"Quick like my parents' were? I'll take my chances."

"You'll die, screaming!" shrieks Maeverine. "I gave you everything! Everything!"

"You gave me nothing . You tried to take everything I had. You only wanted to twist me into a tool you could use to further your own selfish glory. But I am not your slave."

"Do slaves get everything they ever asked for? Did you want for anything, once you'd earned my favor?"

"You never gave me a choice."

"You never asked for anything! I would have given it, had you asked!"

"Don't insult my intelligence."

Maeverine growls.

And then a mob of priests and followers marches around a bend in the swamp. It is likely they are not here to do Ellie's hair.

Ellie dumps the half bag she has in a large area around her, for freedom of movement, then draws her knife.

"If you attack me, you will die. Leave, and let me do this. I will be a better god to you than she is."

Mobs are notoriously hard to reason with, especially when Maeverine shrieks, "Anyone who flees will die on the spot, the one who kills her can have whatever they ask of me!"

So, now Ellie has an angry mob to deal with.

Mobs are disorganized, and Ellie is well-trained. If there were other acolytes in the mob, that would be a problem, but she is the only one present. Maeverine's acolyte power is a potent weapon in the correct hands.

It's not much of a contest.

A few of the mob members flee by the end, and are struck down by Maeverine.

"Idiots," she hisses. "Failures! You haven't won, not yet. Not ever."

Her temple's just up ahead.

"We'll see."

Ellie desecrates the temple, taking special pleasure in spilling salt over the altar.

Maeverine tries threats and bribes, but doesn't stoop to begging.

Soon enough, the entire temple is properly salted. Ellie is free to begin, if she'd like.

When one becomes an acolyte, a bond is formed between the mortal, and the god. It's hardly noticeable, and not invasive. Just a small feeling, at the very back of the acolyte's mind, whenever at least a little of the god's domain is near. Some acolytes describe it as a well that fuels whatever power they have, some as the power itself, freely given.

How an acolyte kills their god is by reaching into that well, and taking.

This time, Ellie will do the taking. She reaches.

It's hard, at first, to take. Like she is fighting something and having to tear something away from herself at the same time. Fighting to reach something while stuck deep in a bog.

But then Ellie grasps the first scrap of power and it's like the easiest thing in the world. Her body fades into the background as the temple around her fades in. It feels different, more mobile. Instead of moving her arms she can change the shape of the entire - well, not arm, temple, and the land underneath it, and the air around it. It would be easy, to move something one way or another as she likes it. She feels - present in the things around her, intertwined. The rock underneath the temple is cold, but doesn't cause her to feel cold. It's just a thing that is. It could be scorching hot or freezing cold, and it wouldn't be uncomfortable, just itself. Like the type of rock it is or the composition of the soil above it, or the smell of the air around the temple. One might expect that feeling all of this at once would be overwhelming, but it isn't. As she takes pieces, her mind expands, blossoms like a flower. She can perceive a thousand things at once without them becoming muddied, think entire separate trains of thought without muddying them up, and switch between them effortlessly. She could, if she liked, carry on several conversations at once, or read several books at the same time, or -

Well, it's hard to tell what else she can do, because a something is shoving at her with a powerful force, trying to dislodge her from her place in everything around her and push her back into her measly body. Maeverine, probably. But Ellie can shove back, and keep taking.

No no no no no this is hers now this is her now she will not be removed she will not be contained.

MINE

I AM

Speaking to Maeverine is easy. It doesn't even require language anymore, the thing she would like to say just is. Exactly what she intends. And hearing her is just as easy, and as easily understood.

"You think yourself so powerful? You're a pathetic little gnat, and I will crush you like the bug you are."

Maeverine is entrenched, hard to move -

But not impossible. And she's reeling from a loss of power and presence, has become somewhat complacent. She's scrabbling to bring everything she has to bear in this fight.

A mistake that Ellie is free to take advantage of.

Ellie pushes, and expands, expands-

"You are old. And complacent. And weak. Your time is over."

Speaking of complacency, she should take care her body comes to no harm. Reshaping the temple is easy, she blocks all exits, thickens the walls around the room she's in.

Maeverine catches her wind soon enough, figures out how to fight this fight properly. She gets crafty and switches the directions that she shoves Ellie at, starts occasionally making little victories against Ellie.

Of course, they come too late. Tainel's advice was accurate; Ellie took a large portion of Maeverine's power base in her first foray, and has taken more and more since. She eclipses her once-goddess in power now. If she were to slip, and there are plenty of occasions to, this fight might become a bit more fair. But if she doesn't...

Ellie has waited too long, come too far, to slip now. She maintains her concentration, keeps hold of what she has, and pushes, pushes-

"You are done. Finished."

"So are you," hisses Maeverine. "You think this isn't a death sentence? You think the other gods will let you live?" She laughs, harshly. "Enjoy your scraps of power while you have them. It won't be long."

And then the last of her is taken by Ellie, and the storm goddess dies.

"We'll see."

And then Ellie pauses, looks around-

-and is pleased by what she finds. But it shouldn't be so hot, it should be cooler- there. This town is better. She will expand the change gradually through the rest of her domain.

The domain cools...