The Eternal Offer

Viher's voice seemed to echo around her. His words came as something Islana knew would be presented to her eventually.

Death. A peaceful, quiet death out here, among the dunes and the sun. The God made it seem almost idyllic.

The struggles that had occurred to the young woman over her short time in the world were perhaps more than some could have handled. It would have been so easy, and perhaps understandable, to welcome death's embrace like one would an old friend. Islana could only assume there were people who do just that - those people were not her.

Lord Vasant, The Creed, Alchuin, a witch hiding in plain sight from the Inquisition, she had survived all of it. Feeling that pull once again, there was nothing that could make her believe that the "call" came only to have death await her less than a day later. The young woman still had no idea where she was being led to, but the eternal hereafter was not her destination, not right now.

Islana had no idea what her physical body was doing or what she would have to overcome but her answer felt very sure.

"No," The woman's body moved to standing, facing Viher, at least in her mind. "I do not want to die."

Her journey was far from over, that much Islana knew with a certainty and conviction that could only come from within.