Lady of the Primordial Tree (The Divinity Chronicles, #1), page 1
LADY OF THE PRIMORDIAL TREE
The Divinity Chronicles Book 1
DANIELA A. MERA
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2021 by Daniela A. Mera
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a book review. For more information, address: authordanielaamera@gmail.com
First ebook edition October 2021
Book Cover Design by J.V. Arts
Map by Daniela A. Mera
Edited by Natasha Rajendram
ASIN (ebook): B09J349FQK
ISBN (paperback): 979-8759232650
Created with Vellum
CONTENTS
Welcome to Perém
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
More by Daniela A. Mera
Acknowledgments
About the Author
WELCOME TO PERÉM
Before beginning this story, I do want to take a moment and acknowledge that this book is New Adult.
There is some mild cursing throughout and there are some darker themes such as sexual assault, forced pregnancy, and violence.
Substance abuse is present.
There is no explicit sex in my books.
For Josué. My Pair.
Because you saw the blood, the sweat, and
the agony womanhood brought me
and braved it all by my side.
PROLOGUE
RESTORING MONTHS
The temple stood like a gleaming white prison. I gazed up at it, the mid-sized sacred building that my grandmother Diakos had built hundreds of years ago. My eyes scrutinized the detailed, domed roof and arched entrances. Two pillars stretched to the sky, each topped with a statue of the Mother Goddess Ashra: a crowned, voluptuous woman with long, flowing hair cradling an orb in her outstretched hands. No expense had been spared when the master artisans spent years carving each intricate detail around the grounds.
It was a temple surrounded by thick jungle, in the middle of nowhere. If that wasn’t bad enough, a magical perimeter extended several dozen paces in all directions, shrouding the temple and pillars from the outside world. I traced a finger along the barely visible metallic shimmer and opalescent ripples bled around every point of contact.
The Mother’s Womb, the priestesses called it. I’d touched a womb once while assisting in a birth. That organ was fleshy, ultra-elastic. This was cold and solid.
There I was, lounging around a training break. My skin was slick with sweat because of the humid climate and I’d laid my short sword near the bottom steps of the temple in order to flap my arms, trying to shake off the suffocating moisture. When the Restoring Months had begun, rain poured generously from the sky. Today was one of the few days that hadn’t seen precipitation.
A faint scream interrupted my thoughts. Female. Sacred purpose flared up inside of me until I realized the scream had not come from inside… but outside.
Outside of the metallic perimeter.
While sweat collected in my palms, I considered what action I should take. To leave the perimeter would warrant some kind of punishment from Nahi. Perhaps chopping wood or running laps until I vomited.
I started slowly walking towards the gates of Ashra’s temple. More sweat began pooling and leaving damp trails in my training tunic. Whenever I passed the gate, I read the ancient inscription that was in a language as old as the First Pair: None shall escape Her. To save the screaming woman would incur consequences, but there would also be consequences for leaving her to the mercy of the jungle. Each step was straining against my mental effort. I had not yet been granted to leave the perimeter. They’d said I wasn’t ready.
But they, my mother and Nahi mainly, weren’t here. When the second scream broke, full of agony, I didn’t hesitate. I ran deeper into the jungle and crouched low into the gnarled vines.
To the great beyond, I thought and breathed deeply.
I took in my newly stolen freedom, feeling the world bloom to life in my senses. Mother had explained the sensitivity to me before, but nothing compared to what I felt as I switched into my second sight and beheld each detail, each molecule of the world around me. The scent of the rich, rain-drenched soil mingled with the squish of my boots as I walked. Clean trunks and branches now stood out in stark contrast to the muted green of the vines.
I poked at the kernels nestled in my chest, intermingling with my innards. I paused.
Good Goddess, what am I doing?
Acid pooled in my stomach and I half expected Nahi to materialize in front of me and drag me back to the “safety” of the temple, of the Mother’s Womb. When she didn’t appear, I continued silently moving across the spongey ground, focusing on my objective and straining for the sound of voices. A deep laugh permeated the quiet. Directly in front of the tangles of vines where I hid stood a man with black, unkempt hair. I clamped a hand over my mouth to stifle a gasp.
I was seeing a man for the first time. In Perém, women were the backbone of our society. Land passed from mother to daughter, men went to live with their wives after pairing, and one of the dominant religions, The Order of Ashra, only allowed females to lead and officiate. These women were forbidden from marrying since the Goddess was believed to be single. I was kept away from men to avoid their influence and any kind of…temptation.
I cocked my head to the side and furrowed my brow. He didn’t look like what I had imagined. He was stick-thin with pockmark scars on his face and dirt caking to every visible inch of skin. I noted the sword at his hip and the knife in his hand. His clothes were dirtier than his arms, and a rugged leather belt was slung across his hips to house his sword. I could easily snap the leather if I was stealthy enough. My hand flew to my hip to draw my favorite weapon, a steel short sword.
I cursed at the bare space at my hip, having left the sword on the temple’s steps before running here.
He hunched over a female form, and I shifted to see him holding a knife to her throat and pinning her against a tree. My eyes narrowed, and heat rushed to my neck and ears. He intended to violate her. Mother had to explain that brutality to me after the last birthing.
“Even when women lead, men continue to fight for power and dominance.” My mother had told me. It appeared that she was right.
He spoke, but I couldn’t make out the words.
Sensation more than conscious thought brought the blackened mist in maleficent tendrils crawling across the ground beside me. Calling on the Goddess’ kernel of power inside me, I switched into my second sight and focused all of my energy on the man. I sensed his body in the way my mother had taught me to help those in pain.
A thumping sounded in my ears as I beheld that thick-walled, essential artery that brought blood to his brain. The image was strong in my mind as I eased out of my cosmic sight. The world was still vibrant, alive, but it was crumbs compared to wielding creative powers. I stood up, loudly scraping my boot against the trunk of the tree near me.
The sound startled the man. He turned around and cried out upon seeing the inky blackness heading towards his legs.
“W—who are you?” He asked. It was easy to see his deep facial lines as the smudged dirt congregated in the creases. Panic blossomed across his ugly face.
I curled my lip and flicked my eyes from his face to his carotid artery. He started towards me and I held his legs into place with several thick roots that crept up from the soil and encased his feet.
“I might ask you the same,” I said, and the woman let out a sob. She was dirty like the man and there was a long rip in the front of her dress. A gash was clearly visible on her thigh, oozing a crimson-red trail of blood. I need to finish this and heal her.
“What, exactly, is going on here?” I asked, my eyes glittering with murderous rage.
The man seemed to relax when I didn’t produce any threatening weapons. I cursed myself once again. With a hoik of his pants, he shifted to face me better and his tongue nervously flicked across his dirty lips.
“Well, this is my Pair,” a dark look flashed behind his eyes, “and we were on a walk when she tripped. I’m trying to help her close up that cut with a scrap of her dress.”
I didn’t respond.
Looking at the blackness which had now engulfed the lower half of his body, he continued, “I never expected to find a Mennin Gran outside of Madía. Don’t see your branch of the military out m
I wasn’t about to be distracted. None shall escape Her. This was the creed of the Order of Ashra. Two kernels of twinning power ignited and expanded to a flame in my chest. The flaming red one tugged on me familiarly, and I found it harder than usual to say no. Today the Goddess would have me be her proxy in doling out punishment.
“I suggest you step away from her, or I will kill you.”
He blanched beneath the disgusting grime. He searched my body once again for the weapon that would bring his death. Still the weapon did not emerge, so he continued, “I don’t mean any harm. Just let me take my wife and go.”
Holding up his hands, he dropped the sword, and panic tightened my shoulders. I honed the sight that enabled me to see inside of his body and searched for the small cluster of blood vessels. The surge of power that I felt in my second sight caused my natural body to separate from me and float somewhere above the scene, watching him adjust the grip on the knife as the woman’s eyes widened in terror.
His face hardened into pure hatred. “Your kind isn’t very popular where I come from, and I imagine your head would be an excellent trophy.” In an attempt to escape his fate he threw the small knife directly at my face.
I howled as I bent backwards, catching the knife away mid-flight and returned to my fighting stance. Legs shoulder-length apart, bent, ready to pounce.
“You will pay for that, prick.” The words tumbled out of my mouth as the red kernel surged. My power enveloped us and the raven colored cloud plumed, tunneling towards the sky. The blackness tasted bitter. Shock and surprise registered in his eyes as he helplessly tried to see in the light-consuming ebony. The Goddess-given powers I wielded pulsed in my veins, energy bleeding out of me and into the ground.
I had located the small cluster of blood vessels and commanded more to pack themselves together, causing the artery to block.
I watched him through my dual vision as blood poured out of his nose as his eyes rolled back, and he fell down. Sheer panic dampened my power, and the blackness faded as my body snapped back into its proper place. The lack of power left me feeling cold, empty, and I began gulping down air.
The woman screamed when she saw the gore on his face.
“Dammit.” I had used his own blood vessels to clog and rupture his vein. I couldn’t stop myself.
The weight of what I had done crushed down on me. The Order of Ashra had engrained a sense of sacredness towards life, but it didn’t pit me against the need to protect or avenge. As I looked closer at the man’s lifeless body, my fingertips numbed from the shock of seeing his eyes still open and fixed in an expression of terror. I immediately turned away and wrapped my hands across my stomach.
I tugged on the green kernel, allowing it to take over the destructive powers of the red. Exquisite relief flooded through my body, healing and strengthening me. You are okay. The priestesses will be proud. You saved the woman.
The powers of creation attracted the molecules of water from the ground and towards my hand, filling a small basin I’d pounded out with my boot. I cleaned her leg and gently murmured one of the prayers to the Goddess that had a lyrical, poetic quality to the words. The syllables felt like rocks scraping down my raw throat, but she seemed to calm as soon as she realized I meant her no harm.
Together we stood and she wrapped her arm around my shoulder. We began hobbling back towards the temple as quickly as her leg would allow and I realized just how far I had run. How had I gotten so far?
Mother was going to kill me. Nahi was going to kill me.
The acrid smell hit my nose just as the temple gates came into view. The urgency propelled me forward. By this time I was practically carrying the woman, who still hadn’t spoken. I grunted under the weight of her, and it took everything I had not to drop her straight out when I saw the lump in the path ahead.
In the middle of the large clearing just outside the temple’s perimeter lay my mother. Blood pooled beneath her and her normally peaches and cream complexion was now bluish. Unnatural wind raged over my head.
Nahi came out running and screamed, “What did you do?”
The woman rolled out of my arms and began groping towards the shelter that the grove of cecropia trees could provide. A hideous screech pierced the air and I locked my eyes on a trio of enormous creatures flying away.
Their bodies were massive, easily the size of a horse, and thickly bunched muscles flexed as their mighty, leathery wings flapped in powerful strokes. They had matted fur scattered across the back of their heads which whipped around as they flew off. Beneath their wings were long, black talons and one pair was dripping with a dark liquid.
My mother’s blood.
The rage boiled in my chest once more.
Saving the woman had been a taste of the intoxicating power inside of me. The rage drowned out all of the feelings of regret or shame from killing that man. Uncertainty had been washed away by the rivulet of my mother’s blood that now touched my feet. Those creatures would die. I would tear them apart.
Instead of tentatively tugging for the red, destructive power I threw myself at it. I let it consume me as I reached deep and called upon the storm that was approaching in the distance. The sound of the wind changed, and the surrounding area quieted of all life. I was controlling the storm that now rolled across the sky, lightning bolts illuminating the heavens with brilliant flashes.
The wind caught their wings, and they crashed into each other. One howled as the crown of one of the Goddess statues ripped into the thick skin of its wing.
Nahi spat as a spray of brown, rancid blood rained down around us.
She screamed. “Sofia, stop! You’ll only bring more here.” My anger subsided for half a second. I looked at the priestess, her face was coated in blood. And then…
My mother. I looked at her torn chest and the deep cuts in her legs and arms. The talons had slashed through flesh as if it were nothing more than hardened cooking fat. I instantly released control of the storm. Rain continued to fall, intensifying the tangy iron smell that hung around us. The smell of death.
The winged creatures raced across the sky, back to whatever hell they had crawled out of and I let them go.
Before I touched my mother, I switched into my cosmic sight and gently prodded for any sign of her life force. Nothing answered my gentle call. No spark of life lingered.
I sank to the ground, bringing her hand to my forehead as my eyes burned and my throat closed up. When I was helping her heal patients, I had always delighted at the sensing of heartbeats and felt despair when they weren’t there… but nothing compared to what I felt now, as I listened for the heartbeat once more and was only answered by deafening silence in my mother’s shredded chest.
1
SCORCHING MONTHS
“When the cosmos were little more than swirls of light and stardust, there was Mother Ashra. A terrible and benevolent Goddess, who took great care with all She created. Plants, animals, land; each developed from the materials in the universe, mixed with pieces of Herself.
The life She created developed for thousands of years, alongside Her on the planet Perém. Her beautiful and wicked mind sought balance in Her realm.
But the endless sunlight scorched Her plants and mercilessly burned the creatures. So, adjusting the cosmos with a whirl of Her finger, the planet began to turn, and the moons appeared, thus introducing the night. With time, the excess of water was limiting, and Her living creations rotted and decayed instead of continuing to flourish, so She created land.
