WHEN AKSHARA ARRIVED at the temple, she stood at the base of the stairs and looked up. The stairs no longer seemed to go on as endlessly as they once had. She was a young woman now, and definitely not a child, even though some called her one. But she would never again see this temple as a towering behemoth. It was simply proof that people had misinterpreted what their own goddess had wanted. Akshara believed now that the whole hierarchy of priestesses and temple girls was all a lie that persisted so some could hold power over many.
She looked away from the stairs and went to the door. Testing it, she pulled on the handle, and to her surprise it swung open!
She crept inside and looked around at the dismal state of the place. Akshara ran her finger up a pillar, and when she pulled it off,
