by Quinn Loftis
“I think I understand what you are saying, Aston,” said Liam. “You mean that until Elias and Tara get horizontal, he’s going to be snarling at anyone who gets near her, correct?”
“Exactly.”
“Bloody hell, don’t talk like that around her,” Elias said as he suddenly wheeled around and bumped his chest with Liam’s. “That is none of your business.”
Tara could see the mischief dancing in Liam’s eyes. Oh great. Liam was about to get his pretty face clocked. But he didn’t slow down.
“You don’t want me to talk about you and Tara mating?” Liam waggled his eyebrows up and down. “Feeling a little sexually frustrated, brother? Maybe Aston’s right. Maybe you just need to mount—”
“And there it is,” Tara said as she took a step back. Elias lunged for Liam before he could finish the statement. Tara knew if he would’ve finished the comment she would have turned ten shades of red. Instead, she gasped as Elias planted his fist in Liam’s jaw. But before he could hit him again, Liam shot up a wall of water between them.
“Maybe we should step over here,” Aston said in his gentle way as he took her arm and guided her away from the feuding males.
“You don’t seem concerned. Does this happen often?”
“Yes, but Ra is usually around to keep them from killing each other.” He held up his hands. “That’s not my department. Best just go ahead and let ’em get it out of their system. You seem to have brought out an even moodier side of Elias.”
She watched in awe as Elias formed balls of power in his hands and threw them at Liam. Some penetrated through the wall of water, and the yelp beyond made it clear they’d hit their mark.
“So, Tara,” Aston said, “this might take a minute. How about you tell me about yourself while we wait.”
5
Ra was halfway through the burning city when things started to change. Rubble and bricks began rising in the air. He jumped out of the way several times to keep from getting picked up by debris as it rose. Ra looked up and watched as the buildings that had been smoldering only seconds ago began to disintegrate along with the ashes, cars, and everything else. Within minutes, the landscape was bare. And then the land rumbled beneath his feet. Slowly, rising from the earth, an entire civilization began to evolve right before his eyes. It was like watching a flower bloom through the lens of a camera that had sped it up a thousand times over. When the land finally stopped shifting, he was standing on a dirt road in the middle of an ancient Egyptian city. People began to appear. But instead of going about a normal day's work, they looked around with panicked eyes.
“It’s happening again,” a woman to his left wailed as she fell to her knees. She wore a long sheath dress with a belt around her waist. Her plaited long black hair lay over her right shoulder. It brushed the dirt as she fell forward, hands hitting the earth. She wasn’t the only person in tears.
Ra turned in a slow circle as he watched men, women, and children begin to run in a panic, crying and yelling. They didn’t appear to see him at all.
“Why won’t the pharaohs do anything to stop this?” a man yelled. He was pointing toward a hill where a huge palace stood.
His ancestors. Ra knew that’s where they would be. Suddenly, the yelling turned even more panicked as he smelled the burning. He glanced behind him and saw some of the structures on fire. Without another thought, he turned and ran for the palace.
Ra could feel the heat at his back and hear the horrible screams. They were no longer screams of panic but of pain. The smell hit him next, and he had to swallow down the bile rising in his throat. He pumped his arms and legs harder. His shield banged against his back, but it was barely a thought as his feet sped across the ground to the palace.
At some point, he began to wonder if the damn palace was moving away from him or if it was merely a mirage. Surely, he should be there by now.
You must not stop running, a deep voice said in his mind. The palace is real, but the only way you will reach it is if you persist.
“Ramses?”
It is I, the voice answered.
“How long do I have to keep this up?”
Not much longer. If you stop, you will burn.
He had no plans to die in hell. Ra kept his legs moving, despite the fact that his muscles felt as though they were on fire. He knew the actual fire would be worse. By the time he reached the staircase to the palace entrance, his legs were numb. But he didn’t slow his pace in the slightest. When he finally reached the last step, he saw the one he knew to be Ramses, one of Egypt’s greatest pharaohs, standing at the huge open archway into the palace. The pharaoh waved Ra forward. He jogged to Ramses. Ra started to turn back to survey the city, but Ramses grabbed his arm and pulled him into the palace. “Do not look back,” the Egyptian king said.
They walked into the dark interior. The only light was the fire from the torches lining the stone walls.
“It has been a long time since we have seen you,” Ramses said. His voice sounded strained, as if he were in pain.
“Are you all right?” Ra asked.
“I may not be burning yet, but I still feel their pain,” he said.
Ra’s eyes widened. “You feel their pain?”
Ramses nodded. “It is part of my punishment. I bear the pain of my people over and over again.”
“How can you stand it?”
“Because there is no other option.”
They reached a room that opened up into a huge interior with vaulted ceilings. Five thrones rested at the front, but they sat empty.
“Where are the others?” Ra asked.
“They are already enduring their inferno,” he answered. “I asked the demi-lord of this level to allow me to speak with you.”
Ra wasn’t an idiot. There would be a price for that favor. “What will it cost you to speak to me?”
“It matters not. Ask what you’ve come to ask.”
“How do I take a mortal from the underworld?”
“So it’s true?” Ramses asked. “There is a mortal here?”
Ra nodded. “A female. Cast here by dark elementals.”
“How is she still alive?”
“I honestly don’t know if she is, but I believe some sort of spell was placed on her.”
“The only way out of the underworld is by leave of Osiris himself, or by the level-one demi-lord, Beast. Either way, payment will be expected.”
“That’s what I was afraid of,” Ra muttered. He’d been hoping there was some loophole.
“At what level did you arrive?” the king asked him.
“Seven.”
Now, it was the pharaoh’s eyes that widened. “You’ve traveled through all of them?”
Ra nodded. “She hasn’t been on any of them. I’m thinking she’s on one.”
“Perhaps the demi-lord of that level will have a way to help you. If you’re lucky, Osiris hasn’t taken an interest in the mortal.”
“How do I find the demi-lord?” Ra asked.
“He will find you.”
“Thank you,” Ra said with a bow.
“Remember something, Ra Nasri, when you make your bargain with the lords of the underworld. Your soul cannot be for sale … not yours.”
“I won’t bargain hers,” Ra said, his voice deepening.
“That may be. But you cannot bargain yours. You absolutely cannot.” Ramses placed a hand on his shoulder. “When the time comes, try and think about this. I cannot explain exactly why because there are rules in the underworld. But if you keep all of your soul, then there is a chance for you both. That is all I can say.”
Ra wanted to ask him to explain, but he could tell Ramses wouldn’t, or couldn’t, say more. “Thank you, King Ramses.”
The pharaoh nodded and then said, “Go to the back of the palace. Follow that corridor. The path to the next level is there. I cannot tell you what comes next, but I can say this: have your bow ready. Now go.”
Ra didn’t wait around. He once again took off at a ru
n down the corridor. He had no idea how long he’d been in the underworld, but he knew Shelly couldn’t remain here indefinitely.
He found the path and began clambering up it. This one was steep and took a lot of digging in with his hands to make the climb. When he saw that he was nearing the top, he pulled his bow around and grabbed two arrows. He notched them both and held the weapon at the ready, carefully picking his way through. He wasn’t sure what he expected to see when he broke the plane, but when he emerged onto flat ground, it certainly wasn’t this.
Liam, Elias, and Aston stood there as if they’d been waiting for him.
“Took you long enough,” Liam said in his usual sarcastic manner. “I thought for sure we were going to burn alive before you got your slow ass here.”
Ra frowned. “What are you doing here?”
“We’re rescuing you. What do you think?” Elias asked.
Ra shook his head. “No. You can’t rescue me. You can’t be here.”
“And yet we are,” Elias said.
“We should talk later,” Aston said calmly. “After we get through hell.”
“We have to get Shelly,” Ra said.
Aston shook his head. “We can’t. It’s already too late for her.”
Ra shook his head and backed away from his three best friends. “No. I’m going to get her.”
“Ra, don’t be a fool,” Liam snapped. “You can’t save everyone. She’s demon fodder. We need to get you out. You’ve been down here so long you don’t even know what is real anymore.”
“She was just a human,” Elias said. “Not like you. You’re special. We can’t lose you. Come with us, brother.”
Something wasn’t right. Elias would never say anyone was expendable, normal human or not. He wasn’t that callus. Not to mention, Shelly was his soul bonded’s best friend. “How would Tara feel about you coming back and telling her that Shelly is dead?”
Elias’s eyes narrowed on him. “Tara? Who the hell is Tara?”
“I told you he’s been here too long,” Liam said. “He’s already lost his damn mind.”
Ra realized he’d allowed his bow to lower when he’d seen his friends. In a flash, it was once again up, with both arrows pointed at the three beings who held his friends’ forms. He realized what was wrong. There was no way for Elias, Liam, or Aston to be in the underworld, no matter how real they seemed. He was being tricked again. Ra was beginning to notice a pattern. A new level, a new trick.
“Dude, why are you pointing that at us?” Liam asked.
“Show your true selves,” Ra growled. Everything inside of him told him they were here to help him, but he knew it was a lie. He couldn’t trust his emotions. He had to focus on the truths he knew.
“What are you talking about?” Aston asked. “You know it’s us, Ra. Who else would be able to figure out a way into the underworld besides me?”
This made Ra pause. Aston was one of the smartest and most studied people he knew. It was true that if anyone had figured out a way into hell and a way to survive, then it would be him. Maybe they’d been given a spell like Shelly.
“Who helped you get here?” Ra asked.
“We didn’t need help,” Elias answered. “Aston did it all on his own.”
Ra narrowed his eyes. “Was your girlfriend upset when you told her you were going into the underworld?”
Aston smiled. “Yeah, but she also said it was hot.”
Liam laughed. “Get it? Hot. Because it’s the underworld.”
“It’s not funny if you have to explain it, you git,” Elias said.
The three chuckled as they looked back at Ra. He shook his head slowly and moved the arrows to point at Aston. “There’s just one problem. You don’t have a girlfriend.”
The smile on the three males' faces dropped at the same moment, and Ra released the arrows. The demons saw them coming and ducked with inhuman speed. Ra threw the bow back over his shoulder and pulled his blades. He’d sparred with all three of them many times. But would these demons use the same tactics as his friends typically did?
“You do realize you’re wasting time, right?” Liam asked.
Ra knew he needed to stop thinking of them as his best friends because it would make it harder to do what he needed to. He had to see past their exterior shells. Inside the bodies that looked like his brothers were actually demons. They were imposters, and they had one purpose: to destroy him.
“He’s right, Ra,” Elias added as he drew his own sword from the sheath on his back. “We need to be getting you out of here, not playing around.”
“The longer we stay down here, the lower our statistics become that we will ever escape,” Aston said.
He was the most difficult to ignore. He seemed so rational, just like the real Aston. It made Ra second guess himself, which almost cost him a gut wound as Liam lunged forward, having picked up on Ra’s distracted state.
He jumped back and blocked the blow with the blade in his right hand. He quickly brought his dagger around, nearly contacting Liam’s right arm.
“Oh, snap, guys,” Liam laughed. “He’s playing for keeps.”
“Dammit, Ra,” Elias growled. “Quit fighting us and get real.”
Ra pressed his lips tightly together to keep from verbally engaging his foe. It’s what they wanted him to do. Talking would just serve as another way to distract him, and he was having a hard enough time as it was.
“Okay, listen,” Liam said as he danced around Ra, attempting to get behind him. Ra shifted his feet, keeping all three in front of him. “Do you remember the first summer we spent hanging out? Remember how we kept sneaking through portals trying to evade Jax and Zuri?”
Elias laughed. “If Zuri had caught us, she would have fried us.”
Ra did remember and felt the pain in his chest at having the demons before him telling him about memories that meant so much to him. He didn’t want them tainting those memories with their evil.
“Remember when you showed us the River Styx for the first time, and Liam nearly drowned?” Aston asked. “I thought for sure the idiot was a goner.”
Ra frowned. How could they possibly know this stuff? Ra pictured the first time they had a bit of fun with some forest fairies and ended up drunk off their asses from the fairy wine.
“And the fairies,” Liam said. “Those tricky little demons tried to keep us.”
Ra’s brow furrowed, and then his eyes widened as he realized that they were taking the memories directly from his head. They were reading his mind.
“Get out of my head!” He roared as he lunged forward, swinging his blades at both Liam and Elias. They hadn’t been expecting the fast movement, and Ra managed to cut them both—Liam on the shoulder and Elias across the chest.
Both of them hissed, and, for the first time, their masks dropped briefly. Ra was able to see the demons beneath. He held on to that image as he went on the offensive and drew on all his battle knowledge.
“I don’t believe your lies,” he told them. “I know you aren’t my brothers. You’re worthless demons, destined to burn in Hades for all of eternity.”
All three males drew their lips back and hissed. Demons hated to be faced with the truth. They much preferred lies, even their own.
“You do realize that breathing in the sulfurous fumes of hell will make you delirious,” Aston said. “You don’t even know what is real anymore.”
“Truth wrapped in lies,” Ra said as he brought his swords down in a double arc, meeting Liam’s blade, and then lifting his leg to kick the demon in the stomach, shoving him back five feet.
Aston finally pulled his own sword and swung it expertly as he warmed up his muscles. He bounced on the balls of his feet and then moved forward, watching Ra with a critical eye. He was looking for a weakness. Ra refused to show any. The fire elementalist moved with complete confidence in his years of sword practice. He’d begun studying different types of hand-to-hand combat and fencing long before his parents died and he ended up at Crimson Ac
ademy.
Sweat dripped off Ra’s body as he continued to match blades with the three demons who still wore the faces of his friends.
“This has to be the most tedious battle I’ve ever witnessed,” a fourth voice said.
The three demons turned as one, and Ra backed away from them, turning to the newcomer.
He was a small demon but wore an air of confidence that showed he believed himself to be someone of importance.
The three imposters backed up and growled at the new demon.
“This is not your domain,” Elias said to him, only this time, the voice wasn’t that of the earth elementalist. Instead, he sounded very much like the demon he was.
The new demon laughed. “As if I can’t go anywhere I wish.”
“You go where the lord tells you to,” Aston said.
The demon shrugged. “Yes. But that means I’m more important than you. You should remember that I hold the ear of Lord Osiris. Have you ever even seen your lord?” When the three didn’t speak, the creature’s expression became smug. “Exactly. Learn your place, or I will bring you to Lord Osiris’s attention.”
The three larger demons hissed at the other demon’s words. Ra didn’t blame them. From what he understood of the underworld, drawing the lord of the underworld’s attention was never a good thing.
Ra began shifting to the side, moving his feet slowly and smoothly, trying not to draw attention to himself. He might be able to sneak away while the demons were distracted with one another.
“Attempting to leave is pointless, young king,” the little demon said. “The laws of the levels of Hades say you have to defeat every level before moving to the next. You aren’t going anywhere until you slay these three.”
Ra stopped moving as his three friends’ heads snapped around to glare at him. Apparently, they were done pretending to be anything other than what they were. Though they kept the faces of Elias, Liam, and Aston, their eyes shifted and turned reptilian.
“Go on,” the little demon motioned toward the group. “Finish this. I’m bored.”
Ra ignored the comment and focused his attention back on his opponents. He adjusted his stance and raised his blades.
