Adalynnia

Adalynnia had never been particularly powerful as goddesses went. The title given her was that of fate but even that was little more than a mantle worn by a woman who’d been born with visions she could little control. It wasn’t an uncommon ability in her family line, but the Vaalians who’d settled Ariak centuries before had thought it strange and rare for one without their particular brand of magic to be able to access such things. The only daughter in a long line of such seers, Ada happened to be the only moon elf alive who carried that particular ability when Malakai decided to elevate his followers to god-hood and very much the only one in his court of followers who had the functional abilities of a proper seer.



She hadn’t wanted it. Hadn’t asked for it. But given it was, and the diplomat that lived in her soul knew better than to refuse such a gift, even if she didn’t need to induce a vision to know that it would complicate her life beyond all reason. So it was that all the folk of Ariak began to associate her name with all manner of fortune—deserved or not. Every good hand at the gambling table, every failed crop, every star-crossed lover and even every twisted ankle became hers; Her blessing or her curse. As if she had a personal hand in every single life the whole world over.

She did not, of course.

As before, she could only scry that which fate had determined was unavoidable. At no point had that ever meant she could change anything, no matter how much the poor folk of the world might pray to her. Hers was not to change the fate of the world. Only to be aware of it. To be shown a looking glass of every fault and every joy and every fumble and to be forced to watch it all—even to deliver news of it from time to time. In a great many ways, she was one of the most recognizable gods in all the world—her name invoked around campfires and tables the whole world over—and yet she was powerless to actually do anything.



What the world must think of her now, she hardly wished to know. The Destroyer had come to Ariak and the world was forever changed. He’d bound himself to the most powerful of the vaalians like a sick and twisted curse, wielding the alien power Ajun’ta possessed and stoking it into impossible heights that no one could possibly have seen coming. Not even Adalynnia, whose power of sight had fallen utterly silent the day the Destroyer arrived and shown her not a sliver since. The whole world turned to her, seeking answers, and she had none to give. It was no longer a matter of carefully choosing which things to share and which to withhold for the betterment of all. There was nothing. As if her gifts had simply been ripped from her soul—or curtained off, somewhere out of reach.

Her choice to seek out the court of the Destroyer had at first been meant to assuage her curiosity. There had never been so much unknown in her life as there was now and in the absence of her visions she sought to fill the void with knowledge by whatever other means was necessary. Probably he ought to have killed her that first day. Surely he knew what a liability it would be to have someone like Adalynnia sitting among his supporters? And yet, it had never quite happened. He had, instead, offered her a place among his own, likely in an effort to simply keep an eye on her. She was hardly a threat to him physically. Adalynnia had no skill in battle. She carried no sword, wore no shield and in truth she barely even spoke from day to day. Rather she served as a sort of decoration in his court of lackeys—unnervingly silent and ever listening.

She hadn’t meant to fall into the role of consort. Ajun’ta was a powerful man, to be sure, but the Destroyer had an entire harem of women to sate his needs. Ada was simply an oddity in his collection, or that was what she’d meant to be. An outsider kept out of passing interest or because she might appear useful if her abilities returned. Somewhere along the way, either Ajun’ta or the being known as the Destroyer had decided that she made a better decoration for his bed than for his infrequent courts. It hadn’t gone over particularly well with the woman at first. Adalynnia wasn’t the type to be particularly attracted to power—after all, she’d spent so many years among the gods of Ariak now that even the Destroyer’s obscene strength did little to impress her. Perhaps that was why he found her a temptation in the beginning? A challenge presented by her indifference? By her lack of deference? The Destroyer’s harem cowered in his presence, a gaggle of simpering women who lived to cater to his whims where Ada bent only under duress.

When his insistence became more than she could bear.