Nyxthos had felt them at the edge of his influence within the Endless Sea, the Void as the mortals and immortals of Nyth called it. That was why he was here rather than trying to force the human’s death before the trial even started. This, the fear that all of themhad known at the edge of the incredible expanse of their minds for almost eighty years, was the priority.
No one had answers.
Everyone who had taken part in the Pact was there, each of them showing their emotions in different ways. Draeven paced, a steady rhythm to his boots on the stone. Rivena sat with a glass of blood, her blue gown draped over dark crossed legs. Ravess petted his vulture as he hummed a song. Each god, save the twins and Saelira, was present, and none of them had answers.
“We must rally our armies,” Draeven said through gritted teeth. “It’s time. They have trained for this.”
“Exactly,” Lysara said through a smirk. “They have trained, so let them fight. The Prince of Bones is ready. The dragons have become much more capable. Why should we risk our own lives when they are the ones who have spent eighty years preparing themselves? Was I resting while you went to Nyth to train?”
He snarled at her, a guttural sound that was so reminiscent of a wolf backed into a corner. “No, I have not trained with them. You know that would have broken the Pact, or I would have. It’s the thing I fought to be allowed to do, and the rest of you refused to agree to it. But it is our war as much as theirs that will be fought soon enough. We should be there to lead them forward. We’re not helpless babes who need to be protected by mortals.”
Ravess turned his eyes upward, and the vulture on his shoulder looked toward the armored man. “You may not be, but I am. I have never lifted a sword or spear.” He raised his hand, and the black-bladed scythe that was his only weapon appeared. “I maybe a god, but the Prince of Bones and his dragons are more suited for this kind of thing than I am. We do not understand how the Hunters mean to kill gods. You may do as you wish, Draeven, but I will not stand with the ones on the ground. I will not offer my life up to the Hunters on a platter so that a few humans and Godforged live a little longer.”
Draeven kicked a stone in anger, and it soared off the side of Skycrest to land in some unknown field hundreds of miles away. He turned to the rest of the gods, one by one, and asked, “All of you will hide? All of you will run and let others die in your place?”
Rivena stood up and addressed the congregation of gods. “They agreed to this, each and every champion. When they were infused with our powers, they agreed to be our hands, to be our mouths, and to be our blades if we were not there. What reason did we have to create these champions if we were going to stand on a battlefield, lance in hand, and pit ourselves against our enemies?”
Caeldra, the quietest of the gods, even more so than Saelira, hadn’t spoken yet. She lingered at the edge of the group, her eyes ever on the clouds below them, as her mind followed the limited bits of the paths she could read. Still, she could not find the place to create the fork in destiny’s road. She could not find the place to stop the death, to stop the terror that would happen soon enough.
Saelira had seen that they would struggle, that one of them would die, and it would lead to so many terrible things following, but where could she create a divergent path? Which path could she change to prevent the inevitable? She glanced around at the gods that she’d known for an eternity. Save Lysara and Adelyth, allof them had been born at the same time. All of them had found their pieces of godhood when the world was still so young. She did not remember what the world was like before Erelith’s fierce determination had filled women’s hearts.
The moment was near. She knew that, but that was all she could foresee.
She turned toward the other gods and spoke. “We must prevent the death,” she said, her voice barely more than a whisper on the wind. “That is the priority. The Hunters cannot find us if we hide ourselves. We must be patient.”
Draeven looked at Caeldra and nodded. He knew Saelira’s prophecy. He knew if he was the only god to stand against the Hunters, he would be the one to make her words true.
Then two child-sized figures stepped out of nothing, their bodies covered in rags. A tiny bluebird fluttered by the golden-haired girl, and an emerald-scaled serpent slithered beside her fair-haired twin as they strode across the peak of Skycrest. Just as mortals knew the gods meddled in their affairs, the gods knew these two meddled in all of theirs.
Taldor and Veris, the twin gods of luck. Taldor spoke directly to Draeven in a voice that belonged to a child rather than one who had existed just as long as the steel-clad god. “What happened to you, old man? When the dragons put you to sleep, did they steal your balls?” He looks over the edge at the clouds. “Are they hidden somewhere down there in a nice velvet bag? Is some scaled fire-lizard cuddling with them while they sleep?”
“My balls are just fine,” Draeven snarled again.
“Then when did the God of Oaths and Honor become afraid to step onto a battlefield?” The child knew the war that raged within Draeven. He was not the man who had touched divinity any longer. He was a shell housing a godhood, and that godhood desired three things: survival at all costs, the ability to exert its influence on the world, and the gaining of power. It desired those things in that order. When survival was at risk, the others did not matter nearly as much.
Draeven felt the godhood inside him shudder at his honor being questioned. “It is temporary,” he said through gritted teeth. “And I do not like it.”
Veris looked at the other gods. “The humans and Fae, the dragons and Godforged… They cannot fight the Hunters alone. You all know this.” The bluebird fluttered around her, its chirps echoing the child’s passion. “If we all hide, they will fall, and that will lead to all our deaths. Do not fight for those on the ground. That is not what the power inside you needs to hear. Fight because it is the only way any of us survive. Maybe the Hunters can kill one of us, but together, along with the ones below, we have a chance. If we don’t stand together, we will die. And the first death will come soon.”
Each of the gods, Caeldra included, looked at each other, wondering which of them would perish first. Lysara smiled and stood up. Her dress swayed in the evening air, the starlight that shone from it flashing beautifully, even by the gods’ standards. “Maybe the other gods do not trust their champions to lead, but mine is strong enough. I trust him to fight in my stead. He will fill therivers with their blood and remind them of what fear is. I created him, and he will not disappoint me.”
“You’re wrong,” Veris said softly. “Because he is one man, and he is breaking, Lysara. Your touch was the first crack, but killing the Champion of Darkness was the hammer that began the spiderweb in earnest. Soon enough, the ones closest to him will die, and the web of fractures will grow. It won’t be long until he gives in to the pain and is lost to you, and the rest of us, forever. That will break his dragon, and she is the spark that keeps the rest fighting. Without the dragons and the Prince of Bones, the other champions will crumble. One by one, the lines that we built to protect us will fail. My foresight is stronger than yours, Young One. Do not deny that.”
Nyxthos spoke slowly, his eyes and the daggers at his hips glowing a deep black. “I must choose my next champion soon. I will not hide until then.”
Caeldra looked to the golden-haired twins. “I will not hide either. My power is the only one that can stop the first death. I will watch, and I will wait.”
Lysara laughed. “Good. You two fulfill Saelira’s prophecy for me. I will stay in my world. Child, I will trust my creature more than I trust your failing vision.”
Draeven stood hesitantly, looking from Lysara to Caeldra and ignoring Taldor, who glared at him. “I will stay, but I will watch and wait as Caeldra does.”
Marek and Erelith nodded to him, silently agreeing with the giant of a man. Rivena shook her head slowly. “I will do asLysara does, honoring the spirit of the agreement I made with my champion.”
Ravess said, “My Godforged will do more good than I will on the field of battle. Until there is a use for me, I will watch from my Realm.”
Adelyth, the youngest of the gods, took a breath. Her godhood had not completely taken control at this point. There was much that was still a Countess and leader among the Fae, much that was still the mother of her children. While that part was fading, it had not all gone yet. “I will stay. It wasn’t so long ago that I was willing to die to fight a god. I don’t see why I should be afraid to stand with my people. With my daughter.” Losing her only son still ravaged the Fae in her, and the godhood had used that pain to take even more control.
Kaelith bowed his head and said, “I will stay as Caeldra does. I will help her find the point where the roads may diverge.” He looked at the young woman in the silver dress and said, “We will work together to save us all.”
