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With her sight growing murky, Lindi wriggled uselessly towards the edge of the cliff. Terror suffused every inch of her body as she kicked and heaved weakly in her bonds.

Please, God! Please save me, she pleaded, looking down at her feet – or rather, beyond them.

Her dry bottom lip trembled at the thing that skittered just within the border of the shade.

Red eyes, so bright and petrifying, never left her.

They looked hungry, enhanced by the white froth that bubbled at the corners of its maw, and the way it licked at its muzzle.

Sharp, glinting claws tore at the ground as it paced, braving the sunlight by a millimetre before yelping and backing up.

“They’re real,” she whispered hoarsely, dehydration and blood loss having parched her aching throat. “I can’t believe they’re real.”

And as each minute passed, those pointed shadows created by treetops were reaching towards her like a set of fingers. They were bringing the creature closer, and she was so terrified of it she had started worming her way towards the ledge of rock.

I’d rather fall. The idea of being eaten alive was horrifying – she couldn’t imagine how painful it would be.

Her consciousness was slipping again, but it wasn’t fast enough.

She could barely smell over the coppery scent of caked blood in her nose, but the creature had a pungent aroma to it.

Its features were utterly inhuman, but it also didn’t truly look animalistic.

It was a monster, something that appeared part dog, part bird, part.

.. who fucking knew? It was indecipherable.

It had bird-like legs, with wings low down near its hips.

Its torso and front legs were thick and feline, yet its face was dog-like and boorish.

It just looked twisted and screwed up in all the worst possible ways, while its flesh truly didn’t look like skin.

No, it was glossy, like it was being held together by some tainted force, like void magic, and she worried it’d consume her with just a mere touch.

She also feared it’d turn her into one. She didn’t want to become a devil – was that what the men meant when they said the creatures were growing in number? Were they turning humans into whatever unholy thing this was?

She didn’t want to be eaten by one, in any way, shape, or form.

What did I do wrong? she asked with a shiver of delirium rolling down her back. I’m a devout woman. I’ve never violated your teachings.

Lindi was a good person, hardworking and faithful.

For the entire time she bled, drifting in and out of consciousness, betrayal obliterated her.

Each squirm sent agony through her midsection, as if she was tearing her wound further.

Yet she continued to live, as if Sal, the bastard, missed anything vital.

She’d even stopped bleeding, despite the worrisome puddle of it congealing against the stone she was smearing it against. Why couldn’t he have hit a vital organ or an artery?

Why did she have to be experiencing this long death?

As much as she wanted to cling onto life, it was futile. There was nothing she could do to save herself, and she’d rather get it over with than suffer to her final heartbeat.

Her eyes were so swollen and puffy from crying that her renewed tears stung so badly she hissed out a breath through clenched teeth. Each new droplet felt like razors to her eyes. Then she let out a broken cry when she twisted a certain way, and her entire abdomen protested against the pain.

She stopped, only to breathe and shudder as she fought her bindings, wishing they’d snap. She’d been hoping for that for what had to be an hour, wanting to flee – to go down fighting rather than this pathetically sad end.

All the while, the strange creature snarled, hissed, and growled beyond her feet. Except... when she looked down once more after resting, another had joined it – the setting sun was bringing more to pace within the growing shadows.

They bumped torsos and then dived for each other as a fight broke out.

Lindi whimpered, wriggled once more, and the light smell of rot abraded her senses like she reached some kind of threshold.

She finally inched her way close enough to the edge of the cliff to peer over it.

Vertigo struck her at the long fall, but it soon passed as she peered at the boulders and rocks below.

It looked like the side of the wall had broken off bit by bit and landed at the bottom.

It goes on forever.

Although she could just make out the other side of the Veil’s canyon, being closer to its edge really did prove just how daunting it was. She couldn’t see where it ended from left to right, only what was right ahead.

Rocks cracked off and rolled down the side of the wall under her weight. Seeing them do so only brought on a chilling wave of fear, which, oddly enough, made the creatures beyond her feet grow more agitated. One even whined, as if her fear made it hunger so badly it ripped a noise from it.

“So... they’ve brought another sacrifice, have they?” a voice mused, so quiet and distant that she barely believed she heard anything at all.

Twisting to her side to look around, Lindi darted her head around, but nobody was there. Instead, she once more connected gazes with one of the monsters and her eyes crinkled in anguish.

They were getting closer, and she tucked her feet up in worry that they’d soon be able to claw at the bottom of her soles. Sweat slicked her brow after being in the heat of the sun for so long, unable to escape it, and yet she was so relieved by its hot presence.

“It seems you’ve found yourself in quite the bind,” the voice stated, a touch louder than before and yet still as quiet as a reverberating echo.

Was that meant to be a joke? If so, it was horribly inappropriate as she clenched and unclenched her bound hands. Her brows drew together as she looked around again. Am I... hallucinating?

Her shoulders lifted self-consciously as she asked, “Who... is anyone there?”

She didn’t expect a response.

“Yes, human.”

Her lips parted on a gasp, and her eyes darted around to find the source of that oddly deep and sultry voice. Not even its quietness could hide the way it slid across her subconscious in a mesmerising stroke. It sounded... inhuman. Otherworldly. Perhaps even heavenly.

Lindi found her body easing against the rocky ledge. “God?”

“I doubt I’m one of the many gods you seek.” That didn’t sound too promising. “But yes, little one, I am indeed a god.”

“S-show yourself,” she demanded, wishing her voice held the power of a yell, rather than a hoarse rasp.

She didn’t want to speak to some faceless entity.

“I am unable to do that, but know that I am right before you, standing just beyond the cliff.”

She slid her face against the stone and peered beyond the drop off. There was nothing and nobody there. At least she was unable to see anyone – not even an outline that could give a hint of a presence.

“Who are you?” she asked, wishing tears didn’t bubble in her eyes. She thought she’d be all out of liquid by now, but they just seemed to keep coming, no matter how much she tried to stem them.

Lindi was exhausted, but she’d been through emotional turmoil over the past two days. She was facing her imminent death, and she very much wanted to live. She wanted to die old, happy, and with loved ones around her.

Not here. Not like this. Not because of men who stole her in the middle of the night and ripped apart her life.

“ I am Weldir, semidei Custos Tenebris. Or, to a human, Weldir, Warden of the Darkness.”

At least he didn’t say he was the devil. She didn’t know if speaking with this Weldir would be considered blasphemous, though. She clung to the idea of speaking with him because it was better than focusing on her impending demise.

She always thought there was only one almighty being. To be speaking to another... one she’d never even heard of – it was shocking. Almost mind-altering.

“Why are you here?” she whispered.

Was he answering her pleas for a saviour?

“The Daekura crawl ever closer,” he said, devoid of any emotion. “We do not have much time.”

Her brows drew together. “Daekura?”

“It’s what we, in another realm, call them. I believe it would translate to ‘dark beings’ in your language, but your kind will one day formulate your own name for them.”

He was speaking of the creatures at her feet, and their disgusting sounds continued to unnerve her. At least his voice was soothing, and she wondered if he was using some kind of magic to calm her. If so, she was utterly thankful for it.

“W-what are they?”

“We don’t have the time to talk about such things. The sun will run out and then there will be nothing I can do to change your fate.”

She nodded as she brought her knees up to lie in a ball, wincing at the pain the position brought. The light, cooling wind was causing chills to break out across her feverish skin, and she was tired of fighting them.

“I come to offer you a choice. Die here or become my mate.”

Even though her gaze was languid, she narrowed her eyes. She’d never heard of such a term before. “Your mate? Like a buddy?”

A strange hum came from him, like a sound one might make if they were thinking heavily. “I don’t know what you humans would call it. A life partner? A companion? Someone with whom you create offspring.”

“A wife?” Lindi scoffed a deadened laugh and muttered, “Suddenly I’m a sacrificial bride.” Not just an offering.

“Human, we do not have time for your jokes.”

“Who are you to tell me I can’t laugh when I’m the one dying?” she grumbled.

“I am offering you the chance to live.”

Her eyelids slid closed against the drowsiness, and her body lost all its fight. She allowed herself a moment to rest before she continued in her journey off the edge.

“You’re asking me to marry someone I’ve never seen, a god I have never heard of. I don’t know who you are or even what you are. You could be the devil asking for my soul for all I know.”