Page 150 of The Gods Order

I snort when my gaze travels over to where he and Gladian are going at it. The God of Strength has a fierce scowl across his face, whereas Meridamus is smiling like he’s having the time of his life.

“Come,” Val says, nudging me. “Beginning God’s order.”

I scoff at him and the teasing smile on his face as he takes a few steps away. Regardless, I adjust the sword in my hand.

“Ready?” he asks.

“Are you?”

My brow arches and his mouth twitches.

My power flows from my skin the second he charges forward. His steps slow, while mine speed up. I round on him, raising my sword.

Then…a very uncomfortable sensation slides down my back.

Val spins on his heel, blocking my swing before it can land.

My eyes widen.

“You blocked my power.”

“No,” he says as he bursts forward in a series of strikes.

Our wood continues to collide as our swift footsteps kick up dirt.

“You, my daughter, most everyone uses the same verbiage. It’s wrong. I don’t block, stop, or hide anything.”

I send my power out once again as he draws his shoulder back. His movements slow for a fleeting second before he catches back up.

The realization hits me.

“You’re separating me from my power.”

He smirks.

We attack with abandon. Each strike is met with equal force and strength. For a moment, I don’t summon my power as I let my muscle memory do its thing and contemplate what he doesn’t say but is obviously doing.

Every time I reach for my Domain, something feels…off. It’s not absent or blocked, but farther away than it should be.

Our swords collide again, and the impact rattles through my arm. I twist away from his next strike and let my awareness drift toward the familiar sensation of my power in my mind.

Immediately, I feel the resistance. The disconnect between us. Yet I still feel time. If he had truly separated me from it, then I shouldn’t be able to feel it at all.

My grip tightens around my sword’s hilt as my eyes narrow.

He can separate me from my Domain, but he can’t truly separate time.

Beneath the clash of wooden blades and shifting feet, I sense it moving. The steady pull of moments passing. The endless current carrying every living thing forward.

The realization comes slowly at first, then all at once.

Time isn’t like Death, Knowledge, Chaos, or Harmony. The others—me usually as well—reach for their Domains within themselves. Time is everywhere. I exist within it.

No matter how much separation Val creates between me and the way I normally access my power, he can’t touch Time itself.

It surrounds us. Threads through us.

Instead of reaching inward for my power, I call out to it. The flow beneath my feet, the pulse that lives in the ground, the seconds that stretch around me, and the heartbeats between one strike and the next.