The Phoinix: Age of Demigods

by S. L. Mancuso

  Chapter 37

  One Advantage

  Thuds from the bows echoed as arrows descended upon Elpis and Eversor. Eversor pulled black powder out of his pocket and blew it at the archers. Breanna and Brian tried to summon the wind to blow the dust back at Eversor, but Elpis swiped her hand and tossed the two into the wall. Before anyone could stop it, the black cloud disintegrated a batch of archers.

  “Like I said, give me the goddess and I will let them live…for now.” Elpis’ evil soul glistened in her eyes, shining through the beauty of her face. She exhibited no remorse for killing those archers. Her revenge against the gods poisoned her thoughts to the point of blatant disregard for human life.

  Anath stepped forward. “What happened to you? You used to be good and pure. You used to help people, not harm them. Elpis, you were born to stop war.” Anath stretched a hand out to Elpis, hoping to appeal to whatever humanity remained in her soul.

  “What happened? Did you honestly ask me that?” Elpis shook with anger as she recoiled from Anath’s hand. “You killed me, Grandmother. You took me from my parents then killed me when I got angry about it! You gods were jealous of my powers: jealous I made a life that you wished you could live. You created this monster,” Elpis pointed to herself, “now you will die at its hands.”

  Elpis clenched her fist and Anath jerked forward, as if grabbed by the front of her shirt. Before Elpis pulled Anath closer, Bre yelled out “Teine” and a blast of fire hurled towards Elpis’ chest.

  Elpis tried to shield herself but the blast slammed her into the rock wall of the valley. Elpis stood with burn marks across her body and the ends of her hair singed.

  “How quickly you forget, Elpis! If I cannot defend against you, you certainly cannot defend against me,” Bre bragged and pushed Anath behind her, shielding the goddess.

  Bre cupped a hand in the air and swirled a finger over her empty palm. Water bubbled from the ground at Elpis’ feet and coiled around her legs. Elpis tried to scramble away but it was too late. The water traveled up her body and rushed into her mouth. She gagged as the stream of water filled her throat, inhaling it into her lungs. The liquid poured out from her nose, continued under her skin, up to her eyes, and then streamed down her cheek from her tear ducts.

  Eversor grabbed another handful of black powder, ready to blow it at Bre’s friends, but Whisper sprinted up and slammed his hoof into the ground, causing a small earthquake. Eversor lost his footing and fell. The powder flew out of his hand and into the gentle wind that streamed through the pass. Bre whipped around at Whisper’s commotion and froze as the black particles swirled over Eversor and Whisper.

  Distracted by Whisper, Bre’s spell on Elpis vanished. Freed from the water, Elpis created a gust of wind that blew the black powder away from Eversor and Whisper before it disintegrated her husband. She then threw an energy ball at Whisper.

  “Noo!” Bre screamed, racing towards Whisper. Suddenly, the purple light of a protection spell wrapped around Whisper. Behind Whisper, Brian lowered his hand and nodded at Bre, knowing Bre’s power could not save Whisper from Elpis.

  In retribution, Bre sent a ball of black light at Eversor but Elpis stepped in front of him. The ball slammed into her stomach. She clutched her chest, gasping for air.

  Eversor, now back on his feet, conjured the same double-headed axe he had the last time he fought Bre.

  “Prepare yourselves, boys!” Brian called out.

  Eversor slammed the axe into the ground, sending a shock wave through the pass. Dust flew into the air, clouding everyone’s vision. The violent quake made several archers fall from their caves and break their necks on impact. The sound of their bodies thumping to the ground churned Bre’s stomach. She prayed she would not find Eoghan’s body amongst the dead.

  When the dust settled, the group faced over a hundred Eversor clones and one extremely angry Elpis.

  “Well that’s not exactly a fair fight. Here we go again.” Brian charged at an Eversor clone, starting the epic battle they were warned about.

  Before Brian reached a clone, a dead eagle fell between them. Dead birds rained into the pass as the men fought. Bre’s shield charms fell; the last barrier between them and the eagles failed to protect the ones Bre loved. They were now vulnerable from the ground and from above.

  Unexpectedly, something weighed heavy in Breanna’s pocket. When she reached inside, the rock she picked up back at camp the night before warmed her hand. Then, a memory replayed in her mind like an alarm going off, reminding her of Arawn’s hint.

  “Earthquake on Delos,” Bre whispered to herself.

  The nightmares that plagued Bre all her life clouded her vision as she held onto the stone. Arawn mentioned Delos as a key word to trigger the memories once Bre had the stone. Finally, the memory of when Elpis found her parents appeared in Bre’s mind. Elpis’ parents lived on Delos.

  Bre gripped the stone tighter and the air cooled around her and Elpis. Small clouds of breath escaped their mouths. Time stopped around them, halting the battle. Bre glimpsed her friends, suspended mid-attack.

  Only one other person remained unfrozen…Elpis. She tried to conjure an energy ball to hurl at Bre but she could not summon her powers.

  “How? The Power is not capable of this while divided,” Elpis said in shock.

  Bre smirked, tasting Elpis’ fear as it dripped down her throat. Bre knew something Elpis did not, something that gave her a dangerous advantage.

  “My mother was not mortal.” the ground shook as Bre’s grip tightened around the onyx stone. “She was the daughter of Death, Queen of the Dead, and Commander of the Earth’s depths.”

  Elpis stumbled backwards, her breath jagged in her chest. “She was a daughter of Arawn.”

  Bre nodded and a crack appeared in between the two women. Arawn’s favorite hellhound, Cnaimh, bounded up next to Bre. The dog slowly circled and growled at Elpis. Smoke poured out of the crack, and suddenly two figures appeared. Elpis gasped.

  Elpis spoke, barely above a whisper, as tears dripped down her face, “Mother? Father?” Elpis fell to her knees and cried at their feet. “You’re demigods, how can you be dead? Who killed you?” Elpis wept.

  “About a decade ago there was an earthquake on Delos. Demigods are only immortal so long as they are not mortally wounded. Hundreds died on Delos from the destruction, your parents among them,” said Bre with an evil smile, the same evil smile her mother had when using her Celtic powers over the dead.

  Elpis’ parents, Tyreneas and Arelia, walked towards their crying daughter, but Bre clenched the rock tighter. Suddenly, Remus and Alina appeared in front of Elpis’ parents and stopped them.

  Bre jerked her hand and yanked the ghosts of Tyreneas and Arelia to her feet. Alina and Remus confronted Elpis. Alina conjured an energy ball to toss at her, but Arelia’s pleas for her daughter’s life stopped Alina’s attack.

  Remus put a hand on Alina, gently pushing her behind him, and stepped closer to Elpis. He drew his sword and raised it high above his head, ignoring the desperate screams of Arelia. As he swung the sword down, Elpis drew the enchanted dagger and caught Remus’ blade. She deflected his attack then dodged his back swing.

  When Elpis regained her balance, she lunged at Remus with the dagger. Unsure if the dagger would hurt her father, Bre summoned Cnaimh to attack. She twirled the rock in her hand and pulled her parents safely behind her.

  Elpis caught the hellhound in the leg with the dagger and he howled in pain. The ground rumbled as Bre’s anger grew. Her anger forced it to respond and widen the crack in the earth.

  When Elpis tried to attack the injured dog, Bre squeezed the rock, and Elpis’ parents shrieked in pain.

  Cnaimh limped back to Alina where she tended to his wounds.

  “Stop! Stop hurting them, please!” Elpis begged.

  “Then remove the binding spell from Anath,” Bre demanded.

  “Never,” Elpis said, disgusted by the thought.

&n
bsp; Bre squeezed the rock tighter. Elpis’ mother hunched over, making gurgling noises, and her father clutched his chest as he coughed up dust.

  “Remove the spell or I promise they will suffer an eternity of this torture. I can make them bleed, I can make them turn to dust, and I can cut them endlessly with poisonous daggers because I own them.” as Bre spoke of the tortures, blood spilled out of Arelia’s mouth and Tyreneas coughed up more dust. Then, gashes appeared all over their bodies with green ooze pouring out from the wounds.

  “I will never remove that spell,” Elpis yelled, but her features softened as tears of pity fell from her blue eyes.

  Grinding her jaw, Bre sighed impatiently. “Give me the dagger. This is your final chance before I send your innocent parents back to the underworld with the tortures you let them carry.”

  Elpis had no other choice; her powers were limited by half and she could not stand seeing her parents tortured. She threw the dagger on the ground and backed away.

  Bre loosened her grip on the stone, healing Tyreneas and Arelia. Bre bent over to grab the dagger, but Elpis was quick and kneed Bre in the ribs. The rock slipped from Bre’s hand as she collapsed to the ground. She rolled over in time to see Cnaimh and her parents’ fade away into white smoke.

  As the battle unfroze, the screeching of eagles and the thuds of bows once again filled their ears.

  Elpis ran over to Bre and kicked her in the face, splitting her lip open. Before Elpis landed a second kick, something caught the late morning sun and blinded her. Around Bre’s neck, shimmering in the sunlight, was Remus’ half of the wolf pendent. Elpis bent down, ripped it off, and tossed it aside.

  Elpis repeatedly kicked Bre in the stomach until she lay face down in the dirt, spitting out blood. When the beatings unexpectedly stopped, Bre struggled to glance upward and see Elpis flash her evil smile. Suddenly, a sharp pain pierced Bre’s back. Bre whimpered but refused to scream.

  Tears filled Bre’s eyes; not because of the familiar pain in her back, but because of what the pain meant. She glanced around the battlefield at everyone she loved, crying because their danger increased tenfold. This time, she was the threat.