I watched her for a few more moments as she walked away from the group, guessing she was taking in the parts of the area that looked similar, if not the same as they did when she lived on these lands. I wondered what was going on in that head of hers, and my curiosity nearly took me to her to check in, but Aibell came to my side right at that moment.
The troops were ready to game plan, and I needed to focus. If Typhon was here as we had believed, it was possible that we were in more danger than we knew. The air was tense with anticipation as the beings all around me geared up for war. Ma’at and Athena, two of the greatest warrior Goddesses, were both fighting for a better life for all beings. They weren’t new to this. Aibell touched my shoulder, and I realized she’d been talking to me, but I hadn’t heard a word. I distractedly told her I’d be right back before I made my way over to talk with Ma’at.
“Hey, friend. It’s been a while. How’s it going?” I asked. I nodded my hello to Athena.
“It’s going,” Ma’at said. “I’m ready to get this over with. It’s gone on for too long. I remember Typhon from back in the day.”
“Were you witness to any of his destruction?” I asked.
She shifted her stance, rocking back on the balls of her feet. “It was so long ago, I couldn’t tell you for sure. We’re talking pre-Socratic era. I do remember what he looked like. You can never forget it.”
I thought back to seeing him in the Cryptid Realm. “Was he like the stories suggested?”
Athena, helping Ma’at tie her vambraces, glanced up from the ties. We were talking about her Uncle, for better or worse, and I wondered why she was being so quiet. Ma’at nodded in thanks before continuing our conversation. “They did not exaggerate. He was born of Cronus’s imagination. I suspect that Pandora’s Box was what held him all these years.”
I cursed under my breath, my heart picking up in fear. I hadn’t genuinely felt fear in a very long time, and I had to sit with my thoughts for a bit. Typhon was a storm god, said to appear with two legs that were made from snake’s tails, and a humanoid torso, but from his shoulders grew snake heads that varied in amounts depending on which retelling you read. It was somewhere between fifty to one hundred. These snake heads blew fire, and not only that, they screamed. Apparently, the language was only one the Gods could understand. Anyone else would hear every noise imaginable. The noise was deafening and designed to incapacitate anyone who wasn’t a God.
In addition to the snake heads, Typhon had wings, and was so tall that he could reach the stars. He was considered even larger than giants of old, including Cronus. His fingers were also snakes. In short, he was terrifying. But what reassured me was that we had Gods on our side, and many of them. And that he’dbeen defeated before. Granted, it was Zeus who defeated him, and he certainly wasn’t keen on thePax. He no longer wanted anything to do with Earth. After Nietzsche’s famous quote about how God was dead, I think Zeus realized that those who worshipped him were well and truly against him, and he washed his hands of this plane.
“So do we just, what? Waltz on into this cave as if we’re not fearful of this guy?” I said, exasperated.
Ma’at smiled devilishly. “I haven’t had the opportunity to flex my powers in a long fucking time. Yes, that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”
My death magic poked its head up at that declaration. I quietly preened as I took a headcount of the troops around us, and saw that most of the beings with us today were Gods. We had Ma’at, Medb, Athena, Loki, Ganesha, Mayari, Daedalus, Jiutian Xuannu, and several others. If there was anything I could say about this incredible group of individuals, it was that they were cunning and strong. Their ability to strategize, and their strength to protect this world was unrivaled. These incredible beings had shown the world that they did in fact exist, and they had strong views on what was right and wrong. They came from different pantheons, but their end goals were the same, and Typhon threatened those goals. Why was it always the fucking Mycenaeans?
I smiled, reaching my hand out as Vada approached us. We didn’t have much time, and if Typhon was here, he likely already knew we were readying for a confrontation. We had people on the ground here who were actively evacuating the people of Turkey from anywhere near this site so they wouldn’t come to any harm, and we’d help with any damage that might occur in the aftermath. I was a little anxious about the outcome, but I wasn’t as concerned as I should’ve been. Warwas like muscle memory for me. Once the battle started, it’d be like I’d never left the battlefield.
The Gods stood to attention, and I did the same, though I couldn’t see past the wall of their shoulders. I squeezed Vada’s hand and let go, stepping up to the wall of Gods to see what had them on alert. I squeezed between Mayari and Jiutian Xuannu, and had to lean over on Mayari’s shoulder for a second to keep my knees from buckling.
Walking toward us with Typhon was none fucking other than Sabine—the woman I thought I murdered—my fucking ex. My fucking mate. She sauntered over with a smirk on her face, and my blood boiled. I didn’t even think, I started moving toward her with purpose before being pulled back by my shirt collar. Quick as lightning, my shadows left me, moving toward her. Sabine waved them off as if they were flies, and I stopped in my tracks, confused how she could do that. No one had ever been able to stop my shadows before, much like the Sluagh. They could be destructive if I allowed it.
“Adaela, it’s as if no time has passed. I seem to remember the last time we saw each other, you did something similar. I grow tired of the games,” Sabine taunted.
“Sabine,” was all I seemed to be able to grit out. I wasn’t angry about our history anymore. There was nothing to be angry about. It was in the past. I wanted to know how she survived my death magic. I wanted to know if she’d lied to me about being my mate.
I started to quickly put the puzzle pieces together. My father, Sabine’s betrayal, how she knew about Pandora’s Box, all of it. I was right at the center of it all as an obstacle. My strength, the abuse by my father’s hand, the manipulation of cult-like status to his sycophants, the Great War, and everyone here was all part of this—but I still couldn’t figure out the why behind it. Vada stepped up behind me, putting herhand on the small of my back in reassurance. I stood a little taller—what little that did for me.
Sabine cackled with glee. “Oh my gods. You’re finally getting it. It took you long enough. Father, are you seeing this?” she asked Typhon as she patted his massive foot, and I became even more confused. Sabine was a brownie. How did Typhon father her?
“Well played, Sabine. What is the game here?” Ma’at demanded, cutting straight to the point.
She smirked as she scanned the wall of Gods, then the beings behind us, as if she already won. “The game, my dear Ma’at, is the same as it has always been. To give my father the rightful place he should have always had. Granddad made it so, and the Fates have always been on his side.”
Ganesha, riding his mouse, orMu?akavahana,moved to take his place by Jiutian Xuannu. “I’m not sure I understand what you’re getting at here. What am I missing?”
I was still stunned silent, trying to connect the dots. I had some of the picture, but not all of it. My father knew of Typhon. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have responded the way he had upon our final visit. I wondered if my trip to Tartarus was to get the blade, or if it had been Pandora’s Box the entire time.
“How did you survive?” I asked quietly, almost to myself, but Sabine heard me as her face transformed with a devilish grin.
“Let’s start from the beginning, shall we? First, my name isn’t fucking Sabine. Your father was a great ally of mine before you were born. I was the mouthpiece for father when Zeus’s ass tricked him into that damn vessel. It took almost nothing to convince your father that he was destined for great things. He was so easily swayed by the possibility of being the reigning leader of all factions. It was easy, really. He was manipulated into believing that he had the power at his fingertipsthrough you. Women were beneath him, as you know. He believed that the worlds owed him something for producing something as precious as you. His dumb ass should have realized that Underhill would never accept a man as its leader,” she spat.
My death magic stirred again, fighting the constraints I had on it, and the hairs on my arms stood up as everyone around me began to react on my behalf. I loved them for it, but this was my fight. “That’s fucking obvious, not-Sabine. Do continue monologuing, though,” I sarcastically rebutted.
“You were the only being who could get past Tartarus’s defenses, you see. You were quite literally manipulated into becoming who you are today. What we didn’t anticipate was this little city you call a utopia,” she sneered, and I was getting tired of her fucking attitude. What the fuck had I seen in her?
“Get to the fucking point,” Daedalus shouted, wings flaring behind him as he held the line. If he was also getting frustrated, it was because he wasn’t seeing the connection yet either.
“Who the fuck are you if you’re not Sabine?” I demanded.
