Damp stone pressed against Jessica's bare feet, the freezing cold of the Albion slave pits acting as a brutal anchor to reality. Sulfur and sweat choked the air, thick enough to coat the back of her throat with a bitter, metallic tang. Fifty prisoners cowered in the heavy gloom, their shallow, terrified breathing the only sound vibrating through the cavern. Beside her feet, the dissolved remains of the guard's iron-tipped whip lay in a smoking, gray heap of inert ash. Cowering Vance took a clumsy step backward, his heavy leather boots scraping loudly against the loose gravel. His face, usually flushed a deep, angry red from cheap tavern wine, had drained of all color, leaving his skin a sickly, mottled gray. "What... what did you do?" Vance stammered, his fat hand trembling as he reached for the hilt of his sword. Jessica didn't answer him, her gaze fixed on the faint, dark violet veins pulsing beneath her skin. Memories of her transition to this wretched world flared to life, a vivid sanctuary from the filth of the pits. --- She recalled waking in the infinite void-space before Hekate, a realm of absolute quiet that mirrored the graveyard her home planet had become. Hekate had sat upon a throne of polished obsidian, her dark eyes reflecting an eternity of lonely survival. Grief had been a tangible weight between them, a silent bond shared by two beings who knew the pain of absolute isolation. Jessica had wept for her seven children and fourteen grandchildren, her soul screaming into the dark for the family she had lost to the nuclear fires. Hekate had done something unexpected, stepping down from her throne to pull Jessica into a fierce, protective embrace. Speaking of her own eternity of loneliness, the dark goddess admitted how she had watched pantheons rise and fall, left entirely alone to build a sanctuary in the dark with no support or guidance. Both of them had been forced to become ruthless to survive their respective tragedies, finding a strange, comforting kinship in their shared trauma. With a gentle touch, Hekate had bestowed incredible gifts upon her, her eyes shining with a fond hope, as if she had missed Jessica for eons. Dragonscale armor, blacker than a starless night and harder than diamond, rippled over Jessica's skin, bonding with her flesh. Cloak of invisibility, woven from threads of pure dark energy, draped over her shoulders, allowing her to vanish from sight at a single thought. Gloves of dark leather wrapped around her hands, humming with a restless hunger, acting as a perfect conduit for her Void sorcery. Medallion, heavy and jewel-encrusted, was placed around her neck, carrying the rare power to pull worthy souls back from the precipice of death. "Go," the goddess had whispered, her voice carrying an affectionate faith that Jessica had not felt since the world ended. "Tear down her empire, my sister of the void." --- Back in the cold reality of the slave pits, Jessica slowly clenched her gloved fists, feeling the raw power humming through her veins. Screaming at his guards, Vance pointed a trembling finger at her, his voice cracking with sheer panic. Guards lunged forward, their heavy iron swords gleaming in the dim, flickering torchlight. Jessica stood her ground, her expression entirely devoid of fear. With a sharp breath, she willed the dragonscale armor to manifest beneath her tattered rags, feeling the comforting, impenetrable weight settle over her body. Iron blades struck her palms, but instead of blood, a soft hiss echoed through the cavern. Void magic hissed from her gloves, dissolving the weapons into streams of harmless black dust that slipped through her fingers. One guard gasped in horror, staring at his empty hilt before Jessica's hand shot forward and gripped his throat. Her hand channeled the ravenous hunger of her ancestry, pulling his life force directly into her body. Life force flowed through her gloves, and the guard's skin instantly wrinkled, drying like old parchment as he withered away. Flesh turned to dust in a matter of seconds, leaving nothing but a heap of brittle bones on the stone floor. Remaining guards broke rank, throwing their weapons aside as they fled screaming into the dark, twisting tunnels of the mine. Vance fell to his knees, his heavy frame trembling violently as he pressed himself against the iron bars of a slave pen. Groveling in the dirt, the overseer sobbed, his hands raised in a desperate plea for mercy. Jessica stepped closer, her steps slow, measured, and entirely devoid of warmth. "You speak of family to me?" she whispered, her voice dropping to a dangerous quiet that seemed to suck the warmth from the air. Coldness settled over the cavern as she reached down, her gloved fingers gripping the center of Vance's face. Without a second thought, she unleashed the full power of her Void sorcery. Void sorcery clawed into his soul, a ravenous vacuum that began to slowly drain his youth, his memories, and his stolen magic. Screams tore from Vance's throat, his body twitching violently as his vital essence was violently extracted from his flesh. Suddenly, a massive surge of stolen life force rushed up Jessica's arms and slammed directly into her chest. Her heart, which had felt like a block of ice since the day her children died in the ash, gave a violent, agonizing thump. Warmth flooded her veins, burning with a suffocating, unnatural heat that caught her completely off guard. Images of nuclear fire flashed behind her eyelids, the blinding white light of a dying world tearing through her mind. She saw her children running toward her, their skin burning with the fever of radiation sickness before they turned to ash in her arms. Their final, freezing touches echoed in her chest, a permanent scar of her failure to protect them. That final, freezing touch had cemented itself in her soul, and this stolen warmth felt like a cruel mockery of the life she had lost. Stolen life forced her to her knees, her hands clawing at her collarbone as she struggled to breathe in the suffocating gloom. Gasps tore from her throat, her vision spinning as she suffered a massive panic attack, trapped in the nightmare of her past. Slowly, the frantic beating of her heart began to steady, the stolen life force settling into the dark void of her soul, turning cold once more. Pity had no place in her heart when she finally stood, her hands shaking as she wiped the cold sweat from her forehead. Captives watched her from the shadows, their eyes wide with a mixture of terror and sudden, desperate hope. A young girl, her face smeared with soot and tears, took a trembling step forward. "You killed him," she whispered, her voice shaking. "You have the power of the gods. Please, you have to help us. Lead us out of here." Lead us, the others began to murmur, their chains clinking as they stepped forward. Older men and women nodded, their eyes pleading with her to become their savior. Jessica felt a cold wall rise within her mind, her jaw tightening as she looked at their desperate faces. If she helped them, she would care about them. If she cared about them, she would lose them, just as she had lost everyone else she had ever loved. Love meant pain, and she would never allow herself to feel that agonizing grief again. "Get away from me," Jessica said, her voice freezing the air in the cavern. Prisoners recoiled, their hopeful expressions faltering at the absolute coldness in her tone. "But we have nowhere to go," the young girl pleaded, reaching out ...the soldiers will hunt us down.. she tried not to notice but this girl looked so much like her Holly. Alight but anyone who can't walk on their own feet gets left behind. Im Not a mother anymore!..53 of them gathered what coin and rations they could steal and they began their trek to where there did not know.

Chapter 2: The First Swallowed Breath