Chapter 424 - Fallen God

I'm going to edit this chapter tomorrow for those that want a more polished version. I think the beats are there but I'm not too happy with how some of the dialogue came together, and in general it felt a bit rushed.

***Post Edit - Roughly 600 words added across the chapter. For those that don't want to reread, the important changes will be summarised in the comments.

The sight before the expedition held them in stunned silence. The power radiating was deep. The kind of power that settled into the bones and weighed down on Hump’s skin, whispering along his senses like the hush of wind.

And yet, there was no consciousness in it. No will or intent. The god before them was silent. Her power did not blaze, did not threaten, did not call out to be wielded. It simply… lingered. A trace of something vast, drained, and fading.

All that remained was the echo of what she had been.

Nisha’s tail dragged across the stone, slow and uncertain as she sniffed the air, her body tense. She was nervous. A low whine rumbled from her throat. He felt her unease through their bond—confusion, wariness, a deep, primal certainty. Wolf dragons were more attuned to essence than humans, and Hump knew she was sensing something beyond his reach. The divinity in the air was clear enough to him already, but it overwhelmed her senses.

Everyone in the expedition stood in awe, almost reverent by the nature of the scene and the surreality of it all. It was a Chosen in Prince Gregory’s party that finally broke the quiet. “This is no god of the Pantheon. I do not recognise her.”

Murmurs of agreement spread through the group, as if it was acceptable to speak now that the prince had done so. Hump wasn’t convinced one way or the other about the dead god. There were hundreds of gods in the Greater Pantheon, if one was willing to look beyond the official, limited Alveronian one. Few would claim they knew every face, and even few, if any, would know of any that would have died more than a millennia ago. If she had died in the War of the Firmament, then she could have belonged to either side. He saw no markings on her to indicate otherwise. The ruins around them suggested she had been connected to the people of this world. If that was true, had she perished defending them?

“What do you make of her, Priest Rantris?” Anara asked.

It was an old man from one of the support parties that spoke—a priest in white robes, bearing the markings of Lady Light. “I am in agreement. I do not recognise her, but she is a goddess nonetheless.”

“Could she be a false god?” another asked.

“There are no false gods,” Rantris said. “They are either divine, or they are not. None here can deny the power that she radiates—this is divinity, in its most perfect, pure form. The question is, what do we do with her?”

As the Chosen entered a discussion about the subject, caught between burning her corpse as an enemy of their own gods, and bringing her back to Alveron to confirm who she was, Hump stepped forward, drawn to the sheer presence of her lingering essence. Even after all this time, her body radiated a powerful force. Not as strong as the essence of a God Pillar, but there was a purity to it that was hypnotic.

“What are you doing?” Prince Gregory asked.

“Investigating.” Hump barely heard the words himself, his focus entirely on the divine corpse. However, once he got past the incredible moment of seeing a goddess in the flesh, albeit a long dead one, something felt off. Something resonated wrongly, not just in his senses, but in his soul—like the corpse was empty, hollow, robbed of some… spark that was beyond sacred.

Hump shrugged off the nebulous feeling. Dead was dead, and there was still power here. “Essence like this could power anything—spells, artifacts, traps.”

“Then you must stop, Wizard,” another voice said. “We should not touch her. She could be cursed.”

Hump stopped—they had a point.

“Leave this to Wizard Humphrey,” Marshal Anara said. “He has never let me down before.”

“At least let me bring Prince Gregory somewhere safe. We cannot risk a magical trap.”

“I will stay, Finton,” the prince said. “Go ahead, Wizard Humphrey.”

“At least allow me to erect a barrier,” the same voice—Finton—said.

“Go ahead,” Anara said.

Hump felt blessings surge behind him and turned to see the entire force sheltered behind a barrier blessing.

Now that doesn’t feel good, Hump thought. He’d gotten distracted and made a mistake. His curiosity got the better of him, just as he would so often tell Nisha off for such things, and now he was the one on the wrong side of the barrier.

He turned to the dragon at his side, who stared back at him, mouth open, tongue hanging slightly out of her mouth. “Get back with the others.” She didn’t move. “Now, Nisha!”

With a long whine, she skulked back over to the barrier where she sat at Celaine’s feet, staring at him. Celaine whispered something to Dylan, then the druid took her place with Nisha, and she left the shelter of the barrier to come and stand with Hump.

“You don’t need to be here,” Hump said.

“I’ll stay,” she said. She smirked. “As if I’d trust you to locate any traps.”

“I’ll admit, I trust your eyes over my own,” Hump said. “I’m going to start by using Spirit Sight. Wait for now.”

“Okay.”

Channelling essence into his left eye, he activated Spirit Sight. Pain lanced through his eye as if he’d stared directly at the sun, and he winced, quickly looking away.

Celaine was at his side immediately. “Are you alright?”

Hump nodded. “Just did something stupid without thinking.”

Slowly, he looked up at the goddess again, squinting and trying not to peer directly at her. His head was roughly in line with her waist where she was seated atop the stone throne, if the makeshift chair could be called as such. The world around her was a radiant gold. Essence poured from her in vibrant ribbons, evaporating into the air. All these years the gorger had been feeding on this—no wonder it was more powerful than the last one he’d encountered.

There was no malevolence in her aura. No dark curse waiting to spring forth, or trap left behind by the gorger that he could detect. Only divinity. No… As he studied her corpse for longer, he noticed something else—another source of power, faint and buried beneath her robes.

Hump stepped closer for a better look, when her second arm came into full view. Hump halted. His breath caught.

Her left hand was not flesh like the rest of her. It was stone.

“What do you see?” Anara asked.

“I believe I know why she died.” Hump pointed at her hand. “You can approach. I see no traps or curses. Celaine?”

“It’s clear,” Celaine said.

With that, the Chosen released their blessings and approached for a better look.

“Petrification,” Anara said, coming to Hump’s side and staring up at the limb. “The same force that claimed the village. She must have been defending it.”

“And for all these years, the gorger has been leeching off her corpse,” Hump said with a little more disgust than he’d intended.

“This shows the righteous benevolence of the gods and how they truly protect us,” Prince Gregory said, his voice solumn. “This precursor goddess may be part of an ancient legacy that our own gods and goddesses now stand fast within. And it is such awe inspiring and awful sights that truly remind us of the horrors the warlock threat will bring upon us. But fear not, my brothers and sisters, for we will prevail.” He turned to Anara. “But we need your orders, Marshal. Time is short, is it not. This is quite the shocker for all of us, but we carry on.”

“Indeed, we must.” Anara inhaled deeply, her gaze drawn from the goddess to the prince at his words, then on to assess the chamber. “We will have time to process this later. For now, we must ensure we complete our objective. The day has gone better than anticipated. If we finish here quickly, we may yet make it back to Alveron before nightfall. Search for anything of value but remain cautious. Just because there are no traps on her does not mean the rest of this place will be safe. Work in your parties. Nobody is to go alone.”

Hump hesitated, an uneasy weight settling in his stomach. His eyes turned back to the corpse. “Marshal, I think we should take a closer look.”

“For what reason?” It was the same member of the prince’s party that spoke up again. Hump was starting to suspect that big man had a problem with wizards. He was fully clad in plate armour and bore the sigil of Ordana the sun god. In Hump’s experience, they were full of themselves even for Chosen.

“There is much to be learned from the dead,” Hump said. “She may be wearing artifacts, and the petrification magic on her arm may provide insights to new spells.”

“I do not like this,” another said. “If she is in this state, there is a reason the gorger did not touch her. The petrification could be contagious. And we do not know who she is. This could be an honourable member of the Pantheon. Her divine body must be treated with respect.”

“She can be treated with respect and removed from here,” Anara said. “Do as you will, Wizard Humphrey. Do you need assistance to get her down?”

“I can do it,” Dylan said, joining Hump. “Better we don’t touch her directly, just in case.”

Anara had the rest of the force begin their search of the chamber, while Dylan scattered seeds across the ground, channelling his essence. Vines sprouted in response, wrapping gently around the goddess’ limbs and torso, easing her from the throne and lowering her to the stone floor.

Her limbs hung limp as she moved, her body showing no sign of rigor mortis. Even in death, she was striking. Her frame was lithe, perfectly muscled, yet somehow delicate, her beauty marred only by the creeping petrification along her arm. As the vines settled her down, Hump could see it more clearly—veins of grey stone clawing toward her neck like jagged roots.

It was a little surreal to be left in charge of inspecting the corpse of a goddess. Hump wondered how many people alive would have even seen one. There were tales of fallen gods over the centuries, but they were minor gods and distant from the Pantheon. All were spoken of as traitors and schemers, their bodies destroyed, at least as far as the tales were concerned. It didn’t feel right to see one in the flesh, though it helped Hump’s confidence that he had met an actual goddess. In the end, whether gutter rat or silver spoon, all returned to the ground in the end. In a sense, it was reassuring.

Inspecting it with his Spirit Sight, Hump noticed something strange. There was a different type of divinity coming from the arm—the power of another god, left behind like the essence signature of a mortal.

Hump’s stomach dropped as he recognised the sensation. It was a power he knew well. One he wore upon his very finger. This was the power of Osidium. But that couldn’t be right… could it? The gods did not petrify entire villages.

“Selene, can you have a look at this,” Hump called over his shoulder.

The Chosen of Osidium from his support party stepped forward. “What is it, Wizard Humphrey?”

“Do you notice anything about this injury?”

The woman crouched beside the goddess, moving cautiously. She frowned as she placed a hand near the petrified limb. The moment her fingers grazed the stone, she recoiled, eyes widening in shock.

“This magic, it is the same as my own,” Selene said. “There is divinity in her arm, and it is of Osidium.” She looked up at Hump, her face warped with confusion. “What does this mean?”

Hump sighed and glanced to his companions who stood by equally shocked. He turned back to Selene. “I don’t know.”

“I do not like this,” Bud said. “I fear we have become involved in matters far beyond our reach.”

“I—” Hump stopped as he sensed a strange shift in Nisha that made him glance over. the little dragon had sidled up closer to the corpse, eyes gleaming. He got the sense of intense longing from her, an instinctive need that she didn’t understand.

Nisha, what are you—

Before he could react, she lunged forward and chomped down on the goddess’ unharmed forearm.

Hump’s eyes nearly popped out of his skull.

Nisha, stop that! Get that out of your mouth, now!”

The dragon jerked away from the corpse with the speed of a startled cat, then turned and sauntered off with an air of innocence, pretending as if she’d done nothing wrong, but there was a change to her. Her essence surged through their bond, somehow disturbed.

“Why does she put anything and everything in her mouth?” Hump hissed at Celaine.

Celaine gave him a blank stare, her lips forming a tight line. “She’ll grow out of it.”

“Yeah. That’s what you’ve said before.” Hump glared at Nisha, but his gaze snapped back to the arm as he sensed a surge in essence. A thin line of red seeped from the bite mark.

Blood. Not just any blood—divine blood.

His thoughts stalled. Was that what she was after?

“Bud,” he said slowly.

“Yes, Hump?”

Bud turned his head toward him very, very slowly. His expression was unreadable. He blinked. Then blinked again. And then, in a manner that made Hump feel like the stupidest person alive, Bud began to shake his head.

Hump winced. “Yeah… probably not a great idea. On the flip side, just think how much better divine blood would be as bait than troll blood.”

Bad ideas have never stopped me before though, Hump thought. Nisha had reacted to it—he intended to find out why. He ventured closer to the body, acting as if he was inspecting the wound. At the same time, he took a small vial from his Bag of Holding and held it beneath the blood that trailed from where Nisha’s teeth had sunk into flesh. He filled it up, then quickly stowed it away for later.

There wasn’t much else Hump could gather from an examination of the corpse, he did, however, find an amulet around her neck. It was difficult to say exactly what it was, only that it was powerful. What appeared to be an essence stone, suspended between six rings intwined together, each ring lined with complex runes that seemed like a cross between God Glyphs and Alveronian. He would submit it for study once they returned to Alveron, but for now, his party rejoined the exploration of the gorger’s treasury, though at this point Hump wasn’t sure whether to call it that or a tomb.

The group moved cautiously. The air carried a reverent stillness, their voices hushed, their footsteps measured. Whether this goddess belonged to the Pantheon or not, her presence demanded respect.

Celaine took the lead, moving with careful grace. No traps had been sprung so far, but that only meant the first one they found could be deadly.

Nisha, apparently unfazed by her earlier crime, slunk through the chamber with gleeful curiosity, darting ahead whenever Hump was distracted. She sniffed at ancient artifacts, her head tilting as she peered into glass cabinets at the next shiny object that caught her interest.

Hump sighed. “Nisha, get away from that.”

Celaine shot him a look over her shoulder. “I’m keeping an eye out, don’t worry. It’s good for her to learn now anyway. Better while the rest of us are around to help.”

Frowning, Hump glanced back at his dragon. Her head was tilted, watching him, waiting for permission. Hump let out another long breath and waved her to continue. Perhaps that nose of hers would find them something useful.