to move with true purpose

We stood in awe, enraptured.  It was long thought that the gods had truly forsaken us, had dismissed our doings in favor of some other less troublesome cosmic distraction.  Yet here before us stood a true goddess, glowing with some tranquil inner light, radiating palpable waves of well being.  The opals we had given her were set into a golden necklace, so thick and ornate and beset with jewels that it was a wonder the weight of it didn't cause her to stoop over.  We began to kneel in respect, but she caught our elbows and lifted her chin, indicating that we should stand tall.  The wind blew through the grass, an electric fullness quickened the sky. The world became a child's dream of tomorrow, full of promise.  

"Men and gods are much alike, as much as rain and snow.  Each with a strength and a power that is a blessing to behold.  We stand together here, at this moment, to stamp our hallmark into history.  Your old lives are done, you now shoulder a heavier burden, you the lucky few whose names will never be forgotten.  In time our ultimate goal will become clear, but the beginning of anything is always the continuation of something else, and now is the time to move with true purpose."

The valley was serene.  The air brought scents of honeysuckle and lilac, birds sang from the forest's edge.  We looked at each other, dumbfounded.  We looked back at her, and found our muse.  She smiled warmly and tilted her head slightly, like a bemused mother marveling at the magnificence of her children. 

Chiseled from the very stone of paradise

     Blackened stalks rose from dead earth.  Our footfalls made almost no sound, and indeed, the skeletal forest seemed to eat up all sounds like they were mother's milk.  Our path was illuminated by a thin and feeble light, so that we could barely see more than a few feet in front of us.  After a time, all was dread silence.  Such a cold, lurking, unforgivably un natural and sinister stillness that we all paused in mid step.  Our guide led us on, ever deeper into the wasteland.
     It soon grew warmer, and some life returned.  There was music from far off, though it was impossible to tell what direction it was coming from.  We quickened our pace as the dome of the sky grew brightly blue, our spirits lifting.  At last we came to the lip of a vast and verdant valley.  The wind swept upwards and blew off the cloak of rags that covered our guide, and before us was not an old haggard wretch, but a beautiful and beguiling goddess, chiseled from the very stone of paradise.