“What do you think it is that she wants?” Muerta queries me, turning from the other council members as though disgusted by the entire conversation.
“I believe it would have something to do with Zeus. I remember Pandora’s case; it was right before I fell from The Higher Plains. She wanted to be on the Aetherial Court…” I answer. Yama lets out a small laugh.
“That’s rich. She’s not even a pure Goddess. She was a Nephilim, a Kindred, wasn’t she?” he asks, causing Anubis to scowl.
“Might I remind you that not everyone on this council is a pure God or Goddess either,” she snaps, and Yama turns to her, face as inexpressive as ever.
“You, Anubis, were a Queen of Ancient. You also aided Cronus in ending your very own god for the wellbeing of the Higher and Lower Plains alike. Even as a blessed mortal, you sacrificed for the greater good. You cannot begin to believe that you and Pandora are even close to being the same,” he retorts.
Anubis remains silent, pursing her plump lips together. I’m sure she’s wondering whether to be flattered by Yama’s acknowledgement of her duties to Gaia or pissed that he’s prejudiced against her origins as a mortal princess.
“Yes, well, regardless of all that, do you think Haedes would strike some sort of a deal to save his daughter’s life?” Osiris asks me, and I shrug.
“I have no idea, but I think the music has stopped playing. I’m going to look inside,” I announce, taking steps across the length of the hall and opening the heavy door ajar. I peek inside, a crack of light from the hall falling onto the smoky quartz of the floor. Here, I find Haedes standing in the middle of the room, ghostly pale and alone. His hair is deep cobalt, making his skin seem almost translucent as I pull the door fully open and hurry across the room to him. My steps echo out into the silence, eerie, and as I reach him, I place my hands on his shoulders.
He looks completely out of it, pupils glazed, mouth slack.
“Haedes… what happened?” I demand. His eyes move from glassy to cloudy fast, and The Furies follow in through the open door behind us, scouring the room and finding nothing else but two piles of slightly disturbed ashes.
He looks over to them, calling out in a hollow voice, “She’s gone. You don’t have to worry.”
“What happened?!” I exclaim, shaking him.
“She wanted Mortaria in exchange for Sephy’s life,” his voice is cold, distant, and his body is stiff in posture.
“What… what did you do?” I ask him as the other council members follow in wake of the sound that the room is clear of danger.
“What do you think I did? I told her no.” He turns away from me.
I watch his figure slump, losing its resolve as all suave swagger and rhythmic feeling dissipates. I haven’t seen him this way in years… not since, well… not since Demi Sinclair died.
“So, you just… you just handed her to them? You sentenced her to death?” I ask him, realising immediately that this is the worst thing I could have said.
Haedes’ hair morphs scarlet in a flash, his eyes burning orange as he turns on me with a feral and distraught expression, the first recognisable emotion of his I’ve seen since entering the room.
“Yes, Luce! I fucking handed her a death sentence alright! What the hell was I supposed to do? Doom the universe for her? This is why I didn’t want to know her, and YOU insisted I get involved. This is your fault!” he explodes at me, and Anubis comes between us.
“Haedes stop! What did she want?” she asks, and Haedes exhales, trying to tame his temper.
“She wanted me to give her Mortaria.” Anubis’ eyebrows rise on her forehead, but before she can make comment, Haedes snarls. “Don’t worry; I told her no. Sacrificed my own daughter for the universe. Are you all happy now? Am I grown up enough for you?” he spits, turning on us collectively.
“So… she’s going to die?” Osiris asks, finding his backbone at last. He, as usual, has remained pretty silent during this entire event.
“Yes. Well done, Osiris. She’s going to die. None of us can get there in time without risking being killed, putting Mortaria at even greater risk. I can’t convect because they’ve already got her surrounded, and I can only convect one person with me at a time. Besides, if anything happens to me, as you’ve all already pointed out, the sinners will no longer be able to resurrect, and the universe will go to shit. No one person is worth the risk, yada, yada, yada. It’s all utterly hopeless.” Haedes throws his hands up in the air, and I take a small step forward.
“Not utterly hopeless,” I interject, and Haedes raises his gaze to me from the floor where it’s fallen.
“What did you do, Luce?” He implores me to deliver an answer, and I take a deep breath, calming myself and trying to remain level headed.
“Xion is currently speeding towards The Fallen Kingdom in your car. And Thane is on her way over there too. They both have potions that will help Sephy fully bond with her goddess half at an accelerated rate. I brewed it myself this afternoon with the help of The Fates,” I explain; Yama’s expression turns troubled.
“You brewed a potion that powerful? Are you sure that’s wise, Lucifer?” he asks, and I scowl.
“It’s only this once. It is an emergency after all,” I retort, and Haedes looks between me and the rest of the Nexus.
“Thanks, Luce. I don’t know if she’ll make it out of this alive, but you did more than I’ve been able to. You gave her a chance at least.” Haedes looks miserable, and I know he must be wondering exactly how he could have gotten around making the decision he’s come to.
The answer, I feel, is that he couldn’t. Every single option, including having him go in to collect her, is too risky, especially now that we know Pandora has full access to the entire Nexus Council and Mortaria with that box of hers.
Without Haedes, we have nothing in the form of real firepower, and Pandora full on knows that. If Haedes dies, The Resurrection Flame goes out, the sun goes out, and our entire army of sinners will be reduced to nothing more than inanimate corpses littering the ground.
I wonder momentarily if Zeus thought about what he was doing when he sentenced Haedes, Yama and Muerta to join Anubis and Osiris in mortal bodies, more powerful than any demi-god to be sure, but also a risk in security to The Higher Plains. I had been banished not long after, and Thane had made her choice to be here too, but we’re vulnerable, all of us, especially now.
A shudder runs through me as we stand in a circle, the six of us staring between one another with grim expressions. We’ve been through a lot, fighting, wars, capture, but it’s never been like this. We’ve never just been waiting to hear about the death of one close to us. I mean, even when Haedes had lost Sephy’s mother, it had been sudden, unexpected, tragic.
With every moment that passes, I’m suddenly conscious of the fleetingness that constitutes each and every one. Each beat of my heart within my chest, each opening and closing of my eyelids and each breath that escapes from my lips.
We stand in silence for a few moments, letting the severity of the situation fall over us like a cold wet blanket, and watch Haedes like he’s a bomb that may go off at any moment.
He turns to me, a sudden look of outrage on his face. I wonder what it is he’s going to say, what blame he’ll put on me now.
His eyes narrow, and his eyebrows rise on his forehead as he cocks his hip, troubled in expression to say the least.
“Wait a minute… what do you mean Xion took my car?”
XION
I honk the horn, startling the many horses that litter the roads attached to carriages. I know it’s cruel, but I really don’t care at the moment; I’m trying to get to her, my only thoughts consumed by reaching her, saving her, protecting her. I need to do my duty. I am nothing without it, merely a monster with a pretty face.
I let out a final long blare of the horn and rev the engine again, this time, giving it everything I’ve got. The drivers finally get the message, so part, veering from their courses and dividing themsel
ves so there is a clear way down the main street which runs through the heart of the dark city.
Wasting no time, I put my foot down, feeling as the turbo kicks in, and I’m pushed into the black leather of the seat. I race down the street, watching the cityscape turn to fields of gold and then to ash, scattered flat plains which expand out in endless grey.
I’ve been all over Mortaria today, and the journey back here has been quicker than the journey into the city by half. My heart is hammering in my chest, more aware now of time than I ever have been in my life, especially as I have spent most of it in a place where time has little or no effect.
Finally, reaching the place from where it seems like I’ve only just come, I pull up to The Icon. I open the car door where sinners are already approaching to open the door for me; undoubtedly thinking I’m Haedes.
As I emerge, my leather jacket billowing out behind me as a gust of cool wind catches me by surprise, I walk toward the two sinners closest to me. One of them has a garnet pendant, for rage, and the other a clear quartz pendant, for pride.
“I need weapons.” I growl, balling my fists at my sides. I widen my stance, not wishing to get into an argument.
“What’s your authorisation?” The pride sinner asks me, scrutinising my form with wide blue eyes.
I sigh, this guy must be new.
I feel my urgency growing, let the rage within my demon soul burn bright, and let my true face show. Their eyes widen, and without another word, they turn, leading me into The Icon. This time, though, we don’t ascend to the height of the pyramid. Instead, we descend into its bowels towards the armoury.
I hear the clang of hammers on molten metal and anvils long before I see them. As we enter the space where wrath sinners pound the hardest substances into weapons of mass slaughter. I feel a wave of comfort from the familiar surroundings, from the smell of hot coals and hydraulically cooled steel. I know this, this world of desperate pain, heat and the forge; this is the place where I was made strong, where I myself was forged into a being of unwavering self-restraint. Or, I was…until her.
Moving quickly over to the far wall, I take up a handful of swords. Long swords, broad swords and light needle-esque swords clatter to the ground as I haphazardly destroy the display of freshly moulded weaponry, not caring for order, just caring for efficiency.
“What do you need all this for anyway?” The wrath sinner demands, curious.
“I’m heading out to The Fallen Kingdom. Crossing The Ashen Waste,” I explain, and the pride sinner snorts.
“Not bloody likely, mate; they’ve doubled in number in the last hour alone. It’s a massacre out there!” he exclaims, and I shrug, feeling the weight of hard and heavy steel in my hands, comforting me.
“It doesn’t matter. I’ve got to go,” I mutter, pushing past them.
“There’s a woman isn’t there?” The pride sinner calls after me, but I don’t wait to respond nor feel inclined to.
Yes, there is a woman. A woman in my charge, a woman who is stubborn as The Eternal Flame which she wields with such raw ferocity that it’s a wonder I haven’t been burned to a cinder in gaining proximity to her.
“You know, I’ll bet you ten years’ service that there’s a woman.” I hear the pride sinner’s voice follow me, echoing throughout the corridor as they trail in my wake, unable to keep up. I hope, for the wrath sinner’s sake, that he doesn’t take that bet.
Emerging from the labyrinthian decadence of the structure, I find the sky beginning to fall cloudy with black smoke once more. I fear spark showers may be on the cards, but then again, this may move in my favour as demons don’t do well under the natural phenomenon, though neither do I if it gets too heavy.
“Hey, look… wait!” I hear one of the sinners call after me. I believe it’s the blue-eyed pride sinner and turn, rounding on him, frustrated I’m being halted once again.
“What?” I snap, arms full of metal.
“You’re not hearing me! There’s too many of them! You’ll never make it through! Not with swords alone! You need… I don’t know… something bigger!” he exclaims, and I look at him, eyes widening.
“What do you mean, bigger?” I ask, and he stares past me to the car, which has the engine still running, behind us.
“Do you know who this car belongs to?” I query him, and he shakes his head. “That would be Haedes,” I inform him, and he gets a pained look on his face.
“I’m just saying, if it’s really that serious, the reason you’re going over to that place, then you’re going to need more than a puny sword.” He cocks his hip, staring at me; he’s arrogant, which I should have expected, but he is probably also right.
“I suppose Haedes would prefer his daughter remain alive, even if his car does end up destroyed.” I frown to them both and the pride sinner does a small fist pump.
“Ha! I knew there was a woman!” he announces, and I roll my eyes.
“Yeah that’s great. I have somewhere to be. Go and get them to open the gate,” I command them, and the two men nod, walking away with the sound of clattering chains ringing in my ears long after they’ve become lost in the grey smear of heavy falling ash.
I open the door to the hot rod, sliding in and dumping the swords on the passenger seat, leaning back into the hold of the driver’s seat and taking a deep steadying breath. This is possibly the most stupid thing I’ve ever attempted to do. I mean it’ll be me versus hundreds if not thousands of demons, but I have to try. How can I possibly live with myself if I do nothing? I have enough guilt already on my shoulders to last an immortal lifetime, and I’m not about to add more.
The engine is still running, blowing steam out into the surrounding cold air, as the rumble of it causes my seat to vibrate beneath me. Shutting the door, I place my hands on the wheel, steadying myself and preparing to drive like one of those crazy people with a death wish.
Maybe I do have one of those after all.
I decide to turn on the stereo, looking for rhythm by which to act, something to psych me up for the journey.
As the enormous steel gates about a mile away begin to rise, I put the car in gear and ease off the clutch, pressing down on the accelerator and easing the car forward through the ash. I put on the windscreen wipers, as the stuff soon starts to pile up, and slouch, trying to see as well as is possible in such unnatural driving conditions.
Moving forward at increasing speed, wanting to get this over with, I press the play button on the stereo after finally discovering how to turn the device on, and Ain’t no mountain high enough floods the interior of the car. I smile; this is definitely perfect for the insanity I’m about to attempt.
After a few minutes, I reach the gate that has now risen to its full height. I see the wrath and pride sinners by the wheel which pulls the hefty structure up into the air, clearing the way for passing vehicles, and they both give me over-enthusiastic thumbs up. I smile sheepishly, not wanting to pretend like I’m friends with them, or that this entire ordeal will have some picture perfect happy ending.
I pull through the gates and out onto The Ashen Waste, beyond the shadow of the wall, turning the car right and deciding that going directly through the thick of it is going to leave the car in ruins and me dead at best. I race along the length of a battle raging on my left, letting my hands tighten on the steering wheel as I go, thinking about all the ways this can possibly go wrong.
Either I’ll die, Sephy will die, or I’ll survive but then be murdered by Haedes when he finds out I’ve either not saved his daughter or trashed his car. All in all, after some serious thought, I come to realise that I’d rather be dead than have to explain the probable wreck that will be the hot rod after this trip.
Then, as I turn so I’m facing the immense shadow cast by the dormant volcano underneath which The Fallen Kingdom lies, I wonder what will happen after this is all over. What if both Sephy and I do survive? She’ll go back to her normal life… and then, what about me? I’ll go back to chasing up leads like some mor
bid debt collector or fighting off demons in my spare time just so I can get remotely close to feeling something.
No.
The thought depresses me so deeply; I wonder if it might not be best if I do in fact not return from this trip. I’ve known Sephy such a short amount of time, and yet… I simply cannot imagine my life without her.
It’s ridiculous.
Insane.
She has no interest in me; she’s made that perfectly clear, and I’m no good for her. I’m no good for anyone. So why is it that at the thought of us parting and never seeing each other again, my long life seems more like torture than ever before?
At this concept, I push my foot down harder on the accelerator, causing the car to reach the height of its potential speed. The engine roars loudly, no doubt alerting nearby demons to my location, but they were going to find me eventually, so it might as well be now.
I want to be in the thick of it already, into the adrenaline pumping, heart pounding, mind numbing funnel of vision that comes only from a steely determination to survive in spite of the ever-increasing odds of death.
I watch as my fingertips turn to the colour of soot but hold back my rage, knowing I need to save my strength for hand-to-hand combat, should it come to that.
The first of the demons catch my trail, several Phobias coming up in the rear-view mirror. I check my peripherals swerving left, then right, in a wavy line, trying to confuse them and prevent them from gaining traction on any part of the car that they can destroy.
They’re soon joined by several Banshee, running in a pack, the smell of their sweet marrow scented saliva filling my nostrils as it is brought in, pungent, through the car’s air conditioning vents. They near the car too fast as I’ve slowed slightly in swerving, leaping over the roof and landing right in front of me as I plough through them with no intention of stopping for small fry. They hit the bonnet, which crumples only slightly, before being tossed under the wheels like no more than puppies turned roadkill.
The Opal Blade (The Ashen Touch Trilogy Book 1) Page 39