Blood of the Infinity War (Afterlife saga Book 8)

by Stephanie Hudson

  “You’re here alone?” I couldn’t help but ask. He gave me another warm smile, this time cocking his head a little to one side as if pleasantly surprised by my question.

  “I am, for no one has ever been here before.” This surprised me.

  “Then why me?”

  “Because you are the first. The purest soul and the only one that was fated to cross.” Well, that made sense considering what I’d heard about this gate, all had died trying.

  “But my friends, they came in here…” He held up a pale white hand and stopped me.

  “Your friends are fine. They made it back to your time.” I released a relieved sigh.

  “And me? Will I make it back?” I asked making him grin again.

  “Yes, but for the moment, will you walk with me…it has been a long time since I have conversed with another…in person that is?” he asked me, holding out an arm and the second he did a beautiful scene appeared. It was a long leafy lane framed either side by trees that over hung and interlocked above like a canopy. The ground was covered in fallen Autumn leaves, like a blanket of yellows, oranges, and reds. A fake sun shone through the trees above, casting beautiful rays of light on the sunset colours on the ground.

  “It’s beautiful,” I uttered. He nodded deeply at the compliment and I took a step closer, falling in by his side as we walked together to nowhere.

  “Do you ever get lonely?” I asked him and he looked truly as though he had to take a minute to think about the question. It was almost like being with a robot, one programmed to being happy, kind and softly spoken.

  “I guess I do, for I am enjoying this meeting with you very much,” he answered making me smile this time.

  “I hear whispers, from the other worlds and it keeps me comforted but there is much to be said in being heard and you ask such nice questions…you have a caring heart, that I can be sure of.”

  “Thank you.” I replied thinking it was sweet to hear a God complimenting you on what he thought of your personality.

  “I always knew you would come,” he then shocked me by saying.

  “You did?”

  “Why yes, it was fated.” Of course, it was, duh Keira, he was after all the God of Time.

  “Can I ask you, what do you know of the Fates?” He smiled at this and patted my hand.

  “I am the God of past, present and future, so yes, I know much of the Fates.”

  “And is it true, what is in my future…I am really going to…to die?” I asked after first swallowing hard and forcing the last two words of my question out.

  “Oh yes, that too is fated I am afraid.” I sucked in a sharp breath, one that felt almost too painful to release.

  “And…and my child and Draven and the rest…” I started to say holding on to my belly and looking down as if seeing it all play out for myself.

  “Now, now, don’t upset yourself child, for everything has its reason. Life, death and the sacrifices in between. It is what brings power to the worlds and with it yours especially, but these are not the things I wish to discuss with you.” I tried to pretend that his words hadn’t cut me as deep as they had and managed to ask a broken,

  “Then…then what do you wish to discuss with me?”

  “I heard you whispering your sad goodbye…tell me, why were you so sad?” he asked me about when I’d left Draven in the past and once more he tipped his head to the side. His voice was so soft and calming and his naive questions almost reminded me of a child.

  “Because I knew Draven would have to wait thousands of years before he saw me again and it breaks my heart to think of him missing me for that long,” I told him, wiping away my stray tears the thought evoked.

  “Oh, I see. Then there is no need to be sad.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Anything that happened in the past, anything you changed, will not stay that way.” What?! Could he be serious? Well looking at him now and I doubted he knew what it was like to joke around.

  “What? You mean, it will be as if I was never there?”

  “But of course, your journey there was a sacrifice, no one else needs to suffer the actions of such, for change one thing in the past and it ripples through the ages, changing its current destination forever. As the God of Time, I could never allow such a thing. So, I paused it…”

  “You paused time…for me?” I could barely speak I was so shocked.

  “Yes, because you were worthy. So, I created an alternate path for you in the past and now you have left that path, it no longer exists. So, you see, your loved one will not suffer as you fear…for it will be as if you were never there,” he said in gentle tender tone and I couldn’t help my reaction. I threw my arms around him and hugged him. Well, he certainly didn’t see that coming.

  “Oh my,” he whispered in surprise.

  “Thank you, thank you so much!” He laughed and chuckled as he hugged me back, gently patting my back as if this was what he knew was customary. I was so overwhelmed. But most of all I was so happy to know that I wasn’t leaving Draven behind, knowing what he faced. For there was one thing saying ‘it was better to have loved and lost than never loved at all’…but then, to have loved and know how many lifetimes you must then wait until you get them back. Each day would have been torture.

  “You are most welcome.” I pulled back from him and started to carry on walking but then came to an abrupt stop when he muttered,

  “Oh dear.”

  “What is it?”

  “I fear our time is at an end, for those whispers are becoming quite loud and your future husband does not sound pleased.” Oh my god, he was here!

  “He’s there, on the other side?!” My smile soon faded at the thought. Oh dear, this wasn’t going to be good if he was and now knew what I had done.

  “He waits for you. He loves you dearly and would also sacrifice much for you.” I smiled at hearing this and he grinned back.

  “The eyes are the windows to your soul but someone once said that if this is true, then your smile is the window to your heart and it is very clear to me that you hold beauty in both,” he said making my heart melt for him.

  “Thank you. But, I have to ask, who said that?” I was curious but never would have guessed his answer.

  “My daughter, Pythia.” I sucked in a shocked breath.

  “She is angry at me. I can’t say I blame her, for she feels the Fates have cursed her, but one day she will find happiness, for she doesn’t know it yet, but once your day is done, then so shall hers be.” Okay, now hearing this really shocked me!

  “She will die?”

  “No, but she shall live…for the first time. Please tell her that I love her and miss her dearly. Now it’s time to fly away home little bird, for you’re missed terribly,” he informed me turning to look at the end of the lane.

  “Thank you, for all that you’ve done for me,” I told him reaching out and taking his hand. He looked down at it as if it was the first time he had felt such a touch, then his white eyes found mine.

  “You are most welcome child, for the Fates chose wisely indeed.” Then he held out his arm for me and suddenly there was a door at the end of the path.

  “I will never forget you,” I told him, looking back over my shoulder as I started off towards the door.

  “No, I believe you shall not. Now run child, run back to your destiny.” I did as he said and broke out into a run. Soon the trees were blowing in the wind and started to spin and before long I was falling through the door just as it started to open.

  A pair of strong arms caught me.

  “Draven?”

  “Keira?”

  We both uttered each of other’s name in a frozen moment of sheer happiness. I looked up at him and for a second it felt more like a cruel dream, one lingering on to taunt me.

  “Is that really you?” I asked as I needed to be sure. Then I threw my arms around him and my cloak slipped from my shoulders. I held him tight as he did the same and for a few blissful, short moments
, I was in Heaven. I felt the tears rolling freely down my face as I took in the most beautiful sight. My heart’s keeper and my soul’s saviour, the man I fell in love with. He nodded as if too afraid his voice would break the spell as well…but in the end, it was neither of us. Because the girls all came running.

  “You made it!” Ari shouted,

  “We did it!” Sophia remarked,

  “Woo freakin hoo RA!” No guesses needed for who this last remark came from as all three of them started jumping around in utter joy. And who could blame them considering we had done the impossible.

  Well, it seemed as though one person could,

  “SILENCE!” Draven suddenly roared in anger and everything stopped. I took a step back and before I could move away, he gripped my arm. Then he shifted me around so that I was further away from the Janus Gate, one that was still a huge circular fountain that flowed upwards in the centre of the huge room.

  “How could you do this to me?!” he threw at me and I flinched at the anger twisting his voice into something dangerous.

  “Come on girls, I think it’s time we left them to…” Sophia never got to finish.

  “I am not done with you and your betrayal, sister but I will deal with you later!” Draven snarled and I let my own anger rear its ugly head because of it.

  “Leave her out of this, I was the reason she went and she has done nothing but keep me safe and saved my life!” I told him but this wasn’t the right thing to say. Clearly not if his twisted features were anything to go by.

  “Oh, of that I have no doubt and in turn by your careless and foolish choices you have endangered theirs!” he shouted back at me making me flinch again. Well, it wasn’t exactly what I had in mind would happen on returning but then again, I didn’t expect to find Draven waiting here either.

  “What by the Gods, Keira were you thinking?!” he asked me and I hated how disappointed he sounded. As though he had found me in bed with another man or something.

  “I was thinking about our future, you know, the one you refuse to let happen because you turned your back on the prophecy!” I threw back at him and this time he was the one flinching from it.

  “She did get to you?!” he snarled, referring of course, to the Oracle.

  “As you can see, you weren’t the only one keeping secrets!” I snapped, quickly losing my temper as he tried to play the innocent party in all of this.

  “Yes, but I was the only one keeping them in order to save your life!” He threw an arm out behind him at the mass of gravity defying water and shouted the question,

  “What did you do?!” I started shaking my head and walking backwards,

  “I…I…”

  “WHAT DID YOU DO!?” This time he roared at me and Ari was the one who stepped in between us.

  “Don’t you dare speak to her like that!” Ari shouted, standing up for me and for a moment Draven looked ready to explode again but at the sight of Ari protecting me, he must have seen the situation for what it was. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself and told her,

  “I could never hurt her.”

  “There are more ways to hurt someone than just physical abuse.” Draven took a moment and after a few more deep breaths he looked past Ari and straight to me. That’s when it felt like a second arrow had fired through my chest, only this time it didn’t miss its target.

  “Yes, you are right and now she knows that more than most, for through her actions… she…she just ripped out my heart.” I sucked in a painful breath and he in turn, tore his gaze from mine before walking past us all and leaving the Temple.

  Leaving me shot through the heart.

  I crumpled to the floor and Ari caught me before my knees could crack on the ground. The girls were all around me in seconds and I soon felt my tear soaked face being held by two hands and raised up.

  “He is just angry and upset…give it time,” Sophia said and I looked back over my shoulder at the doorway he had disappeared through and said,

  “But time is something we don’t have…” Of course, I said this more to myself as no one else knew about what awaited me in my future, one that had been confirmed thanks to my new friend Janus. I looked back at Sophia and with the last of my heartbreak I muttered through my sobs,

  “….it was supposed to be our wedding day.”

  “Oh honey!” Sophia had me in her arms and I cried, letting it all out on her shoulder.

  “He just needs time,” she told me again and I looked over at the Janus Gate through blurry eyes and said to myself,

  Yes, and thanks to what I did, those I loved could be gifted with time. Mine however was only ever to be,

  Time sacrificed.

  After crying until all my tears were spent and again trying to suppress my fangs that had popped out, thankfully not in front of Draven, the girls convinced me to move. So, we left the Temple and after re-using the umbrellas so we wouldn’t get wet, we crossed the fountain. I looked all around but it was when Sophia placed a hand on my forearm that she nodded over to a tall stone pagoda with a domed roof.

  “Go to him,” she said softly and I knew she was worried about us both. Now I’d had time to calm down I couldn’t say that I could blame him for his outburst. After all, I had put myself in so much danger, it was no wonder he was seething mad, and that was without knowing the half of it but he knew enough. He was from that land, Hell it was his land and he knew the dangers it could hold.

  I hadn’t seen Ranka as she had left swiftly after the others had arrived, no doubt already finding herself on the receiving end of Draven’s fury. Sophia told me that when they came through she found Ranka trying everything in her power to hold him back from coming through the gate to get me.

  Only once we started to emerge, he waited all of about thirty seconds before deciding to go in and get me anyway. That was why he had been the one opening the door and that was why he had caught me. He was willing to risk his life to come and get me. I wasn’t surprised by this, but it did make me understand the level of worry that must have been going through his mind. And why it had quickly manifested into anger.

  I knew better than most that Draven didn’t handle feeling helpless very well and when something like this was taken out of his hands he lashed out, quickly morphing his hurt into rage. But I knew deep down the truth of where all this stemmed from, which was why I did what needed to be done now.

  I nodded to Sophia and the others before making the long walk around the massive fountain and then across the vast grassy area over to where I could see a lone figure sat on a wall. It was the first time I had seen him look so lost and the sight tugged at my soul.

  He didn’t look up as I approached and that in itself hurt.

  “Hey,” I said sitting down next to him.

  “Hey,” he replied softly, mimicking me.

  “So, I guess we need to talk,” I said after a long minute of silence.

  “Yeah…I guess we do.” But neither of us did. No, instead we just sat there and looked out over the grounds and on to the massive house that from this distance, almost looked whole again.

  “How long were you gone?” Finally, he broke the silence with a question. I thought about it a moment, counting up the days and told him the truth,

  “Seventeen days.”

  “Gods, Keira!” he hissed on a harsh breath then looked away from me in disbelief or disgust, I couldn’t tell which one.

  “Pythia put you up to this?” he said as it wasn’t really a question.

  “She told me what you refused to tell me, yes…the rest I figured out on my own,” I told him hating that it had come to this.

  “Yes and no doubt she told you why I kept this from you!”

  “I know why, the same reasons you lied to me the first time, but Draven don’t you see how something like that can do more harm than good,” I told him and he snapped his head back to look at me.

  “I just found you walking back through the Janus Gate, Keira! You know, the one that is said to rip peo
ple a fucking part!” he shouted and I knew it was done out of worry.

  “I survived, doesn’t that tell you something,” I tried to reason with him.

  “It tells me that I should be worried you have a fucking death wish!” he snapped back and I felt my own anger bubbling to the surface,

  “You know that isn’t true!”

  “Then enlighten me Keira, tell me why I am wrong, because right now, it feels like I am the only one that doesn’t know about half the shit you pull or why?!” He threw at me and I hated that he was right. It did seem like I was always conspiring against him lately. So, I went with logic.

  “Think about it Draven, if I am the only one to have used that gate and survived, then it means it was always meant to be…it was fated this way.”

  “Fuck the Fates!” he snarled furiously.

  “You don’t mean that.”

  “Oh yes I do! Look at what they have done to us, look what they nearly…” He couldn’t finish that painful sentence, so I pushed. I wanted to hear it, I needed to right now.

  “What?”

  “What they nearly took from me…again,” he said softly this time, now his anger was being spent and all that was left was the cruelty of my decision.

  “We all have a choice and we both at one time chose to listen to them,” I reminded him.

  “Yes, and each time it nearly ripped you away from me…what if you couldn’t have got back, what if something had happened to you there? What if…” I placed a hand on his arm and told him,

  “But I did get back…I came back to you.”

  “Yes, but for how long Keira, because what we face with Cronus, you think I can do that not knowing what you are doing behind my back…what about the next time you get some foolish idea in your head, one that might get you killed! You think I have the strength to deal with that, because I will tell you now that I don’t!” I closed my eyes and took a moment to let his words sink in. Then I gave him what he needed to hear and yes, it was done so in anger.

  “Well, I don’t know, are you planning on keeping me in the dark about my future or the prophecy or are you just going to continue to hunt down the Oracle again so she can’t tell me what you don’t have the courage to!” I snapped back and I knew when I saw him jerk that I had hit a nerve.