Webcomic / Lady of the Shard

"As devout followers of the Radiant One, it's expected that we always do our best to please her.

But, well, people tend to really give it their all when the one they're trying to please lives right down the hall."

A short webcomic by Gigi D.G., author of Cucumber Quest. It was published all at once on May 13, 2016. It can be read here.

The Radiant Goddess, humanity's liberator and bringer of hope, sleeps beyond the stars, prayed to by her many nameless acolytes. One in particular earns the ire of her superiors (and not for the first time, either) by making an offering of pancakes upon the sacred altar... which everyone is surprised to see accepted. Later, while cleaning an important artifact, the Acolyte's feelings for the Goddess - which go far beyond simple devotion - end up accidentally summoning her back into their realm. Ostensibly to see how her subjects have fared during her absence, the Goddess elects to stay, but before long it becomes clear that the Acolyte isn't the only one struggling to hide her feelings.

Unfortunately, the Goddess isn't the only divine being to return. The Old God, who shattered the acolytes' homeworld and was driven out by the Goddess long ago, has a score to settle, and the Acolyte finds herself caught in the middle.

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Lady of the Shard demonstrates examples of:

• Anchored Ship: Initially, at least. The Acolyte thinks it would be arrogant and improper for a mere human to love a divine being like the Goddess, and the Goddess herself is too hurt by her past love to try.
• Body Horror: The Old God's magic turns people into birdlike creatures made of melting hands.
• Bookends: The comic begins and ends with the Acolyte climbing the temple stairs to bring an offering to the Goddess.
• Crapsaccharine World: The Old God's "Paradise". Everything is bubblegum-pink and the acolytes are always happy... because the slightest show of disrespect could get them killed in slow and horrifying ways.
• Deliberately Monochrome: The only color to be found in the comic apart from the grayscale is shades of red, which are only seen in scenes involving the Old God. Gigi did this deliberately, so that readers could interpret the characters in fanart however they pleased.
• Did You Just Romance Cthulhu?: The Goddess and the Old God previously. Of course, it turns out that the Old God still holds a flame for her, and it's not quite unrequited.
• Divine Date: The Acolyte with the Goddess. And, in her life as a human, the Goddess and the Old God.
• Dying Declaration of Love: From the Goddess to the Old God, as she gives her life-force and power up for her.
  The Goddess: I still loved you.
  The Old God: Yeah. Me too.
• Easily Forgiven: The Acolyte forgives the Old God's brainwashing/molestation because the Old God was lonely all along.
• Erotic Dream: The Acolyte has one shortly after her offering is accepted. Complicating matters, though, is that it means the Goddess might also be having one about her. And that one of the elders wants her to tell everyone in detail about her 'vision'...
• Everyone Can See It: People meeting the Acolyte for the first time can pretty quickly tell that she has a crush on the Goddess. On a smaller scale, the Goddess is unable to hide her own feelings from her long-time servants, the Titans.
• False Reassurance: The Goddess starts to apologize to the Old God, but she interrupts, saying that the mistake was hers, and that she's going to take it back. All of it.
• The First Cut Is the Deepest: The emotional fallout from the Goddess and the Old God's relationship is the reason the Goddess refuses to get involved with the Acolyte, believing that it would only cause more pain.
• Foreshadowing:
  • The Goddess' face, contrast to everyone else, is consistently the only one with shading, and many times she's seen with a half white or partially white side. Not even the Old God is able to do this, and for good reason; the Radiant Goddess was originally human. The white on her face can be seen as a visual clue to where her powers actually came from.
  • The flower the Goddess gives back to the Acolyte is functionally everlasting after being blessed by her kiss. The same is true of the Acolyte after the Goddess heals her, when she accidentally puts a shard of her jewel in her forehead.
• Fusion Dance: The Old God gives all of herself to the Goddess at the end, with them together becoming the All-Goddess.
• Geas: The Titans must obey the divine.
• Gods Need Prayer Badly: During the climax, the Goddess is hopelessly outclassed against the Old God, but the prayers of all humanity give her enough power to fight back and win.
• High-Heel Power: The Goddess and Old God both appear wearing high heels.
• Hope Spot: The Acolyte appears to break the curse on the Goddess with The Power of Love, only for the Old God to appear, (seemingly) kill her, and reveal she'd lifted the curse just to trick them both into thinking that was the case. The Goddess more or less describes the trope by name.
• Immortality Inducer: The shard of the Old God that the Goddess was given, and a piece of it that lodges in the Acolyte's forehead makes her immortal as well.
• Intertwined Fingers: During the Old God's brainwashing of the Acolyte, a lingering shot on their hands shows the Old God lacing her fingers with Acolyte's.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: What the Old God decides at the end.
• Knight of Cerebus: The Old God's monster, whose arrival marks the change from slow-paced Will They or Won't They? story to a fantasy story climaxing in a fight between deities.
• Love Confession: The Acolyte gives one to the Goddess when she and the Titans finally reach her after she's been put under the Old God's control.
  "Um. I was trying to build up to that, but I guess I just said it. I love you."
• A Magic Contract Comes with a Kiss: The Phoenix kisses the Acolyte, marking her to receive her spirit in the event of her death.
• Mayfly–December Romance: The Goddess is an immortal being, at least a century old, while the Acolyte is a normal human. She does become immortal by the end of the comic, allowing a happier future for them both. It's also implied that this was part of the Old God's reason for giving the Goddess a shard of her divinity.
• Nameless Narrative: No names are given for anybody. The acolytes have a tradition of not using them; the Phoenix is a title, and we never learn what her name was before she inherited it; at the end of the comic, the Goddess addresses the Old God by name, but it's written as a small cluster of stars, implying that it can't be pronounced or understood by humans anyway.
• Non-Standard Character Design:
  • The Old God's monster is the first thing in the comic that's red instead of white, black, or gray.
  • The emissary from Spring Star, unlike all the other characters, has her skin fully colored in instead of being left as an outline. This foreshadows that she's actually the Old God, not a human.
• Pretend to Be Brainwashed: The acolyte with the Old God, after she breaks from her control.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: The Old God gives one to the Goddess during their fight, reminding her that she's the one who created the world and the Goddess both.
  "You don't have a single thing that I didn't give you."
• Reincarnation: The Goddess's gift to the ruler of Burning Star, the Phoenix, allows them to pass their spirit on to another by marking them with a kiss.
• Sophisticated as Hell: When the Old God starts to unmake the universe, her speech becomes more archaic. Then the Acolyte surprises her by kissing her hand and she snaps back to her previous casual, modern style.
  Old God: Be silent. I give unto you unending rest. A slumber deep and empty. […] Rejoice, God-Acolyte. You may witness the end of creation. […] ...What? What? Stop. What are you doing? […] Why??
• Subordinate Excuse: The Acolyte's devotion to her job tending the temple of the Goddess is mostly an excuse to be nearer to her.
• Sympathy for the Devil: The Acolyte feels genuinely sympathetic for the Old God when she realizes just how lonely she must've been; unusually, this actually gets through to her instead of being brushed off with a Don't You Dare Pity Me! speech.
• Talking the Monster to Death: How the Acolyte eventually defeats the Old God — telling her that she understands that she's lonely, and giving her a kiss.
• Through Her Stomach: The Acolyte's numerous homemade offerings to the Goddess, though at first she doesn't realize herself what she means by it.
• Wham Line: "I already know your name anyway." Coupled with the apparent emissary from Spring Star turning red. Also, the reveal of the Goddess's true nature.
• Your Favorite: What the Acolyte tries to pass her 'meal' of dry toast for the Old God as, after she didn't have to make a proper one; after a tense Beat, the Old God cheerfully says that yes, it actually is.

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