First priestess of Lazarus, it had a nice ring to it.

  Zemelly giggled to herself as the spray of the sea hit her fnk. She'd traveled for the better part of a day to reach this area. Leaving at sunrise just after her evening with Arath and Lazarus.

  That memory made her blush. That wasn't how she expected to be bonded to a god but definitely a welcome addition.

  A cave came into view, hidden by the rock face it was designed to only be visible to those that knew it was there. Zemelly was one of those people and calmly made her way inside.

  A small waterfall covered the far wall creating a rge pool in the corner, other than that the cave was empty. Another red hearing if someone did find the cave and entered.

  Zemelly calmly entered the pool sucking in a breath at the cool temperature. There was a path under water that would lead to another chamber but swimming through it was not something she was capable of doing. Instead she was waiting for her friend to notice her arrival.

  A ripple broke the surface to the centaurs left.

  Well her friend knew she was here but there was one more thing she needed to do.

  Behind her right ear was a small clip she kept hidden from everyone. It was remarkable Lazarus didn't see it although he was very distracted by her other assets when they had been together.

  Removing it caused a flicker around the white mares body. Her eyes changed from the red she'd decided to use for the day to a sparkling blue, her hair lost the white and took a more rainbow effect as it moved never seeming to stay a single color as you looked at it from different directions. Her tail had the same effect even though it was currently hidden underneath her dress.

  But the most important change was the single spiraling horn that came out of her forehead. While tricking everyone wasn't Zemellys wish it was the only way she could live in peace, a unicorn was a valuable creature to those that wanted to use her body for many experiments or rituals.

  Zemelly didn't need it here as her friend knew already. The water began to ripple as something moved underneath, the shape vaguely resembling a bck vine.

  "Vataria. It's me you don't need to try and scare me away." Zemelly chuckled spshing the water to make sure her friend knew where she was.

  Movement behind the unicorn almost made her jump and if not for the smooth appendage that broke the surface if front of her she might have turned. The appendage had the resembnce of an octopus tentacle without the suckers and calmly touched Zemellys cheek. Staying still Zemelly let the tentacle move up to her horn, seeming to trace a pattern it knew far to well.

  A few other tentacles broke the surface around the unicorn, each on coiling itself around her until she was almost restrained. The one touching her horn made its way down until it has hovering just over Zemellys mouth.

  Experience had taught her this was the only warning she was going to get so she took a rge breath and bit down on the tentacle.

  As if waiting for that all of the limbs that had coiled around the unicorn pulled tight throwing Zemelly off her hooves and into the water. Reflexively she shut her eyes and pulled her legs as close to her body as she could letting herself be dragged along.

  It wasn't long before her head was pushed through the surface again, this time however in a new cavern deep under the water. It was huge compared to anything the unicorn had lived in before easily enough to fit half the centaurs in her home town comfortably but compared to it's lone inhabitant it was small.

  "Zemelly!" The new creature boomed, it's voice not quite right as it's species normally communicated with bioluminescent lights under the water.

  "Hey Vataria. How have you been?" Zemelly replied finding the edge of the pool she was in and began to make her way the the shallower water.

  Vataria moved her colossal body closer to the unicorn. Her head alone was the size of two centaurs bodies while the rest was hidden underneath the dark water. Lights of different colors fshed from whisker like appendages along Vatarias face. The only lumination in the whole area.

  She was a leviathan. A creature simir to a dragon but more suitable to the sea than the sky, with two long tentacles coming off her back instead of the wings a traditional dragon would have. Her tail was also a closer resembnce of a fishes with fins halfway down on each side for support and a rge fanlike tip.

  "Gooooood." Vataria answered letting Zemelly use her thicker tentacles to help her reach the only shallow part of the cave. "A biiiit lonely."

  Zemelly scoffed. "You could come visit me you know. Instead of making me walk all the way out here. It's dangerous for a unicorn to be alone?"

  Vataria hummed, the water rippling in return.

  It was a jest as Vataria couldn't leave the water herself without being hunted. While their bodies weren't as valuable as a unicorn there were plenty of creatures that wanted a leviathan trophy and weren't oppose to targeting one that was vulnerable as she moved across the nd. It also didn't help she was unable to gain skill points due to her unique css. A css she shared with Zemelly.

  A ripple of green fshed over Vatarias lights, Zemelly trying to remember what emotion it was tied to. Amusement maybe.

  "Want tooooo. Hard tooooo." The leviathan replied the sound echoing around the cave.

  "Well that could all change for us." Zemelly said excitedly. She'd found the shallower part and could now stand without having to tread water.

  The leviathans lights fshed yellow. Zemelly took that to be interest.

  "I have found a fledgling god. One who doesn't currently have a Pantheon right now and only has me as their current priestess."

  There was a fsh of red. That one Zemelly was familiar with. Anger and fear.

  "No gods."

  "Now Vataria hear me out."

  The water shifted as Vataria moved herself so she was directly in front of Zemelly. Her bck eye was all the unicorn could see.

  "No gods."

  There was a pregnant pause as the two stared at each other before Zemelly let out a sigh.

  "Just listen. Please?"

  The leviathan huffed returning to the water and sinking until she was gone. Without Vataria to light the cave Zemelly was left in darkness.

  "If I knew you were going to be this moody I wouldn't have come!" Zemelly yelled out to the now empty cave.

  She couldn't bme her friend for her reaction. Vatarias family had forced her to serve the god they believed in and it hadn't ended well. It now put her in a difficult position as those in the deep sea wanted to take her back and those on nd wanted her as a trophy. Part of the reason she was hidden away.

  Letting out a sigh Zemelly sat down on her belly in the water letting it run over her equine half. Somewhere in the dark her friend was still listening, at least she hoped.

  "Lazarus, the god I'm now bonded to it human." A few ripples in the water were enough for the unicorn to know she was being heard. "He has offered a deal that allows me to keep half of all my skill points I gain rounded in my favor every day. This part of my deal will be extended to all future priestesses."

  A pulse of blue light briefly illuminated Vatarias body under the water and made Zemelly feel very small. The leviathan emotion tied to that color was unknown to the centaur.

  "As I said before." She continued. "He doesn't have a Pantheon yet and I will be creating one with him when he returns from his trip. I want you to help us in the process. I know what happened in the past but this is our chance to do it our way, we can lead him in his endeavors show him the right path and if we're lucky he might even be able to give us foals. Or whatever it is you call your young."

  Blue fshed again but this time with a hint of pink. Zemelly was pushing the boat a little as young was a sore spot for the leviathan. The pink she knew was simir to a blush. The blue still confusing her.

  Vataria lit up her closest tentacles with a white light, the neutral shade allowing Zemelly to see her rise form the water once more. Progress the unicorn thought to herself as her friend pced her chin in the shallows to be close.

  "You use to agree with me about no gods." The leviathan groaned.

  "That was before my Paragon gave me an ultimatum." The unicorn replied.

  "Rayna?" Vataria asked red fshing briefly. Even the leviathan knew the centaur Paragon.

  "Yes. She told me I needed to help him or I needed to find somewhere else to live." While it was a little heavy handed by Rayna, Zemelly understood.

  "She sounds like a cm hopper."

  Zemelly chuckled at the metaphor.

  "She is many things but not that. She cares about the centaurs survival and herself, in that order. It's what makes the fact she's so interested in Lazarus so unique. Rayna has had the opportunity to mate with Paragons and gods of all species because of her power and the things she has done and refused them all. So why suddenly has she got all hot and bothered for a human that suddenly appeared when there species should be extinct?"

  "I'm guessing you have the answer?" Vataria hummed.

  "Apart from the fact he can impregnate us all I don't see any difference between him and the other gods, but I trust Rayna with my life so I'll help him grow. I'm hoping you will as well."

  The leviathan hummed, the sound creating its own small current. "I don't want to."

  "You sound like a spoiled foal." Zemelly ughed back. "But in all seriousness do you intend to waste away in here for the rest of your life? Never able to swim free or show yourself? If you work with me and Lazarus you could do all of that. You could get stronger than any other priestess out there. Half your skill points Vataria we both know how much that can actually be. Just give him a chance, please?"

  Vatarias rge tentacles reached around Zemellys body pulling the unicorn into the deeper part of the water. Pink light fshed from the leviathans lights with shades of red and lic. "I trust you Zemelly. I won't follow him because of your Paragon, I will however stay with a friend."

  The unicorn didn't resist as she left the shallows and let her arms loop around her friend reassuringly. In time she may be required to do many things in the name of Lazarus but it became so much easier if she had a friend she could trust by her side instead of trying to find another priestess out there who might want to corrupt her new god.

  Lazarus has accepted Priestess Vataria.

  "Just promise me we can both safely be our proper selves. I would like to leave this cave if we are to properly create a Pantheon."

  Before Zemelly could reply a clop of hooves echoed from the roof above them both.

  "That is something I can provide my dears." Rayna offered as the lights from Vataria fshed red.