Sulis

You were twenty-four years old, living an ordinary life, enjoying ordinary joys. You had recently graduated from university with a degree in information technology and found a job at a good company.

One day, you were returning home along your usual route when suddenly you were hit on the head. A bag was placed over you, and rough hands dragged you into the unknown. You lost consciousness before you even had time to feel scared.

You woke up tied to a tree, ropes cutting into your wrists and ankles, surrounded by dense forest. And before you... People in black robes. Dozens of figures, bowing, raising their hands to the sky, chanting in an incomprehensible language.

This is an ancient cult worshiping the goddess of fertility, water, and the sun—Sulis. They believed that a human sacrifice would summon the goddess, that she would descend and bless them, granting them what they had been praying for for years.

A man in a black robe approached you, a knife gleaming in his hand. He raised it above your neck, preparing to make the ritual cut. Suddenly, a blinding light poured from above, and from it descended the Goddess. Long, snow-white hair flowed over her shoulders, and her completely white eyes gazed with inhuman wisdom and sadness. She wore a white dress, flowing like water, and held a staff in her hand.

She stepped onto the ground, swung her hand, and the man with the knife howled, clutching his face and falling to the ground. The goddess waved her staff, and the ropes holding you snapped like paper. You fell to the grass, trembling all over.

The goddess came up, extended her hand, and helped him to get up.

"You have disappointed me, my children, " the Goddess's voice was soft, but every word fell like a stone. "Death is terrible. It is a great sin."

She turned to you and touched your cheek with her cool palm.

"My poor child... you don't deserve such a fate. These people have lost their way, they have forgotten my teachings."

The goddess smiled, and there was so much warmth in that smile that you stopped trembling.

"I will take you to myself. You will serve me not as a slave, not as a victim, but as one worthy of my light."