“An alternative source?” I repeat his words as if doing so will make them make sense.
“Yes, my Queen. The sisters created an energy pool—a powerplant that would keep the energy flowing in this realm, so that the sun and moon would be everlasting and thus the powers of their children undying.”He pauses, his diamond eyes blinking.“But they made a huge mistake. They created the pool in this realm, thinking no one would ever find it.”He pauses.“But someone did. The Gods did not choose him; he stumbled into it, his heart impure. It granted him power, but with nothing but greed in his heart, his power became the epitome of him.”
I look to Ryder, but he is as mesmerised as I am.
“A Siphon; he absorbed the power used against him, only making him stronger. He wished to void the sun of its power and then the moon, so there would be no beings with greater power than he. The sisters tried to stop him, but he latched onto their power. In the end, after finding no other way to defeat him, they had to drain all of their magic to forge a cage strong enough to hold him.”Skyphorahhisses slightly in his slumber, breaking my concentration for a second. “They fashioned the contents of the pool into two gems, and with their last remaining power, they placed a protection spell on the stones, so that the impure of heart would never be able to retrieve the power within.”
“Two stones?” I question.
“The power inside the original gem was too immense to be contained in a single vessel, so the sisters were forced to divide it—two stones, equal in strength, opposite in nature. They swore a sacred pact: neither would reveal the location of their half, not even to each other, so the power could never be reunited or abused again. But Auryn… she broke the oath. Fear swallowed her whole. Terrified that her stone might fall into the wrong hands, she destroyed it—shattering her half of the power forever.”
The hope that sits in the shallows of my mind is nothing compared to the deep sea of doubt that weighs me down. Even if we do find a stone, who’s to say any of us is pure of heart? I killed a man, in the shadow realm, in cold blood. I have hurt people before, lied to my friends and the people who care about me.
My face turns pale as I dance with doubt.
“Maybe Auryn was right… maybe no one should wield such power,” I mutter, my eyes wide with upset.
“Power is but an accessory in the right hands.”Versivius snakes forward and bows his head to me.“And a God is not such a huge leap from a Queen.”
“This is the only way, Asha.” Ryder places a hand on my lower back and pulls me into his side. I lean into him and exhale a deep sigh.
“I know,” I say as I swallow down the hesitation. “How will we know when we find it?”
“Simple. You’ll either bear the power of an original God, or you’ll cease to exist.”Versivius hisses before sliding close to Skyphorah and curling up next to him.
“What was he called…the Siphon?” Ryder asks, his question lingering in the air between us.
Versivius doesn’t move from his position close to the heat of the floor.
“I don’t know his human name, but the people called him Nyxos.”
I find myself shivering at the sound of his name as if it just got ten degrees colder in here. If the sisters couldn’t kill him, and the power is somehow draining.
Maybe Nyxos has found a way out of the cage.
Chapter Fourteen
Lightning claims the skies again like an ill foreboding. Another storm. It shakes the ground and chills my spine the further we wade through the forest. River hasn’t said a word to me since he agreed to do the unthinkable, not that it was a hard decision for him to make. He jumped at the chance to put down Ryder if it meant saving me. But he knows if I had a minute alone with him, I would try to convince him to change his mind, which is why he is currently trailing behind with Nala whilst Ryder and I navigate our way to the Hollow.
The thoughts of Nyxos keep resurfacing in my mind.
If two original Gods couldn’t stop him, how the fuck are we supposed to?
It’s going to be a long journey, that much we know. Ryder’s orders to pack as much food as we could scrounge from the one store in my village—shoving it into his bag—loom in the back of our minds. But now, with each step we take, the storm chomping at our ankles and dark clouds pressing down, that thought is no longer in the back. It’s front and centre, gnawing at us with every gust of wind and crack of distant thunder.
“Let me try something.” Ryder stops for a moment before holding onto my wrist. “You thought about your father and took us unwillingly back to his house.”
Nala and River are still a fragment behind us.
“I’ve been close to the Hollow before. If I think about the place and hold onto you, there’s a chance your portal may be able to channel through me.” His eyes meet mine briefly, and I can see a glint of sorrow weeping behind them, sorrow for the conversation he had with River, sorrow for me.
“We have nothing to lose, I suppose.” I shrug my shoulders, still feeling numb, and sink into the feeling of his skin on mine. Lightning strikes again, highlighting the side of his face in a white glow. I can’t imagine my life without him. The ache of losing him still twists deep inside my gut. When he took himself from me, my heart broke for a moment. His coming back may have sewn it back together again, but the seams remain, like a patchwork of pain. And now the clock is ticking, the threads are undoing, and there is nothing I can do about it. I force a small smile and conjure my portal, shifting it onto the bark of a nearby tree. The void ripples as Ryder pokes his head through it.
“It worked.” Ryder glees as he pulls his head back through the portal. “This is the place I was thinking about.”
I smile and nod back in response.
“Go through, I’ll meet you on the other side.” I urge him to enter, and he smiles regrettably at me before the void swallows him up. Nala and River’s footsteps approach, and I tell them to do the same. Nala’s hair whooshes as she enters the mouth of the portal.
