Isylia's lips curved into a smile. Pride swelled in her chest, vast as the stars. She was smug, radiant, certain. She believed the cosmos itself had bowed to her inevitable magnificence.
But unfortunately, that was it.
The shimmer faded. The breath stilled. The recognition dissolved into nothing. The artifact did not approve of her either.
For a heartbeat, absolute silence reigned. The faint stir it had granted her vanished, leaving only the cold indifference of eternity. The gods looked on, their awe curdling into mocking whispers.
Isylia's pride, vast as the stars, could not bear such rejection.
As short tempered as she was, of course she couldn't accept it. Anger flared in her heart, hotter than suns, sharper than blades. Her divine essence trembled with fury. To be acknowledged but not chosen… to be stirred but not accepted… was worse than denial. It was a tease. It was blatant humiliation, at least in her view.
And humiliation was something Isylia had never endured.
