Demonria: The Dark Chalice
an excerpt

And then, the man took her to a door that seemed to be made entirely of a blue stone. The man placed a hand on the door and prepared to open it. “This door is made entirely from flawless sapphire,” he said. He pushed the door open as Shimra gawked at it. It must be worth a fortune. They were in a small corridor small statues of the gods and goddesses on either side of the carpet. At the end of this small corridor, they came to a red door. “And this,” the man said, “is ruby.” He pushed open the ruby door, and Shimra stepped into a room that was worth more than anything in the world.
The floors, walls and ceiling were made entirely from precious stones of sapphire, ruby, emerald, topaz, blue topaz, diamond, opal and amethyst. There was a small stairway that led up to a throne, made of pure kelorite, a dark purple stone, the rarest and most expensive gem in all Demonria – at least a dozen times more expensive than ruby. On two torches, that sat on either side of the throne, also made of kelorite, burned a white flame, which, multiplied by all the gems in the room, to make the room very bright.
A woman sat on the throne. She wore white boots, a small, white skirt with a light-blue belt. She had a very loose top on that flowed down her chest to the belt. This top, however, had no sides or back and could be seen-through. She wore light blue top just covering her chest, which showed through the white top. She was wearing a white feathered cape, matching the boots.
The woman wore a mask over her face. It was much like an eagle, though the feathers were all white and the beak was made of blue-topaz. Her eyes hid behind two, blue topaz stones that filled the masks eye sockets, and her lips were painted white. The woman’s skin was very light - almost as if it had been painted - and seemed to shimmer in the light from the torches.
She rose form her throne and held her arms out to the side. Her feathered cape was attached to her wrists, so the cape opened up behind her, much like a pair of wings, though the bottom nearly touched the ground.
The woman opened her mouth. “I speak for Valkara, Goddess of Life,” she said, her voice so smooth and flowing. She turned her head to face the man. “Leave us,” she commanded.
The man bowed. “Yes, oh great Speaker.” He turned and left the room, the ruby door swinging shut behind him.
The Speaker lowered her arms and her cape folded in. She walked slowly down the stairs, the bottom of her cape now sliding on the floor behind her. The Speaker raised a hand with nails painted white, and placed it on Shimra’s face, under her jaw with her fingers resting on her cheeks. The Speaker appeared to be examining Shimra.
Shimra felt the Speaker looking into her eyes, as if she was looking inside her. The Speaker removed her hand from Shimra’s face, her face, or what could be seen of it, remained expressionless.
“So,” the Speaker said in her soothing voice. “At last you have come.”
Shimra looked annoyed. “Why did you send the letter?”
The Speaker, completely ignoring her question, said, “I have awaited your arrival for a long time, my child.”
Shimra took a deep breath to help from exploding in anger. “I came for answers!”
“And answers you shall receive, my child, when the gods will it.” At least she answered Shimra’s question, almost.
“I don’t have time to wait for the damn gods!” Shimra shouted, wishing she had taken her sword to threaten this woman with.
The Speaker did something so unexpected then. She raised her hand and slapped Shimra across the face. Shimra’s head was forced to the side, and a red hand-print appeared on her cheek. The slap didn’t just sting, it hurt.
The Speaker dropped her hand to her side and said, “You will not speak of the gods, or speak like that in the presence of the gods, again.” Shimra merely glared at her. The Speaker grabbed Shimra’s face and dug her nails into her skin. “You anger the gods with your attitude. If you wish to receive no answers at all, then continue with your actions. Otherwise, allow yourself to surrender to the gods.” She released her grip but kept her hand on Shimra’s face. “There is much that they can teach you.”
“Excuse me,” Shimra said in the nicest voice she could manage at the moment, “but I didn’t come here to learn.”
The Speaker walked over to the ruby door and opened it. “Then I’ll ask you to leave. You can return to your life, and you can be lost.”
Shimra began to walk to the door. “I won’t be lost. I may not have answers to all my questions, but I won’t be lost.” She began to walk down the small corridor, towards the sapphire door, then stopped as the Speaker spoke.
“I was not referring to the answers that you seek,” the woman said. “If you stay, they can be given to you. In time.” The Speaker stepped into the corridor. “I was referring to the gods. Without their guidance, one, such as yourself, is lost.” She held her hands out before her, as if reaching out to Shimra. “But if you only stay long enough to her what I have to say; what the gods have to say, you may just find yourself.” Shimra turned around. She didn’t know why, but she felt a need to go back to the Speaker; a feeling she was fighting. “The gods will speak to us, if we are willing to listen. They will guide us, if we are willing for their help.
“So come back, Shimra. Hear the answers that you seek, but more importantly, finally get in touch with the gods.” The Speaker walked forward and took both of Shimra’s hands in hers. “The gods, they call out to you. I can hear them, and I know that deep down inside, you can hear them as well. You have always heard them. But it is not enough to simply hear their call. You must open your heart to it.” The Speaker just paused there, watching Shimra, who seemed to start to understand. Then, she started to walk. As she did, she let go of Shimra’s hands and entered the jeweled room.
The Speaker walked back to her throne and sat down, waiting for Shimra to either leave, or come back into the room and at last listen to what the Speaker has to say. By the time she sat on the throne, the ruby door had closed. She sat staring at it for a few minutes, until she believed that Shimra had left. When the Speaker had almost lost hope that Shimra would come through that door, that’s exactly what she did.
The Speaker saw the door open, thinking it was her aide. Instead, she saw Shimra walking into the room. Shimra was now staring straight into the Speaker’s eyes, even though they were covered stones. “You have made the right choice, my child,” the Speaker said. She once again rose from her throne and held her arms out. “I can hear the gods rejoicing in your decision to learn.” With her arms still out, the Speaker began to walk down the stairs. “As before, and as always will be, I speak for Valkara, Goddess of Life.”
Shimra sighed. “When can I hear some answers?”
The Speaker walked up to her. “You have returned to hear the answers, but you must have patience.” She lowered her arms and turned around. She began to walk back up the stairs to the throne. “You want to really know if it was us here that sent the letter to the Duke of Carmaliss for your release.” She walked around the throne and placed her hands on the back of it. “The answer is yes. The reason for this will be clear to you in time.”
Before Shimra could object, the Speaker asked her, “Are you familiar with the Gods?”
Shimra shook her head. “Not really.”
The Speaker nodded. “Then you must learn of them.” She raised one hand high in the air. “First, there is the greatest of all the Gods, Valkara, Goddess of Life.” Surprisingly, Shimra had never heard of her before, until Darian told her of the temple of Valkara. “Valkara brings things to life with her “breath”. She created all things that contain the essence of life.”
The Speaker walked out from behind the throne and once again walked down the stairs. This time, though, she stopped half-way. “There is also Khey’Lar, God of Protection. Amora, Goddess of Love. Falkyr, God of Fire. Tenial, God of the Sea. Zebara, Goddess of Truth. Coratal, God of Justice. Draeven, God of Souls. Dur-Ao, God of Judgment. And finally, Hala, Goddess of Healing.
“The ten Gods guide and protect us, and only through their wisdom can we truly be strong.” The Speaker walked down the rest of the stairs, and suddenly, the atmosphere in the room seemed to change. There was even something different about the Speaker. “Have you ever heard of the Kar Chlia?” When the Speaker asked this, her voice was different. It was not the smooth, flowing voice she had first used. It was a more darker voice, with warning, and even a little bit of fear, in it.
Shimra shook her head, not even knowing what language it was. “No, never,” she said, hearing the fear in the Speaker’s voice.
The Speaker leaned forward until the blue topaz beak was nearly touching Shimra on the nose. “That is probably a good thing.” She turned her beak to the right side of Shimra’s face, then leaned closer, until her beak was far past her head, and the Speaker’s mouth was almost touching Shimra’s ear. Shimra could feel the air on her ear from the Speaker’s mouth when she spoke. “The Kar Chlia is an instrument of darkness, more evil then even I can comprehend.”
The Speaker pulled away. “It is said that only the dark god can truly understand the mysterious powers of the Kar Chlia.”
Shimra was confused. “Dark god. Who is the dark god?”
The Speaker backed slightly away. “There are eleven gods, not ten. However, only ten deserve our worship. The god I haven’t told you about is the most dangerous of all. The ten gods we must follow are all pure of heart; the dark god’s heart is nothing more than an abyss of evil. A deep cavern that never ends. A cavern that, once inside, can never be left.” Shimra noticed that the Speaker began to tremble slightly.
“Long ago, in the dawn of this era,” the Speaker continued, beginning to tremble even more, “the dark god was stripped of his powers. However, the gods themselves tell me that to strip a god completely of his powers was impossible. So, the dark god still had a small amount of power.
“It was rumored that the dark god made the Kar Chlia, and stored within it the last of his powers. Once this was done, the god was no more. But his immortal powers lived on in the Kar Chlia, where they grew stronger as time went on.” The Speaker began to tremble so much that she couldn’t stand, so she fell into her throne. “While you were in prison,” she managed to say, “the Kar Chlia was found.”