Chapter 20

Chapter

Twenty

HACO

" B elindo!" I screamed as I heard my son's cries of torment up above. My wings pushed against their confines, trying to break free as I clawed against the invisible barrier holding us captive.

A guard shouted something but within my angry haze, I couldn't make out what he had said that had the guards around us sprinting to the entrance of the cave we were trapped in. Bashing my head against the barrier, I bellowed out again as my vision blurred from the assault, "Belindo!"

"Haco…" Reombarth spoke softly, her voice not as strong as before from her long day of abuse and screaming. "Something is happening," she jerked her large skull with protruding spikes in the direction of the retreating guards. "Listen."

I stopped my useless hammering and let my body relax in the iron vices. My body was shaking with anger and rage with no outlet for it. More shouting rang out above us, but not the usual bickering between guards. Something far more… sinister.

Powerful light mixed with all-consuming darkness.

Something deadly yet barely recognizable in my haze of imprisonment.

My scales bristled as warmth filled my bones and the ground started to tremble. The stone floor began to crack as lines of smoke billowed out from the earth's core. Ceaseless questions ran through my mind, unbidden on repeat, despite the clashing of bones up above.

Could it already be Bruma?

Did the High King sacrifice the High Fae male and bind himself to the crown?

Was Selene even still alive?

Fuck.

Of course she was alive, or we would've been exiled back into that space of nothingness, but that didn't mean she wasn't close to dying with the High King's?—

My body was thrown back with enough force to knock the air from my lungs as the world around us erupted. None of us had enough time to realize what was happening around us as the stones fell from above, spearing towards us and crashing against our scales, not cutting into them.

Like smoke on the wind, darkness filtered through the cave, snuffing out the firelight one by one as an entity of Divine power grew closer. That power felt so potent and raw, like pure destruction with the flick of a wrist.

Despite our heightened senses, I couldn't make out anything but never ending darkness, my mind swimming from being blasted against the stones. Rocks continued to fall at a rapid pace as the mountain shook in vengeance, heady magic cloying the air. Power and fury and the need for death coiled low in my stomach when a boulder landed directly on my tail, causing my nostrils to flare in agitation from the numbing pain.

"Durreos," Ragnar spat, readying to fight tooth and claw for our escape once more. His golden eyes stared straight ahead but nothing but pitch-black smoke filled the air, blocking our sight from the incoming threat.

Baring my teeth, I shifted the chains around my body, growing more irritated with the lack of mobility. I ached to be free of them so I could shred into the sadistic High King that had imprisoned us down here. I wanted his blood in my mouth along with his darkened heart. I wanted his soul in my grasp as he begged for the mercy I would never give.

The yelling and calls from the soldiers ceased as inky shadows and tendrils of darkness spread out, bathing the room in nothingness. The gold of our eyes were snuffed from view, but our fight was not. "We fight until we cannot anymore," I vowed to my fellow Gods.

"Until both light and darkness die," Samael answered back, his hollow voice echoing in the chamber.

Blindingly bright white light shot through the cavern, stinging our sensitive eyes. Sheer panic laced through my system at the memory of being imprisoned within that void of unfeeling. We were lost once more, suspended in between the abyss of time and space, simultaneously feeling every emotion and nothing at all. It was the purest form of torture.

Boundless, everlasting dread and loss.

We would do anything to not return to that . Would do anything to never feel that hopelessness once more. But even that wasn't enough as we were blinded by the luminescent glow. So pure and light that it was as if the darkness had never existed.

A fear so palpable filled my bones as I waited for that void to take us once more. We had already lost the fight and we were surely being sent back to the Divine. Our Creators would claim us once more… but the scent of death and decay still hung in the air as the light dimmed only slightly.

A High Fae shadow stepped through the light, bare feet crunching on the debris and bones of the soldiers she had maimed. Long dark hair, almost the color of midnight, blew on a phantom wind with the force of all nine of our powers flowing through her.

She was the epitome of death and rage and everything beautifully cruel in this world. Her steps were as sure and true as the Blood of the Divine within her veins. The Blade of Vita, the Taker of Souls, was clenched in her hand as she marched towards us.

Dressed in battle leathers with my son Belindo—his eyes now a clear golden color—on her trail, she was a force to be reckoned with. One unfamiliar with her Divine essence wouldn't be able to recognize the creature of destruction, as she was covered in the blood and gore of those she had murdered just seconds before—but I could see her soul within any world.

It was the Virdis Mors.

The Queen of the Broken.

"Selene," my voice rasped out as the chains began to fall away, my wings unfurling in saccharine relief.

The Goddess of Death didn't respond to her name, only kept her jaw tight and eyes forward as she worked on releasing the remaining restraints. Mortal warriors dressed in casual garb flooded in behind her as the somber mountain continued to shake, rocks tumbling around us.

They worked rapidly to free us as heavy boulders crashed to the floor, the earth opening beneath us in a steamy haze. There was dirt and blood and ash clogging the air, making even just a few inches in front of us imperceptible. I couldn't locate Selene or even Belindo's lumbering form as I choked on smoke, calling out both their names.

Shattered stones as sharp as a blade plunged toward our fleeing forms and our shouts were muffled by the volcanic mountain crumbling. We were all moving towards the scent of fresh air that lingered just in the distance, so close, outside of this hellish mountain.

Another quip of light flashed by, so luminescent that it broke through the layers of obscurity and lit up our path towards freedom. I kept bounding forward but looked behind as that light began eclipsing. Through the fading light, I could make out emerald eyes ringed with gold, staring at me in horror as the floor collapsed beneath her feet and Selene plummeted to the earth's core, her scream unintelligible as the volcano continued to collapse.