And It Was Good

By Brenna Lyons

Raised in the temple by servants and trained daily in sacred technology, the godlings lead a fiercely competitive but pampered lifestyle.

Those who are fast, precise, and aloof are worthy of the GODs' continued attention. Those who fail mysteriously disappear. When an aging GOD-Node must be retired, everything changes.

Thrust into close quarters with members of the opposite sex for the first time in their lives, Julee and Staphan's un-GODlike desires may set them up for failure.

Or maybe it will free them to reap rewards beyond their wildest dreams.

CONTENT ADVISORY: This is a re-release title.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fireborn Publishing
• Release date: Feb 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9781946004420

Brenna Lyons

Brenna Lyons wears many hats, sometimes all on the same day: ex-president of EPIC, author of more than 100 published works, teacher, wife, mother... She's a member of ERWA, IWOFA, Broad Universe, and more than 60 other author groups. She's taken Spinetingler's Book of the Year for 2007, and she's also finaled for multiple times for the EPPIE, PEARL (including one HM, second to Angela Knight), CAPA, and once for a Dream Realm Award. Brenna writes in 25 established worlds plus stand-alone fiction books and stories, poetry, articles, and essays. She's a bestseller in indie/e fantasy and horror, straight genre and cross-genres thereof. Brenna has been termed "one of the most deviant erotic minds in the publishing world...not for the weak." (Rachelle for Fallen Angels Reviews) Milieu-heavy dark work is practically Brenna's calling card, with or without the erotic content. She teaches classes in everything from POV studies to advanced editing, networking to marketing.

Book preview

Fireborn Publishing Copyright Statement

And It Was Good

Copyright © 2013/2014/2015 by Brenna Lyons

eBook ISBN: 978-1-946004-42-0

eBook Publication: January 2017

Cover Artist: Brenna Lyons

Photo Credit: 123rf

Logo copyright © 2014 by Fireborn Publishing and Allison Cassatta

Licensed material is being used for illustrative purposes only. Any person depicted in the licensed material is a model.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED UNDER INTERNATIONAL AND PAN-AMERICAN COPYRIGHT CONVENTIONS: Payment for this title grants the purchaser the right to download and read this file on any/all personal electronic devices personally owned by the purchaser, now or in the future, and to maintain backup copies of the file for the purchaser's personal use. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or electronic storage and retrieval, without permission in writing from the publisher.

The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. File sharing, with or without payment, is an international crime, prosecuted by the United States DoJ, Division of Cyber Crimes, in partnership with Interpol. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is punishable by seizure of computers, up to five years in federal prison, and a fine of $250,000 per offense.

Please remember that authors are paid per legal purchase. We thank you for your support of author’s rights and their earnings. If you spot illegal cut-rate or free copies of this work being passed on peer-to-peer or other pirate sites, even those masquerading as legitimate retailers, please let us know at [e-mail] or via the author’s personal email.

All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is strictly coincidental.

This book is written in US English.

PUBLISHER

Dedication

To my friends who have had the glory of discovering what lies behind the scenes with me. All the world's a play, my friends. We are but the band of players.

Chapter One

GOD-Node 103 looked out at the changes they'd made that day—and it was good.

But Node 60 was aging. More and more conflicts were occurring in the code, conflicts that took time and precious resources to correct for—conflicts that could cause catastrophic loss of human life. Such a thing was inconceivable. Inexcusable. The Node would soon need replaced. It was time to begin the search in earnest.

* * * *

Julee sat at her terminal, clutching her hands in her lap to keep her trembling a secret. All the time the GODs deliberated, separating the worthy young godlings from the unworthy and mediocre based on the results of their latest testing.

So far, each testing cycle had confirmed her as worthy of their continued attention, but what if she wasn't? Would she be cast out of the temple school, a fallen godling among the human inhabitants of the planet?

Would she stay on in the temple, a humble servant to those who had proven themselves worthy? No one knew for certain where the temple servants came from, and it would be terribly rude to ask such a question.

No one knew where the unworthy godlings disappeared to so quickly after being dismissed. Again, it would be rude to ask.

Rude and beneath notice of my kind. So speaks the Benevolent Ones and the Great Book. Godlings have not the concerns of lesser beings. Or those of GODs.

The screen came to life and the message appeared.

Proceed to Masters' Class, most worthy godling. Your cubicle assignment is M-2.

Around her, other worthy got to their feet, and she rushed to join them. Neither of the godlings who'd bordered her terminal moved.

Julee tried to ignore their pallor and the tang of fear in the air. She was still worthy of the GODs' attention, and it would be frowned upon if she concerned herself with the unworthy. That was the concern of the GODs and not her own. It would be presumptuous to think of herself in terms of doing the same things the GODs did.

The classroom was eerily quiet. It was always like this when the young were tested. No one cheered. No one sobbed, worthy or not. Even the unworthy had their pride and discipline.

Julee let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding as she eased through the doors that had opened into the Masters' classroom. Her heart stuttered as they closed behind her. She pasted on a look of disinterest and took the next open terminal in line, bypassing the godlings still taking time to evaluate what was undoubtedly an identical but smaller classroom to the many others they'd seen.

She tested the key function on her terminal, then the logic circuits, and finally the randomizer. Relieved that all were in working order, she glanced around to take a head count of the advancing class. Julee swallowed hard at the truth.

It's a much smaller group, the girl to her left noted. There was a slight quiver in her voice that everyone would pretend not to notice.

I will pretend not to notice. Perhaps the others truly do not; maybe I am unworthy and hiding it.

Julee pushed that thought away and did the mental math on the test results. The group was much smaller. The early testing had only eliminated two to five percent of the group at every cycle. This last had taken a full seventy percent, leaving only a half dozen worthy godlings, three male and three female.

But it wouldn't do to show more than a mild interest in that information. They were unworthy, Julee dismissed the comment.

It was undeniably true. She'd seen many godlings fall from grace in the eight years they'd been actively tested for ascension. The ten before that had been spent in preparation for the testing to prove their worth. If a godling had faulted in taking in the sacred learning to move forward, he or she could blame no one but the unworthy self. So said the Great Book.

A snide male voice brought her head around. Let me guess. You want to be a GOD.

Of course, she replied simply. Doesn't everyone here? It was every godling's fondest wish. Become a GOD and return to the source of all. Leave the temple and ascend on high.

The girl who'd spoken to her shifted as if discomfited, then went rigid. She feigned interest in her terminal, performing the same checks Julee already had. So she did pretend to be unaffected, just as Julee did. That was a relief.

The boy one seat farther left, the one who'd spoken, scowled.

Well, don't you? Julee