Ashake, an acolyte who has never heard the gods speak to her to tell her of her calling, finds herself becoming bitter as she watches other acolytes around her graduate to become priests. She prays to tell the gods that they have one week to reveal themselves to her. Ashake encounters a circle of griots outside of the main complex of the priests; as they dance and sing around a fire, they tell her a story. They claim that the gods were killed many years ago by humans called the Godkillers. During a party in the Tower, a structure created by the gods in which they intended to have fellowship with humans, a human man slaughtered almost all of them. One of the last gods erupted in anger and killed the man, which caused the Tower to topple and kill thousands in the process.

Ashake goes back into the pavilion of the priests and publicly declares that the gods are dead. She is taken to Iyalawo, the High Priestess. Iyalawo tells Ashake that she is correct and that most of the gods are dead, but not all. When the chief god, the Godfather, was killed, the Godkillers took parts of his power for themselves. The last living gods decided to go into hiding and designate a human being as a Guardian who would be the only one to know their true location. Iyalawo shares that the role of the priests is to convince everyone that the gods are still alive, and by publicly declaring the gods to be dead, Ashake broke the magical shield that protects the priests' complex from the Godkillers. Iyalawo tells her that Ashake is the Guardian, which is why she has not received her priesthood assignment yet. Ashake runs away to the ruins of the Tower and prays to the remaining gods for guidance.