He walks toward her, crowd parting before his intimidating form. She has never seen her father like this. The high priest kneels before him and is ignored. Siff can feel the glare of her father’s eyes burning through the mask, staring into her own. She is genuinely afraid of what may happen next. Jupiter reaches where she stands next to Ellen, who is also too afraid to move. He towers over her, his natural height made greater by the armor he wears. Jupiter pulls a chain from his belt and grabs Siff’s arms. The chain wraps around her wrists and connects to itself, he lets it have a couple feet of slack before gripping it in his gauntleted hand, “You are all to remain in this village until sunrise! Not one of you is to leave!” He looks to his daughter, his voice full of anger, “You are coming with me.”

Jupiter turns and strides back in the direction he came, jerking Siff forward by the chain now attaching her to her father. She obediently follows in step behind him, head hung low occasionally looking for any pitying eyes to connect with. The village is too afraid. All but one, “Don’t take her from us, great Jupiter. We have made her one of—“ Lucas does not get to finish his sentence, Jupiter strikes him with a lightning bolt that knocks him off his feet and continues his stride without losing any momentum. Siff stares at Lucas’ unconscious body as they pass by. Her lip trembles and she cries out in sorrow, pulling sideways in an attempt to help her friend. But the chain and her father are too strong and she is dragged weeping across the dirt until she is able to stand again, staggering after the relentless god that pulls her back into the darkness, away from her new home. Watching her friends disappear into the fading firelight she weeps, “Why? Why?” He speaks no word in reply.

Hours pass as they climb the hills in silence, walking upward toward the forest the villagers fear so much. Siff’s eyes stay down, trying to see the roadway in the dark. Her father’s helmet makes seeing in the night as natural as day, and his pace does not slow. Siff almost has to run to keep up.

They travel up three more hills before Siff dares open her mouth again, “Why? Why did you have to hurt him? They worship you there. You didn’t have to hurt him.”

Jupiter stops and turns to his daughter, he pulls his helmet off to reveal his enraged and bereaved face, “You don’t understand, do you? You don’t understand what you’ve done! You don’t know what is coming! Look you foolish girl! You selfish, idiotic child! We could not stop. We could not slow down. I only had so much time to save you.” The confusion on her face is evident, so her father grabs her and forces her to look back on Travos now sitting in a distant valley, “Look what you have done to them! Look!”

“What? What do you mean? I don’t see anyth…” a small red dot can be seen descending from the sky, “Oh god no! Dad no! You have to stop it! You can stop it! You have to save them! Please! Please!”

“See what you have done! See the consequences of your selfish decisions! Your idiotic, destructive behavior! Make no mistake child, you are responsible for what happens next.”

“Please Dad, please. Please save them, please.”