"Cracks in the Facade"
Prompt: Were the Angels Wrong?
Beastfolk watched the gravedigger tree, wind magic keeping it’s lure-scent from the crowd as the prisoner was dragged forward. The stag’s muzzle was forced into a flower that snapped shut, filling with nectar. He writhed against the binding roots, final moments silently defiant.
The body was left for the tree, to form new mineral fruits. The antlers went to the offended demigod lord, a chimera. The dragon god-king received the heart, retiring to his temple to judge other trials as the crowd dispersed.
It was considered a merciful execution for a thief-mage.
The new widow led her sick fawn away, neighbors avoiding her, shamefaced. Her mate had been a respected physician, and magic was a wild thing to beastfolk. They had no birthright to it, as did the demigods and elemental spirits. Spirits were not pets. That he was desperate enough to use them to steal medicine from a noble was yet another troubling sign of the times.
The doe sold herself to the chimera next day, her ill fawn joining the creche of children under that lord’s care. No-one was surprised when it was eaten. It was demi-gods’ right to cull their subjects since before Awakening when beastfolk were witless animals, or so the teachings said.
But rumor flew faster than wind. Many immortals were kind, just, but not all. In Ironfang, they said, god-king Glacialstorm the Cruel, survived a coup by his beast-mothered son. Half-bloods were uncommon, but to try killing a lord was unheard of in living memory. No-beast knew if they *could* die, except by old age.
The city was shocked when the doe went to the gravedigger tree. She had attacked the chimera in grief-madness. The chimera was magically enlarged to show their might, but it revealed their wounds all too clearly: deep bruises, gashes, and one jaw broken.
The doe went peacefully to death, her body given to the lord as their due. Her heart went to the god-king, her soul to rebirth. Life went on.
Thoughts turned.
If demigods could be wounded, and god-kings feared for their lives, were they truly divine rulers?
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