“No,” I shook my head, brow furrowed. “I'd assumed being brought toPavoswas blessing enough.”
Deimos’ smile widened as he stretched his arms wide.
“Those who live among us are brought closer to us,” he said. “Forever. Welcome to immortality, Dante of House Viper.”
My lips parted in surprise as I whirled towardKleiowho still stood in his dark corner. He gave me a slight, almost imperceptible, nod. I fought the urge to storm over to him and crack his skull against the marble at his back. He could have at least warned me. At any time, he could have told me I'd gained the gift of immortality. If it was, in fact, a gift. That was yet to be determined.
“Valin!” Deimos shouted abruptly.
I refrained from jumping as two massive golden doors behind me creaked open. An enormous brute of a man with wavy, russet hair and a white eye patchover his left eye, strode in, brown leather garb rustling with every step he took until he stood before theGeist, only a few feet from me.
I stared at the hero of legend and failed to keep my jaw from hanging open in an embarrassing display of obvious shock. Immortality meant this was the realValin. The Saint that his very own minor house had been founded upon, the partner of my own ancestor,Primaof House Viper, and the first to ever succeed in all ten Trials. He didn't smile as he stood before the gods. Nor did he kneel or address them in any way. He simply stood still beside me, awaiting his orders.
“You will personally oversee our new Victor's training. I expect you to make him into a warrior as fine as all the others you've guided through the years,” Deimos ordered and was answered with only a simple nod fromValinwho was already turning away and heading for the doors at the back of the hall. “You should know, Dante of House Viper, I will have reports of your progress. Should you prove to be a disappointment, you will have myself as well as the full might of this council to answer to for it.”
Despite the chilling threat the Lord of the Geist had just delivered to me personally, I maintained my composure enough to bend forward and bow.
She never would have bowed.
The thought was sudden and unwelcome, like a bucket of icy water tossed over my head. I pushed it aside and focused on the next thing.Just get to the next thing.Managing to remain collected, I turned and followedValin, ancient hero of Sanctuary, toward the exit of the enormous council chambers. As I passedKleio’scorner, I met his gaze. There was a warning there, though I couldn’t quite decide what it was.
The momentValinand I stepped through the massive double doors at the back of the hall, I was blinded by the burning sun ofPavos. Shielding my eyes with an arm as I hissed in a breath, I blinked rapidly to clear my vision before we stepped out onto the dusty streets and allowed the doors to close behind us.
Several of theGeistmilling around outside of the palace looked up at us with interest as we passed, butValinpaid them no mind. He didn't hesitate as he took the steps two at a time until his feet were pounding against the cracked pavement below. I hurried after him, uncomfortable with the sight of the gods and trying my best not to marvel at their towering height, their incomparable beauty, or the way they seemed to literally glow in the morning sunlight.
My fragmented mind struggled to comprehend the religious grandeur surrounding me, the deities I now walkedamong, the gods whom I'd been taught to worship and revere since the moment I was born, now made flesh. And they stared at me as if I was as much a wonder to them as they were to me.
I cast my eyes to the sand beneath my feet to avoid the weight of their combined gaze and continued to followValinoff the paved pathways and in between buildings, out of the main thoroughfare. Examining the atmosphere of the city for the first time, I noticed it wasn’t a stone construction as Sanctuary had been. There were no tunnels and no class-restricted platforms. There wasn’t even a wall. Or rather, there was, but it was made entirely of glittering, translucent light so that one could see the endless expanse of sun-bleached sand stretching out into the distance beyond the city limits, so vast even I couldn't see where it ended with my enhanced eyesight. I hesitated at the sight of the wall once we emerged from between buildings to a much more open space on the other side. Feeling a sudden urge to touch it, I took a step forward, butValinreached out andgrabbed my arm to stop me. I whirled to face him as he scowled down at me.
“Don’t touch the wall,” he said. His voice was low, gruff, and gravelly. It was the voice of one who'd seen and suffered through so many years his voice now reflected his own ancient prowess. “You’ll want to. It calls to us, somehow. But don’t touch it."
“Why?” I asked.
I knewCosmowould be mortified by the way I'd been questioning gods and saints since I'd arrived, but I couldn’t help it. For the first time, I thought I might understand Milo of HouseAvus’ thirst for understanding.
“It’ll sheer your fingers right off,” he replied, already releasing me and turning away. “And anything else you plunge into it.”
Jaw dropping slightly in surprise, I pulled my gaze from the wall and hurried afterValinwho was walking, it seemed, to the very edge of the city itself. The landscape changed from looming marble homes accented with silver and gold, to respectable stone manors, to tiny woodenlean-tosopen on the front end to the elements. The people inside of them looked quite different from theGeistoutside of the palace. They were smaller in stature, thinner. And they didn’t glow.
“Who are they?” I asked, nodding in the direction of one particular lean-to where a group of women had gathered to boil and strip the leather off of some animal they'd skinned.An animal far bigger than anything I'd ever seen in Sanctuary, I noted.
Valindidn't so much as glance at them before he answered.
“Humans,” he grunted.
“Humans?” I asked. “What are those?”
“A race that existed here long before you or I, or even theGeist. They’re weak and they can’t use magic. They used to serve theGeistas slaves but, ever since slavery was ended, theones who chose to stay in the city survive by bearing and raising sons to serve in the militia.”
I nodded, turning away from a frail mother attempting to nurse a screaming babe at her breast. Thelean-tosfaded out of view as we rounded a corner and found a sort of village within the larger city. It was arranged in a circle, modest stone homes lining the exterior, long woodenrow-housesarranged in front of them and, at the center, an enormous training yard at least three times bigger than theMittewith various pieces of equipment and a few ominous looking iron cages. Soldiers were already hard at work sparring in the yard or lifting the boulder-sized balls and tossing them as far as they could.
“This is…” I started.
“The militia,”Valinsaid with a curt nod. “The stone houses are for the commanders. They’re allGeist, though most are relatively lowborn. Very few noblemen serve in the militia. In front of them are the barracks. That’s where the soldiers, like you and I, reside. The smaller ones in the back are for the humans. We’ve got our own little district here on this end of the city. There's a depot over there in what's called the common area. That's where you can get any supplies you need or have a drink at the tavern if you feel like it. And then there’s the training yard. This is where you and I will be spending most of our time.”
I nodded. Training was something I understood. It didn’t appear to be all that different here than it was in Sanctuary. A mentor barking at you as you went through your exercises, partners hacking at you with wooden swords, heavy things to lift, a track to run. It all seemed so familiar it almost felt like home for a moment. Almost.
“So I'm to be a soldier,” I said, pushing away thoughts of home. It wasn't my home anymore anyway.
