Lightning streaked across the sky, backlighting the eighteen-year-old goddess as she stood silhouetted against the maelstrom outside. Her auburn hair was wind-whipped and plastered to her neck and face, and though newly reborn, her divinity was something she could never hide … at least not from me.
“How far is it to the temple?” she asked.
“Five hours, but hopefully, you can get some sleep along the way. You’ll need your energy for when we arrive.”
Gaia pulled her jean jacket over her soaked cotton tee and followed me from the room. She was oblivious of the Crags and their intent to kill her, and it was my job––and part of my punishment—to keep it that way. To protect her from everything … even knowing they exist.
After losing my own daughter, and the training I forced myself through to try to get her back, this was a task I would not fail again.
Excerpt #2
Our initial four months were hard. The dynamics of bringing back a goddess beyond her own will required a certain amount of cosmic interference—hence her being reborn a teenager instead of simply awakened as the true goddess she was. With myself an eternal thirty-five, I’d been able to witness the world throughout the centuries. However, the moment she awoke, we were deposited on Earth together, and found Gaia’s powers and memories to be limited, forcing her to learn all she could about the modern world and its customs today. Luckily, money wasn’t an issue, as I’d been divinely gifted a limitless amount in the form of a little, black charge card I’d been putting to good use. But no amount of computers, books, or even the iPod I bought her could negate the frustration of being cooped up in a hotel for four months while learning to ease her way back into a world she, herself, had created. Hence the random storms due to her emotional outbursts.
How could the gods put something like this on a teenager? I rubbed a hand over my face. “Honey, I know things haven’t been easy, but I’m truly honored to serve as your guardian, and it’s not something I take lightly.”
“Ugh … you’re always so uptight.” Laughing, she turned back to the dark-tinted window, her red hair shining in the soft morning light. “It’s so beautiful here.”
I took a quiet breath, swallowing my sigh. Watching her process this world anew was often a heart-breaking task. She was the ancestral mother of all life, consort to Uranus—the creator of the heavens and the sky, and mother to the Titans themselves. She created all we see and know, and was now tasked to evaluate the chaos that enveloped that same world, deciding if it was worth saving or not. So far, I couldn’t tell which way she was leaning. It would take us completing our mission before she regained her full powers and all of her original memories—both of which she’d need to make her final decision. So, in times like these, when she still noticed the beauty around her … I took note.
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