Free Dianthe's Awakening by J.B. Miller

and unfathomable plans, and submit to them with all my heart for love of you, the Pope, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Amen."
    I took a deep breath and broke away from the canned prayers for a minute. "Dear Father, I'm a bit lost here. I'm not pretending to understand everything. Heck, let's face it, I don’t have a clue. God, I feel so alone and lost right now, but I am sharing that burden with you. I have thought about it and man have I thought about it. Doubt has racked my brain so many times. I mean, I have met real gods. Living beings that are actual gods, no joke. I have been told that angels walk amongst us and that there are many deities.
    "To tell you the truth, Lord, it's scary and hard to comprehend. Talk about your crisis of faith here. The one thing that keeps coming back to me is that I've never stopped doubting you." I smiled at this and looked up at the heavens. "I figured, hey if the rest of this craziness is real then you have to be. Thank you, Lord, for giving me this opportunity to experience this world. I just pray you pick me up when I fall. Because let's face it, it's going to happen, a lot.
    "I don’t know how things are going to work out but I have faith and will soldier on." My head bowed again and I closed my eyes while I continued my prayers. With little more than a whisper, I finished.
    "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
    “And to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning,
    “Is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen"
    I turned around and leaned back against the Hawthorn, watching the leaves above sway in the gentle breeze. It was so perfect here. Closing my eyes I let the warmth of the day take me away for a short while. It's true a trouble shared is halved. I had to remember to thank my mother for that bit of information.
    *****
     
    Cernunnos
     
    My form fell away. I could not hold it. There I stood in the grotto in my natural form. No one had seen me this way in millennium. The naked truth of this girl had stripped away all guises that I had.
    On silent feet, I made my way to her side. The strands of my hair whipped around my calves in sentient anxiety. My body was uncomfortable being this exposed. Simply because it had been hidden for so long. I trembled slightly as I knelt next to her by the Hawthorn. Prickly thorns rushed down its trunk to hover menacingly above her.
    "Peace, brother, I mean her no harm. She has undone me," I whispered. The trees branches retreated but I knew they watched. "What have you done to me, Dianthe? You are little more than a human female right now, yet you bring me to my knees."
    I reached out and brushed a strand of silky hair from her face. Emotions I did not even know existed swirled into being. I was Cernunnos, a god, the green man. People had worshipped me for centuries as a god of life, fertility, and growth. Love and tender emotions were a foreign concept to me.
    As I looked down at this innocent creature sleeping so very peacefully before me, I could not resist the urge to taste her sweetness just once. She had entranced me. The final piece of her unknowing trap settled into place while I watched her pray to her god. Her strength, faith, and courage stripped away millennia of hardened armor and reduced me to my base self.
    "Dianthe," I murmured. "Wake up, beautiful girl, open your eyes for me so you may see me as I see you." I watched her nose wrinkle at being disturbed. Confusion crossed her face when I put my hand to her cheek turning her face to mine. Then those golden orbs opened and I saw my destiny.
    "Cernunnos?" she asked me questioningly.
    "Yes," I replied then lowered my lips to hers. Before the universe exploded around us, I understood. I would never let her go, no matter what.
    *****
     
    Dia
     
    I was dreaming, that was the only explanation I had. The Hawthorn was still above me but Cernunnos was beside me. It was him but not him hence the, it must be a dream scenario. He looked like what I would expect an angel to