Suddenly, the world got quiet again, and I moved out of the way as the last snake head was torn away from Typhon’s body. He was bloody and mutilated, and even after all the years ofwatching torture in Hell, and sometimes participating in it, I was sick to my stomach at the intensity of the damage. Typhon was getting tired, likely from blood loss, and he swayed above us. I yelled at everyone behind him in any proximity to run as I sprinted as fast as I could to move out of the way. I felt a drop of blood hit me, and it was like having an anvil thrown atop me from a plane. I went down hard, losing my breath for a moment, but I didn’t have time to catch it. Typhon was coming down fast. I moved as quickly as I could as he hit the earth, barely missing part of his snake leg in the process.
The shockwave from his fall was devastating. It was as if a nuclear bomb went off, and I was thrown by that initial shockwave straight into the side of a mountain. I was convinced I was going to pass out from the pain of several broken bones, including my skull. I lay there incapacitated for what could have been hours, but it was likely only minutes. My skull was itchy as it knit itself back into place. I was numb from the shock of being thrown into a mountain, but I couldn’t sit here any longer. I loathed this curse, but I also was thankful for it at this moment. ThePaxneeded me.
I groaned as I crawled out of the me-shaped rubble torn into the side of this mountain. Others around me hadn’t fared as I had. Dead bodies were strewn everywhere, but there were others who had made it out alive. Some appeared to be entombed by rock. Everywhere I looked, I saw beings pulling others out of the rubble. What once was a canyon in the Taurus Mountains had completely collapsed in on itself. Not only could I see the entrances to the Cennet Cave’s entrance completely inaccessible from the rock coverage, the Cehennem Cave was filling fast with rocks and other debris. The canyon no longer existed as it was. We were in a crater. Beings were scrambling out of the way where they could, and I frantically searched for Adaela in the chaos.
I spotted my girl and the Stag standing in the same place they’d been in when this started, and I whooshed out a breath of relief. My heart felt as if it were going to explode out of my chest as the adrenaline in my body caught up with the reality around me. I rushed as quickly as I could to Adaela, stumbling on rocks along the way.
“Baby, I’m so glad you’re okay,” Adaela said. She was atop the Stag, who was weaving a complex spell using the delicate flowers she had picked along the mountainside.
“How are you faring?” I asked her, checking her and the Stag over for injury.
“I’m fine, but we need to get going on this. The Gods are still working to subdue Typhon, but Underhill has informed me that my specific powers are going to be what ends this. I’m waiting for it to complete its own spell before I try to do anything. Typhon is too occupied to see what’s happening,” she said.
“What is the plan?” Typhon let out a deafening roar as Adaela went to respond, and I missed her reply, but I smiled as I reached my hand out to her once again in comfort. She shook her head once more, showing me the colors from the picked flowers on her hand, and I understood. I blew her a kiss, one she returned, then mouthed, “I love you” to her before we made our way back into the fray.
The Stag ran ahead of me, taking my girl with it. I kept up as much as my healing body would let me, then resigned myself to watching Adaela do her thing. She wasn’t known as an assassin for nothing, and whatever she chose to do in this moment was going to be devastating. Medb had mentioned that she’d killed a lower-level god the day we’d first met, and hoped she’d be able to do it again.
Adaela’s shadows released in a burst of energy, and we’d need to try replicating what we had done with Marung. I focused my energy on Typhon, weaving an intricate tale ofseduction. He wasn’t immune to seduction, because that fucker had more kids than probably anyone else in the realms. I wanted his focus on me, but I also needed his focus to change so that we could get Adaela in position. The best bet would’ve been to knock him out so I could see if I could invade his dreams, but I wasn’t sure if that would work or not. Poe and the Moirai were standing next to the rest of the seers, and within that crowd was Oneiroi. They were a group of brothers who controlled sleep and were the children of Nyx. I knew them well from my time in Hell, and I was happy they were here. We’d worked together many times over the years to crack the most difficult shitheads who spent the rest of their worthless lives there.
I waved Phobetor over. He was the god of nightmares. I wasn’t sure his particular brand of sleep would work on a creature who was designed to be a waking nightmare, but he was who I’d try to work with first. I told him my plan, and he waved his brothers over. We’d decided that we’d need them all—Phobetor, Phantasos, and Morpheus. Their triumvirate of power was woven around Typhon, and he was out in seconds. This allowed me to drop into his mind.
Typhon’s mind was a maze that I wished I could bring Daedalus in to help with, but I’d weaved my way through many in my time, too. I dug in, rifling for the trail that would lead me to how he’d been able to get us to this point. Once I found a thread, it was easy to find the rest. When Tartarus created Typhon, he’d buried his own DNA into Gaia without her consent. This DNA was designed to kill the remainder of Cronos’s children—particularly Zeus. The creation of Typhon was in retaliation for throwing part of the Titans into Tartarus in the first place.
All of this I already knew, of course, but what I hadn’t realized was that in their fight for justice, they’dalso woven in a particular set of belief systems that directly fabricated truths about the Gods and what they stood for. We all knew that Greek, Roman, and Norse mythology were full of toxicity. I was sure Athena and Loki could attest to that and their own roles in it. But what I hadn’t realized was that the worlds themselves were laid one on top of the other. It wasn’t galaxies that separated the realms, but rather layers the Gods had put atop one another.
The worlds, as we knew them, would no longer exist once we destroyed Typhon. The power structures, the lies, the intricate webs between all worlds, the portals… none of it would exist, and we had to make our decision now about how we’d move forward. Did we unmake the realms, forcing all beings across all realms to exist on one planet, or did we keep Typhon alive to continue existing as we currently did? Could the Gods we had with us rebuild the worlds? I’d never had an existential crisis before, but I wondered if this was it. How did one make a huge decision like this without time on our side?
The answer was simple, really. Collective action. I couldn’t sit in Typhon’s mind any longer. I needed help, and there were plenty of people who could help me make this decision outside of his mind.
Earth
Iwas waiting on Vada’s signal before acting. I had the ball of conjured death, infused with my death magic, theLus Mór,and Underhill’s magic that I didn’t quite understand interwoven between us. I was antsy to figure out what Vada had learned, and I would use my strength for the last time in this fight. I was done. I would be stepping down from leadership and spending more time with Vada when all was said and done. I couldn’t wait to view the world through her eyes. ThePaxwould have to figure it out. Underhill would have to figure it out. I wasn’t meant for leadership, and I needed a break.
I watched Vada gasp as she came to. She frantically spoke with the Oneiroi, who all nodded, continuing to keep Typhon trapped in sleep. She rushed over to where the Stag and I sat, motioning for us to follow her. Confused, I glanced at the Stag for a moment, who made a gesture as if shrugging its shoulders, then began walking behind where Vada had just run off to. I picked up my pace to walk beside Underhill.
“You know, young one, that I knew this was coming,” the Stag spoke in my mind. Its voice was gentle and ambiguous. Itreminded me of both a rainy day and the sun shining amongst the vast waters.
“You knew what was coming?” I asked Vada as she gestured wildly at the next group she’d rounded up.
“I’ve known for quite some time that my waning energy wasn’t feeding the earth I remembered from long ago. I’d lost contact with all the earthen Gods over the years, and it made it that much harder to confirm that the people who inhabited my planes were cared for. I no longer had the energy to take this form, I couldn’t pass along my knowledge.” The Stag stopped to graze on a patch of grass as we neared the lake fed by a glacier high atop the mountains in the distance.
“What changed? I’m not quite sure I’m following you, Underhill,” I said, trying to make the connections but failing.
“You’ll learn soon, I suspect,” the Stag said, and meandered off as if it was done with this conversation.
My bones were weary, and I wanted this to be over with. There was a lot on the line here, but I just wanted to change into some comfy clothes, sit by a fire with a good book, and snuggle in a hammock with my mate.
Vada was my mate. I knew that now. And now that I’d accepted it, the pull to be near her became damn near unbearable. I found Vada with the amassed crowd of armies near her, along with the Gods who had come with us. I was more determined than ever to sit by a fire with her. We’d see this through.
Having cleaned myself of allLus Mórresidue, I snuggled into her side. She bent down to kiss the top of my head, and Iclosed my eyes for a moment, soaking in her love. We both needed it, and judging how she responded after coming out of Typhon’s mind, she was about to hit us with a truth none of us were prepared for. She left a lingering kiss on my lips before she broke away from me, the crowd growing silent as she stepped up to speak. Hecate wove a quick spell in her direction, and once she began speaking, I realized it was an amplifying spell so the back of the crowd could hear her. I stood behind her and to the side, my hand on the small of her back in support.
“What I’m about to tell you is of grave importance. It might be the most important thing I’ve ever uttered in my entire life, and it is not going to make me popular. I understand that now. So, please forgive my bluntness, but it’s necessary,” she started.
The crowd was so quiet that you could hear the wind rustling through the valley. It wasn’t wind, but the breath of Typhon several hundred feet away from us. Gods, that man made these mountains look small.
Vada evened out her breathing before continuing. She told the crowd about what Cronus and Tartarus had done all those years ago. About how our reality was a reality to us, but it really was a simulation, and none of us were the wiser. Our lives weren’t different because of not knowing, and our experiences were still unique to us. But the original creation, the one we were currently standing in, was the original Gaia.
Concerned features and curiosity abounded as Vada continued to tell us about how portals worked. It was magic, yes, but the systems we lived in weren’t entirely different systems. All of them were layers to Earth itself, and not different dimensions as previously believed. It was complicated as fuck, and I wasn’t a scientist, so I didn’t exactly understand all the intricacies. I was sure that there would be scientists who would study this development for the next several decades.What I didn’t understand was why this conversation needed to be had while Typhon was still alive, and I asked as much.
