. This malevolent figure is none other than Ahriman, a dark mage with even darker intentions.
"She is dead, sire," Agas responded with an unsettling confidence, his chin held high in a manner bordering on arrogance.
"You lie! I see her in my dreams!" Ahriman's roar echoed through the shadowed chamber, and for a fleeting moment, fear flickered in Agas's eyes.
"But sire, I struck her down—!"
"Fool!" Ahriman's hands glowed ominously, crackling with tendrils of magic. But just as quickly as his anger flared up, it died down, and so too did his magic. "Perhaps it is for the best. I have changed my mind. I would prefer her to live."
Though Agas was visibly relieved by the lack of immediate violence, he still remained wary. "I do not understand, sire..."
"Death is but a swift escape," Ahriman mused, the gears clearly turning in his mind. "I want the priestess to suffer. A slave suffers a lifetime."
"So you shall have her enslaved? But... how?" Agas asked, confusion evident on his face.
"I have a new servant who wishes to become a daeva," Ahriman answered coolly, his gaze remaining fixated on Agas. "He knows the land where the priestess has fled to."
"He wishes to be one of us? He must be dark indeed," Agas remarked.
Ahriman inclined his head in the barest semblance of a nod. "Dameon, show yourself," he commanded.
A young man emerged from the shadows, seeming to be barely out of teenhood. Despite his apparent youth, he was draped in elaborate robes that marked him as someone of high rank... A rank that Agas was convinced he had to have been born into – surely, no child could bear the role these robes signified.
Agas recoiled with a hiss, as if Dameon's mere presence caused him pain. "A sun priest?!"
"Better," Ahriman responded with an unsettling calmness. "A druid. The sun guardian."
Agas whirled around to face the demon, his anger momentarily overriding his fear. "Better?! How can this be better?!" he demanded, his voice rising with every word. "Are you not afraid he will destroy us?!
"The sun god has betrayed me. I work against him now," Dameon declared with an air of cold detachment. His lips curled up into a sinister smile as he turned to face Ahriman, ignoring Agas entirely. "I know a slave trader who will find the priestess a harsh master. My mother will get what she deserves."
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Rhen rushed out of the room she shared with her parents, having hastily gotten ready for the festival after waking up to an empty room and realizing she'd overslept. The Spring Equinox was something she looked forward to every year, and she would have hated to miss any of it.
