“Are you worried it might be a real pitchfork next?” Yael asked, the right corner of his lips tipping up slightly.
Emmy shot him a glare, and he held both hands up in surrender. The smile grew, though.
“I can’t let Rau kill them all,” I whispered to Emmy, because we were close enough to be overheard. Luckily, the Chaos God wasn’t looking in this direction yet. He was too busy ordering sols to their possible dooms. “Just strap her down or something, she always liked that in her human life.”
Never walk into a room at the local bar while your mum is entertaining. I’d learned that lesson the hard way. There were just some things you couldn’t un-see.
“I will handle Donald and watch over Emmy.” Cyrus’s voice was loud—he clearly didn’t care about rousing the attention of the pitchfork-wielding servers. “But you should think on whether the best course of action is for you to run into Rau’s little trap here. You don’t understand your powers yet. Feels like a great way to get yourself killed. Again.”
“Are you stalking us?” I bit out, wondering why he was always around.
His eyes flicked to Emmy, before coming back to rest on me. Ah, he was stalking someone.
He was right, though, about getting myself killed again. We didn’t know if I could die or not and going up against Rau was a huge risk, but I knew he wouldn’t stop until he got what he wanted. We needed a secret weapon.
The chains.
“We need Crowe’s chains,” Coen said at the same time as the idea occurred to me. “I’ll be right back.”
He took off so fast that it was almost like he disappeared.
“Don’t let my mum or Emmy get hurt,” I said, locking my eyes on Cyrus. “You’ve been a mostly unreliable bastard since I met you. Random as hell. Choosing sides where you see fit. But this is something I’m trusting you on.”
For once, there was nothing hidden in his face. He almost looked … dependable. “I will protect them, Willa.”
Realising that I didn’t have much of a choice, I turned to Emmy. “Stay safe and stay out of sight,” I told her before pulling her in for a hard hug.
Her face was pale and drawn when she pulled back. She was going to argue more, I could tell, but Cyrus scooped her up before she could say anything. Her worried face morphed into one of pure astonishment; it was almost comical. It wasn’t until the Neutral god was nearing the top of the stairs again that I could see her fire return as she started to argue with him. By this time, though, we were too far away to hear what she was saying. No doubt it would be colourful.
“Focus here, Soldier,” Siret said, bringing my attention back to Rau and his quest for sol domination. Every single sol was now in his line. It filled the hall entirely. I noticed the gods now, standing along the sides of the hall, appearing to be mostly bored, even though they really should have been worried about their sols dying. If their sols died, so did they, according to Staviti’s new rules.
Maybe none of them believed it, or maybe it wasn’t even true.
“You first, Bestiary,” Rau ordered, gesturing toward the female at the start of the line. She had long chocolate brown hair, reaching her mid-back. It was dead straight, not a flyaway strand to be seen. Her skin was a similarly brown shade, and she had flashing blue eyes that locked onto Rau, like he was prey. She stepped forward confidently.
“I like her,” I said sadly. “She has sass.”
“You’ve never even met her, and she probably hates dwellers,” Yael reminded me.
“True, but that doesn’t mean we can let Rau kill her.”
Rome wrapped an arm around me, probably for comfort, and also to keep me from running off. They knew me very well. “Just wait for Pain,” he told me, pulling me even closer. “He’ll be back soon.”
He would, I knew that without a doubt. But would it be in time to save the Bestiary sol?
Rau watched as she stalked toward him, her hands lifting up in front of her like she was summoning energy into them. Behind the Chaos god, storm clouds started to gather, and I tried not to freak out. I’d been caught in one of his storms before. If this was anything like that one, everyone on top of the cliff was about to be swept out into the ocean.
Lightning cracked the ground where the sol was standing, but she managed to jump back just in time to avoid being burnt to a crisp. She slapped her hands together and the ground shook beneath our feet before a small fissure appeared and a bunch of creatures poured out of the rocks.
“Gah!” I jumped back even though I was nowhere near the animals. “Are those … sleepers?”
“Yes, their breeding grounds are usually found deep within mountains,” Aros informed me.
I swallowed the lump in my throat before wiping my damp hands across my shirt.
This movement seemed to draw the Abcurses’ attention away from the multitude of poisonous, eight-legged, multi-eyed, scary-ass creatures that were swarming en masse toward a relaxed Chaos god. They ran their gazes across me. Starting at the top of my mussed sex-hair, right down over my shirt, and finishing on the single boot I wore. Aros had already seen me in this chaotic state, but the others were finally noticing.
“Are you wearing underwear, Soldier?” Siret asked me, his eyes centred on my chest.
I shook my head hard. “No time for that, I had to make do with what I had.”
He just shook his head, his expression almost pained. “This is not the sort of attire you want to fight a god in.”
“Might give her an advantage,” Aros said, his eyes practically the colour of melted gold as they met mine. “I’d definitely lose.”
Rome’s voice sounded strained. “One: we do not want Rau looking at her like that. Ever. Two: we would all have to kill him on the spot, and that would just get messy.”
Killing a god wasn’t something they could easily achieve, but we all knew what he meant. “We have the chains now, Willa,” Yael reminded me. “Killing just got a hell of a lot easier.”
My attention was drawn back to the scene on the cliff again. Rau was still just standing there, the first lot of sleepers about to reach him.
“There have to be thousands of them,” I murmured. We didn’t have them in the seventh ring—one of the few good things about living in the outer areas of Minatsol. But I’d heard the stories. The venom in one bite was strong enough to kill ten sols. That’s how deadly they were.
Warmth moved down my spine; I recognised the Trickery straight away, and barely even flinched. I didn’t turn from the scene to see what Siret had clothed me in. It really didn’t matter, it had to be better than what I’d had on.
“Got it.” Coen’s low voice caused me to jump. I spun around to find him looking a little windswept, the engraved chains in his hands, before a scream from behind had us all whipping back toward where Rau and the Bestiary sol were facing off. Fire had ripped across the top of the cliff, engulfing all of the deadly creatures, as well as the Bestiary sol who controlled them. Before anyone could say anything, I snatched the chains off Coen and dove for the doorway.
Strong arms wrapped around my biceps, halting me mid-step.
“No, Willa!” Yael snapped. “You’ll get yourself killed running in like that. Give the chains to us.”
With a shake of my head, I wrapped both arms tightly around them. “No. I’m the only one who has a chance of getting close enough to Rau to use them. I need to stop this now.”
I knew there was no way they were going to let me just walk over to him, but I couldn’t listen to the screams of that sol for another click and not do something.
Freeze them. The thought pushed through my mind with force, almost seeming to slam into the Abcurses. I knew the only reason I got away with it was because the last thing they expected was for me to use my powers against them. So they had no shields against me. Freeze them! I mentally screamed this time.
All sounds faded away.
Even the birds that had been screeching in the sky went quiet. I managed to wiggle myself out of Yael’s hold. Thankfully, he�
��d been trying to swing me around, so his grip was loose. Taking in the scene, I scrambled into the hall. Everyone was frozen. Not just the Abcurses, but all of the sols, gods, and … even Rau.
Holy fucking shit. This was my shot. My chance to take him down.
I sprinted forward, stepping my way around burning animals, the fire eerily still. I was running as fast as my legs could move, eyes locked on the prize, chains clinking in my hands. I had no idea how long my freezing power would last. Probably not long enough, but this was my only shot. All of the gods would be on guard against this sort of attack if they had even a moment to recover. If I’d learned anything from those bitches who could change their appearance, it was that you might fool a god once or twice, but the moment they caught on to what you could do, there was no way to fool them again.
From the corner of my right eye, I caught movement—it was already wearing off. I cried out in pain, pushing my body faster and harder than I had ever thought possible, reaching Rau just as his eyes snapped to me. I took one of the cuffs and slammed it around his right wrist. As I went to click the left into place, his arm shot out, the movement blurred with speed. Before I could do anything, the second cuff clicked into place.
On my wrist.
“Activate,” he said, the maniacal hint of a laugh underlying the word.
Sixteen
Having my soul torn from my body and catapulted through time and space into a banishment realm was far less painful than I’d anticipated—but it didn’t seem to be the same for Rau, whose high-pitched screams kept me company until my eyes opened again.
There was some disorientation, and it took me some time to understand why everything was muted, the colours dull and washed out. The landscape also left something to be desired, taking its inspiration from the outer rings of Minatsol. Barren of life.
Maybe this was another dimension of Minastol? Like a plane of existence that sols and dwellers couldn’t see, but that existed side by side with ours? The way Topia and Minatsol did?
The rambling of my thoughts appeared to be getting worse.
“How dare you use Crowe’s chains on me.” Those hard words snapped me out of my delirium. My reality rushed in, slamming into me with the force of an enraged bullsen.
Rau. Banishment realm. Fuck.
I spun around to face him, moving much faster than I would have been able to in Minatsol. My hands were up in front of me in the same instant, as I prepared myself for a fight.
I felt solid and alive but looking down at my skin and clothes, which were almost grey in colour, I realised I was just as washed out as the rest of this land. And I was back in the shirt, because apparently Trickery clothing did not travel across realms.
Rau stalked closer, looking the same, only a little blurred around the edges. “I don’t care if you are my Beta,” he declared as he got closer. “I’m ending this now. Gods might not be able to die in the other realm, but they can here.”
He lunged for me, and I let out a shriek, throwing my hands into the air. My powers weren’t swirling inside like they normally did, but my instincts were to try and use them.
Rau slammed into me, and when I got thrown off-balance by his weight, my body jerked backwards, my head slamming into his, knocking him off me.
I groaned, holding my hand against my forehead as I peeled myself up off the ground. I spun to where Rau had been, only to find that he was no longer there. Movement from my left had me spinning again, but the sad face staring back at me was not the god of Chaos.
I stilled. “Hello,” I greeted hesitantly. The male was smaller than me, fragile looking, with an innocence in his features. He looked no older than four. A child.
A god child.
My heart immediately clenched and I wanted to vomit. The panteras told me that the Abcurses were not the only children to be born of gods. They were just the only ones that Staviti didn’t kill, for whatever reason.
“Hello,” I tried again. “What’s your name?”
I was trying to keep an eye on my surroundings, to figure out what had happened to Rau, but I couldn’t seem to tear my gaze from the young god.
“I … don’t have a name,” he finally stuttered out, sounding even younger than he looked.
Another shadow presence stepped in then. Female, looking like she was no more than four as well. “I don’t know my name either.”
“None of them know their names.” The deep voice was so instantly different that I jerked myself toward him, hands up again, forehead ready for more headbutting.
It was a man. Tall and imposing. Well, as imposing as one could be when they looked like water had washed away all of their colour. “Who are you?” I asked, cautious, moving closer to the two children. My instinct was to protect the young, no matter their undead state.
“Are these … the god children?” I asked, choking on the words.
He nodded, face solemn. “Yes, Staviti had them all banished. God children are not babies for long. Their parents managed to hide most of them until they were seven or more sun-cycles old. But their powers grew too strong after that.”
I wondered if one could cry in this realm, because I sure as hell felt like I was about to. My throat and chest and eyeballs hurt. My body burned, and if I had been capable of fire right then, I would have been nothing short of a volcano.
“Are you telling me,” I said, when I could finally speak, “that Staviti has a room or cave or dungeon filled with chained god babies. All of them stuck between two worlds?”
The man nodded, his hair bouncing across his shoulders. I would guess the colour was blond, but it was next to impossible to tell.
He was handsome and clean-cut. He looked like a sol: rich and assured. It wasn’t possible, though. He had to be a god, if he was in the imprisonment realm.
“Who are you?” I asked.
He looked like he was about to answer, but in that moment, Rau made his second appearance. He must have disappeared to find a weapon, because he was charging me with a long spear in his hand.
The god children turned slowly, their eyes listless as they stared at the crazy screaming god. I, on the other hand, did not just stand there. I started to run, because I might have a tough head, but it was no match for the sharp point of a spear.
“Do powers work in here?” I shouted at the man as I ran in his direction.
He shook his head. “No, we are stripped of godhood in this realm.”
Well, that was just great. I was going to have to run for it and hope that I was faster.
Before I made it past the man though, he reached out and latched onto me, almost toppling both of us over.
“You cannot run from him,” he warned me as we straightened. “He will never sleep or stop, there’s nothing else for him to do in this realm other than hunt you down.”
“Do you have a better idea?” I screamed. I was getting sick of being handled by all of these men. I needed my powers back, it was nice to be able to kick ass on my own.
Something heavy dropped into my hand then, and I focused long enough to see a glint of silver. A dagger, just like the one Rau had tried to kill me with.
“You should get out of the way,” I told the man, keeping my body half-turned to hide the knife.
Rau was almost upon us, and the man backed away, leaving me to twist to the side as the spear neared my torso. The sharp tip followed me, Rau anticipating my movement, but my foot snagged on a rock and I lurched suddenly forward, the spear bouncing across my back, missing its true mark.
I didn’t pause to think through my actions, only shoved the dagger upward as Rau collided with me, sending us both to the ground. His weight landed heavily over me, the hilt wrenched from my hands. I kicked him off, scrambling away, but he wasn’t trying to fight me anymore. He was slumped over the rock I had tripped on, his hands trembling around the hilt of the knife, which protruded from his chest. His fall must have pushed it all the way in, because he was staring at it as though he had somehow stabbed himself.
>
He let out a horrible gurgling sound, his eyes travelling up to mine.
“This isn’t over.” He forced the words out through gritted teeth, the words struggling to form around the immense pain that he was obviously in.
“If this isn’t what over looks like, then I no longer trust the meaning of the word,” I retorted, still out of breath. I motioned to the wasteland around us, populated only by banished ghosts.
Rau’s eyes were fixed steadfastly to mine.
“Why were you not torn apart?” he rasped out, his eyelids flittering briefly, his body crumpling back. He was losing strength. “The crossing to the realm. It should have torn your soul into two—the chains are only enough to carry the weight of ... of ...” He started coughing, but the movement only ended on a moan of pain.
He was silent, then, hunched over himself, blood pooling along the ground around him.
“The weight of what?” I prodded, taking a few steps away from the spreading pool of blood. I didn’t want to get my boot dirty, seeing as it was the only one I had.
“The weight of one soul,” a voice replied.
The voice from earlier.
I turned, finding the maybe-blond man behind me again. The children had gathered around him, all of them staring at Rau. I wanted to cover up the god of Chaos, to shield the image from their view ... but what was the point in protecting their innocence? They were already dead. You couldn’t be more mature than a dead person.
“But two of us came here,” I muttered, the man’s meaning finally catching up to me.
“Two parts of two souls travelled here,” he countered, “equalling the weight of a single soul.”
“You mean ...” I turned back to the slumped over, washed-out image of Rau. “He’s not dead?”
“A sliver of his soul has died, absolutely, but the rest remains.”
I groaned, stalking away from the body, back toward where the black chains lay, still in the dirt several feet away. “Just my luck. I finally beat that asshole in a battle, and it turns out I was only battling a piece of him. Not even the real him. Wait ... does that mean I’m not even the real me? What was he saying, about my soul not being torn?”
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