Chapter 34

Chapter

Thirty-Four

SELENE

E mrys' scar-covered arms were around my middle, pulling me tighter against his naked chest as he breathed out, "Holy gods." My eyelids fluttered open, vision clearing as my Mate coughed behind me, his scarred face turned up in disgust and horror.

Black sludge leaked out of the once solid ground as the stones holding the earth together beneath our makeshift bed cracked. Covering my nose, I tried not to gag at the rancid scent of rotten flesh pervading our tent. Veins and fissures of crimson and onyx rushed across the terrain, creating a marble-like appearance of blood and death.

I couldn't stop my voice from shaking as I asked, "Wh–What is that ?"

The ever-growing pool of sludge and gore trailed out of our tent as a heavy gust of wind swept in and opened the flaps, blasting us in the face with an unearthly chill.

My eyes went wide as hooves and gunk-blackened feet trampled through the frosty fields of wildflowers surrounding the Temple of Haco. They were hundreds of yards from our tent, our view slightly overlooking them upon the rolling hills of Menodore. Horns of every size sprouted from skulls that were adorned with metallic helmets, and tattered iron plates protected their bodies.

Thousands of beasts flooded from the ground, rising up in pools of black sludge and rotten blood. Yellowed and serrated teeth filled their mouths as their grotesque, nightmarish forms gleamed in the hazy sunlight, light bouncing off of the broken armor.

Screams and shouts of war raged on as Emrys tossed my battle leathers towards my stunned form. Signal horns were bellowing, their raucous sound vibrating across the mountains as they sent out their alarm of distress. Within moments, the Shadow of Death and I were armed to the teeth with blades. His shadows unfurled in a haze of torment, shifting into a portal conjured of chilled flames.

Fire roared along my fingertips as my lightning struck the blood-covered soil outside. The other end of Emrys' portal opened right outside the Temple, shadowfire illuminating the night. He pulled me through, air rushing by before we landed in the midst of a hellish chaos.

Bruma was over, a new cycle of seasons blooming on the horizon. The High King was dead, even his ashes forgotten in the wind. We had won the war waged against the light—the prophecy was fulfilled, mine and Emrys' souls becoming one. And yet evil prevailed, vile demons raiding our place of worship, desecrating its very name.

My attention went to the foggy sky, my breath quickening as darkness began eclipsing the sun again. It was not only darkness but pure midnight with a tinge of red, washing the world in its crimson glow. Flames lapped over the top of the pine and oak trees like waves, crashing down as the remaining fae used their magic to quell the wildfire. Brimstone and ash were heady in the air, my tongue drying out with every breath and making my eyes burn.

The binding of the Crown of Daemonium hadn't been completed, the High King's death cemented that. Nevertheless, our realm was shifting and reshaping, Infernum seemingly taking its place despite the sacrifice going unfulfilled…

Sel… my Mate's smoky voice filtered into my thoughts, our Bond linking us as one. What if… What if he was the sacrifice?

Gods, how could I have been so stupid? The prophecy hadn't been fulfilled—there was always more. Always fucking more that we didn't understand. I had been so Godsdamned na?ve and hopeful an?—

"So it begins," Emrys timbred, his voice hollow yet understanding.

There was no time to re-decipher prophecies, no time for guilt and shame and hatred at our overenthusiastic attitude over the past nine days. We were thousands of warriors down, all of Jindera's army dispersed earlier this week along with countless other Rebellion troops and allied cities.

We had all assumed this war was over, our lives were ready to resume, and a new nation was eager to be built, but we were wrong… So fucking wrong, and now our realm was paying the price.

"No," I shook my head. I wouldn't let that happen. Wouldn't sacrifice our world, our people, to this greedy damned fallen God of the Divine.

And now Emrys was here, the Fates still following their tricky web of misguiding words and fallacies. Just his presence alone reignited the fire of retribution in my soul. If the Fates wanted a war, an absolute end to those unforgiven sins committed eons ago, then I would give it to them.

I was the Goddess of Death, the Bringer of Light, and Viridis Mors.

Fury lit through my veins, electric and shocking as I vowed, "It ends."

Godsfire rained down upon the battlefield, my ire and rage fueling its deadly flames. There were so many hordes of beasts, their multicolored forms moving in groups. They were easy targets when banded together, their shrieks of indignation lighting up my soul. But they also outnumbered us, our numbers heavily dwindled after sending some of the soldiers back home to their families.

"Minka," both my powers of the mind and voice reached out, needing to make sure my sister was secure in this fucking nightmare. But there was no answer as my Godsfire engulfed demon after demon, dread filling me.

Another flash of lightning pounded down, killing a group of creatures as gunky debris shot up, followed by the roll of furious thunder. The ground shuddered, fissures and cracks breaking along the ground as sulfuric smoke bellowed upwards. I shouted to Emrys, "We need to find Minka!"

My Mate nodded his head in understanding as he tied back his black hair messily. Unnatural beasts disintegrated around us, his shadowfire burning them to nothing without even having to look.

"Kill everything that moves and stay close," his whiskey eyes bored into mine as a bloodcurdling scream sounded off, another piece of vermin vanishing. Emrys' grip tightened on my hip, "I will not lose you, Selene."

Pressing my hand against his, I answered, "Stay within each other's sight." My gaze shot back to the murky field of death, searching for golden curls. For any sign of her. "Got it."

A blood-drenched mud pit took the place of the field that was once littered with Atrium's soldiers' bodies. No bodies of those ghastly creatures lay on the ground, making my spine stiffen. In their place, hundreds of Rebellion fighters with disheveled armor and missing body parts burned on the soil.

Red, scaly demons with feathered wings danced upon their corpses, overgrown hooves clopping against the metal with every step. Within the blink of an eye, a gigantic bolt of lightning struck, blasting the beasts into tattered pieces. Evander, the Lord of Lighting, sent another electrifying hit, his horned body on the temple's step.

Emrys and I stayed near one another, our magic and swords burning and slicing the creatures as fire and light and rain and wind overwhelmed the battlefield. All nine of our Gods used their powers at once, exterminating any that dared to disobey their commands.

There was no unification, no battle tactic or formation. It was pure pandemonium and bloodshed, groups of only three and four working in tandem to kill the Infernal monsters.

"Minka!" my voice echoed through the thousands of shifting bodies as I scorched vermin after vermin plaguing our realm. More dragons soared overhead, their wings beating against the stormy clouds as their wicked fire burned the flying beasts.

A high screech filtered through the chaotic air as vines covered in thorns rose from the earth, digging into demons' putrid flesh as black blood splattered across the ground.

Rainbow braids came into view as Belindo swept down, his torn wings flapping harshly to combat our Goddess Aither's deadly wind.

The Queen of Gambriel screeched again, her battle cry loud enough that one would assume she was blessed by Reombarth's wrath of sound rather than Ragnar's foliage manipulation. Demons kept rising from the muck but as quickly as they surged up, Keva's vines of torture tied them back down. She sliced and cut into their flesh as Belindo finished them off with his inferno.

Minka? I probed into Keva's mind as her blue eyes met my own. Where the fuck is Minka?

The darkened sky rained blood upon us as the sun tried to peek out between the clouds but with the smoke and fire moving through the air, the only light we saw was red and covered in ash. Ogres with large clubs battered through rows of the vile creatures and smashed them into pulp as pixies fluttered about, sprinkling hallucinatory dust on their victims, causing the monsters to mutilate themselves.

East! Gambriel's queen shouted in her mind before Belindo hit the skies again, burning any demon within his sight. Go east by the sea!

Cracking filled my ears as a horned demon with too many eyes to count shredded into an already fallen soldier with its rust-covered claws. Its unhinged jaw snarled and snapped at the other fiends around it, wanting only to dive into the flesh of our deceased. The beast feasted on the corpse before I sent a ball of fire careening towards its naked scalp, burning it alive while it squealed out in agony.

"SHIELDS, NOW!" Ric's voice echoed through the chaos, with Reombarth's assistance.

One by one, soldiers from every part of the continent held up their shields made of iron. Golden and silver metal gleamed across the battlefield as the remaining soldiers of Gambriel, Argyll, and the Rebellion formed a line at Ric's command, shields overlapping one another like the scales of a dragon.

The scent of teakwood and mahogany drowned out the repugnant stench of sulfur and death as Emrys' tendrils of darkness swarmed around us. Where the demons fought with their claws, teeth, and broken weapons in utter pandemonium, the people of Ladon rallied as one.

Unfaltering and loyal, the protectors of this continent stormed through Infernum's army. They lashed out with and without magic, poison-covered blades, and pure might, destroying flesh and metal by the second.

My Mate had been made and trained for this exact purpose.

The Lord of Nightmares was as lethal and cold and unforgiving as the stories made him out to be. He didn't stop moving forward, never taking one of his eyes off of me as he demolished threat after threat, leaving nothing in his wake as his shadowfire burned through their rotted ranks. Shadows coiled around him, their soft wisps caressing my leatherbound arm with love at the same time they mutilated a pig-faced demon bounding towards my back.

His flames burned brighter, hotter than before as my Godsfire combined with his shadowfire, creating an inferno of death no being would ever outrun.

Screams of torment followed by the sizzling of flesh surrounded me from every side as I bounded through the field, running and burning through demons as I went. Emrys stayed at my side, his wispy midnight shadows coiling around me as a shield.

Like a breath of fresh air, the seascape loomed in the distance. With my advanced eyesight, I could see waves of the Circadian rising from the ocean's floor, pulling the beasts of Infernum into its deadly wake.

Brown skin glistened in the cloudy sunlight and I could've sworn my eyes were deceiving me as the ghost before me rode up on an oversized teal-colored horse, its mossy mane dripping wet. Its ears were webbed instead of fuzzy, fishlike gills flexing right below them.

"Hello, little flower," my adopted uncle's recognizable voice hit my ears. The large horse snickered, spraying droplets as it shook out its mane while the King of Argyll sliced down an advancing beast.

He held out a dark brown hand, covered in black sludge and crimson. He tilted his chin towards the raging Circadian sea I was sprinting towards, "Need a ride, flower?"

War raged inside of my head as he repeated the nickname he had given me when I was a child. Emrys kept his hazy shield over me, golden eyes watching me as he slaughtered another group of demons.

This male had been married to Radha, the bitch who murdered my family, kidnapped me, and had done countless other things that made my blood boil. Yet here he sat, like a knight in shining armor upon some noble steed, like the savior I'd thought he was all those years ago.

He was just another captor, another person responsible for the cage I was thrown into.

But he had also saved Minka from death, her words of kindness keeping me from cutting him down myself.

Some people do deserve second chances.

"It's just a kelpie, if that's what you're afraid of," the dethroned king patted the side of the enormous horse. "She won't eat you, just those Infernal?—"

His words were cut off by the sound of teeth snapping together as his kelpie ate a whole demon in one bite. Its hooves were being swallowed as I stared in horror and Arron finished his sentence. "Assholes."

His brown eyes twinkled in delight as he rubbed the beast's neck. More demons were rising, the sulfuric air getting harder to breathe. His silver sword didn't glint in the fire's light, its metallic blade painted with black blood as he cut down more vermin.

"Minka," I shook my head, ridding my brain of the rage I held for this male and focusing back on what I needed. The deformed creatures kept falling, along with our soldiers, causing me to feel frenzied. "Where is Minka!"

The King of Argyll pointed towards the sky with his free hand and my heart dropped, "No… No."

She couldn't be…

His focus turned downwards, to the bodies reforming in the sludge and ascending. I burned through the corpses before they could knit themselves back together, trying to get Arron to answer me.

"Minka!" I roared as fire shot upwards and my breathing came in heavy pants. I couldn't get enough air in, nor could I get it out. My heart was racing a million miles per minute as I put a hand to my chest, trying to stop the ache that was forming within it.

Emrys was next to me, his scent lulling my heart to a steady beat as chaos continued. "She–She–She—" I stuttered, unable to form any words or thoughts as my powers razed the demonic beasts. My voice broke along with my heart as I called out her name once more, my voice echoing across Menodore. "Minka!"

It was not possible. I would feel it. I would know if she had left this earth…

It wasn't fucking possible.

A strong gust of wind swept back my hair as the beating of feathered wings came closer. "Selene!" a feminine, high-pitched voice rose above the rest, causing my head to follow that sound.

White wings, golden armor, and a long sword covered in dark blood came into view, our Angel of Vengeance holding tightly onto the Pegasus' hair, steering the angelic creature onto the field below. There were no tears, no time for emotions as Minka screamed in a panic, "There are too many in the sky! We need you up there!"

"Oh, my Gods," the former King of Argyll breathed out in awe as my bones cracked and muscles stretched. The plunge into my power was swift and bottomless, as easy as breathing. Scales formed along my skin as my fingernails elongated and my body shifted instantly at Minka's words. My Mate was already gripping the horns traveling down my scales, maneuvering his body onto my back.

Tendrils of darkness anchored him to me, his heat a steady weight against me. Launching up with my back legs, I shot up towards the skyline and straight into the reddened clouds with Minka trailing behind on her Pegasus.

Smaller demons with bat-like wings swarmed up above like a horde of locusts as they fought tooth and nail within the clouds. Roars of agony and terror saturated the muggy air as warriors atop Pegasi sliced Infernum's beasts to bits. The scent of charred flesh invaded my senses as Haco scorched through group after group of demons, letting their ashes rain down onto his temple.

The Shadow of Death kept his infamous shadowfire burning, balls of darkened flames hitting their marks with precision. There were too many in the sky, and our vision was obscured by the humid fog and smoke. A shadow passed by me, almost too swift to see as I heard Haco roar out, "To your left!" but his warning was too late.

Scalding hot pain, like a branding iron being pressed to my flesh, lit up my neck and down my left shoulder as large jaws tore into my scales. My claws swept out to the side, trying to maim the attacker as my wings pushed outwards, throwing the demonic dragon at my side a few yards away from me. Smoke billowed out from its nostrils, its eyes an odd shade of deep red rather than the black of Medies.

My golden blood tumbled towards the earth, falling so profusely that it was as if the Gods were crying for our realm and its annihilation. Emrys was still tethered to my back, his shadows holding strong as he maimed the airborne beasts outnumbering us. Godsfire roared from my throat, its heady flame aiming for that dragon but it vanished from the ashy air, crimson clouds obscuring it.

Flapping my wings harder, I moved further up and away from the hundreds of demons still in the sky. Their misshapen bodies faded into the wind, no time for them to screech before disintegrating.

More shouts rang out but my ears zeroed in on one sound, searching the clouds below for my prey. Breathing in the murky air, I watched the clouds shift slowly as fire built from my chest and into my throat again. As quiet as smoke on the wind, an Infernal dragon shot through the mist, his jaws wide open, trying to make another lunge for my neck.

I easily evaded his charge, twisting my body to the side as I let out a stream of Godsfire in his direction. A keening sound came from inside his chest as my flames burned straight through the scales and membrane on his right wing.

My Mate held fast, trying to concentrate on killing our enemies as I battled a demonic God in the sky. The dragon pumped harder and faster with his left wing as he cried out in fury, snarling in my direction as plumes of smoke left his nostrils.

He charged at me again with more anger in his movements, like a cobra striking out at its prey. Keeping my chest towards him, I tucked my head down and rolled in the air, twisting away and sending another ball of fire towards his tattered wing. Shaking his head out in hatred, his crimson eyes glared into my soul as I flicked my tail at him and dove towards the battlefield below us.

As I knew he would, he chased me down, leaning all of his weight into a nosedive. The people below us no longer looked like ants or moving blobs, their characteristics and features becoming more pronounced the further we fell. At the last second, my wings fanned out, keeping me from plummeting into the earth as I glided and shot up again.

The Infernal beast was too blinded with rage, shooting towards the terrain like a comet, his body splattering in a heap of onyx blood and crushed bones. Well played , Emrys' smoky voice filled my mind as the scales reformed, flesh knitting back together. Armies of Infernum's most vile creatures continued to rise from the sludge, their deaths sending them back into the Infernal realm.

Even my Godsfire, given to me by the God of Death himself, couldn't kill the souls of hell. They were already dead, their souls damned to the Demon King's realm, so they just kept regenerating and returning through the open rift.

They were the undead yet unliving, just like my father's cursed warriors that I'd failed to wake. There had to be something more, something I had done wrong because my blood was the key. I had spoken the correct diction, and let my blood soak into Menodore's earth as I commanded their presence, but had been met with silence.

And now we were outnumbered and overpowered, hellish beasts rising second after second as my mind raced with a solution to kill the unkillable.