by River Ramsey
I rolled my eyes and brushed past him, joining Fenrir, who was already up ahead. We walked for another half an eternity before Loki spoke up. “There’s something I’ve been wondering.”
Hades said nothing and I waited expectantly for him to continue.
“Only one of us can win the challenge, so how are we going to handle that when we get to the big swirling eye in the sky?” he asked.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” Hades said crossly. “Hopefully time doesn’t pass quickly out there while we’re in here.”
I shivered at the thought of getting stuck here for long. The fact that my mother was in the audience was the only comfort, since I was pretty sure they wouldn’t leave me in a coma in front of her. Demure as she was on the surface, she could be scary when she wanted.
“Who knows?” Loki mused. “There’s nothing typical about the experience so far.” He paused, glancing at Hades. “Do you think this is related to… you know?”
Hades gave him a silencing look.
“I’m just asking.”
“To what?” I demanded, stopping to face them both. “To the bond?”
“What happened to not speaking about it?” Hades snapped.
“We’re in a cavernous dream world,” I said, throwing out my arms. “I think we can assume we have privacy.”
“The bond is the only common denominator between the four of us, so it stands to reason,” said Loki. “Occam’s razor and all that.”
“Whatever the reason, it doesn’t matter. And when we do get out of here, no one’s saying a word about it,” said Hades.
I narrowed my eyes. No matter how logical it happened to be, I always had a knee jerk reaction to Hades giving me marching orders. “Says who?”
“Me,” he answered, staring me down. “And if I have to put another seal your lips spell on you, I will.”
“What’s this about another kiss?” Loki asked, his eyes lighting up with mischief.
I rolled my eyes. “It was for a spell.”
“And your kiss with Fenrir was about reining in your power, but a kiss is still a kiss,” Loki scoffed. “I’m starting to feel left out.”
My eyes rolled back into my head and I started walking faster even though every muscle in my body ached.
The sky began to darken as we grew closer to the void and the stale air grew windy. I hugged myself against the chill, squinting to see through the sandy debris the wind had kicked up around us.
“Feels like we’re walking into a storm,” I said.
“Maybe that isn’t the way out,” Loki said warily, looking up at the stormy clouds above us.
“There’s only one way to find out,” Hades said, charging past us. “We’re in our own heads, it’s not like there’s any actual danger.”
I watched as he continued, feeling a growing sense of dread. He was probably right, but my instincts said otherwise. Loki shrugged and trudged after him, but Fenrir lingered by my side. His eyes were sentient, even though he didn’t seem fully himself in this form.
Or maybe he was just a different version of himself.
I was still pissed about the preliminaries, so his presence wasn’t as comforting as it once would have been, but I found myself glad he was there. I started walking toward the others and the giant wolf came up alongside me.
The closer we grew, the wilder the wind became to the point where I had to hold my hair back just to keep it out of my face. I tied it back with a small vine, looking up into the looming void. “How are we supposed to get up there?”
“Maybe we’re not,” Loki said, walking to stand under the center of the vortex. His hair whipped around his face and I could tell he was struggling with each step. Hades followed him, and then Fenrir, but nothing happened.
“I’m starting to think this isn’t it,” I admitted, finally following them. The moment I stepped foot below the center of the vortex, it opened wider and a beam of dark red light shot down from the sky all the way to the ground below us. The wind drowned out our startled screams and I started to feel myself lifting off the ground like a UFO abductee. Before I could process what was happening, the light became blinding, washing out everything else around me, and a moment later, I felt a sudden drop.
I landed hard on something that partially broke my fall and the pained groan told me it was Loki. I felt his muscular torso beneath me as I pushed up, accidentally straddling his lap. “Sorry,” I muttered, quickly getting off him.
He sat up slowly, looking a bit disheveled but no worse for the wear. “Don’t mention it. Feels like a wasted opportunity to make a joke about you falling from heaven, though.”
“It’s not,” I said flatly. He offered a hand to help me to my feet, and I was shaken enough to take it.
Looking around, I realized we were in a vast field of withered brown grass and Fenrir was not far off. He leaped to his feet, shaking out his fur. Hades was nowhere to be seen, but I doubted he had gone far.
“Where are we?” I asked, bewildered as I studied a landscape even more barren than the one we’d just been through.
“Definitely not Kansas,” Loki muttered, trudging onward. Before long, we reached the top of a hill and I could spot another structure in the distance. This time, it was two great looming gates that looked like they were made of gold.
“Holy shit,” I breathed, squinting. “I think I see Hades.”
“He’s talking to someone,” Loki said, quickening his pace. I started running and Fenrir galloped along beside me as we headed for the gates.
By the time I got close enough to see Hades clearly, I realized he was talking to someone behind the gates. No, not just talking. Arguing.
“What’s going on?” I demanded, coming to a stop. Through the golden bars, I could see a huge man who had to be seven feet tall at least. He was wearing the strangest armor I’d ever seen, made of leather and fur, and at his side was a broadaxe that looked like a prop in some fantasy game. He looked human, aside from the fact that his skin was a slightly tinted hue of green and his eyes were solid black.
“This asshole won’t fucking tell us where we are,” Hades growled, looking like he was ready to fight the giant as soon as the gates opened.
“Rather rude for a figment of our imagination,” Loki mused.
The guard looked far from amused, but when his eyes met mine, they widened enough for me to realize the irises were a slightly lighter shade of black, after all. “You,” he bellowed in a voice that sounded like a growl. “What is your name?”
“Me?” I croaked as the others turned to watch me. “I’m Kore…”
“She’s nobody,” Hades snapped, gripping the bars. “I’ll ask you one more time. Where the hell are we?”
The guard’s eyes narrowed and his massive hand closed around the handle of his axe. For a moment, I feared he was going to come through the gate just to punish Hades for his assholery and while that would usually be my idea of entertainment, I really wasn’t in the mood.
“You, insolent boy, are in my Lord’s realm and you’d do well to remember that,” he growled, turning to face me once more. He ground the pole of his axe into the earth and the gates slid open. We had to jump back to get out of their path, and as the guard took a step out onto the other side, my heart raced.
I stood back, prepared to call on my power to fight, but when he dropped to one knee, I was left staring in disbelief. “Welcome, your majesty.”
It took me a few seconds to process what he’d just said and it still didn’t make any sense. “Uh. I think there’s been some confusion.”
“She’s no one’s majesty yet,” Hades snapped, glowering at the orc or whatever the hell he was. “I’m the future ruler of the Underworld, so if you want to bow to anyone, bow to me.”
“The Underworld?” the orc snarled, his eyes narrowing once more. He looked at Hades with a viciousness that made even the cocky young god take a step back. When he rose, I realized I’d been way off on my original estimate. He was easily
pushing eight feet. “That would make you Chronus’ brat.”
“You wanna say that again?” Hades asked, a blue flame leaping into his right hand.
Before I could chastise him, Loki grabbed his arm. “Maybe don’t antagonize the not-so-jolly green giant, huh?”
“He’s not real,” Hades said, shirking out of his grasp. “None of this is real! We’re in a fucking dream.”
The orc was looking at him like he was crazy, which was better than looking like he was going to murder him. I decided to step in before things could escalate since he seemed partial to me for some reason, even if it was a case of mistaken identity.
“What my friend here is trying to say is that this world isn’t exactly, uh, real,” I said.
Loki facepalmed. “Much better.”
“You try wording it in a less offensive way, then,” I hissed.
The orc didn’t seem offended, at least. Now he was looking at me with concern. “Your majesty, however you came to be here, this place is as real as Olympus.”
That seemed exactly like something a dream person would say, but for the sake of argument, I decided not to go there. “And where is here, exactly?”
“The entrance to the Aether,” he answered, as if that should be obvious.
My heart raced. The Aether? If that was true, then that meant we were in the same place where Ares had been banished.
“The Aether,” Hades scoffed, folding his arms. “Right.”
The orc looked warily over at Fenrir. “Is that thing with you?”
The wolf bristled and I couldn’t blame him, but in the interest of keeping the peace, I put a hand on his head to settle him. “He is. He’s our friend, but for some reason he’s not able to shift back into his other form.”
“He is a hellhound,” the Orc said knowingly, clearly displeased. “It is difficult for such creatures to maintain illusion here, where the laws that govern your world are not quite so rigid.”
His words echoed Loki’s a bit too closely and for the first time, I found myself wondering if he was right. If we really had ended up in the Aether somehow and this wasn’t just an elaborate dream world.
And if it was, whose mind was it a product of?
“Go back to the whole your majesty thing,” Loki said, twirling his finger in the air. “What did you mean by that?”
“What I said,” the orc answered impatiently. “She is the daughter of the Dark Lord. An Aetherean warrior would know his Princess anywhere.”
“Right,” Loki said slowly, glancing at me.
I shrugged, feigning ignorance. I had a bad feeling I knew exactly who this Dark Lord was, and there was no way my own brain would have let that cat out of the bag. A feeling of dread washed over me as I realized it was real.
All of it.
“I don’t know who you are,” I protested.
“But I know you,” the orc answered, bowing low to me. “The entire realm has been awaiting your return.”
“Return?” Hades echoed.
“Enough,” the orc grunted, stabbing his broadaxe into the earth once more. He stepped back and motioned for me to walk through into the city streets just beyond the gate. “We mustn’t linger here. It isn’t safe, and the Dark Lord will wish to know of your arrival.”
I stayed where I was, taking in the cityscape. This certainly wasn’t what I’d pictured when I thought of the Aether, but I figured the other place was just the lobby.
“You heard the man,” Loki said, taking my arm to pull me along. “Let’s not keep your people waiting, Princess.”
I gave him a filthy look, groaning inwardly. He thought this was all part of the game, and there was no way I could tell him otherwise without explaining the truth about my father. Or that the danger we were all in was real.
Chapter 28
Hades
As the guard led us through the winding streets of a city that looked like it had never left the middle ages, I found myself torn between irritation and wonder. This was far more elaborate than the subconscious world I’d expected to wake up in, and while I wasn’t crazy about the company, there was part of me that was relieved I wasn’t alone.
Of course she had to be here, too. I’d known what I was getting into when I brought her back, but no matter how much I berated myself, I couldn’t quite regret it.
The orc led us to a black stone building that looked like an old English castle, watchtowers and all. The front hall was so vast that our footsteps echoed and it was furnished with every manner of finery, but it was the portrait hanging above the great hearth in the center of the room that drew my attention.
It was Kore, seated in an uncharacteristically demure position with her hands in her lap and a jagged black crown set with blood red jewels on her head. Her hair was a soft shade of brown rather than the unnatural lilac she dyed it to be, but it was unmistakably her. I’d know those eyes anywhere.
“What the hell,” she muttered under her breath on our way past the portrait.
I decided to hold my tongue for the time being, curious where this would all lead. The orc led us to another huge room filled with packed bookshelves and luxurious furnishings. It looked more like a Victorian drawing room than the Aether the guard claimed it to be.
“Wait here,” the orc ordered, standing at the door. “The Lord will be in shortly.”
“Can’t wait to meet him,” Loki said dryly. “He sounds charming.”
The guard scowled like he didn’t know what to make of the sarcasm and left without a word. For a moment, the room was silent, but I couldn’t let it last long.
“Well, I guess now we know whose dream we’re in.”
Loki snickered and Kore glared at me. Fenrir was pacing around the room, sniffing everything.
“I hope you’re not implying I brought us here,” Kore said, folding her arms.
“Who else?” I scoffed. “Princess?”
Her face grew red with irritation, but she didn’t have a snappy comeback like she usually did. “Let’s just find a way out of here.”
“Of course you’d be in a hurry to get back,” I challenged. “Wouldn’t want to miss your little speech.”
Her expression went blank, but not for long. “Excuse me?”
“That’s right,” I said with a shrug. “I know all about your little plan to humiliate the Academy.”
“What plan?” Loki asked, looking between us. Even Fenrir had turned his attention toward her.
“Tell them,” I challenged, smirking.
Her gaze burned with hatred as she watched me. “Who told you?”
I didn’t answer right away. I wanted to draw it out a little. See how she reacted when she thought there was a chance her precious Dionysus had betrayed her.
Maybe I would let her keep thinking that, as a matter of fact. That way, I could make use of Daphne for longer.
Before I had the chance to respond, the door opened and I turned around, expecting to see the orc again. The sight of the regal god standing before me with pale skin and eyes as red as blood made all other thoughts flee my mind.
Dread filled me for the first time in my adult life as I found myself face to face with the one being even my father feared to encounter. I had never seen Ares in person, but the jagged scar running across his left eye and down his face from when he’d fought my father and been banished to the Aether was unmistakable.
For a moment, we all just stared at him in silence, but his eyes were fixed on Kore and her alone. It felt like forever that he stayed there, just watching her, but when he finally spoke, his gaze softened with more tenderness than I had ever imagined possible for the god of war and chaos.
“My dear Persephone,” he said in a heartfelt tone as he stretched his arms out to her. “Welcome home.”
The End.
To be continued soon in Academy of the Gods #3!
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About the Author
River Ramsey is a queer fantasy and paranormal author living with their partner and cats. They enjoy penning tales of adventure, magical mayhem and happily-ever-afters!