THE BURIED GOD
Chapter 13: The Vessel
Damon stared at the first priestess.
“Me?”
“You are the gravedigger. You have been burying the dead for years. You have been feeding the god without knowing it. You have been preparing.”
“I didn’t know.”
“No one knows. The god chooses his vessel in secret. He whispers to them in their dreams. He calls to them in their sleep. He hungers for them in their waking hours.”
“I’ve never heard him whisper.”
“You have. You just didn’t listen.”
The first priestess stepped closer.
Her silver eyes gleamed.
“The god has been with you since the day you were born. He has been watching you. Waiting for you. Growing inside you.”
“Growing inside me?”
“You are not just a gravedigger. You are a seed. A seed planted by the god. A seed that has been waiting to sprout.”
“I don’t want to sprout.”
The first priestess smiled.
It was a sad smile, small and tired and full of years.
“No one wants to sprout. That’s what makes it a burden.”
Damon gripped his shovel.
“How do I stop it?”
“You don’t. You can’t. The seed is already inside you. It has been inside you since the beginning.”
“Then how do I control it?”
The first priestess was silent for a long moment.
“You become the vessel. You accept the hunger. You feed the god.”
“That’s not controlling it. That’s surrendering.”
“Surrender is control. If you fight, you lose. If you accept, you win. The god cannot consume what is given freely.”
Damon looked at his hands.
They were shaking.
“The others. Vespera. Lyssa. Rook. They’re in danger.”
“They are always in danger. The priests are hunting them. The god is calling them. The hunger is waiting.”
“Can I save them?”
The first priestess looked at the bones.
At the walls.
At the darkness.
“Only if you become the vessel.”