by A Y Venona
“Lawrence shot you with his silver arrow,” the deity answered.
Oh. That’s why the pain felt like I’d been stabbed. But why would he shoot me?
“Lawrence shouldn’t have done it,” Adrian said, his voice edged with anger. I reached out for his hand to calm him down. “It was not his fault. That creature possessed him!”
Not my fault? What else did I do? It was a concern I inadvertently voiced.
“You almost burned the entire arena. Fortunately, the alphas were there to compel the crowd to leave in a calm and orderly manner.”
“You ordered the senior alphas to attend the Gatherings. You knew this would happen,” Adrian said.
“I wanted them there for the omegas. To meet them, and yes, I admit, to provide an alpha persuasion should the omegas’ power overwhelm the crowd. I failed to account the possibility of another kind of threat, a threat that transpired to be greater than I thought possible.”
“My deities, I think it’s time for me to take Eli home,” Adrian said as he helped me out of the bed and to stand on my feet.
“You’re not taking him anywhere, Adrian. He needs to stay here for his sake.”
“You can’t detain him against his will!”
“Adrian, there is something you need to know.”
The door opened. Someone came in pushing a cart carrying a machine of some kind. His manner of clothing suggested he was a deity. His face bore similarity with a sculpture I saw in one of those older temples. Blond hair. Youthful look.
“Deity Dionysus,” Adrian said, but he did not kneel down.
Kneeling before a god especially at the initial meeting was mandatory, so not paying respect to a god was a crime. But this deity did not seem to mind. In fact, none of them really minded it. There was no eyebrow rising, no eyes narrowing. None of them were even paying attention to Adrian as their focus was on me.
This deity—Dionysus as Adrian called him—parked the cart by the bed at my left. Then he sat on the edge of the bed. I turned to Adrian to see his reaction. He had a wary look on his face. His gaze met mine, and he tried to give me a smile though it came out sad. He leaned toward me and kissed me instead.
With our foreheads pressed together, Adrian touched my cheeks and whispered, “I’ll never leave your side. Remember that.” Then he kissed me on the lips again. In that short moment, we were in our own world. Sans gods. And safer.
“It’s ready,” the god Dionysus said, pointing at the machine.
I raised my brow and turned to Adrian for an explanation. He stared back at me, mirroring my expression.
“What is that for?” Adrian asked.
“We have something to show you,” Fenrir answered. “It’s harmless, Eli.”
“Come here closer,” Dionysus said.
When I did as he told me, Adrian held me back. “It’s okay,” I said. Then I crawled on the bed to get closer to Dionysus. Adrian climbed on the bed to follow me and sat right beside me. Yes, the bed was that huge.
“Open your tunic,” Dionysus said.
I felt Adrian stiffen at such a weird request. Sensing my hesitation and Adrian’s growing agitation, Dionysus held out an object. It looked like a short metal rod and was connected to the machine by a cable.
“This is not a weapon, but a medical tool. There is something growing inside you that we have to see.”
Something was growing inside me?
“What exactly are you saying?” Adrian asked, looking as baffled as I was.
“I’ll show you instead.”
Adrian’s grip on me loosened enough that I was able to move a little to open my tunic. The deity placed the rod on my stomach. The machine made a beeping sound, and its screen flickered. Then gradually, it showed something…
“What is that?” I asked.
“That’s your son,” Dionysus answered. “You’re pregnant.”
I heard Adrian gasp. His arms came around me again.
“Are you kidding me?” I said. “How?”
“It’s a miracle,” Adrian said, kissing my head.
“I came to your house and demanded an heir for Adrian,” Fenrir said. “And the next day, you provided him one.”
“What’s the problem with that?” Adrian answered. “I don’t care how it happens. I’ll consider it my son, and my heir. I guess we’re all done here now. You saw what you wanted to see.”
Adrian rolled over to the side and slid off the bed. He gestured for me to follow. And I did. But by the time my feet hit the ground, I heard a hissing sound behind me. I turned around and saw a golden snake slithering toward my direction.
“It’s just a precaution,” Fenrir said.
“No,” Adrian said. “What are you doing?”
“You remember Daniel is wearing one like this?” Dionysus said to Adrian. “He needs one too.”
“And I demand him to wear one!” Fenrir said. His voice echoed in the room. “Or else he stays here.”
“It’s okay,” I said, though I did not tell him that the snake scared me. With Adrian’s chest pressed against my back, I found comfort and courage. The snake was getting closer. I took a deep breath and then closed my eyes. I felt the cold reptilian skin against mine as it crawled around my arm and then—
I opened my eyes.
It was gone.
“Oh no,” Dionysus said, scowling. “You killed Tanka.”
“What?” was the only word that came out from my utterly perplexed mind.
“He didn’t kill it. It disintegrated by itself,” Adrian explained as though it were obvious. But by the look on the gods’ faces, they were not buying it.
I took that moment to finally get up and stand on my feet. But this simple gesture alarmed them, their faces stern, and swords suddenly appeared in their hands, ready, drawn. Beside me, Adrian growled.
“He is no different with the omegas you accepted!” Adrian’s voice was no longer human.
“But he is no omega,” Fenrir said. His voice was not human as well.
“He is a sampi!” Adrian answered.
“He is a titan!” Fenrir raised his sword.
That was then I was so certain I was just having a nightmare. That I would wake up anytime soon.
Now, please.
Wake up.
CHAPTER 25
Shi’ ila.
I opened my eyes and almost wept at the sight. Nothing had changed. I was still in the room, and the gods were still there looking at me like I was their enemy. Standing beside me was Adrian, in his Woden form. He was huge, with hair so close to a wolf, but still appeared human.
“I’m a Shi’ila,” I said though I had no idea what the word meant.
It did, however, soften the expression on Fenrir’s face. He put his sword to his side, and it disappeared. The other gods kept theirs drawn.
“Shi’ila,” Fenrir repeated. “You’re saying that you’re a bearer of the soul. Only an omega is capable of conceiving a soul. And you’re not one.”
A whimper escaped my lips. Adrian moved to stand in front of me like my personal guard.
“We took a sample of your blood and examined your DNA. And we found out that you do not possess any omega gene or a semblance of it. What you have, however, perplexed us. A titan gene. I have never seen any creature with a titan gene all by itself. Titan gene has always been dormant in every omega. We have developed measures to keep it dormant. Mating with an alpha is one way of suppressing it. Another is through a charm we tried to put on you, but failed. Eli, as much as I want to deny it—oh, you have no idea how I wanted this to be untrue—but with the fate of the whole world in our hands, I am left with no other choice but to see you as a threat. Eli, your DNA tells us that you are a full-blooded titan. You can’t conceive the way an omega does.”
My stomach churned and then swelled.
“What’s going on?”
“Your titan instinct is trying to prove me wrong. But the omega doesn’t conceive the way a female does. Not this way, Titan!” Fenrir repli
ed.
My stomach grew even bigger.
“You need to help him,” Adrian begged. His voice returned to normal.
“You cannot create a life!” Fenrir replied as though he had not seen our distress.
I heard murmurs of alarm from the other gods. The air around us thickened as tension rose.
“This is impossible!” Dionysus explained. He was still standing beside the bed. Unlike the other gods, he was not holding any sword. “Let me see what’s going on inside.”
Adrian guided me back to the bed. Deity Dionysus immediately placed the rod on top of my stomach. The screen flashed an image of a fetus. My stomach contracted, and I screamed from a piercing pain.
“It looks like it is ready to be delivered,” Dionysus explained.
“Help him,” Adrian said, pleading. I cried, not because of the pain, but from the desperation creeping into Adrian’s face.
“A titan cannot create a life, only destroy it,” Fenrir said.
“Can’t you see what’s happening? He’s proving you wrong,” Adrian countered.
The pain intensified as my stomach undulated as though the baby inside moved.
“Your baby wants to come out,” Dionysus said.
“He’s in labor. Help him,” Adrian said. “Help him, please.” The last one he addressed to Fenrir.
Although I felt like someone had clamped my intestine and stretched it to the point of snapping, I was not delirious enough to not miss the sob in Adrian’s voice. This was as much as a nightmare to him as it was for me.
“Thoth, why don’t you get me my surgical tools,” Dionysus said to the other deity.
“I would gladly fetch you everything that you need as soon as you give me the energy frequency of your threshold.”
Dionysus grimaced. “On second thought, what about no.”
“Why not?”
“So you can ransack my home?”
“Why don’t you use energy enchantment to cut him open?” Fenrir interjected in the conversation.
I felt the skin on my belly stretching. Was this baby going to deliver himself? With my face contorted in pain, I turned to Dionysus, begging for him to get this baby out of me.
“What’s with the hesitation? It isn’t as though the baby is going to be delivered alive. Titans cannot create a life. They’re destroyers.”
Fenrir’s words shook me to the core. I felt as though a cage inside me was opening, unleashing something from it.
But the deity was not finished yet. He gazed into my eyes to ensure I was listening and that everything he was about to say would register in my brain.
“The only redeemable part of an omega titan is its omega gene—the creator, the bearer of the soul. But if you take away the omega part, what remains is the titan gene—the destroyer, the chaos, the destruction, death, the monster.”
I growled at him like a werekin. My eyes burned with rage.
“That’s not true!” Adrian replied. “If he is, indeed, a titan, a monster, then how would you explain his capacity to love? He loves me unconditionally. He chose a mate in my person.”
“That is a riddle, indeed,” Fenrir answered.
“Hold on,” Dionysus said. “Less talking. This is going to hurt.”
I lifted my gaze to him as the blade made of purple energy touched my skin and began to cut me open. It was painful but bearable. Adrian was beside me. His arm underneath my head, the other holding me while he whispered soothing words in my ear:
“It’s okay.”
“Soon it’ll be okay.”
“You’re doing good, baby.”
I took a deep breath when Dionysus dove his hand into my stomach to get the baby out. Pain seared through my body, a burning pain that cut deeper into my bone. It was funny how I didn’t feel this kind of pain when my entire body was literally inflamed.
A few tense heartbeats later, Dionysus pulled a bloody figure out of my stomach. My stomach felt empty as the pain gradually subsided. I stared at my son bathed in blood. Something was wrong here, but I didn’t know what it was. Adrian gasped beside me, but I did not turn to check on him. Instead, I thrust my hands forward, telling Dionysus to give the baby to me. Dionysus gently placed the baby in my hands, and still, I couldn’t decipher what was wrong. But it was Adrian who noticed it.
“The baby did not cry. My son hasn’t cried to life yet!”
That was it. Adrian snatched the baby from me and breathed air into his mouth. One. Two. Three. Nothing.
“He was alive inside me!” I screamed. “Fix him!” I ordered the god.
Dionysus stared at me and then took the baby from Adrian. He did the resuscitation himself…yet still, nothing. He conjured a blue energy and engulfed my son with it. Yet still, he was not breathing. He did a compression on the tiny chest. Yet still, my baby was dead.
Something snapped inside me. I looked up and stared at Fenrir hard.
“It’s all right, it’s all right,” Adrian murmured to my ear.
“Let me close this wound,” Dionysus said.
My gaze remained on Fenrir. I was waiting. And he damned knew I was waiting.
“Don’t move,” Dionysus said.
“Don’t bother,” I said. “I’ll fix it myself.”
Fenrir grinned. “You cannot fix anything, Titan. You’re a destroyer.”
And we both knew, Fenrir and I, that I was waiting for him to say those exact words.
I am a destroyer.
I placed a palm over the wound and summoned the energy to heal. But nothing. Fenrir shook his head, looking smug. Oh, what I would give to get that smug look off his face. But I didn’t even need to conjure an energy. It just came to me so easily, like breathing.
The fire out of thin air appeared in front of Fenrir. I uttered no spell, and the fire moved by my will like it could read my mind. It transformed into a flaming person that resembled the deity. I commanded it to mock the deity.
The gods drew their swords, ready to attack me. I heard Adrian’s growl and Dionysus’s voice as he tried to de-escalate the situation. Fenrir hoisted his arm, his sword aimed at me.
“We are forbidden to kill an omega, but not a full-blown titan,” Fenrir said.
And he charged at me—charging in a nonconventional way. While Fenrir’s body did not leave the spot, his soul charged toward me with a sword hoisted above his head.
The flame I created intervened, but it was frozen by the gods’ blue energy.
On top of the bed, I rose, waiting. Time seemed to slow down, and I was seeing it all in slow motion. Fenrir’s soul drove his sword aimed at my stomach. The sword connected with flesh, piercing the abdomen to the hilt so that half of the sword went through the back. I screamed so hard the chandelier shattered. I screamed like my soul was ripped in half. I screamed in anger, in fury because…because it was not me. It wasn’t me!
There on the bed, with his eyes open, was Adrian.
Dead.
And when I opened my mouth again, it was the last that I remembered.
The ground shook. The gods were all in flames. I picked up the sword buried in Adrian’s body. And without wiping the blood off it, I drove it into my heart and stared at Fenrir, who was also in flame.
“Finish it! Kill me!”
* * *
And the Gatherings ended on day four.
CHAPTER 26
Three days later
“How much for the flowers?”
The boy looked at the man wearing a white tunic and black breeches. Wrapped around his neck was the red scarf that was ubiquitous these days. “We are closed.”
“But I need one,” the man insisted, eyeing the bouquet lying on the counter beside the cash register.
All of his flowers were sold out, except for this one. He studied the man’s face. He was probably somewhere in his forties. Aside from the obvious anguish evident in those puffy eyes, he looked decent. The boy took a deep sigh. “All right, but this one is mine. I’ll pick you some from the garden.”
&
nbsp; The man gave him a big smile and a gesture of gratitude. “I appreciate it.”
“I’ll be right back.”
The boy used the back door to get to the garden. Red, pink, and purple flowers greeted his eyes. He could easily just pick randomly to give to his customer, but it would be disrespectful do so. No. Not today. Today, he would find the best flowers in his garden.
A few minutes later, he walked back inside. The man went to him and took the flowers. After his payment, he hurriedly left the shop and joined the crowd on the street. The boy picked a red shawl from the stool and covered his head with it so that nothing was shown except his face. This was a shawl of deep regret and remorse, worn by warriors who strongly felt that they had failed to honor their fealty. He was no warrior, but he felt obliged to mourn this way.
He locked his shop and strode toward where the crowd was heading. Where everybody was going.
To the arena.
The stadium was packed to the brim. The tiered seats were not enough to accommodate all attendees, so the rest stood in the aisles or at the sides where they could lean against the stone walls and the columns. It did not matter where they were situated. They could clearly hear the voice of the priest as it floated loudly from the speaker.
“When two souls are united, no one can put them asunder. Not even death.” The priest’s voice was crystal clear. “They seek each other in every lifetime. And in every lifetime they are reunited; they reaffirm the vow and strengthen their bonds until such time when two becomes one in the body, in mind, and in the soul. Death itself can no longer touch them as eternity becomes them.”
It was a good day. The sky was clear and blue with little patches of clouds. The wind came out playful, softly blowing the red and black banners hanging at the columns that flanked the stadium.
Standing at the podium were the king, the queen, Angus, the guardians, and some honorary guests. At the center, the priest finished his ceremonial speech. There was no applause or cheer that followed. Instead, an eerie silence fell over them like it was part of the ceremony. A presence. Then a beautiful man with the golden hair approached the center and began talking.