“My people, the Olympians have betrayed us. They have invaded our home and slaughtered our kin. You have fought bravely this night. What I ask of you now will not be easy, but we are a resilient people. We will thrive once more. Go now to the ships the Olympians brought. Board their vessels and set sail for the open ocean. Gaia has already taken the young out to sea. Join her. I will hold out as long as I can, but my power is limited now. The island is no longer safe.” I instilled a thread of Voice into the last of the message. “Leave this place and do not return. Make a new sanctuary for our people.”
I watched as the shadowy form of a dragon soared across the sky, careful to avoid the full light of the moon lest he give himself away. My dry lips tugged up into a semblance of a smile. Nikomedes would live. He would lead our people.
I gathered as much of the power trickling through to me as I could and sank it into the ground that now cradled my battered body. The Olympians argued above me about what to do with me now. Some were in favor of dismembering me and burning my parts to see if I would come back. Others wanted to seek out Achlys and make sure my essence was wiped from existence. I had thought the sword was the only thing that could possibly kill me. I had thought my energy was eternal because of my link to the source—the God of Chaos. I had been blind to even the possibility that he would betray me by cutting me off from his energy and leaving me to burn out like a fading star.
I left them to their squabbles as I prepared to make my final stand.
I didn’t have the strength to follow all of the threads to make sure my people had made it safely from the island. Instead, I called on Gaia. “Sister, I need you to be my eyes and ears.”
Her worry carried through to me. “Titan, what have you done?”
“The island cannot protect us any longer. The energy it contains is already low. What is left I will use to rid us of these parasites.” My muscles spasmed as Zeus slammed a lightning bolt into my chest, demanding to know where the sword was. I gritted my teeth against the pain and pulled the energy from the bolt through my body to store it in the ground beneath me. “You and Eros will lead our people now. You will train Nikomedes twice as hard until he is ready to rule. Swear it.”
A sob tore from her. “You cannot sacrifice yourself. If you but reached out to Chaos—”
“Chaos has forsaken me! He watched as they cut me down. I called to him, and he turned his back on me. Even my connection to him only offers but a trickle of power now.” I heard the bitterness in my voice. “Chaos has chosen to let me die. He supports the Olympians. Speak to me no more of him.”
Silence filled our link. Finally, she said, “What would you have of me?”
“I must reserve my strength if I am to succeed in defeating the Olympians. You will signal to me when our people have reached the safety of the open waters,” I ordered. “As your king, I command this final task.”
“As my king bids, so shall it be done.” Gaia’s voice was hollow.
Ares cut at my battered body with various weapons as the minutes ticked by. Finally, the signal from Gaia came.
“It is done, brother. We are safe. I give you my vow that Nikomedes will be provided for and trained as you requested. May the Gods shine favorably upon you in this life and the next.” She paused a moment. “I do not know what Chaos intends, but there must be a reason for this. My heart hurts for all that has befallen you and our people this night. But I cannot abandon my faith that this was part of a larger plan. Without faith, there is no purpose. No hope. You will be renewed in the heavens and one day return to us. I know it.”
Chaos was a fickle god who cared nothing for us. Let her keep her foolish beliefs if they brought her some comfort in this dark hour. “Thank you for watching over Nikomedes, my sister. May fortune favor you and the sun always shine on your face.”
One last time I followed the path to Nikomedes and felt his excitement at being on the open ocean. Before his attention could shift to me, I locked everyone out. It was time to end this.
I dredged up all of the images I had stored from my people’s losses this night and used them to fuel my anger. One by one I added the faces of the dead to my arsenal. Lyannìa’s was the last to be added. I didn’t know if she had passed beyond this world—somehow the Olympians had blocked our bond. However, Eros had never contacted me. I could only assume that he had been unable to save her. Time had been of the essence. The amount of blood on the bridge meant she had to have been severely wounded.
Next to my wife, I pictured a raven-haired baby girl with the same moon-kissed glow of her mother. What was left of my heart shattered. Rage that knew no bounds poured into my hollow shell like acid.
I delved down to the heart of the island and ripped every ounce of power from its core. I pulled all of the power into my body. The ground shook with a rumbling groan like a giant beast. An explosion of multi-hued power ringed me, knocking the Olympians off their feet and levitating me into the air. The mass of power writhed around me, searing my wounds closed. With clenched fists, I punched out a blast of power in a wave across the island.
Cracks spread along the ground. Trees were incinerated. The remaining palace towers crumbled. The seawaters churned violently before they shot into the air and wrapped around the whole island. The temperature dropped so quickly that the water froze, cementing the island in a bubble of ice. The land trembled as the power leached from it and it sank beneath the sea. I used the last vestiges of power to pierce the hearts of the Olympians and drag them down into the tunnels far below. The island was drained of its energy, as was I. We would both soon succumb to the natural order of this world.
Darkness closed in on me as I sealed our tomb and my body fell lifeless to the cold stone floor. My eyes closed for the final time. My lips inched up into a small smile as I welcomed death.
Epilogue
December 25th
Somewhere on the Atlantic Ocean
* * *
Gaia watched Nikomedes silently as he stood at the rear deck of the ship staring out at the blue water that stretched for miles in every direction. He looked so lost and alone. His hand rested on Fiamouria’s head as if to confirm that the one last link he had to someone he loved was still there. The dragon sighed her warm breath against his chest, smoke rising into the air. She wrapped her body more tightly around his, offering comfort. It had been three days since Atlantaionia sank beneath the waves of the Aegean. Three days since this young boy had lost his parents and his sister to the treacherous Olympians. He hadn’t spoken to anyone at all during that time. Gaia ached for the boy. For everything, all that they had lost.
She traced her link to Titan just as she had been doing several times a day. Again, there was nothing to be found but a void that left her unsettled. Something about the absence at the end of this thread felt different than so many others that had been cut. Shouldn’t she still be able to feel him even if he had returned to the heavens?
She didn’t know, and his loss cut through her once more. She gripped the railing of the ship tightly. The wood beneath her hand shivered from the emotion she had unintentionally released with her touch. A popping sound echoed across the silent deck as a spindle from the railing pulled its bottom half from its attachments to curl around her wrist.
Gaia stroked the wood with her other hand. “Thank you for your kindness. I am well.”
She gave the oak another stroke and sent a reassuring trickle of power out to the ship. A groaning noise could be heard over the lapping of the waves as the ship settled and the spindle returned to its position. The sails pulled taut in a sudden burst of wind, and the ship picked up speed. Nyx stepped up onto the upper deck to join the silent duo but neither turned to greet her. A gray-brown owl landed on her shoulder and flapped its wings. Nyx smiled grimly and pushed out her power again. The wind howled as it blew harder and the ship leaped forward with a jolt.
“Nyx, you cannot keep pushing the ship like this. The sails will not hold against these forces for much longer.”
“Titan connected us all. That connection has been cut.” Nyx glared at Gaia, but pain made her voice huskier than normal. “We do not know what became of the Olympians. We must put as much distance between ourselves and Atlantaionia as possible.”
Gaia cast her sister a haunted look. “I saw as we all did the last moments. Their power was bled from them with our brother’s last strength. If any part of them remains, it is entombed with the island. Surely we are safe.“
Nyx crossed her arms, gripping her elbows until her fingers turned white. “It is true that Titan could not shield us from his mind in those final moments, but what we saw were flickers only—shadowed forms that tasted of the Olympians’ powers. We cannot know if any escaped.”
Gaia glanced at her sister and acceded with a nod. “Titan may be—”
“He is dead! Do you not think that if even a shred of his essence remained we would not feel it?” Nyx’s voice broke as she lashed out. “He chose vengeance for her over life with us. H-he abandoned us just as Chaos has. We are on our own.”
He had been their teacher, their leader, and the very foundation on which their world had been built. His loss cut them all more deeply than they would ever admit. For Gaia, the loss of their cornerstone shifted everything she thought she could trust. If her faith was not lost, it was at least badly shaken.
She had never questioned her existence until now—the six of them served a purpose, and that had been good enough. It was Titan, though, who had always held them together. He was the vessel that connected the Chaonians to each other and their god. He was a constant, as everlasting as the heavens themselves. Only now he had been taken from them, and they were left bereft.
She tested their connection for what she knew would be the last time. She couldn’t keep torturing herself with the possibility that he was still out there. The energy traveled out into the distance until it slammed into a wall and floundered, although, again, something about his absence was different. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but it almost felt as if something was still there. She shook her head as if to dislodge the thought. She would pray to Chaos that her brother returned one day but she would not probe at the wound his absence had left behind.
Gaia rubbed her tired eyes. These last days had been brutal—accounting for those who had not survived, locating provisions, tending to the wounded. She had only managed to sleep for short periods and those times she usually woke with a scream lodged in her throat from nightmares of the attack. Her pleas to Chaos had gone unanswered. She had to accept that they truly were alone.
“We are not alone.” A small scratchy voice filled the tense silence. “He has not abandoned us. He is still with us. The gloaming gives way to the dawn. We are reborn.”
Gaia stared in shock at Nikomedes. His eyes swirled in a kaleidoscope of colors as his small trembling arm pointed out at the ocean. “Sail toward where the sun meets the horizon. He will show us the way.”
* * *
The beginning . . .
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Waking Chaos
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Wealth. Desire. Power. All could be yours in the Paldimori Games.
Lia Davies has buried the terror and guilt of her past under a life of quiet routine. Her fragile peace is shattered when she becomes the target of vicious rumors. To save her business, she makes a desperate decision to enter a mysterious game that promises a substantial prize for the winner.
What should have been the solution to all of her problems turns into a deadly fight for her life as inexplicable events begin to occur. Chaos—the sexy yet infuriating leader of the six Paldimori Houses—calls them “accidents.” Lia isn’t buying it. After all, man-eating plants aren’t a real thing, right?
What she will discover about her past and the ancient power waking on the island of Sotirìa will change them all forever. Whispers of a prophecy are stirring, and Lia is at the center of it all. Trusting the one man who sparks her fury—and her passion—may be the only way to survive the Paldimori Games.
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Acknowledgments
To the ever awesome Callahan Clan Street Team for cheering me on and for all of their support. A special thanks to Lee, April, and Tiffany who have been there with me from the beginning and can always be counted on for honest feedback.
Thank you so much to my readers you make my late nights and head banging when a character has gone quiet all worth it. Please help me and other self-published authors by leaving reviews. Happy reading!
About the Author
T.L. Callahan is the author of the paranormal romance series Paldimori Games. She has always been a book lover; devouring romance, fantasy, and poetry since she was a young girl growing up in Kentucky. Her love for the outdoors inspired hours of wandering the woods pretending to be on adventures discovering magical creatures and being the heroine of her own stories. That hasn’t changed much these days. Never knowing what you can find around the next corner keeps her seeking out new adventures from backpacking in the Wind River Range of Wyoming to piloting a sailboat down the Tagus River in Portugal. T.L. lives in Ohio with her husband, son, and a cat that thinks he’s a dog.
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