Title: what good did the gods do? (wound their way around your throat)
Fandom: lady of the shard (webcomic)
Rating: teen
Length: ~300 words
Author notes: new fandom, pre-canon, also for the softer world ficathon

She is bored.

She has all the power of, and in, creation. Yet, those she made are enjoying themselves so much more. It’s upsetting and disgraceful, makes her feel more than a little insecure. How disgustingly human. (Perhaps it wasn’t the best idea to base a species off a lesser form of herself.)

It is because of the sheer boredom that she notices the temple girl at all. The girl is singing as she cleans a temple, one old enough that it’s been generations since it was tended properly. Since sacrifices brokered every dawn, back when the air always smelled of smoke and fresh meat. The offerings declined over the years- from people, to animals, to precious metals she had no use for, to nothing at all. Eventually even the prayers stopped, the sincere ones anyway.

It’s like a tickle in the back of her consciousness, the girl’s attention. She’s pure as fresh snow, thoughts full of innocent worship. Curious how this came to be, the Old God takes a human form, visits a temple for the first time in ages.

“Oh! Oh my-” the girl recognizes her instantly, drops to her knees.

She smiles, lets the moment stretch as she soaks in her devotion. It laps over her like warm water, how she has missed this.

“You may rise… but shield your eyes.”

The girl stands up hurriedly, gaze focused on the stone floor. Her cheeks are flushed red, hair curling wildly about her- her temple girl is beautiful. (As she ought to be, she is one of her creations.)

“Tell me, what do you desire little one?”

“O-only to serve you. What would you prefer I do?”

She tells her.

It’s a reversal of how her temple disintegrated, having the girl start with precious metals. And as the leaves turn, there are animal sacrifices. Her temple girl is too soft-hearted for a proper sacrifice, but she is older than time- she has the patience to change her. She makes her a glorious sword, gives her a sliver of her own power: she makes her as radiant outside as she is within.

A demi-goddess, for she is too proud to abide by an equal.

(Too proud to read the warning signs, too proud to let her go.)