While Zeus wandered toward the chamber’s exit to investigate the source of the noises, Katie propped herself up to a sitting position. She was unable to take her eyes off of Edward. Tears streamed down his cheeks like tiny rivers. The expression on his face was one of happiness unlike any she’d ever seen since she met him.
“It worked,” he stated simply, his breath hitching in uneven gasps. “I was so afraid that I would lose you.” Edward reached out and caressed her cheek with the back of his fingers, his hand trembling, a gesture which suggested that the young woman was more than just a friend to him.
Katie tried to speak, but her voice cracked so much that her words never managed to pass her lips. She swallowed several times, attempting to moisten her parched throat. Gently placing her palms on his cheeks, she wiped his tears away with her fingertips. “Please don’t cry, Edward. I never doubted for a moment that you’d come through for me, and I can’t help but love you for the devotion you’ve shown.”
For a few seconds, Edward was speechless. Although he certainly wasn’t oblivious to the way his connection with her had evolved over time, he hadn’t expected her to use the “L” word. Even if its use was innocuous and spoken in a manner that could also construe the fact she considered him family. Still, it made him think really hard about what his true feelings for her were. At times, things had been messy between them. Some of the arguments they’d had in the past would have easily ended a normal relationship, but theirs had persevered. Most days he felt like a father figure to her, others he teetered on the precipice of romantic involvement. The current situation felt overwhelmingly like the latter.
Katie leaned forward and pressed her trembling lips to his. “Say something, please,” she begged.
“I love you,” he finally admitted, whispering in her ear the words he’d tried for so long to keep bottled up inside of him.
Chapter 23
Zeus stepped through the archway and onto the stairs. The dim light provided by the scattered weapons of his would-be assassins gave no indication of what was heading his way. The sounds he’d heard from the audience chamber were magnified in the stairwell, but they still seemed somewhat distant. From the room he had just left, he could barely make out the conversation between the wizard and the young woman he’d recently restored to her youth. There didn’t appear to be any reason for concern with them, so he kept the majority of his focus on the potential threat which loomed ahead in the darkness.
Knowing that there was only one way to discover the nature of his unseen enemy, he tilted his head to gaze into the black oblivion above him. Zeus wasn’t sure if he was strong enough to do what needed doing, but it was the only real option he had if he wanted to gain the upper hand. Being away from the window-like apertures of the audience chamber would make the task more difficult, though not impossible. In his still weakened state, there was a chance his efforts would meet with failure. He closed his eyelids and concentrated, exhaling slowly as he focused his intent. Zeus raised his arms above his head, summoning as much energy as he could muster, then released a burst of electricity toward the pinnacle of the tower.
A split second later, the bolt of lightning slammed into the reflective sphere positioned at the top of the spire like a bell in a church tower. Tendrils of intensely bright light arced from the object like the tentacles of a kraken. The result was astounding. Even the darkest recesses of the structure were illuminated. Zeus collapsed to his knees after the expulsion of energy. Between creating the portal for the wizard, removing the curse from his female counterpart, and lighting up the tower, he had precious little fortitude left. He had erroneously thought that the shaman had completely healed him, but it seemed pretty obvious now that a vital part of his essence was not fully functional. Only two possibilities for his lack of power appeared to be feasible. Either the shaman was too weak to perform the task that Asclepius would hardly bat an eye to accomplish, or close to every last one of his followers were dead. Zeus was tempted to return to his chamber to ask the red-haired man to try again.
Exhaling loudly, he lowered his gaze to see if he had time to weigh other alternatives. What he saw climbing the stairs filled him with dread. The blood drenched beings he laid eyes on looked as if they had no business walking, especially since there were at least a couple of them that didn’t even have legs! Instead, they dragged themselves along with their fingertips, using them like claws to pull themselves forward. Even though their movements were slow and deliberate, Zeus figured they would reach the audience chamber in no time at all. The prospect of thwarting the invasion was disappearing … fast! Quickly, he spun around and headed back to the throne room. As he did, the disparaging wail of a male voice rang out.
“No! Get away from her!”
***
As Edward stared longingly into the deep brown eyes of the woman he’d grown to love, the feeling that he was not alone washed over him. The sensation was similar to what he’d felt back in the abandoned inn below Cemetery Hill, the same despondency he had awoken from to find himself covered in blood with pieces of his friend Jack strewn about him. He tried to blink back the blur of tears, but everything went black. Edward was still aware, however. The nerve endings in his fingertips continued to relay information to his brain, even if he no longer had control over their movements. As he struggled to regain possession of his faculties, an eerie male voice intruded in his mind.
“There is no use fighting me,” George stated with a gleeful chuckle. “I own your ass now. Your pathetic emotional attachment to this girl was your undoing. You left yourself wide open and vulnerable, making it incredibly easy for me to take over your body.”
“You son of a—”
“Now, now. There’s no point in name calling,” George interrupted the wizard’s feeble attempt to interject his opinion. “Just sit back and enjoy the ride,” he taunted.
“What do you want with me?”
“Funny you should ask that. Honestly, I’m tempted to give a tiny sliver of control back to you, if for no other reason than to torment you by allowing you to see what I’m about to do.”
Across the room, where Zeus had lain a short time ago, Brian appeared to be regaining his wits. The broken limbs of his body didn’t give him the opportunity to interfere with what was transpiring, but his shamanic senses were on high alert. Something bad was unfolding, and in all likelihood he wasn’t strong enough to do anything about it. He took a quick glance around the chamber, hoping that Zeus was nearby and able to help him stop whatever was about to happen. The god was nowhere to be seen, but in his scan of the room he discovered an object that gave him a clue to who he was battling with. Several feet away from his crumpled form, a swirling golden portal stood. Suddenly, Brian had the sinking feeling that the sphere wasn’t intended to bring help.
Edward’s vision began to return, although the perception of depth seemed slightly off. It was similar to having an out-of-body experience, like he was drifting through the air above the scene. When he saw his hands reaching toward Katie, he almost wished he could close his eyelids. The monster inside of him wouldn’t allow that, so he struggled in futility to regain control of his actions. He wanted more than anything to be able to vocalize a warning to Katie, who appeared to be oblivious to the danger she was in until it was too late. His outstretched fingers brushed her cheeks and she closed her eyes in the euphoria of his touch. After which, Edward was forced to watch his hands betray him. His gentle caress moved from her face, slowly descending to her neck. Once there, the situation devolved rapidly. Unable to stop it from happening, his fingers tightened around her throat.
Katie’s eyelids shot open. Her lips formed a shocked “O” and twitched like a gasping fish. Her bulging eyes pleaded with Edward to stop as her face first turned red, then blue, then purple. She struggled to cry out for help, but the thumbs pressing firmly against her voice box prevented any sound from escaping her mouth. She heard Brian shouting for an instant, right before her vision went black.
&
nbsp; George watched the young woman’s head loll to the side as she lost consciousness. He did not, however, relinquish his grip. He continued to choke Katie for another minute or so, until he could no longer feel her pulse throbbing beneath his fingers. Once he was certain that she was dead, he let go and laughed triumphantly as she slumped to the floor. For just a moment, he wished that he could keep her head as a trophy. Time was far too short, though. The shaman’s voice snapped him back to reality as he shoved Edward’s essence to the background and reclaimed complete control of the wizard.
It was exceedingly obvious that Brian knew exactly what had just happened. George wasn’t certain how effective the broken man would be if an attempt was made to expel him from the sorcerer’s body, but he wasn’t about to stick around to find out. The shaman had already begun chanting something in a foreign language, although the pained expression on his face might have been interfering with his success. George seized the brief window of opportunity, rising to his feet and sprinting toward the swirling golden portal. Seconds before he reached the sphere, Zeus had apparently come back into the room.
Upon his entry, the god immediately looked for the shaman. “What was all of the commotion about?” he inquired as he approached the kneeling, red-haired man. His shaggy eyebrows furrowed when he saw the glazed-over hue of Brian’s eyes. The man seemed to be possessed by a supernatural force, but his lack of hostility appeared to suggest something else was going on. Zeus attempted to focus on the words coming out of the shaman’s mouth, instead. As he tried to decipher the chant, the god noticed movement as another figure came into view. The wizard must have been previously hidden from sight by one of the massive pillars throughout the chamber.
“Edward, stop!” Zeus commanded. The wizard continued to run, ignoring the god. “Where are you going? I could use your assistance in the stairway. I’m too weak to fend off the monstrosities that are headed this way.” The truth behind his last statement wasn’t something he relished admitting. Even though the shaman had healed his wounds enough to allow him to resume a portion of his former abilities, without a considerable bolstering of the number of his followers he would be reduced in strength. As it stood now, that seemed like an impossible thing to hope for. The way he felt at the moment, it wouldn’t surprise him to find out that all of his once faithful subjects had perished.
A brilliant flash of light pervaded the chamber. Zeus cursed under his breath for failing to realize why Edward had been running away from battle, even though he could never have foreseen the action. After all, wasn’t it the shaman who’d requested the portal? Why would the wizard enter it? What motivation did he have for leaving? Zeus had assumed that the shaman merely wanted to go home after the battle was won, or to escape death if the fight was not winnable. At the time of his being healed, Zeus thought he owed the man that much. As a fail-safe, he’d created the portal in such a manner that it would collapse as soon as Brian entered, so if enemies had overrun the chamber they wouldn’t be able to follow him back to Earth. He regretted that decision now. He was too weak to open another portal, so the shaman was stuck here.
With great sadness in his heart, Zeus glanced down at Brian. The chanting had stopped. The skinny, red-haired man had apparently expended what little energy he had because he now lay in a crumpled heap upon the stone floor. It appeared that he couldn’t even muster the strength to lift his head. The groans and hisses of the approaching abominations was growing louder. If Zeus was right, they probably only had about five or ten minutes to regroup. Somehow, he doubted it would be sufficient time for the shaman.
Chapter 24
She couldn’t believe that she’d escaped, but before her the soft bending of tall grass in the midday sun was a welcomed and familiar sight. In the distance, farm animals called for the attention of their masters. A well worn path stretched into the expansive field from where she stood. For a few minutes, all she could do was close her eyes and breathe deeply. The air of her homeland smelled sweet in comparison to the stench of the world she’d just come from. It was an amazing feat that brought her here. How she had outflanked the ravenous swarm of living corpses she had no clue. She had hoped some of her friends would have made it back to Greece as well, but so far no one else had come through the portal. She was alone.
Although Diana knew what her mission was, she didn’t have the first idea of where to start searching for Asclepius. She had never heard anyone speak of the god having a temple nearby, even though it was almost a certainty that there was at least one such building erected in his honor. The trick was finding it … before her own deity suffered a mortal death. She had a vague inkling of what he looked like, if the marble statue in Zeus’ audience chamber was close to accurate. According to the stone effigy, the god sported curly hair and a beard. Diana recalled that there had been a staff of sorts in one of his hands, entwined with serpents if her memory served. Although, she wasn’t sure of his height. Stone representations of the gods were often cast to appear larger than life. For all she knew, the god could be as vertically challenged as a dwarf.
A discouraged sigh passed through her lips. As Diana gazed across her surroundings the insurmountable odds of the task ahead weighed heavily on her mind. It might not have been so bad if others had made the journey as well. Instead, she felt as if the fate of an entire world rested on her demure shoulders. The mission was too big for one lowly woman. Diana closed her eyes for a moment as the pressure mounted and her head began to throb.
With nobody in sight, she decided to walk down the trail. There should have been at least a few children playing in the field at this time of day. It was a peculiar feeling to witness such an absence of life. The town of Syri was small by Athens standards, but it wasn’t as if there were only a few people who lived here. It was true, many of the villagers were followers of Zeus and had stepped through the portal to Desolace with her. At most, however, less than half of the white-robed men and women who’d made the journey were from this city or those nearby. A considerable number of Zeus’ faithful came from outlying areas which rarely had contact with the citizens of Syri. Had the entrance to the swirling portal moved to a different location, dropping her into an uninhabited wilderness that only bore similarities to her home town? The possibility was disheartening.
When Diana reached the opposite end of the field without encountering even a single soul, she continued along the path which led into the forest. If this was indeed Syri, the trail should terminate in roughly fifteen minutes. The trees would thin out and houses would dot the landscape. There was already a hint of the salty sea in the air, which was an encouraging sign. By the time she exited the tree line she should hear the crash of waves on the shore, if this was actually Syri.
Diana was lost in her thoughts and nearly ran into a man who was traveling in the opposite direction on the path. It was as if he had appeared out of nowhere. The gentleman wasn’t familiar to her and looked like he might have been a homeless person or beggar, wandering aimlessly around in hopes of finding someone to ask for food or a bit of coin. The dirty shroud that was wrapped around him like a poor man’s cloak hid most of his features. The cowl over his head kept his face in shadows, although Diana could see that he had a modest beard. He carried a walking stick and moved like a decrepit old man, even though the coloration of his facial hair suggested he shouldn’t be that advanced in age.
Lowering her head, she softly apologized and sidestepped out of his way. As the man started walking again, she noticed the intricacies of the walking stick he used. At first glance, she’d missed the carvings which twined around it, likely due to the fact she hadn’t expected to see anything like it being carried by someone so disheveled in appearance. The meticulously sculpted patterns formed a design that resembled several snake-like figures, wrapped around the thick wooden shaft. Was this man Asclepius? If so, was it blind luck that had crossed their paths, or was a higher power at work?
“Excuse me, sir,” she said, clearing her throat before he’d gone
more than a few feet past her. He stopped, craning his neck to gaze back in her direction. “You wouldn’t by chance be Asclepius, would you?”
Although he tried to hide it within his hood, an expression of concern appeared on his face. Apparently the woman had seen through his disguise. “I am, but I would ask that you please lower your voice,” he instructed, placing his index finger over his lips.
Diana had trouble containing her excitement. She rushed over to stand beside him and leaned in close to whisper in his ear. “I’m so glad I found you. I wasn’t sure that I ever would.”
“You were searching for me?”
“Yes, Zeus sent me,” she replied, as if the god would understand the cryptic meaning behind her words.
“It seems strange that he would send one person to locate me. The world is a big place. I would think that under normal circumstances it would be a huge undertaking for one individual.”
“Well, it wasn’t supposed to be this way. Originally, there were hundreds of us.” Asclepius seemed confused by her remark, but held his tongue and allowed her to continue. “Unfortunately, I believe I was the only one who was able to escape the battle, although I hope I’m wrong.”
“I haven’t spoken to Zeus in ages,” Asclepius confessed. “Until recently, I have been in hiding. For quite some time now, Ares and his minions have been hunting for me. I didn’t know why, but it seemed prudent to stay out of sight.”
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