It started, as most divine catastrophes do, with boredom and a granola bar.
Jayden Cole sat cross-legged on his unmade bed, the dull light from his screen painting his face in a tired blue hue. Outside, the rain played lazy jazz against his window. Inside, nothing played at all. No music. No purpose. Just another Tuesday evening stretched long and thin like a worn-out hoodie.
He glanced down at the half-eaten granola bar in his hand. Chewy. Slightly stale. Mostly regrettable. And in the cluttered chaos of his desk—candles, textbooks, receipts, and a statue of a dancing raccoon he got as a gag gift—he saw it.
The book.
Not his book. Definitely not something he remembered buying. A slim, ancient-looking tome, wedged between his laptop and a bag of sour gummy worms.
Whispers to the Moon: Forgotten Gods and How to Get Their Attention
"Where the hell…?" he muttered, picking it up. The leather felt strangely warm. The pages smelled like old paper and honeysuckle. He flipped through lazily, mostly for laughs.
Velathria – Goddess of Forgotten Madness and Moonlight.
Once revered by dreamwalkers and poets. Last known worshipped in 1627.
Weakness: Praise. Offerings. Oats.
"Oats?" Jayden raised an eyebrow. Then, with the flair of someone who just found an excuse to avoid responsibility, he lit the stub of a tealight candle and held up his granola bar like it was the Ark of the Covenant.
"Oh mighty Velathria," he intoned, putting on a faux-British accent, "I, humble mortal and occasional snacker, offer thee this sacred relic of the Honey Nut Oat Clan. Take it, and may your madness never go stale."
He giggled.
The flame flickered.
The air tightened. He blinked.
And then—BOOM.
Not an explosion. Not even a sound. Just—a pop of reality folding in on itself. The candle sputtered out. His phone screen went black. The rain outside stopped mid-drop.
He froze. His breath caught in his throat.
And then—she arrived.
Like a fever dream sketched in moonlight, she materialized in the middle of his room. Barefoot. Eyes bright like stars caught in a blender. Her hair flowed like ink underwater, defying gravity, time, and common sense. She wore robes that shimmered between colors his brain refused to name.
She was beautiful in the way a collapsing star is beautiful: awe-inspiring, dangerous, impossible to ignore.
And she was smiling.
"OH MY STARS," she shouted, arms thrown wide. "A WORSHIPPER!"
Jayden screamed. A high-pitched, deeply unmanly squeak of disbelief.
"You called for Velathria, and I—have—ARRIVED!"
She did a little spin. Glitter rained from nowhere.
He backed into his headboard. "Okay. Okay. This is a dream. Obviously. I fell asleep watching weird documentaries again."
Velathria crouched beside him instantly, her eyes wide with delight. "You offered me something. That hasn't happened in centuries. I thought I was extinct!"
She snatched the granola bar from his hand with reverence, examining it like it was a holy scroll.
"Oats. Honey. Traces of despair. Delicious."
Jayden stared. "You're not real."
She turned and blinked. "I'm standing in your room."
"Hallucination," he insisted.
She poked his forehead. A sharp zap of static shocked him so hard he yelped.
"Still think that?"
He rubbed his head, stunned. Truthfully, the only thing still keeping him sane was that this supposed goddess was quite the beauty. "Okay… let's say, hypothetically, that you're real. Why are you here?"
Velathria grinned so wide it nearly split her face. "Because you summoned me, silly little mortal. And now…" She stood tall, arms wide, spinning once more. "I am bound to you until your devotion is fulfilled."
Jayden blinked. "My what now?"
"I have to reward you," she said matter-of-factly. "You're my first worshipper since 1627. It's in the ancient divine contract. One blessing, one divine favor, one moonbeam miracle. Or three! Depending on the sincerity of your snack."
She looked at the granola bar again.
"Four," she said, nodding. "Definitely four."
Jayden could only stare as she began rearranging his books into a spiral sigil and turned his lava lamp into a floating orb of moonlight.
He had summoned a goddess.
And she was moving in.
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