Drayven’s hold on my hand tightens as we near the Fiery Lakes, but the screams of the damned souls don’t frighten me. His power heightens here, surrounded by wickedness. I lean into it as I let my own magic out to play. Soon, the fires blaze brighter and the wailing howls of the dead intensify under the scorching flames.
To a mortal, we are sinful, devious and villainous, for how we relish in the sound. But we are gods—and gods have no real moralcompass, only the need to temporarily satiate an unquenchable thirst for power and control.
I breathe in the sulfuric air and use my light in the most iniquitous way yet. Golden power ripples out of me in waves as a blacklit canopy of constellations forms overhead. The star-structures look different for each soul. Instead of pictures of gods, they depict the greatest of each soul’s sins, replaying the acts that sentenced them to eternal fire on a constant loop.
Drayven’s pallid skin sparkles under the dazzling celestial sky as he swipes a ringed knuckle across my cheekbone, lingering on the freckles that pepper them. His green eyes sear into me and I know that he sees me—truly sees me. Not the sunshine that the rest of the pantheon believes me only to be, but the deeper, darker shades of me that thrive in his gloam.
I am the last ember in the dying hearth, the flash of white lightning that cracks through the most torrential of storms, the dim light of the crescent moon under which the most scandalous of sins are committed.
And there are many, many sins I would like to commit with the Dark God who holds me flush against the hard stone of his chiseled chest.
The heat of his breath licks my skin as he leans close to my parted lips. “Are you still hungry, goddess?”
“Famished,” I whisper against him.
Drayven nips at my lip and the tangy iron of a single drop of blood pools in its center. “May I taste you?”
The depths of his familial magic, the gift from the Goddess of Blood to her only son, have long remained a rumor amongst the pantheon. Drayca inherited a thirst for it, driving her to push mortals into more and more battles in her name.
But Drayven’s inheritance is a mystery. It’s said that once he has your blood, he can control you, manipulating your thoughts, actions, and feelings without your consent.
“What will that do to me?” I ask.
“One taste of your blood and I will forever be able to find you, across any realm, any time. It will bond you to me. You will be the beacon in my endless night.”
Something akin to hope laces his words and colors our shared breath. A millennia of being drawn to him has culminated in this seemingly simple request. The slightest of movements and his tongue will lap up the essence of my life force, strong and full of power.
Though he doesn’t say it, I can hear it all the same. One drop of my blood in exchange for the eternal protection of the Dark God of Death.
It’s a small price to pay to be his to guard, his to watch—to be simplyhis. Though I don’t know why, a part of me longs to grant him this request.
I suck my bottom lip into my mouth, licking away the crimson drop as my eyes dance with devious delight.
“If you want to taste me,” I taunt, “you will need to ask with more than your words.”
“I should have known you’d want to play.” His cool chuckle rumbles through me as his shadows rise up to whisk us away again. “I hope you’re ready, my light.”
There is an eerie calmness in the Eternal Meadows—the place where docile souls spend their eternities. A misty fog covers their paradise, making everything gray and gloomy.
I walk the stone pathway that cuts through the rolling meadows,pass by the wooden homes whose curtains blow in the phantom breeze, and trail my fingers across the ashen-colored grass.
“Go ahead, Selene.” Drayven slides his hands into his pockets and leans back against the rock formation where we stand looking over the expanse of the meadow. “Do anything you want.”
The right lapel of his shirt falls open, further revealing the scrawling lines of magical ink that cover his skin. I step toward him, drawn to the ever changing art that decorates the broad expanse of him. Leaning in, I let my nose drag across the tattoos that creep up his neck until they kiss the underside of his strong jaw.
“Anything?” I breathe against him.
The Dark God stiffens, a primal growl rumbling in his throat as I step back and raise my palms to the sky.
What I intend to do here will require more magic than I’ve wielded before. I let it pool in my waiting hands, rushing through my veins like a bursting dam.
"If you’re going to stop me, do it now,” I yell over the swelling surge of power.
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Desire drips from his every word as I unleash the might of my power.
The ground quakes under our feet, the gray giving way to the barest hint of red as I summon more of my light. I pull deeply from the well of immortal power within me, drawing up more and more with each shaky breath. The muscles of my arms strain as I physically shape the raw light into an orb, twisting and molding it between my hands. Every ripple in its surface is imbued with my power.
My familial magic seeps out around the edges, washing over the barren meadows and leaving trails of flowers in its wake. Blooms in red, black, white, and purple cluster in the fields, with thick hedges and evergreen trees scattered throughout.
