Cover art by Jason Pedersen

In Legends of Windemere: The Merchant of Nevra Coil, we get a better idea of what makes Yola Biggs the Chaos Goddess tick.  She sure caused a lot of trouble in this volume, which came close to throwing the entire prophecy out of whack.  This excerpt is a perfect example of how crazy and dangerous she can be.

The clouds to Yola’s left swirl and transform into another goddess who creates a dress that resembles a tornado with two tails. The woman’s red and silver hair is repeatedly yanked by the violent clothing, so she strips naked and tosses the storm at a nearby island. The weather rips along the rocky coast and carves the detailed picture of a monkey into the solid earth. Feeling exposed, the stranger reaches out to Yola and yanks a copy of the other woman’s skin off. With a happy coo, the orange-eyed goddess slips into the new covering and admires herself in a gigantic mirror that rises out of the ocean.

“It isn’t my favorite color scheme, but I can change it later,” the woman says while spinning her head. The stolen skin melts into a simple dress of white with sapphire skull trimming around the neck and hem. “This is definitely later. Now hand over your title and powers. I’ve defeated you.”

“Did I put up a fight?”

“No, you died crying.”

“That’s a shame.”

“You weren’t a worthy opponent.”

“Are you sure because I always thought I was?” Yola asks as her green hair grows and thickens. The whip-like tresses smack their owner in the face with enough force to knock her head off, but she swiftly catches and reattaches the body part. “Thank you, Matilda. Who are you, my old and powerful rival? I don’t think we’ve met before.”

“I’m Aeriel the Goddess of Insanity!” the woman declares with a mad cackle. She stops when her enemy yawns and tries to walk away. “Get back here! I’ve waited centuries for a chance to drag you back to Ambervale. The others kept stopping me, but Gabriel gave me permission this time. Well, he said he’d love to see me try to capture you then he got called away before he could tell me to behave. So come with me.”

Yola floats around the other goddess and stretches her neck to get a closer look. Aeriel grows sharp fangs and tries to take a bite out of the extended flesh, but her incisors shatter on the stone-like skin. Reaching into her mouth, she pulls out a fresh set of teeth and reattaches them while Yola retracts her neck. Once the other deity is done, the Chaos Goddess goes back to her circling until Aeriel tears herself in half. With excited giggles and a torrent of curses, the two parts bounce into the clouds in the hope of being chased. Instead, Yola continues on her way to Shayd while whistling an ancient funeral dirge.

“Dammit, you idiot! Fight me!” Aeriel roars as she reappears in front of her enemy. “I want your title, so fight me or gimme!”

“Who are you again?”

“I’m Aeriel the Goddess of Insanity!”

“You said that already.”

“Oh, sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry about it. Nice to meet you.”

“Happy to finally meet you too,” the younger goddess says, shaking her rival’s hand. A third hand appears from Aeriel’s wrist and snatches the Trinity figurine. “Surrender to me or I kill your friend. It won’t take long to . . . why is she so small and shiny? Did you know your friend doesn’t have an aura? Anyway, give me your title and I’ll spare this mortal.”

“That’s only a doll,” Yola replies, scratching her head with arms that grow out of her lower back. “I misplaced my friend and I should get her back. She’d be lost without me because she has trouble focusing on her tasks. A real flighty girl, but she’s very sweet.”

A cruel smile plays across the Insanity Goddess’s lips and a fiery oven sprouts from her chest. “I took her from you. See? I’ll burn her alive if you don’t do as I say.”

“You monster. How dare you threaten an innocent toy in my presence? I, Yola Biggs the protector of . . . stuff, will rescue my . . . thing from you.”

Aeriel turns into a swarm of mosquitos as Yola’s spear-like arms pass through her. The insects buzz around the Chaos Goddess’s head until her mouth becomes a vacuum that sucks all of them into her throat. An arm erupts from her right ear as the Insanity Goddess escapes and coils around her enemy like a hungry serpent. Yola melts into a floating puddle of butter that makes her enemy trip and fall into a nearby thunderstorm. Aeriel returns with crackling lightning stuck in her nose, which she sneezes at her rival. With a scream, the puddle evaporates into a yellow vapor that distracts the wild-haired deity long enough for her to get tackled from behind. The pair become a whirlwind of movement as they wrestle, each one trying to punch and kick the other in the knee. Yola grows a glass needle out of her palm and jabs Aeriel in the back of the skull, but the Insanity Goddess strikes with her own syringe to her enemy’s forehead. Screeching sparks fly from their eyes and a cocoon of emerald aura forms around the battling women. They struggle to separate themselves, but the energy gets tight enough to cause their bodies to begin merging into one.

“Not good,” the goddesses mutter before they plummet toward the ocean below.

They hit the water with frightening force, the impact sending a tsunami across the seas. Four small islands are wiped out by the waves and every ship within fifty miles is decimated. The goddesses plunge to the bottom of the ocean, trapped within their incredible power and too angry to untangle themselves. All that is left of the battle is a shining, half-melted figurine of Trinity that floats upon the calm water.

See what trouble Yola Biggs will get into in Legends of Windemere: The Merchant of Nevra Coil!