A kaleidoscope of colors swirled around him, a dizzying array of incoherent shapes and sounds that left his senses reeling. Jasper closed his eyes reflexively, but it did nothing to block out the images assaulting him and he dropped to his knees as all sense of balance and direction was lost.

  I don’t have time for this. Fury quickened in his veins, and Jasper stumbled to his feet despite the intense vertigo afflicting him. “If you want something from me, goddess, then tell me. Otherwise, let me go back to my friends. We’re not safe in that accursed city.”

  He swayed on his feet, struggling to keep his balance, but though his words were met with silence, the storm of color began to fade. He squinted through the whirlwind as a building began to manifest around him, a place that was definitely not in the fallen city.

  The building he stood in was so open-aired it was hardly deserving of being called a building. It had no true sides but a circle of pillars grown from still living trees. The trees' trunks were unnaturally straight and tall, reaching nearly a hundred feet before their boughs branched off, intertwining together to form a canopy that covered about half of the space between them, with a large hole in the middle that let in the sun and sky.

  There was nothing to be seen in the odd shrine - no goddess, no furniture, no decorations, nothing beyond a sea of gently rippling grass interspersed with wildflowers, and Jasper’s frown deepened. She’s still wasting my time.

  As he stalked forward angrily, he caught a glimpse of the world beyond the living pillars. The thick tangle of trees and undergrowth that surrounded the shrine was undoubtedly a jungle, but he quickly realized that the plants he saw were not the same as those in Sapi?ya’s jungles. Likewise, the craggy peaks loomed above the treetops gleamed with a red rock quite unlike the grey peaks that surrounded the Djinn homeland. Remembering that the goddess was a descendent of Tsia?hu, the progenitor of the Fey, he wondered if this was what their homeland looked like, as he searched the grounds for any sign of where he was supposed to go.

  Eventually, he found it. A narrow path, encroached on all sides by the thick underbrush, led into the jungle. He took one last look around the abandoned shrine, making certain that there was nothing else there, before heading down the trail.

  Jasper only made it a few feet before he saw something moving out of the corner of his eye. His fingers twitched with a spell as he swiveled to face it, fearing a tiger or some other predator had snuck up on him, but what he saw was undeniably worse. A snake.

  Old phobias die hard, and it took a good deal of self-control not to set the forest ablaze as a brightly colored snake raced up the trunk of a tree to his right and disappeared into the foliage.

  He stepped around the tree carefully, keeping a steady eye on its weeping bough that hung over the path, and froze as something hissed on his left. His eyes met the black, beady gaze of another snake he’d nearly stepped on. It reared up like a cobra, with a bright blue frill that expanded and retracted as its head weaved menacingly, and Jasper swallowed hard. “Easy…”

  His eyes darted furtively in all directions as he skirted around the snake, and it took everything he had not to flinch as the bough overhead rustled and another slender neck drooped down, revealing a black head kissed with red stripes and a set of fangs glistening with venom. There was rustling in the bushes to his right, trembling in the branches to his left, angry hissing in the boughs above. Everywhere Jasper looked, black, soulless eyes stared back at him.

  It was a scene straight out of his nightmares, but fortunately Jasper wasn’t as helpless as he’d been back home. His healing spell could probably handle the venom, and even better, he could use Flame Charge to quite literally ‘kill it with fire,’ but though Jasper summoned the essence for the spell, he hesitated to cast it.

  He was fairly certain he’d been transported into Bele?t-Imut’s realm, so the snakes surrounding him, creepy though they were, were probably her…servitors? Pets? He really wasn’t sure what the relationship was, but he didn’t feel like joining the dumb mofo who had killed John Wick’s dog.

  “Uh, Be?let-Imtu? I don’t want to hurt any of your critters, but I am not okay with getting bit.” He let a bit of flame ripple down his fingers as he spoke but held the spell back.

  Silence fell over the jungle path as the angry hissing ceased, and the snakes barring his path slithered into the bushes. That was as far as they went, though, and Jasper was keenly aware of the many eyes watching him as he began again his trek down the narrow trail.

  He passed thousands of snakes as he wound through the trees, waiting at the edge of the path, tongues flickering as he passed. The bright colors and flared necks that many possessed were already enough to make him nervous, but the worst were the ones he had missed at first - brown and grey snakes so massive that he’d mistaken them for boulders and fallen logs.

  It was a relief, therefore, when the claustrophobic trail opened up as it reached the bank of a raging river. Swollen from the spring melt off, the river’s roar drowned out all other sounds from the jungle, and copious amounts of white foam swirling around the many boulders and fallen trunks that littered its bed. Jasper hadn’t realized how high up he was, but judging from the river’s steep descent, the shrine had been nestled in a mountain plateau.

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  There was no path leading down, however, and he reluctantly returned to the narrow path as it headed up the mountain. His uncanny watchers were already waiting for him, and Jasper picked up the pace, eager to find the goddess and wash his hands of the place. Still, the trail followed the raging river for another half-hour before its roar was subsumed by another, more thunderous roar.

  The jungle finally peeled away as Jasper reached one of the largest waterfalls he’d ever seen. No less than seven separate plumes plunged over the sides of the sheer red cliffs that encircled a small lake. The lake was so deep that its water looked almost black, despite its crystal clarity, and was deceptively placid, hiding the perilous currents that swept the water down the mountainside.

  But as beautiful as the site was, Jasper wasn’t there for sightseeing. Spying a second shrine further down the shore, he broke into a jog, glad to finally be rid of the snake-infested jungle. He wasn’t able to maintain the jog long, though, for as he approached the entrance to the shrine a harsh, oppressive feeling filled the air, slowing his steps and filling his heart with fear.

  He stepped through the arching boughs with apprehension and muttered a prayer beneath his breath that this wouldn’t be just another empty shrine.

  The differences were immediately obvious. While the shrine he’d arrived in had been full of nothing but wildflowers and grass, this one was occupied with a pond instead. A pile of broken rocks, looking much like a fallen cairn crested above the waters, and perched on top of them was a woman with familiar bronzed skin and long, dark locks. If he had any doubts that she was the goddess, the long spear and silver shield leaning against the rocks banished them.

  She was also, however, completely nude, and Jasper averted his eyes from her bountiful chest as he approached her. It wasn’t until he got within a few feet of the rocks that he caught sight of the rest of her body.

  Be?let-Imtu had no legs. Instead, her body below the abdomen was that of a snake, with a long sinuous body that was coiled beneath the rays of sunlight drifting down through the open dome above. Jasper couldn’t completely stop the shiver that ran down his spine at the sight, but he plastered a smile on his face as he stepped forward and bowed his head. “Are you Lady Be?let-Imtu?”

  Her scales rasped against the rocks as she slithered into the water. The apprehension he’d felt reached new heights as she swam toward him, with her black eyes fastened on him with the same unnerving stare as the creatures in the jungle. But he resisted the urge to run.

  When she reached the edge of the pond, her long, sinewy tail dissolved and she rose from the waters on a pair of decidedly human legs. She was still as naked as the day she was born, and he desperately focused on her eyes as she approached, finding the inhuman black almost comforting.

  “What do you want me from, my lady? Why did you bring me here?” The fear made it easy for Jasper to keep the irritation out of his voice.

  “I promised you a reward, didn’t I?”

  Jasper’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Yes, if we rescued your statue, but we haven’t left the city. I think we’ll make it but…” he shrugged expressively, “there appears to be a lot of demented Fey in our way, some of whom are apparently of our own making. You didn’t mention that part when you sent us back,” he accused.

  “Are you saying I lied?” There was a dangerous undercurrent to her voice, and Jasper swiftly shook his head.

  “No, not technically. Your words were ambiguous enough that we misunderstood them, but we would have been more careful if we had known our actions could change the past.”

  “I could have been more clear,” the woman agreed, and she smiled vulpishly, “But why would I? You did exactly what I wanted. Tis true that you’ll have a few more enemies to fight on the way out, but not everyone you convinced to run died. Your actions, unknowing though they were, saved a few more of my followers. And for that,” she said, extending her hand to him, “I’m willing to give you your reward a little bit early.”

  Jasper didn’t immediately take the proffered hand but bowed his head respectfully. “I hope, in light of your previous actions, you’ll understand if I ask a few verifying questions. I want to be sure there aren’t any more…misunderstandings.”

  “I would be disappointed if you didn’t.”

  “Is there any downside to accepting the reward now? Will it diminish my reward or have some hidden consequence I’m not aware of?”

  “None,” she responded promptly. “I’m doing this for me. While it’s true you haven’t technically earned it yet, you’re right to fear that there are more battles ahead. I want out of there, Jasper,” she leaned forward with a sudden intensity. “I have been rotting down there for centuries, with naught but the mad and the undead as my company.”

  “And what about my friends?” Jasper asked. “If I accept your offer, will it affect them in any way? I believe you promised them a reward, too.”

  “It won’t - and I’ve made the same offer to them. The wood mage and the little sidhe have already accepted.”

  “And there are no additional requirements to the quest? All we need to do is deliver your statue to a temple?

  “The same as before,” she replied.

  “Which statue?” he pressed, and she rolled her eyes. “The one you were holding.”

  Jasper paused, still hesitant to accept her hand. “Is there anything else we should know? Anything that will prevent us from completing the quest.”

  “There is….” the goddess chose her words carefully. “There is a strong likelihood you will encounter Lord Qaspu?l.”

  “The man whose mind I inhabited?” Jasper asked bluntly, and she nodded.

  “Unfortunately, he fell into madness before he could escape and became the closest thing to a ruler this accursed place has. I have tried to divert his attention, but it will be hard to pass through the fortress without his notice. You will likely have to fight him.”

  “Is it a fight we can win?”

  “Yes,” Bele?t-Imtu responded firmly. “Especially with your reward,” she added, extending her hand toward him. “Now are you satisfied?”

  “Not really, but it will have to do,” he replied as his hand closed around hers.