Chapter 14

Chapter

Fourteen

SELENE

L uminescent magic pulsed beneath my fingertips as I pressed them firmly against the soft mane of one of the Galdurs that had collapsed. Dark, murky tendrils whipped out at me in an enraged frenzy as my powers roared from my veins into the large white horse beneath me. Thunder rolled as storm clouds moved overhead but they didn't release their torrential downpour in the midst of chaos.

Cordelia screamed out in grievance, "Mine's not working!" as she balanced her palms atop the neighboring horse to mine, unlit with the usual light blue color. "I can only stop the Medies from affecting other sea creatures, I can only do it in my element." Tears of frustration ran down the Siren's face as she kept pushing her power, but it was no use. " Fuck. "

Minka lugged over another bucket of cool water and the stable boy ran the moist cloth over one of the heated Galdurs, murmuring softly to calm its racing heart. The horse started convulsing under my fingertips but I only pushed further into my powers, into the light pink strand of healing magic given to me by my mother. Mouth foaming, the horse panted while staring back up at me with black eyes full of the darkness overtaking his soul as I tried to stop the transformation.

With the Crown of Daemonium in the High King's clutches, he'd been possessing an increasingly alarming amount of beings, transforming them into creatures of darkness that answered his call. He didn't even need to be present, the dark magic able to expand across nations and capture victim after victim.

The worst part was that there was no true pattern. The attacks and possessions were at random, making it all the more complicated to defend against.

Cordelia had discovered that those blessed with strong enough magic could help extinguish the murky darkness before it completely took form—but once the Medies flowed through their bloodstream, their soul was lost along with their life.

"Come on, come on," I chanted over and over as the possession exuded from the system of the beautiful animal.

Ebony veins bulged from its neck as more foam fell from its slack jaw and its eyes flicked from its original soft brown, to the deepest black, and then to gold. The purest gold. I didn't have time to question it as the horse's eyes changed to black once more and continued convulsing beneath my hold.

Pushing and pushing with my magic, I closed my eyes and focused on sending my power to every cell within the Galdur's large body. My fingertips began to vibrate as they dug into the soft white mane, the same tantalizing feeling traveling up my arms and into my chest. It felt as if my whole body was buzzing with power and excitement and heat. The more I used, the more powerful I felt.

It felt all-consuming but not with madness, like the bloodlust. What devoured my soul was serenity and peace, calm and light.

The Galdur's breathing slowed for a moment and mine picked up as I forced that light pink strand in my well of magic to build in size. Larger and wider it expanded in that swirling pool of colors. Its iridescent shimmer clouded out the greens, reds, and blues until all I saw was that opalescent color that my mother had possessed. So bright and luminescent and glittering that it almost looked like it was shimmering gold, mixed with a pinkish hue.

Warmth flooded my veins as the familiar feeling of light and love took over. I could no longer sense the earth beneath my knees nor the chilly breeze moving through the air. Couldn't hear the voices surrounding me or the panting of the horse on the brink of death. It was like time and space had been suspended in that moment and all that existed was that light.

That love .

"Selene…" Minka murmured but I could barely hear her soft voice over the buzzing in my ears. Over the roar of my endless powers being sent through every vein of our most majestic species. The horses around us whinnied and screeched in pain but I could barely hear their cries over the thrumming of my power. My fingertips, my arms, my chest, vibrated with intoxicating energy.

As quickly as it came, it went. Like the world was opening up again, I could see more clearly, think more clearly. The ringing in my ears ceased as the Galdur beneath me stopped shaking, stopped moving despite the light and airy breaths filling his lungs. A soft breeze calmed my thundering heart and cooled my sweaty palms as I inhaled the rainy air.

My soul felt at peace with this realm; almost rejuvenated in a sense despite using that much of my power at once. That animosity and fury and vengeance that kept me going had disappeared as swiftly as that frigid wind.

"There's one," I sighed and patted the horse's sizable body before stroking its silken neck to calm him. I couldn't stop yet, there were ten others that still needed my help before the Medies took them. If it did, I would have to give them the mercy of killing them before the High King fully controlled them. That feeling of peace still lingered in my soul but slowly dissipated because it still wasn't over yet.

My magic may have been limitless but using so much like that still left me feeling slightly depleted emotionally, just not physically. The well of power never emptied but mentally I was drained. Like I was fighting against a never ending current with no shore in sight, but death wasn't an option. I just had to fight and fight, never taking a break. I knew I wouldn't die, but that wouldn't keep me from paddling and paddling until I kissed the sand once more.

"Selene," Minka hissed again, more urgent this time.

My head snapped up and over to the small woman covered in sweat and mud from hauling the hysterical horses into a drier place to heal them. "What?" I backhanded my throbbing forehead in exhaustion, rubbing dirt across it in the process.

She swept her hand down at the calm Galdur beneath me, "Look."

Only what was there was not the large white horse the royals of Ladon had once fought over. What lay before me took my breath from my lungs and had me skittering back on the balls of my feet. Reaching up a muddy hand to my arm, I pinched the skin tightly and shut my eyes swifty. I willed myself to wake up from this dream because this couldn't be real. Couldn't be possible.

Cracking open one eye, my hand fell away in one moment as the other eye popped open in shock. The revelation that I wasn't in some dreamscape was shocking. Shocking enough that tears sprang to my eyes as I beheld the creature from legends before me. Studying me with its golden irises framed by long, dark eyelashes.

Glistening white feathered wings moved in the breeze peacefully, like they were always meant to be there. Soft plumes that were full to the touch and a wingspan comparable to that of a dragon's, capable of lifting a three thousand pound horse, rested upon its back.

"I… I…" I was speechless. Utterly besotted with the Pegasus watching me back curiously. Reaching out a gentle hand, I caressed the wing tip to make sure what I saw was indeed real and not another illusion. The Pegasus snickered, flexing its wing at the base, right at its shoulder blade, like my soft touch was ticklish.

Pegasi had been extinct for millennia, their closest ancestor being the Galdurs that had become an endangered species. But what lay before me with its delicate pale wings was a creature I never dreamed of encountering. "Oh my Gods," I whispered with tears streaming down my cheeks. This creature was beautiful, ethereal, magnificent, and too pure for this world yet here it sat, tilting its head, watching every movement I made.

Its eyes were no longer the color of the soil but were now a reflection of our Gods' eyes. Pure gold with the power of the Divine illuminated them. The Pegasus' large head lifted, getting closer to my own but I didn't dare to move. Didn't blink or make another sound as it opened its mouth of pearly teeth while nearing me.

The splashing of boots against puddles neared the stable as my fae ears arched to the sound but I ignored it the longer this gigantic beast studied me. Its fur was as white as the snow atop the mountains in Gambriel but those golden eyes were hypnotizing in a sense. Closer and closer the Pegasus came before its tongue snaked out and licked away the tears that had fallen in its honor.

The creaking of the wooden stable door and a quick slam had the horse rearing back and hopping up from its position on the hay-covered floor. "Holy fuck," Ric belted out as another bucket filled with water splashed to the ground from his hand. The winged horse snickered again and knocked the fallen pail with its large snout as Ric took a step backwards in disbelief. "This is real, right?"

Standing up, I moved towards the next Galdur and got on my knees while the stable boy patted its head with the cloth, trying to cool its fever. Blackened veins moved through its pale fur at an alarming rate. "Very real," was all I could respond before I pushed my magic into the next Galdur, hoping and praying for the same result, but at the very least saving its life.

"So they were just assholes, thirsting for more power like all the other greedy bastards," Minka took a long swig before setting her goblet of wine down in front of her. After spending hours in the stable with the Galdurs and using my magic to not only heal them but change them, we were all exhausted. But not tired enough to not allow Ausra to explain the Book of Divine to us—and how the Ruler of Infernum was cast out by the Creators for betraying them.

Jude was finally able to join us and laid on the chaise lounge, her body covered in fur blankets despite being next to the fireplace. She was still used to Jindera's heat despite not living there for years.

Phaedra was similar tonight, her tanned skin hidden beneath a thick woolen hood as we listened to her wife and Igor explain what they'd found.

Ausra sucked in a breath and looked down at the green goblin who nodded at her in encouragement, "Worse than that, actually."

"Worse than the High King?" I queried. The being we were discussing was the Ruler of Infernum so it would make sense that they were more horrid than even Durreos Seraphim. But I couldn't stop my disbelief.

"This…" Ausra couldn't come up with a good enough word to describe the Demon King of Hell besides, " being was one of the original creations. Their power is comparable to that of the Creators themselves."

"Why would our Creators make something that could rival their own power?" Elric rubbed his temples, "That's setting yourself up for a shit storm."

Phaedra let out a soft chuckle beneath her furry cloak, and I interjected, "Maybe they wanted an equal?"

Igor shook his head and tapped the unrolled parchment with a leafy-colored finger. "The why is not stated, nor does it pertain to this." His black, sparkling eyes looked up at me and in that moment, it felt like he was only speaking to me. "Questioning the why behind everything could drive us to insanity."

The High Fae healer continued on with her story, not answering any of our incessant questions. "They created the Demon King, only back then, it went by a different name and wasn't the ruler of well… Anything. It went by one name and one name only." She took a deep breath, centering herself before she breathed out, "Asmodeus."

Shivers went up my spine and at the mention of that dark being's name. It felt as if all the warmth in the room had been siphoned out. The hearth didn't crackle, nor did the faerie lights flicker as our breath came out in fog around us. Nothing but bone chilling bleakness filled the library for a moment before warmth flooded back in a rush.

All at once, that heat from the fire roared behind Jude, stirring her from her position as she placed a hand to her racing heart. Cordelia held onto Minka's shaking form, her own pristine teeth chattering from that odd event. Keva cleared her throat and sat up in her chair, her shoulders rigid. "Let's not speak that being's name," she shivered despite trying to hold up her tough exterior. "We do not need a curse falling upon Gambriel."

Ausra's brown eyes were wide, her pupils blown as she nodded and then looked back at her notes in disbelief. "They created that being along with our Gods, but this is where it got interesting. In our known history there have always been nine Gods of the Divine but within this text, it clearly states there were eighteen Gods of the Divine."

"Eighteen!" My mouth was hanging wide open, in complete and utter shock.

"Precisely," Igor nodded in excitement, flipping to the next page where a list of names was written.

Haco

Akuma

Reombarth

Ragnar

Helel

Aither

Hyperion

Fenrir

Orias

Bomris

Eirwen

Typhon

Samael

Zeldris

Leviathan

Evander

Asmodeus

Nine out of the eighteen I recognized as the Gods we worshiped and the others... I had never seen them before but that didn't mean others hadn't. One name stuck out more than the rest, the one we wouldn't dare speak aloud again.

Asmodeus.

The Demon King and Ruler of Infernum.

"All eighteen beings of the Divine helped create our world, an image in our Creators' profound vision," Ausra's fingertip traced over the long list of names. "Together, they worked over a millennium carving out our seas and mountains and narrow rivers. All as one they created our differing species, Fae, animals, and humans alike. They made us and our mortal realm with the powers given by the Creators."

"I was taught that the Creators made us, that Gods were just their magical outlet for blessing each of us," Keva shook her head in confusion as Ric nodded in agreement with her.

"That's what we were all led to believe," the High Fae healer agreed. "And for good reason too. Back during our creation, one of the Gods got swept up in their own version of what they wanted this world to be. They grew tired of listening to the demands of others, having to bow to our Creators' every whim."

Her brown eyes looked over the room, reading the understanding on each of our faces. We all already knew which being she was referring to...

"They wanted a world of their own making, one of their perfect design, and over time, some of the other Gods grew bored of listening to the Creators' desires. They all had wants and needs of their own." Ausra's eyes sparkled with understanding and disappointment at the same time. "They wanted free will and choice but our Creators already had an image in mind and wouldn't listen to their own creations try to dissolve those plans."

Oh Gods… My heart was racing a mile a minute, already knowing where this was heading. Something indescribable and so severe that the words should never be put together. But it was the only plausible explanation as Ausra coiled her hair as one before shaking out her short blonde locks, "And then, the War of the Gods began."

"They divided amongst themselves while still within the Realm of the Living," Igor took over, his harsh voice repeating our forgotten history. "They used their creations to fight one another, to destroy each other's lands because they could not be killed. The Gods fought each other, teeth and talons, one side fighting for the Creators and the others listening to the demands of who would become the Demon King."

He took a deep, shuddering breath as we all waited, completely in awe and disgust. "They created and destroyed and recreated our world hundreds of times over the course of their war. The Gods wanted their free will, their choice, so the Creators let them fight amongst themselves, never intervening despite their creations fighting in their name.

"They let that go on for centuries until one day they either grew bored of watching their creations squabble or they'd finally had enough. The reason why was never stated, never even discussed. All the text states is that our Creators came from the Divine. They immediately banished the Gods, our Gods , back to Caelum and wiped their memory of the War of the Gods in fear it would happen again. Within our world, the Creators cleaved open a new realm, deep within the soil and pits of the earth's core."

My eyes immediately shot towards the cool stone floor, where my muddy boots rested. I couldn't stop the image of brimstone and hellfire from flashing before my eyes, the sulfur stench burning my nostrils in memory of the nightmares.

"They designed the Nine Levels of Infernum, each level with its own God to rule over the souls that had committed the same atrocities as the God. It was a punishment of living death. To extinguish them from existence for their betrayal would be a mercy, but our Creators are as cruel as they are giving." Igor looked up as if he could see our Creators within the library's tall ceilings. "They sent the leader of their fallen, the Demon King, to the lowest level of Infernum to rot and fester within the hellhole they so badly wanted to create."

"So they made Infernum not for our most wicked souls to go, but for the Gods that betrayed them?" Minka's face had gone ghastly pale, her gray eyes in disbelief and shock and repulsion.

Ausra nodded and rolled out another piece of parchment, this one with only a list of nine names along with another descriptor next to it. "These are the Nine Levels of Infernum and the Gods cursed to preside over them."

Limbo—Akuma

Lust—Helel

Gluttony—Hyperion

Greed—Fenrir

Anger—Orias

Heresy—Typion

Violence—Zeldris

Fraud—Leviathan

Treachery—Asmodeus

The Ruler of Infernum's name echoed through my mind and lingered on my tongue, the cursed name wanting to be spoken back into existence. My hand coasted over their name, the rotting stench of sulfur lingering as Minka leaned back in her chair next to mine. "Being a greedy, controlling asshole has always been a constant, it seems."

Ausra snorted as she ran a hand through her honey-colored hair, "Consistency is key."

"I just don't understand," it was Ric's turn to question everything we had just learned. "The Creators gave them everything they could've imagined. They were able to come to our mortal plane, experience life and the beginning of our world, and then return to the Divine. They had incomprehensible power and the ability to go between realms, and they still betrayed the beings that gave them all of that?"

"I don't think any of us will ever fully understand that need for power, that greed that the High King and the Ruler of Infernum feel," Phaedra's brown eyes connected with mine and my breath caught.

She looked hollowed out and exhausted with the dark circles beneath them. Her words felt directed at me the longer she kept them pinned on me. Could she see that same darkness stirring within me? I wasn't anything like the Ruler of Infernum nor the corrupt High King so why did her words reverberate through me as if there was truth to them?

"That want for more clouded their minds and fogged their judgment between right and wrong. The Ruler of Infernum was once the Creators' most trusted of Gods, and so the power they were blessed with was enough to help build our world and the magic that resides in it. But that power wasn't enough. They had a taste of that magnitude but needed more."

Phaedra's voice became more ominous, as if she were living in the memory of history and not just explaining a written out story translated by her wife and Igor. "They not only wanted to help create those worlds but also destroy them. They wanted enough power to rival the Creators of all but the only way to get that was from the Creators themselves. They didn't want to answer anyone or any higher power, so they decided to become that power."

"And that's where Medies came from," Ausra flipped open the Book of the Divine to a bookmarked page covered in symbols and lettering I couldn't make out. She pointed to the center of the page, towards a whirling symbol that was similar to the ones I had seen on Radha's obsidian locket. The one encasing her soul, protecting it from the darkness hollowing her out, that I had destroyed before slitting her throat.

"The Demon King had promised power to the mortals but only in exchange for their own. They wanted their creations to fight in their war but not under duress. They wanted the mortals to have a semblance of a choice, no matter how dark that may be," Ausra's voice filtered back in and I pulled my eyes from the symbols. "The fae that were making the oaths under Medies to the Ruler of Infernum didn't know that they were binding themselves to a God, let alone to a cruel and selfish one at that.

"Back then, the Destroyer of Worlds could take many forms and went by many names within their time on our earth. They promised power and riches to those who needed it, safety and stability to any who were struggling. Along with the Gods who followed in their King's name." Tears glistened in Ausra's brown eyes, her voice cracking slightly. "They took advantage of the weak and poor and promised them their heart's desire if they bound their powers together. Soul after soul had fallen to the darkness even long after they walked among us. Everything they did went against the balance of nature set forth by the Creators."

"The scales were tipping…" I muttered to myself as the Sibyl's words circled in my mind once more. But were they tipping enough for the Creators to help us once again? Or was this book the help we so desperately needed, a sign from the Fates or our Creators?

Ausra was watching me with somber eyes, "I'd like to think that the imbalance was the reason that caught the Creators' attention but it never stated the why."

Minka nodded, her blonde ringlet curls bobbing in the faerie lights. "That would make more sense, but I don't know… A being with that much power being allowed to keep that power, just in a different realm, still doesn't sit right with me."

Cordelia stretched her brown arm around the back of Minka's chair. "I don't think it sits right with any of us, my treasure."

"And what about the Crown of Daemonium?" I prodded, trying to not rub a hand over my eyes, the exhaustion setting in. "Did the book say anything about its creation or how we could destroy it or stop it?"

"Not a mention of it or even how it got to the mortal realm where the High King could access it," Igor shook his head in disappointment, black hair loosening from its leather strap. He reached out a green, gnarled hand and placed it over my own with a promise shining in his onyx eyes that I hoped was true. "But we will figure this out."