Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16

V iolet

Standing in the dimly lit chamber, I gaped at the sight of Nyx manipulating the shield. My heart started racing, and my fight-or-flight instinct kicked in. This time it urged me to get as far away as fast as I could. The goddess stood before us bathed in an ethereal glow as she effortlessly siphoned power from the ancient artifact.

I narrowed my eyes and fixated on the scene before me. Nyx's movements were fluid and deliberate. Her hands moved with a grace that belied the danger lurking beneath the surface. She held the shield aloft with one hand while the other seemed to draw forth energy from its core.

"The goddess of the night is casually draining power from the one thing we need to stop her," I muttered.

Fiona shot me a sidelong glance. Her expression mirrored my frustration. She nodded, leaned close to my ear, and whispered, "We're in trouble now."

I couldn't help but agree with her assessment. Nyx's actions seemed calculated and deliberate. Her intentions were shrouded in mystery as she drew power from the shield with alarming ease. We had to get the shield and get out of there in one piece. This wasn't going to be easy. Fiona was still nursing her injuries and not at full strength. There was only so much Aislinn and I could do without her. A vice closed around my chest while I channeled Aislinn and started worrying about everything that could go wrong.

Needing to get the lay of the land, I kept one eye on Nyx while looking around. The room was a surreal amalgamation of elegance and madness. I stared at the twisted tableau. It seemed like it was plucked from the fevered dreams of a demented sorcerer. Or an author of fantasy novels.

Ornate tapestries adorned the walls. Their rich fabrics depicted scenes from Mount Olympus. Their vibrant colors held a subtle glow. These were no ordinary wall hangings. Flickering torches lined the stone walls. The shadows they cast danced across the chamber like phantoms in the night.

In the center of the room was a grand table. Its polished surface was littered with an array of arcane artifacts and mystical relics. Crystal orbs glimmered with an inner light and their surfaces pulsated with untold power. Ancient parchment scrolls were stacked haphazardly next to crumbling tomes bound in weathered leather. I could picture their pages filled with cryptic symbols and esoteric knowledge.

To one side of the chamber, a rust-stained slab stood as a grim testament to the room's sinister purpose. Surgical implements gleamed dully on a nearby tray. Bone saws, scalpels, and other macabre tools lay in wait. Their purpose was shrouded in darkness and dread.

In stark contrast to the room's macabre decor, a decadent chaise lounge beckoned invitingly. Its plush cushions offered a place to rest and recuperate. And it looked made for a goddess. The faint scent of jasmine hung in the air mingling with the metallic tang of blood and the musty aroma of ancient tomes .

A chill settled over the chamber, sending shivers down my spine. This was no ordinary laboratory. It was a twisted sanctum. A place where madness and magic converged in a nightmarish tapestry of horror at the hand of a power-hungry goddess.

With a flick of my wrist, I summoned a protective barrier around us. Nyx hadn't seen us yet, but I wanted to protect us against her inevitable attack. My magic must have finally caught the goddess's attention because her head snapped in our direction.

"Well, well, well," Nyx's voice echoed through the chamber. "What do we have here? A trio of meddling mortals, come to disrupt my plans?"

I exchanged a wary glance with Fiona and Aislinn. I knew Fiona was seriously injured when she didn't have a snarky comeback already flinging at the goddess. My best friend was the bravest person I knew. She wasn't afraid of much and never verbally let a god or goddess push us around. She always had a quip at the ready.

"We're here on the behest of Artemis. She'd charged us with capturing that shield. As you might know, it's been enchanted to steal her power," I finally told Nyx. I hoped bringing Artemis's name into it would make her back down. If she was smart, she'd be terrified of Artemis.

With a slow, deliberate movement, Nyx lowered the shield. Her expression was unreadable as she regarded us with curiosity and disdain. "Artemis sent you, did she?" she mused. "How quaint."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at her condescending tone. "Yes, Artemis tasked us with retrieving the shield," I replied evenly, refusing to let her derision rattle me.

"And here I thought you were just three lost souls stumbling into my domain," Nyx remarked. "Do you truly believe you can challenge a goddess?"

I squared my shoulders, meeting her gaze head-on. "We're not here to challenge you," I replied, my voice steady. "We're here to claim that shield on behalf of Artemis. And we won't back down until we succeed."

My bravado was misplaced. We were completely outmatched, but my sisters' expressions agreed with me. We were not about to surrender without a fight. After all, if there's one thing I've learned in the last couple of years, it's that even in the darkest of times, there is always hope.

Nyx's went silent then. Her stare prickled my already tense nerves. I pressed my lips together and held Fiona tighter. I could feel her legs starting to shake. The air thickened with the scent of ancient magic and decay. It was a potent combination that made me prickle with unease. Above us, the vaulted ceiling arched upwards into darkness, where the shadows swallowed the feeble glow of the torches lining the walls. My imagination started to create all sorts of malicious creatures perched up there until I shut it down. There was no need to add more to the already overwhelming situation.

With a look, Nyx sent power our way. I ducked, pulling Fiona with us. It wasn't aimed at us, though. It hit the barrier we'd come through and made it wobble like a sheet of aluminum that's been hit. It even solidified and turned silver. Next, a loud sound reverberated through the chamber like the toll of a funeral bell. There was no getting out that way now.

Nyx's piercing gaze swept over us with a chilling intensity. Her eyes were ablaze with an otherworldly fire that seemed to pierce through to our very souls. Her features were sharp and angular, and her expression was a mask of disdain and impatience. That was undisguised contempt.

"What do I have to do to rid myself of your incessant meddling?" Nyx's voice cut through the silence like a blade. Its icy tone sent shivers down my spine. Her words hung in the air like a dark omen. They were a portent of the danger that awaited us in her treacherous realm.

Fiona and Aislinn exchanged apprehensive glances, their expressions mirroring my trepidation. We remained silent this time. All of us were acutely aware of the perilous game we found ourselves playing with this formidable deity.

As Nyx's gaze settled on me, adrenaline coursed through my veins. It kick-started a race to devise a plan of escape. But Nyx's voice echoed through the chamber once more before I could formulate a coherent thought. "You thought you could outwit me?" she sneered, dripping with malice. "You thought you could trespass in my domain and escape unscathed?"

Fiona stepped forward, her voice steady despite the pain she was still in. "We have no intention of causing you harm," she told the goddess, holding herself upright without a grimace. "We only seek to right the wrongs that have been done."

But Nyx's laughter rang out like a peal of thunder, reverberating off the stone walls with an unsettling echo. "You dare to speak of righting wrongs?" she scoffed. Her eyes flashed dangerously with disdain. "You are nothing but insects, crawling in the shadows of my power."

I glanced around the chamber, searching desperately for any sign of escape. But as Nyx advanced towards us with an air of menacing determination, I had to admit we had no options. We were trapped in the lair of a vengeful goddess with nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.

"We need to find a way out of here," I murmured urgently to Fiona and Aislinn, my voice barely above a whisper. "We can't let her get her hands on us."

Nyx closed in on us with a predatory gleam in her eyes. Our fate was sealed. We were at the mercy of a divine entity whose wrath knew no bounds. And there was no escaping her implacable judgment. She paused at the center of the chamber like a vengeful deity. Her midnight-black hair cascaded in waves down her back, framing her angular features with an ethereal beauty that belied the fury burning in her eyes.

"How in the underworld did you find your way here?" Nyx's voice thundered as she tried to reason through the events. She was clearly shocked we should not have been able to make it to her lair. "And what in Hades' name did Artemis do to give you nine lives? How do you keep surviving what should have killed you?"

Fiona was in great pain, but her composure was unshaken in the face of this goddess. She lifted her chin and said, "Perhaps you should be more concerned about how Metis feels about you stealing the power from the shield she crafted for her own use."

Nyx's lips curled into a disdainful sneer, her eyes ablaze with fury. "Metis can rot in Tartarus for all I care," she spat. Her voice dripped with venom. "I slept with Hephaestus to get that shield made for the ungrateful little bitch, so I'll use it as I see fit."

We exchanged tense glances. That was unexpected, but given what Thanos had shared with me, it wasn't all that surprising. Desperate to keep Nyx talking, I racked my brain for a question that might yield some insight. "But how did you activate the shield without Metis's assistance?" I interjected.

Nyx's smile was cold and calculating, sending a chill down my spine. "Who said I did it without her?" she replied cryptically. As her words hung in the air like a sinister omen, I couldn't shake the feeling that there was something we were missing. And that something was going to bite us in the ass sooner rather than later.