Tears spattered on the screen. Gwynn crumpled to the floor, leaning his head against the terminal’s pedestal.
“I’m so sorry, Jamie.”
Sorry. Such a trivial word. He’d taken her for granted. Accepting he would never return to his own Earth ever again—was it all to avoid this possibility? How many times did he look at Allison and think how much his aunt would enjoy meeting her? Never once did he give voice to words suggesting she was…gone.
But he’d known.
He gulped a few breaths and used the terminal to steady himself as he stood. Jamie’s smiling face still looked on from the screen. She wasn’t entirely gone, he knew. All people had a soul, and that soul could be reborn.
“Wait for me,” he said. “I failed you in this world. At least let me create a better one for you to live in again.”
Gwynn picked up the strands of Adrastia’s passing through the folds of the world and followed them.
§
A mix of assault rifles and pistols were levelled at Gwynn’s head.
Adrastia jumped from a nearby chair and threw herself in front of him.
“Hold your fire, he’s a friend.”
She crossed her arms tight and narrowed her eyes.
“I thought I told you to stay with Marduk.”
Gwynn tried to muster an apologetic look. “I just couldn’t stay there and do nothing.”
“Gwynn?”
Fuyuko came around the table which occupied the center of the room. Gwynn took a step back, his left hand up in defence.
“Hi, Fuyuko,” he said. “Sorry, just, I’ve been through some things, and I’m not quite ready for hugs yet.”
She didn’t argue, or look hurt. If anything, she appeared suspicious.
“I’ll say you’ve been through some things,” Jason said. “How the hell did you get your arm back?”
Gwynn looked at the bandaged appendage on his right. How strange to have this back after so long.
“That’s probably a longer story than you want to hear. I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I was walking into something so…” He looked again at the guns that, despite Adrastia’s assurance, stayed aimed at his head. “…serious.”
A mountain of a man stood at the far end of the table. He raised his hands to shoulder level and lowered them, wordlessly instructing the soldiers to lower their weapons. They did this without question or hesitation.
“I am Quetzalcoatl,” the man said.
Gwynn knew this man would be an Ageless One. Not only did his energies cause Gwynn’s fingertips to itch, but he was built, and wore the same suit, as Zeus and Woten.
“I’m sorry to interrupt you, Quetzalcoatl,” Gwynn said. He noticed the people assembled in the room flinched—he’d probably missed some honorific. Whatever. “My name is Gwynn Dormath. I didn’t mean to cause a disturbance, I only wished to reunite with my old friends.”
“Old friends…” He looked to Fuyuko, Jason, and Adrastia. Realization was painted on his face by widening eyes and slackening jaw. “Then you are a former member of Suture? Wait…”
Quetzalcoatl came around the table, his finger wagging accusingly.
“You are the Catalyst. Woten used you to initiate the Cataclysm.”
Gwynn nodded, his mouth drawn grim.
“I am.”
Quetzalcoatl’s tone didn’t sound hostile or accusing, but Gwynn let his left hand go loose, extending his control into the air around him. And in the worst case scenario, there was always his right arm.
“This is a wonderful surprise,” Quetzalcoatl said. “For you to have done such a thing, you must contain incredible power. It is perfect you are on our side.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“We’re going to war with Woten,” Jason said. “Lord Quetzalcoatl has pledged weapons, troops, even Takeda’s Solution so we can awaken more Anunnaki, and protect ourselves against losing our powers.”
“No,” Gwynn said, pushing past his friends to get closer to Quetzalcoatl. “You can’t do that. Lock Woten away, find some way of evacuating the people of Asgard to some other world, whatever, it doesn’t matter, but you can’t start a full-scale war.”
“Why?”
Jason came into Gwynn’s personal space. Reflexively, Gwynn placed his left hand on his right arm, keeping it lowered and contained.
Jason spat his words. “Who do you think you are, storming in here after hiding away from taking any kind of responsibility and telling us what to do? What makes you think a coward like you has any right to make decisions concerning war?”
“Jason,” Fuyuko said.
“No, I won’t hold this back. Besides, it isn’t anything new, is it Gwynn? This is pretty damn close to the conversation we had before you ran away from Fenrir.”
“And you weren’t wrong,” Gwynn said.
To this, Jason took a step back, his next words hanging soundless in the air.
“You were right, I did run away. I was afraid and couldn’t handle my own guilt. Every time I looked at the conditions those people were in, I blamed myself. It wasn’t my arm crippling me, it was my head. But this isn’t the same. Over the past few days, I’ve seen things, and I know, if war happens between the Anunnaki, especially spanning more than one world, it will destroy the walls of the Veil causing every world to be obliterated. I’m not saying to keep from fighting Woten out of cowardice, I’m trying to save everything.”
Jason straightened.
“I appreciate you taking some responsibility for the past. If we’d had this conversation years ago maybe things would be different—not just between you and I, but in the case of this war, too.”
“What are you saying?” Gwynn looked to each of the people in the room. “After what I just said, you’re going to push ahead anyway?”
Jason moistened his lips and took a shaky breath.
“While I would want to hear more from you before calling the whole thing off, the fact is, it’s too late. War’s been declared on us from two different fronts, and we have only two choices, fight or die. You may be right. And as much as I might be willing to die for the masses, I can’t ask entire worlds to do the same. Especially when it means leaving the ones who’ve committed the greatest crimes to be the winners. If that’s the case, I’d rather see reality burn.”
“I don’t believe this,” Gwynn said. “What do you mean war has been declared on two fronts?”
“Yes, what do you mean?” Adrastia asked. “You were just telling me how Woten inserted sleeper agents here on Earth. Where’s this second front?”
Jason scratched the back of his neck.
“After we learned the true reason Anubis betrayed the Pantheon, he was routed and we gained access to the Bifrost to Asgard. I’ve been in touch with Marie. Turns out a third party decided to attack us.”
“Third party?” Adrastia said. “But the only ones with that kind of power are…Oh. Oh no.”
“Cain?” Gwynn said. “Cain attacked Fenrir? Why?”
Jason nodded toward Adrastia.
“Marie said he tracked Adrastia to our base. He wondered why she paid us a visit.”
Gwynn and Adrastia locked eyes.
He knew from her expression she shared his thoughts. Her mouth opened to say something.
Gwynn didn’t wait. He fell back into the Veil.
28
A Time for War
The Veil was a coursing river, and Gwynn was a fish moving at speeds faster than most land vehicles.
Everything was connected. Through those connections, he could do anything, reach anything, he wished. And the connection he focused on strongest at that moment was with Sophia.
He emerged from the Veil just outside the perimeter of the wards they’d set up to protect Allison.
Instead of running to the house, the scene froze him. Several bodies lay strewn on the path. He picked his way through the corpses.
Thunder sounded from the house. Air splitting, pressure changing, all on a direct course for his head
. He stepped aside, the bullet grazing his forehead.
“Sophia?” he called.
“Turn around and walk away and I’ll let you live,” she said.
“Sophia, it’s me, Gwynn. I promise I can prove it, just tell me Allison is ok.”
She came to the door, her gun still levelled at his head.
“Why were you wearing a pink hoodie?” she asked, tears streaming down her face.
“What?”
“When we were in Valhalla, you were wearing a pink hoodie. Only my Gwynn would know why.”
Gwynn kept still, his hands open and his arms spread wide.
“You gave it to me,” he said. “Because I shredded my shirt keeping you from falling to your death. And because you said you had a vision of me wearing it.”
The gun was out of her hands, and she ran to him. He folded her into his arms, her body trembling against him.
“What happened? Where’s Allison? Or Pridament?”
Sobs made understanding her impossible. He held her close, letting her cry it out. There was no need for her to answer, he could already guess some of what happened.
When Sophia’s breathing normalized, she said, “He took her.”
“Who? Pridament?”
She shook her head.
“Him.”
“Cain?”
Sophia nodded.
“They attacked out of nowhere. Pridament turned on the Prometheus Field so we could use the guns to fight them off. He believed they wouldn’t have conventional weapons.”
Gwynn looked to the bodies littering the ground.
“He was partly right.”
“Yes. It all happened so fast, he didn’t have time to fold us all away. And once the Field was up, he couldn’t use his powers either. We were managing to hold out. And we might’ve succeeded if…”
“Cain didn’t show up. But he did. Where did he take Allison?”
“I don’t know. He walked through the Prometheus Field like it wasn’t even there. His powers didn’t seem to be weakened by it at all. When he took Allison, Pridament turned off the Field and followed him. He told me to wait for you. He knew you’d come.”
Gwynn kissed her on the forehead.
“I’ll find them.”
“And what happens when you do?”
Gwynn clenched his right fist. The bandages tore from his arm and turned to ash.
“War.”
The Story Concludes
In
The Bleeding Worlds Book Four
Ragnarok
About the Author
Justus R. Stone is the author of the Young Adult Paranormal Series, The Bleeding Worlds.
He combines a love for anime, video games, and books, into tales with kinetic action, deep conspiracies, and wonders hidden within our world.
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http://justusrstone.com
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Resonance 4th Edits - Bleeding Worlds Bk 3 Page 26