"Oh sweet goddess of the holy light! Save me! Please! I can't end like this, please, i can't!!"

I silently prayed. Honestly, i've never been one of the devoted, but today i will make an exception. Not that the gods ever answer any prayers anyway, but you can't blame a girl for trying, right? Especially when that girl is about to be a lot less alive in a few seconds, courtesy of the public guards. And a series of truly unfortunate events.

It all started two hours ago. My little band of aspiring thieves and me were hired a few days ago to do an 'easy and safe' job. Go to that noble's villa. Easy. Breaking and entering. Good. Avoid the guards. Okay. Steal that blue gem. Success. But .. ding ding ding! Magical countermeasures for stealing. Avoid the guards? Fuck. Now we are on the run. Or, i am. Of our three man team, one is captured, one lays dying on the floor. Great.

Somehow i managed to break through the window and ran a few dozen meters down the alley untouched. But now two of the guards were closing in. Damn it all. Please let them be weaklings! At least my chances are minimal then. Infinitely better than non-existent. That is because i am not exactly strong. Or very smart. Just barely pulling through, really.

"Appraise!" I threw a glance back, chanting the one spell i honed a lot, because it is the base of a successful thief. 'Appraise' let's you inspect items and, on higher levels, people. A vital tool for a thief who has to determine which items of a treasure are worth the most effort.

Karl Gruner Occupation: Guard Level: 27 Class: Bladestalker Hans Ogra Occupation: Guard Level: 23 Class: Brawlseeker

Fuck!! They are on the upper levels of what common people can achieve. Bad luck me. And what the hell is with their classes? Specializing on chasing thugs. I hate you, fate.

They were close, maybe six meters away, shouting the regular stuff. Stop! Surrender! Or we will have to hurt you! Bla bla! At the one-meter-behind-me-mark, i ducked away from a swordstrike and half jumped half crawled into the spacing between two houses. If i can make it to the commoners area, i can find a place to hide, or so i thought.

..Wait is this a dead end? I blankly stared at the impassable high wall in front of me. Shit, shit, SHIT!! My swagger-y move back at the entry of the small alley had gained me a few meters head start, but now it melted quickly. Far too quickly for my taste. Them reaching me also meant me reaching afterlife.

Which brings us to now. "Please, exalted goddess of the light! Help me! I know thieves are not your favorite, but i am a good person! I share meals with the orphans regularily, i swear!" ..Nothing? Thanks. I have around two seconds to live now. "Anyone? Please!! If that shithead woman of light won't answer, i am dialing on an open line! Can ANY-fucking-ONE help me? I will be forever grateful!"

Just as dear Karl was about to shiv me, i felt an ice cold shockwave emanating from my left hand for a split second. What the..? By reflex i closed my eyes in the face of imminent death and inexplicable sudden cold. I waited for the sensation of getting my belly pierced by unforgiving steel.

One second.

Two seconds.

Nothing.

??

I blinked. Something white fell down from the skies, hitting the motionless statues in front of me.

Wait.. is that fucking snow? It is summer, for holy sake. ..That .. wave .. of cold? A thought crossed my mind. I kept an eye on the frozen guards in front of me while slowly bringing my left palm near my line of sight, opening it. The blue gem, huh?

Peeking at it, i felt oddly at ease.

How can i be so calm all of a sudden? That is fucking unnatural! Something about this .. snow-gem? .. had a calming effect on my mind. As if nothing really mattered. Not to me. As if i was but a bystander, watching events from afar, immune to all that happens in the passage of time. For moments, i could almost see through the veil that concealed the inner workings of the world.

No!

I forcefully snapped back to a state that at least resembled the regular me. Did i kill the guards? I managed to be a bit shocked. It was an accident, but no one is ever gonna buy that. Shit. I checked the still guards. They don't look frozen. Mhm.

While i was pondering what just happened, an eerie feeling crept up from my stomach. It was quiet. Way too quiet. A not-so-good thought hit me. What was the range of that blue gem? Fuck me! Don't tell me, did i freeze the whole city? No way everything is so quiet else. I heard a clicking sound behind me. Oh dear heart of mine, after today i promise to take it easy for a while!

I jerked around. Great. A door. In the wall where there was no door before. It swung open a little, hence the clicking sound. A nice door. A calm door. I took a step towards it.

What am i doing?! I abruptly stood still yet again. Something about this door.. no.. passage.. makes me want to enter with all my being. "Ah, fuck it! I killed the city, might as well enter into surreal doors." i chanted to myself.

"Oh child, you did not kill the city."

Wha..? I turned 180 again. This day is too fucked up. Damn. Behind me stood a fucking depiction of the woman you can see in every holy church. And she just had spoken in a warm voice, almost warm enough to melt the ice around. Or no, wait, it actually started to melt around her.

"What?"

"You did not kill anyone. That gem, don't you know what it is?" She smiled a warm smile, forcing the comfortable feeling of cold nothingness out of me.

"How am i supposed to know? I was just tasked to .. deliver .. it! Who are you, anyway?" I shouted, my anger igniting. Good. I can feel again, for real. I felt a bit relieved. Another feeling. Enjoyable.

"Yes, i see now. Well, my name is O'Ra. You might know me as the goddess of the holy light." Still that sweet smile on her lips. Now that i think about it you can loose yourself in her warmth as much as in the distant cold of the gem. Damn that is dangerous.

"Ha ha! You are a god? You are not supposed to answer prayers, you know!" i just had to mock her for not helping earlier. Fucking goddess is real and ignores good people like me praying.

"Normally, i don't. But.. That door.. Opened by the key of the void.. The blue gem, i mean. It is not meant for mortals. How did you even use it?" Her smile weakened a bit. Still gorgeous though.

"Jeez, do i have to repeat myself? I don't know anything about this gem." Even though i responded in an angry voice, her statement kept me thinking. Key of the void? The hell? When a goddess personally comes around and says it is not for mortals, it is 'easy and safe' job my ass.

"So, what if i still wanted to go through there?" I pointed towards the door, a crack open still.

Her smile faded in an instant. "Mortals have free will. If you wish to forgo my warnings, so be it. But.. i.. eh.. don't have authority at the other side of that door." Did she just shiver? Yeah, she fucking shivered. No authority? The goddess of all living things, no authority? The hell? That is not just dangerous. That is insane. If she is worth nothing past that gate, what about me then? No thanks.

Something in me awoke. A part i instinctively knew was there all along, yet never seen before. 'You belong to the void. You are safe. It is her light that is heresy to the true gods. Go... Go.. Go. Go! GO!' The inner me, that was not completely me, shouted, ravaged in my mind, begging to have control.

"You said i did not kill anyone, what did you mean by that?" I asked, still unsure of the whole situation.

"That gem, it can cut through the fabric of reality, into the void that lays behind all that is. Time is meaningless in the void. And that gem brings a part of that to reality. Time is frozen, that is all. If the gem stops, all is normal again."

"And.. eh.. the snow?"

"Just some relic of past winters."

"Aha." I will just nod for the moment. That is all so far beyond my paygrade there is not much else i can do. So just agree and play along, till you got time to sort things out.

"So, do you still wish to go to the void?" Wow. She actually sounded a bit concerned. Maybe i was harsh on her for not answering prayers. I mean she did, with a bit of delay. But i am still here.

I am here thanks to the gem, i corrected myself. So, it helped me, i will try to trust it?

"I think i will enter that gate now. Thank you for answering my prayers, really." I turned a final time and sprinted through the door, busting it open.