Author’s Ramble:

Some of you might have been surprised to see that twenty some chapters went kapoofy. Sorry, but I felt that if I was to continue working on this story, I needed to go back and fix some plot holes that I had created. But, I’ve really wanted to revamp the whole thing, refocus the plot line and everything else. I am determined to finish this mother, but I’m going to start fresh, dust off my first gigantic story, and give ‘er a fresh start!

The beginning will be entirely different, but the important bits (aka, big plot pieces) will be the same, only rewritten!

To those who are reading this for the first time, thanks! And DON’T FORGET TO REVIEW…please, oh mighty reader!!!! Grace this humble author with your review!

-----

She has Fallen

By Niki Lemonade

Chapter One, Prelude

There was once a priestess, who was considered among the most powerful to have ever lived. She was revered by all the people: her peers, the commoners, the rich, the young, the old. Even wild spirits left from dispassionate lives would become calm and peaceful in her presence. Belligerent creatures turned and left her be if she wandered into their territory. It was said that she was blessed by the spirit of their world, Shulah. Thus, even though none knew her true name, she was named Shulahkonos by the people. It meant “one of everything” in the ancient language that was used to name people and write.

As she traveled, the priestess became friends with a warrior. The warrior was alone in his life, having lost his family to a fire many years ago. He still carried the wounds from that loss within himself, and the priestess wanted desperately to help him overcome his despair. As they traveled together, they discovered that the fire had been started by someone as a way to rid his family’s property of an owner, so that person would be able to expand his lands. The warrior swore revenge, and left the priestess, who didn’t want him to give into his desire to kill the man who murdered his family. She wept for the first time in many years when she discovered he had gone without her.

Eventually, strange demons began appearing, and some people who could use their life force to do unnatural things began using them for their own advantage, not for the good of others as it had been since the appearance of these types of people. Warriors gathered around them people who were suffering and desired a change, and promised them peace if they obeyed the warriors and followed them without questioning them. They led these people into battles to gain control of the small villages and fight against other warriors. It became a time of terror and despair.

The priestess knew that her power was partly to blame. She tried to expunge some of her power, but Shulah stopped her, saying to her Your power is not to blame. It is the imbalance within your own heart that has wrought this destruction. Your soul and your demon are at war. The priestess could not believe it. She had assumed it was simply the fact that there was such a force of light in the life flow that caused the force of darkness to try to make up for the difference. Now that she knew what was causing the disturbance, perhaps she could stop the suffering. But what was causing the imbalance within herself?

She found herself missing the warrior, and decided to search for him. Perhaps he would be able to help her sort out her life. One day, while helping a boy out from under a fallen tree, the forest, which had been suffering a drought for many months, caught flame. The trees burned and soon the entire forest was on fire. The priestess used a great surge of power to save the family and enable them to escape unscathed, but she was stuck inside the burning forest. She was at peace with herself at first, and sat down among the scalding flames to await the end. But as she began reflecting on her life, she remembered the warrior, and suddenly realized why she had been struggling within herself.

She loved him. She loved him, and wished to marry him and have a family with him and live peacefully somewhere with him until they both passed on. But, as a priestess, she could not have this life. As a woman who has never known the touch of a man, she was as close to Shulah as she could possibly be, and this gave her the control she had over her power. If she really was in love then her demon was much more powerful than her soul. That was why the flow was imbalanced. She tried to repress her feelings, as the forest was burning all around her, but his face would not leave her mind’s eye, and as she tried desperately to let go of her love, her demon rebelled. In a surge of destructive power, the demon brought from the ground an arch of earth, and the priestess used this raised path to escape.

As she lay panting on the ground outside of the burning forest, the priestess realized that she would not be able to stop loving the warrior. Her conflicting duties to herself and to the world would continue to destroy the good hearts of men, would continue to create horrible beasts that normal men were unable to destroy. The people would suffer, because she had been foolish enough to fall in love.

Full of a despair that would have crushed the will of anyone else, the priestess traveled searching for the warrior, hoping that if he would refuse her when she confessed her love, she would be free of this all-enveloping emotion, and the world would be right again.