by Eric Vall
I sent my Terra powers through the mansion once more, and as I scanned to make sure the structure wasn’t damaged, I could tell the lightning rods were rigged properly.
Then I resealed the atrium, and after I sloshed through my flooded hall, I ordered Alfred to arrive in the training hall in two minutes and help my women look after Deya.
The tension in the vaulted chamber was palpable when I returned to find my women nervously smiling up at Nemris, but the goddess had her cosmic eyes glued to Nulena, who made a point of keeping her attention on Deya as she held the elf’s hand.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” I told Aurora as I knelt down to leave a kiss on her cheek, and Cayla was ice cold when I kissed her as well.
“Okay!” the princess said in an unnaturally cheery tone. “H-Have a nice time!”
I smirked as Nemris bowed her head slightly toward my women, but when she held a slender hand out to me, she extended the other toward the Baroness’ back.
“Nulena,” Nemris prompted. “Would you be so kind as to join us in my domain? What we have to discuss concerns you as well.”
I could hardly believe it when Nulena rolled her eyes like she wasn’t being spoken to by a goddess, and for a second, I thought she was going to ignore the invitation. Eventually, the Baroness let out a curt sigh before she left Deya with a soft pat to her belly bump, and when she came over to my side, she plunked her ebony hand in Nemris’.
“Fine,” Nulena growled, “but if you bother me even once about the pantheon, I’m unraveling the entire fifth sect.”
This time, Nemris rolled her eyes, and I furrowed my brow in utter confusion as I stepped forward to join hands with the two immortal women.
In an instant, I was weightless as I dropped through an invisible plane, and pure white light engulfed me while the sound of crashing thunder was replaced with nothingness. Not even the rush of air sifted over me as I felt my body being transported beyond the physical world, and when the whiteness shifted to endless black, Nulena’s hand slipped out of mine.
My head spun as I opened my eyes and found myself in the world between the realms, and I scanned the distant galaxies before I turned toward Nulena.
“Holy shit!” I belted, and if I wasn’t floating in a void, I would have jumped back.
“Thank you,” Nulena purred, and she slid her palms along the smoldering cracks that split the flesh of her hips apart.
She was still Nulena, with velvety ebony skin and sultry lips, but her eyes seared like embers while the flames of her hair flickered behind her. I watched the blaze rage on for a long moment while I tried to make sense of what I was seeing, but eventually, all I could do was stare at the strange crevices breaking all over her body. Nulena’s veins burned like glowing coals beneath her wrists, and where smoke seeped out from the many cracks, I could see a deep orange glow as if her flesh was barely containing the inferno inside.
“You’re… is this you?” I asked with a hazy grin.
“Yes,” Nulena chuckled. “This is my true form. As I said, I’m a spectra.”
“What exactly does that mean?” I clarified, and I eyed the dull red glow that was barely visible beneath her belly.
“It means I’m an immortal being who presides over a force the gods cannot control,” Nulena explained. “I share the same blood as my brother, Rekekis, but while he wields the force of Destruction, I alone preside over Chaos.”
I smirked. “It suits you.”
“It does,” Nulena murmured, and when she smiled, her ebony lips warmed to a fiery red hue that made it impossible to look away. Even her fang-like teeth seemed to glow with heat as she looked at me, but then she reined in her enjoyment. “We’re here to discuss your existence, Mason. Not mine.”
“Right,” I muttered. “Uh… I had questions, but I’m honestly having trouble remembering them with you looking like this.”
Nemris cleared her throat, though, and I blinked as I turned my gaze toward the goddess. Then I was acutely aware of how much cosmic-level beauty was surrounding me right now, and the realization that both of these immortal beings loved me struck a chord in my chest that left me nodding blankly to no one in particular.
As soon as I recognized a hint of Deya’s features in Nemris’ amused expression, though, I immediately snapped out of my daze.
“Are my women safe in Falmount?” I asked.
“Yes,” the goddess assured me. “Rekekis knows your soul has left the realm, and Nulena is doing all she can to shield your women. However, he will not end these storms now that she has betrayed him.”
I furrowed my brow as I looked at the flaming spectra beside me. “You said you were supposed to trap me?”
“I tried to do as I should,” Nulena murmured. “You have no idea how hard I tried. I’ve heard of you for thousands of years, Mason. My brother has sought your soul as long as half my existence, but I’d never met with it before. I only heard everything you’d done and all that you were capable of, and when Rekekis summoned me to trap you, it was the most intriguing design he’d ever offered me.”
“But you betrayed him,” I led, and the Baroness nodded.
“I couldn’t help it,” she admitted. “When you arrived in Rajeen, I read your heart for myself, and you were different than I’d ever imagined. You were everything Rekekis said you would be, but he couldn’t have comprehended how much more. I tried to ignore it, but I found myself warning you instead, and the moment you left on the train is when I first shielded you. I told my brother you had mages with you who possessed powers I couldn’t understand, and for a long time, he believed this was why he couldn’t track you himself.”
“Why does he want to track me?” I asked, but Nulena looked at Nemris to answer.
“If a god or goddess can gain control over a being’s soul once, they can mold it and influence its actions for as long as they choose,” Nemris replied. “Since we cannot exist in the physical plane for long, controlling a mortal soul is the most effective means of swaying the more minute layers of the universe as we wish. In some ways, it’s a cruel practice, and very few of us abuse the ability, but Rekekis delights in this sort of thing. It requires connecting to only a morsel of the being’s soul which resonates with our own domains, and your soul caught his attention from the beginning of your existence. Rekekis has hunted you ever since, and whenever he finds you, he uses pawns to draw out the side of you he can grab hold of.”
“Has he ever succeeded?”
“Never,” Nemris answered. “There was a life, not long before this one, where he almost did. The pawn he pitted against you toppled all that you stood for, and he was poised to destroy everyone you loved as well.”
My heart pounded heavily as I felt a familiar sensation build in the back of my mind, and I could tell it was some veiled memory I couldn’t reach. It was the same feeling I’d had when I found myself speaking with Nemris during the battle at Vasdor, and it grew as my understanding clicked into place.
“This was right before Earth,” I realized. “That’s why I asked you to erase my memories.”
Nemris nodded as her expression softened, and I decided to push the familiar sensation from my mind. I’d feared losing my women in this life enough times already, and I could already imagine the difficulty of the decision I’d made in my last one without trying to draw it out.
“What did I do about the pawn?” I asked after a moment.
“The same as you have done many times over,” the goddess replied. “You chose the proper time to die in order to ensure he would fall and leave your family in peace, but you slighted Rekekis when you did so. This is why he’s always been so enamored with you, really. While your soul, like any other, is capable of good and evil, it has never mattered which one you chose in your lives. You have both conquered worlds and led rebellions, and when the ones you love are at risk, you become whatever is necessary to protect them. But you have never given way to the powers of the gods. Not even once. In your last life, your potential to
fall into Rekekis’ hold was stronger than it had ever been before, but you defied even him to choose your own path of destruction instead.”
I nodded. “Sounds about right. I can handle my own shitstorm.”
Nulena chuckled as I turned a smirk her way, and a few sparks flew from the embers of her eyes.
“One of the reasons I love you,” the ebony woman murmured.
“An interesting point,” Nemris mused, and the moment the words left her mouth, Nulena’s smile fell.
“We are discussing Mason,” Nulena growled.
“Very well,” the goddess agreed. “Let’s discuss Mason and how the love you share affects your own stubborn plans.”
I immediately turned to the ebony woman. “What plans?”
“It’s nothing,” Nulena muttered. “We are leaving now.”
“No, we’re not done yet,” I informed her. “Nemris?”
A hint of intrigue came to the goddess’ face as she gauged Nulena’s reaction, and even though the spectra was slowly igniting beside me, she remained where she was.
“Nulena should have ascended to a high priestess by now,” Nemris informed me. “She wields a force no other immortal can influence, and she should have joined the pantheon of the gods in her one thousandth year to settle Chaos into a proper domain. Instead, she has done everything in her power to rebel against her own fate.”
The ebony woman rolled her searing eyes. “What can I say? My family don’t go in for that sort of thing.”
“Your own brother ascended,” Nemris reminded her. “Even Rekekis is capable of obeying the laws of the universe, whether he abuses the greatness of his powers or not.”
“Yes, he’s the weaker of the two of us,” Nulena snorted. “Rekekis may have yielded for the sake of inhabiting his own domain, but I happen to adore my Chaos just as it is. It revels in being unleashed and stoked to a manic degree, and I assure you, it does not need to be tamed, regardless of what your kind believes. I alone can comprehend the beauty in its design, and I would rather live eons by its side than ascend and chain my greatest love.”
I raised my eyebrows as I eyed the smoldering woman, and I quickly realized the lives of immortals were much more elaborate than I could have guessed. The spectra bit her words at the goddess like she was prepared to defy anything to maintain her place, but the way she spoke about such an ungovernable force as Chaos was hard not to admire. I’d always known Nulena wasn’t like anyone I’d ever met, but to hear her boldly defying her cosmic fate made me love her even more.
She was exactly who I’d known her to be, but on a colossally greater scale.
Then Nemris smiled.
“Your greatest love?” the goddess mused. “Is it really?”
Nulena crossed her arms in response, but I could see sparks beginning to fester in the cracks that held her together.
“You love a mortal, Nulena,” Nemris calmly continued. “And the love you have for Mason is not just any love.”
“It changes nothing,” Nulena growled.
“From what I’ve read of your heart, it changes everything,” Nemris countered, “because it did not end there. You cherish his women as well, and the children they carry for him have been as dear to you as Chaos ever was from the moment they came into being. You know what this means, and you cannot escape it.”
Nulena bared her teeth just before her body flared into flames, and as her demonic language came shrieking out, her voice throttled my eardrums while a shower of sparks spilled out from her fiery lips. Even her fangs began to ignite the longer she spoke, and I didn’t know if her fury was the cause, but supernovae started bursting by the dozens in the distance.
Nemris remained unfazed, though, as she briefly glanced at the cosmos, and when Nulena fell into a seething silence, I instinctively held my breath while her flames ebbed.
“Burn all you like,” Nemris said without concern. “You and I both know your inner chaos has been tamed ever since you fell for Mason. You are ready to ascend whether you want to or not.”
“Are you sure about that?” Nulena murmured in a deadly tone, and as sparks sifted across the cracks of her flesh, the goddess finally looked uneasy. “Look carefully, Nemris, when you read into my heart this time. Do you truly believe I will obey the laws of the universe?”
“Nulena,” Nemris warned in a harsh tone.
“I would think what I’ve done for Mason has proven otherwise, and you know I will not stop there,” the ebony woman continued. “Mason may have tamed my own chaos, but he alone possesses that power over me, and I would shatter the balance of the cosmos a hundred times over for his family.”
“Hold on,” I cut in, and I stepped in between the two immortals before either of them could continue. “What did you just say about shattering the cosmos? What… what did you do?”
Nulena didn’t reply as the last flickers of her flames immediately doused themselves, and she fidgeted with the sparks on her fingertips while she avoided my gaze.
“She removed your soul from the realm before you could die at Vasdor,” the goddess informed me. “By bringing you here to me, she ensured it would be impossible for you to pass into another life.”
“But I’m a mortal,” I countered as I tried to speak as calmly as I could with the spectra. “I know you love me, but that doesn’t mean you can go against every--”
“I don’t care,” Nulena interrupted. “I would do it again if I had to.”
“You will not,” Nemris ordered. “The repercussions of your actions that day caused dozens of inhabited worlds to collapse! The black hole in the seventh sector tripled in size, and the imbalance you’ve created will course across the fabric of the universe for eons!”
“She caused what? Nulena!” I groaned. “You can’t alter the universe for me! I’m only one fucking guy, and this is eons of imbalance we’re talking about!”
“You’re worth more than any of that,” Nulena argued, but then a strange grin curled across her lips as she turned on Nemris. “Besides, I wasn’t the only one who destroyed those worlds. Your beloved goddess could have turned you away in time, isn’t that right, Nemris? You could have returned his soul to the realm and allowed him to perish at Vasdor, but you didn’t. Which means someone within the pantheon isn’t obeying her own laws.”
The two immortal women glared at one another, and my concern mounted while I hoped I was misunderstanding their exchange. All I could think of were the dozens of worlds that had been destroyed to keep me alive, and while Nulena’s part in this was easy to believe, the idea of the goddess knowingly allowing it seemed impossible.
Then Nemris looked away and smoothed the sheer fabric of her dress, though, and she sent me the smallest shrug.
“Fucking hell,” I whimpered as I clutched my hair.
“I couldn’t help it!” the goddess insisted. “Technically, Nulena broke the law first, and since you were already here… I know the way you love those women, Mason, I couldn’t… ”
“I love you, and I don’t want to tell you how to do your job, but it kinda sounds like you did the opposite of your job.”
“Yes, but Deya!” Nemris countered. “Mason, she’s so honored and excited to have a child with you, and no one could look into those eyes and bear to see her so heartbroken as she would have been. The way you two love each other brings me endless joy, and losing one another would have destroyed both of you! Also, before you judge me, consider that even a spectra as defiant as Nulena cannot bring herself to hurt Deya. Why do you think she dragged me into this whole discussion to begin with?”
“Hey, she was about to cry!” Nulena snapped. “She looked at me like I’d betrayed her when I only ever adored her, and I can’t function when she looks at me like that!”
“Well, then we understand each other to some degree!” Nemris shot back, and the two immortals crossed their arms in unison as they looked away.
“Okay, this is beyond me,” I decided. “The two of you are supposed to be… you know, with grea
t power comes so much responsibility. You can’t love a guy and decide to just… but apparently you will anyways, and I’m only a mortal, so this is out of my hands! Where does this leave me? Am I damned or something? Do I have the blood of billions on my soul now because you two just played around with the balance of the universe over me?”
“No,” Nemris said as a silvery giggle escaped her, and Nulena smirked. “I’m sorry, Mason. Forgive us for overwhelming you. It’s an immortal matter, and you have enough to worry about without bringing the dealings of gods or spectras into the mix.”
“Right,” I snorted. “I’m sure Rekekis would disagree.”
“Rekekis is out of my control,” Nemris said as she sobered. “Neither of us can stop him now that Nulena has gone against him. The moment his domain began to crumble, he knew the two of you conceived a child, and his wrath will not cease. Before this, he only wanted to lure your soul into his control, but now, he wants to destroy it, and he’s running out of time. This child means he can no longer enact his ultimate will, which might save you. However, until your child is grown, Rekekis will maintain some semblance of his powers until the end.”
“What end?” I asked as I furrowed my brow. “Why would our child affect his powers and make his domain crumble?”
“Nulena?” Nemris led with a pointed look.
The ebony woman sighed. “Because our child will one day ascend to the pantheon of the gods. Our child will replace my brother.”
“Our child will replace… the God of Destruction?” I mumbled, and the stars around me blurred as my gaze dropped to Nulena’s belly.
Flickers of comprehension tried to make their way through my brain, but they all shot off in wandering paths as I stared at the dull red glow burning deep beneath her ebony skin.
“Mason?” Nemris tried.
“Mason, are you still breathing?” Nulena checked. “You look pale, but you’re mortal, remember? You should breathe.”
“He knows he’s mortal,” the goddess sighed. “You are the only one who cannot seem to remember or respect this.”
