“Most supernatural races can’t go there,” Kallie explained. “Fae and Elves are able to handle the strange way time and magic works on that planet, but other supernatural races aren’t able to spend more than a few hours there; otherwise, they become trapped and go mad.”
“Isn’t it better for the Elves to hide there, then, if the angels and other races can’t stay in Edinmyre?” Marcus asked.
“It’s difficult to move back to Earth once you’ve spent more than a few days in Edinmyre at a time, even for one of our kind,” Queen Emmaline said. “The fae and Elves who choose to live in Eiragrad can never return to Earth once they’ve settled there, as the magic doesn’t allow them to leave. If the residents of Ilamanthe were to migrate to Edinmyre, they’d be stuck there permanently, though it is a last resort if Ilamanthe is sieged like Forevermore.”
“And we’ve settled here on Earth. We aren’t going to let the other races push us out of our home, not when Charlie’s prophecy is so close to being complete, and we have a chance to move on to the Blessed Haven,” Cassiel said firmly. “If we move to Edinmyre, we have no way of coming back to Darke Island and communing with the gods again through the Elven Gate, or journeying to the Blessed Haven at all. Running isn’t the way to solve this. We have to pursue some sort of peace.”
“And opening the Elven Gate is the only way to do it,” Charlie said. “We have five Divinity Keys now; the elemental, witch, fae, angel, and merfolk key. If we can find the vampire and Astromancer key, we can open that gate and put a stop to this. Not to mention if the Elves die out, all magic will as well, because the Elves are the original supernaturals and the magical world’s connection to the Blessed Haven. So I’ll lead the Elves to paradise, and perhaps then the war will be over.”
“The war’s never going to be over, not until we stop the Warden,” I said. “Even if we open that gate, he’s dead set on starting a war between the gods, so he can rule over the afterlife and life on Earth both.”
Quite right, Oberi said.Dominion over the spiritual realm is his top goal, and if he succeeds, there will be no hope for any of us, not even if we manage to open the Elven Gate.
I repeated what Oberi said to the room at large. Kazim leaned on the table. “What’s his plan, here? How does he think he’ll be strong enough to conquer all the gods in the Blessed Haven so he can seat himself as the only ruler of the afterlife?”
“He’s set the dark gods from hell loose,” Kallie said. “He plans on overwhelming the gods in the Blessed Haven, then once they’re taken care of, he’ll be making the rules.”
“Then… what? He expects all these dark gods won’t turn on him once they’re done doing his dirty work?” Kazim asked. “They’re not just going to fall in line and do as he says.”
“There must be more to his plan that we don’t know about,” Lucas said. “He’d think farther ahead than what we’re considering. There must be a way he can control them.”
A shiver ran up my spine at the suggestion. I couldn’t imagine what kind of power or weapon the Warden had that would make even the dark gods fear him.
“Do we have any clues on where the last two keys might be?” Nadine asked. She flipped open a notepad and clicked a pen, a detective gathering clues.
No one said anything. Ez groaned and said, “Come on, there has to besomewherewe can start.”
“The Astromancer key will be the most difficult to find. The enchanters are a very reclusive society, and as such, information on where their key is will be almost impossible to locate. If anything, finding the vampire key should be the next step,” Cassiel mused.
“Why don’t we ask for their help?” I questioned. “The vampires have already taken the Warden’s side, but maybe the Astromancers will want to lend us a hand.”
“We’ve already sent a request to their leaders for an alliance, and have been ignored,” Cameron noted. “The angels haven’t outright attacked the Astromancer city yet, so we believe they’re playing both sides.”
“This isn’t right,” I said in frustration. “The Astromancers can’t sit out and claim to be Switzerland when the supernatural world is in chaos. Whatever happens affects them as much as it does us.”
“But that’s the stance they’ve chosen to take,” Daddy replied. “The Astromancers won’t make an alliance until there’s an obvious winner to the war. Then it’ll be too late.”
“If I know anything about vampires— and I do— they’re all greedy bastards who want the most power for themselves,” Ivy said. “So I bet the vampire key has been passing through thehands of dozens of vampires through the years, who kept on killing each other for a shot at having it. That’ll leave a bloody trail we can follow, so we can start investigating.”
“At least that’s something,” Charlie grumbled.
“What do we know about the gods—allthe gods?” I asked. “Can we infer anything from there?”
“That’s a very large subject. Where do you wish to begin?” Cassiel asked.
I sighed. “Well, the Hawkei god is the Great Spirit, who in our culture is above all beings. The Great Spirit split into hundreds of other Hawkei gods, such as Coyote Spirit and Whale Spirit.”
I was worried about Coyote. He hadn’t contacted me since I’d escaped Cellblock 9, and I wasn’t sure what had happened to him, or if he was okay. And it wasn’t like I had a way to get ahold of him, so I was left to wonder.
“Mother Miriam is the goddess of the Miriamic Coven, alongside her husband Santos, and the Seven Gods are the deities of the fae pantheon,” Marcus said. “Hopefully they’re still in the Blessed Haven, in their respected afterlifes, and defending their territories from these dark gods the Warden sent to take them down.”
“How many of these dark gods are there, and why should the gods in the Blessed Haven be threatened by them?” Charlie asked.
“These dark gods are lesser deities that aren’t as strong as the rulers in the Blessed Haven, but they outnumber them,” Cassiel said. “That’swhere the threat lies. They were previously contained in the Eternal Torment, but now that the Warden has set them loose, they’ve become a threat.”
“And these dark gods are angry,” Cameron added. “They were banished to hell because they were weak, and unable to accumulate followers to worship them like the other gods did.They most likely seek to take the patrons of the more benevolent gods for themselves once their enemies have been destroyed.”
“Not all of the dark gods are weak,” Ivy countered. “The vampiric god resides in hell, and I can assure you, he’s gonna want a piece of the action.”
