Ascension

by Sadie Moss

  My opponent pulls his hand away from his abdomen and stares at the blood coating his fingers in surprise. I wonder if it never occurred to him before this moment that he could bleed.

  With another shove of magic, I launch him bodily across the field, where he tears right into Kaius, who’s facing two of the gods. The two enemy leaders tumble into a pile of arms and limbs, and I realize Kaius is bleeding too.

  I can’t help the smile that spreads over my face. We have the upper hand. We’re beating them. If we can weaken them, we can win this.

  We can stop Kaius and Zelus and end their reigns of terror.

  But before I can take a single step toward my next opponent, I’m blindsided by a blow to the face.

  The force sends me flying off my feet, and my head bounces off the grass, which isn’t quite soft enough to keep stars from bursting in my vision. I roll to my knees and shake off the sudden dizziness, searching the plain through bleary eyes to seek out my surprise attacker.

  Zelus.

  He stands over me, his fist wrapped with the weave—which explains the immensity of the blow. My face is on fire, my ears still ringing. My entire body aches.

  “Stupid child,” Zelus snarls, tossing a single strand of the weave at me.

  I throw up an ineffectual hand to block the magic, but I’m so lightheaded from his punch that I miss, and the thread wraps around my neck.

  “Stop this nonsense.” He leans over me, and I stare up at the god my people have spent their lives singing praises to. How is this man worthy of anyone’s worship? “You brought this battle down upon us, you little interloper, and you need to end it. Admit that you’re nothing without the gods, and we might let you live.”

  His weave strand tightens on my throat, and I grab at it, trying to dig it out of my skin, trying to use my own magic to force it away from me. But panic is flaring inside me, making it hard to focus. Hard to think properly.

  “Big words for a god who’s losing,” I rasp out, scrabbling to get a grip on the thread before it cuts my lungs off from air entirely.

  His face turns thunderous. “You’re a human woman. A pathetic little creature. You may wield power like a god, little one, but that does not make you as strong as us. You’re not made for this. For battle. For ultimate power.” A cruel smile tilts his lips. “Kaius told me all about you. I know your weakness.”

  Fear pours through me like ice water at the certainty in his voice. What does he know? What weakness?

  “Humans… aren’t pawns… in your petty game,” I say, wheezing between each word and struggling to draw air into my lungs.

  Zelus licks his full lips, a laugh rumbling in his throat. “Oh, aren’t they? Maybe if I teach you a lesson, other humans will think twice before challenging the power of their rulers. Should I destroy the things you love the most, perhaps? The things you gave up your own life to me for?”

  And then he winks out of existence, disappearing through a portal.

  The strand of weave magic releases me as soon as he’s gone, and the relief that floods my body is immediate. I suck in a ragged breath, rubbing at my bruised neck. I stare dumbstruck at the empty space where he stood as my mind works to put together his meaning.

  The things I gave up my life for.

  Mother and Nolan.

  Farse, no.

  Cold panic seizes me from head to toe. I stumble to my feet and launch myself through the ongoing battle, searching the crowd for my men. I snatch Echo mid-slice, and grab Callum away from a furious sword fight with a messenger I don’t know. Neither of my men protest as I drag them with me to Paris, who’s on his back deflecting blows from another messenger—one I recognize as a servant of Kaius.

  I kick Kaius’s messenger in the side, giving the blow a boost with the weave, and as my foot lands beside Paris’s torso, I glance down at him. “Hold on to me!”

  He responds immediately, latching on to my ankle with a tight grip before I reach into the weave.

  Like Zelus, I don’t need to go through an already existing portal to travel between the afterworld and earth. With a bit of concentration, I create one of my own, carrying my men with me to earth in the blink of an eye and chasing after Zelus where I know he’s gone.

  A light snow is falling on my village when I manifest on the road outside my mother’s cabin. Paris releases my ankle and scrambles to his feet to station at my back with Callum and Echo.

  After the overwhelming light and sound of the battlefield in the afterworld, the hushed quiet of my old village is almost shocking.

  But there is nothing peaceful about this quiet.

  And although we came as fast as we could, we’re still too late.

  Zelus stands on the front steps to my mother’s home. He has one arm wrapped around Nolan’s neck, and his dagger pressed so deeply to my mother’s neck that I see blood beading beneath it. Weave magic flickers around him, and I know the dagger is just for show. He could kill my family with a snap of his fingers if he chooses to.

  “Stand down,” the god intones, his eyes burning with hatred. “Tell Sierian and her supporters to get out of our way. Or I kill your family.”

  26

  I freeze, my gaze locked on my mother’s frightened eyes. Snowflakes flutter through the air around me, alighting on my eyelashes and clothes. But my body is still surging with adrenaline from the battle, so I don’t feel the cold or the wet, melting snowflakes on my skin. All I’m capable of seeing is the new threat to my family.

  I always assumed Zelus would inadvertently kill them with his ambivalence or neglect.

  Not on purpose. Not like this.

  The mad god flashes a pleased smile as he sees me come to a standstill. “Smarter than she looks, it seems. The little human can think after all.”

  My hands clench into fists at my sides, and I raise my voice to carry over the distance that separates us. “Let them go.”

  “No, I think not,” Zelus drawls. “Not until you call off your little coup.”

  As if he’s realized that the landscape of the battle has shifted, Kaius pops into view between us and Zelus, and a split second later, more gods follow. First, Sierian appears at my right hand, then the rest of our allies step out of the ether around us.

  Suddenly, the dusty snow-covered street feels too crowded. Magic seems to hum in the air, the power of the gods even more starkly obvious here in the human realm than it was in the afterworld.

  Is this how the world ends?

  Is this how my vision comes to pass?

  Just as I predicted it would, the fight has spilled over onto earth. If we resume our battle here, my mother and Nolan will surely die. And thousands of others will join them.

  The only bit of light in the darkness is that Kaius and Zelus’s allies are blood-soaked and clearly a bit worse for the wear, although our side doesn’t seem much better off.

  “You coward!” Sierian screams in fury and takes a step forward, raising her sword at one of the enemy gods.

  “No!” My shout is louder. I grab at her sword arm and yank her back. “Stop! No one move!”

  Kaius cackles, striding away from us to join Zelus in the doorway of my home. “For all your power, little soul, you’re still as vulnerable as a weak, helpless human.” His voice is smug, and my stomach dips as memories of a dream flit through my mind. “You’re weak because you’re still attached to these humans. Love is your weakness. You’ll never be great like a god.”

  “I’m not trying to be great like a god!” I scream, cold sweat trickling down the back of my neck.

  That’s exactly what he said to me in the dream—the nightmare—I once had. And I feel the truth of his words now. No matter how much power I may have inside myself, Kaius and Zelus still hold power over me. Power I can never match.

  Because they can destroy the people I love.

  And they love no one.

  Panic has begun to turn to terror inside me. I don’t know what to do. I feel frozen, locked in this moment.

  Sho
uld I fight? Will I be able to get to my family in time to save them?

  Or should I step aside and hope that Zelus will honor his word to let them go?

  But Sierian’s furious shout still rings in my ears. And she’s right. Kaius and Zelus and all the gods who fight on their side are cowards. They hide behind their status and powerful magic, using humans as nothing more than a means to an end. I’d be an idiot to trust that Zelus would let them go. They’re nothing to him.

  “Come on, girl,” Zelus spits, his lips curling back in a snarl. “Make the right choice.”

  He shoves his dagger harder against my mother’s throat, and more blood flows from her already torn skin. A small sound of fright escapes her, and Nolan’s glazed blue eyes catch my own, pleading for me to do something.

  At the sight of her blood, fear and fury combine inside me like a beast rising up to wreak havoc on the world. I’m overwhelmed by the sensation, unable to breathe or focus as the emotions begin to swirl faster and faster.

  This shouldn’t be allowed to happen.

  Evil like this should not exist in the world.

  I cannot accept it.

  At that thought, something snaps inside me.

  A new feeling joins the terror and anger rushing through me—power. Too much power, rising with such quickness I nearly stumble off my feet. I gasp, throwing my hands out to my sides as the weave tears through me. I feel like I’m back inside the light on the third realm’s throne, swelling with power until I can’t move. It’s too much, ripping me apart from the inside as it keeps coming, keeps flooding me.

  I can no longer feel my fear or the anger that seemed to choke my soul. All I can feel is pure energy.

  It might kill me.

  Just like all those times I tried unsuccessfully to climb the steps to the throne, it feels like it might flay the skin from my bones.

  But then, a familiar presence eases into my consciousness. Echo. I focus on him through the raging power, and I can feel him tightening the soul connection between us.

  No, not tightening…

  Strengthening.

  He’s adding energy to our connection, lending me support through it.

  Then Callum is with me, and Paris. All three of my men offer me all of themselves through our connection, the three of them a triad of power to hold me on my feet. A surge of new energy roars through me, and in a sudden moment of clarity, I come back to myself.

  The power that has been building inside me suddenly turns white hot, and radiant light blasts out of me, blinding me and likely everyone around me.

  When the light fades, my skin ripples with energy. I’m both inside and outside of myself at the same time, intimately aware of the magic of the universe as it flows around me, through me, connecting me to everything in existence.

  And I know without question that the ritual is complete.

  I’ve become the Weaver.

  The world seems brighter and greater. Everything around me has paused, Sierian with her sword still pointed at the enemy, Echo with his hand on my shoulder, Nolan pulling against Zelus’s tight grip on his neck. It’s all frozen.

  I can see every single snowflake in perfect detail, and the fresh winter air crackles with an energy I’ve never seen before. I realize it’s the weave—the weave forms everything, from the dirt to the grass to the cabin behind my mother.

  My gaze latches onto Kaius and Zelus, and I scan their bodies with my newfound sight.

  They’re made of the weave too.

  And I’m the Weaver. What I can bring into being, I can also rip apart.

  I don’t hesitate. Something inside me knows exactly what to do, and I let that new feeling take over. Instead of reaching for the weave, as I’ve always done, I blink into the weave with nothing more than a thought. I no longer have form here—I’ve become the weave, my own life force surging through every tiny strand the world over. I can feel where the earth is broken and neglected, and I can feel where the world is thriving. Everything in existence surges through me, all at once.

  It’s mesmerizing.

  I’d love to pause and take it all in, but until I fulfill the most important task, the rest has to wait.

  My essence slips through the threads and into Zelus’s body. The magic here is broken and blackened as if it’s grown rancid, like bad fruit. I consider trying to fix him—to replace the bad threads with new threads and give him a chance to make things right. But even as I have that thought, I realize that the rot inside him and inside Kaius goes far too deep. If I replace those parts of him, there will be nothing left of who he was. He’s not worth saving anymore.

  So I rip him apart.

  It’s a bit like pulling out a bad stitch on a woolen scarf. Suddenly, I’m thirteen years old again, sitting on the floor in front of my mother’s fireplace learning how to knit. Her hands are so steady as she guides my fingers, unraveling the thread I’ve bungled.

  “A bad stitch isn’t the end of the world,” she teases, then reaches out to swipe the angry tear from the corner of my eye. “You can always remove it and try again, my sweet Sage. And most times, it will be much better the second time around.”

  Zelus falls apart around me, all his little blackened strands sinking into the weave. Returning to the essence of the universe. Just like the beasts we killed in the third realm, who melted and returned to the ground upon death.

  I surge through the weave toward Kaius. He’s running, I realize with faint amusement. He likely has no idea what’s happened to Zelus, though he stood and watched it with his own eyes. And yet he still thinks he can outrun me.

  You can’t outrun the creator, little god.

  Reaching out, I haul him back with a tug on his strands. Then I slip inside him. He’s as rotten as Zelus, and absolutely filled with fear.

  Love isn’t a weakness, I tell him from inside his thoughts, though I’m not sure he’ll ever understand. Love is the reason for everything.

  And with another deft flick of the weave, Kaius falls to threads around me and sinks into the never-ending thrum of the universe.

  Kaius and Zelus have ceased to exist.

  It’s over.

  27

  I slide back inside my body with ease, but the moment the weight of the physical world rests upon me again, I stumble.

  My body still feels too small and mundane to carry all this power, although it no longer hurts. It just feels… strange.

  Callum’s big arms wrap around me from behind, and he catches my weight against his chest. In the same breath, Echo and Paris appear at either side of my body, their hands wrapping gently around my arms. I breathe through the disoriented feeling, clinging to their hold.

  I used an immense amount of power to destroy Kaius and Zelus, and even though that power is now mine to keep and use, it’s still very volatile inside me. I can sense the power settling into me now, finding its place within me, and I slowly regain my strength until I can stand on my own once again.

  “You all right?” Echo asks, his hands warm on my face as he studies me intently, as if looking for any visible distress in my features.

  I nod, then lean in to kiss him, softly and slowly. When I pull away, I murmur, “Thank you for standing with me.”

  He smiles and releases me so that I can move to Paris. My blond soulmate’s lips are soft and cold from the winter air, but the weather doesn’t keep warmth from filling the space between us.

  Finally, I pull away and turn to Callum. “Thank you. For everything.”

  “You were magnificent.” His smile is proud.

  I rise up on my tiptoes to throw my arms around his neck, and he meets me halfway, his lips searching out mine in the cold air. His musky scent surrounds me, and his kiss is unhurried. I wish I could stand here forever, wrapped up with all three of them.

  But I have two other people waiting for me, and a war to end.

  As I turn toward the cabin, my mother and Nolan hurry forward to meet me. But as soon as they get close enough for me to really lo
ok at them, they freeze. My mother falls to her knees on the ground, and Nolan sinks right behind her, both of them staring at me with a level of awe I don’t quite understand.

  Is it the Weaver they’re bowing to? Or have I changed so much, become so different, that they instinctively see me as much more than the soul of their dead sister and daughter?

  I bend down and take my mother by both her elbows, pulling her to her feet. She looks at me as if she’s scared of me, and when I drag her roughly into my embrace, she’s stiff at first. I refuse to let go though, and her tense muscles finally soften, her arms tightening behind my back.

  This is it, I think, closing my eyes. With absolute certainty, I know now that this is the last time I’ll ever hug my mother. My life with them is done. I can never return.

  But the thought doesn’t fill me with the same sadness it once did. This isn’t the same kind of heart-wrenching goodbye I’ve shared with them too many times. Because it isn’t a goodbye—not really. Everything in existence is connected, and that connection will withstand all time and distance.

  It will never break.

  “I love you,” I whisper in her ear, then release her to turn to Nolan.

  I swear, he’s grown a head taller since I last saw him. There are tears in his eyes as he throws his long arms around me and squeezes. I brush a hand over his silky hair and fight not to give in to my own tears. I may be the Weaver now, but Kaius and Zelus were right about one thing. I still love just as intensely as I did when I was nothing but a simple soul.

  And I refuse to let that change.

  I press a kiss to Nolan’s cheek, then release him and reach into the pocket of my dress, pulling out his carved horse. My blood has dried along the edges, giving it a roughened, war-torn look. Grabbing his hand, I turn his palm over and press the carving against his skin.

  “You helped save the world,” I tell him, gently curling his fingers closed around the rough wood. “Thank you, Nolan.”

  Nolan gazes down at the little horse, then turns back to me. “Is it better now?”