Until the time was right, at least. My eyes shot over to where Asteria’s human parents were bound, ready for transport. That time was coming.
Soon.
Chapter Forty-nine
Asteria
The mistsof the portal surrounded me, becoming all I could see or feel for an infinite moment, expanded in time. White and black spun together like gossamer threads layered over top the other, becoming so thick there was no hope of seeing through them. But layer after layer began to be shed as we made our way through, until they disappeared entirely as we stepped through the portal. Entering the vast unknown for those who lived and breathed.
The City of the Gods.
I looked up, my fingers tightening around Calix’s, as I took in a sharp breath. I was unable to believe my eyes, sure they must be playing some trick on me.
This realm was…unreal.
The ground under my feet caught my attention right away. My feet shifted side to side, feeling it out. It was… fluffy? It reminded me of clouds, puffy and light, except that it was solid. There was even what I thought was grass. At least until I took a closer look.
“Are these…” I asked hesitantly, not able to voice the ridiculous thought.
“I think they might be diamonds,” Calix answered, sounding just as bewildered. “Just, well, green. They don’t look like emeralds.”
“Green diamonds? What the fuck?” I mumbled, and he barked a laugh.
“There’s no moon or sun, either,” he murmured. My neck nearly cracked I looked up so quickly. I couldn’t imagine living without the precious beasts that lit our world. But he was right. There was nothing up there—just a purple and blue sky, dark and light in parts, shifting in certain places between the two colors. No sun or moon hovered in the sky, giving the realm a strange cast.
I flinched as a dragon roared, and I looked up to the left where the sound came from, watching as a pink and green dragon swooped down and back up. It wasn’t alone either, with a blue and orange dragon following behind, chasing after it merrily.
They flew directly over a palace in the distance, one that seemed to glow against the blue-purple sky. Half of it was light, and half was dark, just like the kings. Two enormous main towers in each hue dominated it, with smaller towers reaching no more than three-quarters of their height. The black and white met in a hazy line down the center of the palace, and I was sure it was playing tricks on my eyes as it seemed to move.
“I guess we’re supposed to go there.” I pointed to the palace, and Calix nodded slowly.
“Most likely. Seeing as there was no welcoming committee,” he smirked when I managed a small but sincere laugh. This was too bizarre, but I was glad he was at least here to appreciate this strangeness with me.
There was a path just ahead that we quickly began down, following around the bends and turns. It had high walls as the landscape dipped and rose at strange angles. I couldn’t make sense of its layout in my head, but the path looked to be the only way toward the palace. And with the other dragons in the sky, flying wasn’t going to be necessarily safe either.
This realm didn’t seem to have the same brightly colored flora we’d seen in Elysium. Like the rest of the strange reality to this place, the flowers weren’t evenreallyflowers. Strange wisps instead grew from the ground, with twinkling breaths of light that shifted from there to gone in a split second. The little wisps would appear on the side of the path one moment and be missing the next, before it blinked back into being again.
The trees I could make out in the distance weren’t any more familiar. The shape, the colors, none of it was like anything I had ever seen. The gold and white swirled trunks and dripping black inky mass on top might not even qualify as a tree as I knew it.
We hadn’t been walking down the path long before we stopped short. My mouth dropped open as we came upon a Pegasus lounging on one of the fluffy cloud-like spots of the ground. When it spotted us in return, it clambered to its legs, purple feathered wings flapping and its white coat gleaming.
And, most prominently, it had ahornon its head, coming straight out of its forehead at a slight slant—one that it seemed to be aiming straight at us for some reason.
“Do you see that?” I nudged Calix, voice hushed. “It looks like the Pegasus on Dusk’s sigil, with the horn. Cyrus doesn’t have that. Neither does Zerlina.”
A shrill cry pierced the air, and we ducked in alarm as fire soared too close over our heads. The ball of fire landed before us, slowly extinguishing its flames. A red and black phoenix stood protectively in front of the Pegasus, blocking the creature with its own bulk as it squawked protectively.
“We’re not here to harm,” Calix said soothingly, holding up his hand not locked with mine. “We’re here to see the gods.”
That shrill squawk was its only response as its head tilted to the side, like it was examining us. But it didn’t speak to us, didn’t shift, didn’t do anything. It didn’t seem Fae at all, just pure animal.
“Calix, are they even shifters?” I asked in a whisper as I tugged on his hand. He shook his head slowly, his lilac eyes creasing in thought.
“Perhaps not,” he responded, sounding vaguely befuddled. He looked around the landscape for a moment, but it was clear the only way to go was forward or back. The path lay in one direction, and I certainly didn’t want us getting lost in the damn city of the gods.
Calix tugged on my hand after a moment, leading us to the far wall of the path so we could edge around the creatures and continue on our way. The phoenix stayed with us, blocking the Pegasus from sight as it rotated. Clearly, it was very protective of the other animal. Strangely so.
“The Pegasus were said to once have horns,” Calix told me as soon as we were out of sight of them. “The rumor was they lost them through the years.” He paused for a moment, shaking his head, “That we all did, really.”
