Not bothering to put his shirt back on, Acacius teleported from his smithing station onto the isle of pines that surrounded the mainland.
His boots touched on a carpet of moss as he took in the view of the obsidian mist, thickening like a blanket of oil over his Land. The growing void smothered all audible movement, leveling Marina’s odds even within his own realm.
“Well, this is quite interesting,” he mumbled.
The High Goddess’s divine power pricked his arms, like a sea of needles, and dissolved through his skin. He could feel her presence, thorns coiling around his tendons and squeezing, the pain equally arousing and infuriating.
His eyes pried through the onyx cloak surrounding him, unable to see mere inches beyond where he stood. The lack of bedlam pinched his ears, a cluster of nerves overstimulated by the uncomfortable peace.
He held his knuckles up to his face, unable to make out a sliver of flesh. No deity had ever held the audacity to traipse into his Land and provoke him in the palm of his own hand.
How long had it been since he felt a flicker of fear? Afraid of the darkness—it was a new terror for him. A child’s imaginationconjured monsters in the night. But in Marina’s, the monsters were real, and Acacius was their prey.
How delightful.
Perhaps he could coax them out to play?
Her intense, enchanting aura pressed against his backside. She was near.
Devour her,his Chaos whispered.
A twisted rhythm palpitated in his chest. “Do you honestly think you can hide from me in my own damn realm?”
Laughter sprung out to his right from a distance away, a bewitching motif that thrummed under his skin. He despised how much he wanted to hear it again.
“Who says I am hiding from you?” Her tone was coy, teasing.
“Oh, Rina,” he said as his smile widened, vengeful hunger growing wildly in his stomach. “I do intend to punish you for this.”
“You will have to catch me first.” As the last word left her mouth, a distorted sound hissed in the air, and her aura vanished.
He released the dam of his mind, opening the connection between him and his many Olethros.
The vanilla and amber fragrance of her perfume trailed amongst the wet bark of the evergreens. The Heralds who resided in the misty forest of the isle growled out as one.
Every footstep she took traveled like a wavelength through the mossy terrain and flashed in his mind.
The force of shifting gravity lurched him into a whirring cloud of his divine power.
He hit the ground running through the opaque darkness, sidestepping and materializing around the earthy pillars in his path. Ground cover crunched under his boots. After the centuries spent in Tavora, he’d memorized this woodland—each dip, each path, each shrouded cavern. It was one of the fewplaces safe from the inherent destruction of his realm, so he retraced it often.
In the swath of the night, the beaming eyes of his monsters glowed in soft halos, like topaz jewels.
Marina’s footsteps came to a standstill.
Acacius slowed his pace until he stopped entirely, relying on his heightened senses to feel the faintest mist of her breath in the air of his Land. He could envision her tucked away in the boundless dark, breath held, smirking in arrogant delight at her game.
Acacius zoned in on the shape of the divine energy around him. Instinct sent a shiver down his middle, and he slightly angled his head, the sharp prong of her power piercing into his side.
He rotated and fabricated in the space of a nearby stone arch. It was the entrance of a temple that the realm had assembled on its own, in honor of its monarch. His Heralds scattered, like mice in sunlight, as he strolled down the long corridor.
“For a god who is determined to seek his revenge, I’d say you are doing a poor job. I am right here before you, yet you do not attack me.” Her voice came from a short distance directly ahead of Acacius.
Exhilaration bloomed in his groin, and he smirked darkly, nearly halfway to her voice. “I intend on taking my revenge in anewway. One where you’re writhing beneath me, calling out my name like a desperate prayer. I know it will kill you on the inside to relish my tongue inside of your?—”
Marina gave another smooth, mocking laugh. “What makes you think you were so memorable?”
Acacius was amused by her attempt at lying. He recalled the way she squirmed the last time he brought her pleasure. “You’ve returned, haven’t you?” He stepped up, anticipating the dais in front of him.
