Ryze Series: Books 1 & 2

by N. Isabelle Blanco

  “I was doing it to save you!” I don’t understand where this is coming from. All these years, I thought she wanted to be saved. That she’d be grateful. “This was destined . . . isn’t that what you said, Nylicia?”

  Nylicia scoffs and stares at her nails. “Sure, blame me for everything.”

  I’m going to fucking kill her.

  Dimithinia shoves her face back in mine. “You ripped me away from Crius! And let me tell you this, Salicyar. I had a chance to glimpse into her soul during the transfer, and she is amazing. Kind, generous and a million other things that many would kill to be. I would kill to be like her.”

  “I know!” I yell. “Why do you think I fell in love with her? Besides, Nylicia said this was all meant t—” I do a double take, not sure I heard right. “Whoa . . . wait . . . Crius?”

  Dimithinia ignores my question and storms back towards the bed.

  I won’t lie. I actually cringe and move back.

  “You love her? Good. Then you are going to get off your pathetic ass and go get her, because Nylicia says we must.” She launches herself at me and pulls on my ear, hard.

  “Fuck!” I’m amazed by her strength. Then again, I shouldn’t be. Her black, deep purple, and silver-toned aura is whirling around her with the strength of her frustrations.

  “Hold on a second.” I forget that I’m being dragged off the bed by the ear like some child. “Get her back? We can get them back?”

  Dimithinia continues pulling on my ear.

  Zen appears, slamming his fist against the wall. “Yes, we can get them back. You heard the woman, get your ass off that bed. Their souls haven’t left the Earthen sphere yet. I have a plane ready, so get up!”

  His eyes have returned to blue and gray.

  And I honestly don’t give a fuck.

  Dimithinia heaves, almost yanking my ear off. “Yes. Get up, ass!”

  I push her hand away, torn between hugging the fuck out of her for caring about Ismini, or choking her because she’s still as frustrating as she always was.

  Looking at her proves what I’d already known. I care for her. A lot. But that’s it. She does nothing to me compared to how I feel for Ismini.

  How did I ever think I was in love with her?

  I was such a fucking idiot. So consumed by guilt I didn’t see what was in front of me until it was too late.

  “And he finally learns the one lesson he was meant to learn all these years.”

  I ignore Nylicia’s comment and flash off the bed.

  Dimithinia leads the way to the door. “The Vortex. Their souls are still inside. We need to go back there.”

  “Even if we can get their souls back, what happens then?” I say.

  “Let me worry about that,” Nylicia says, stepping forward.

  “You said something about a plane?”

  “It’s waiting for us in Arizona,” Zen tells me.

  “Their souls are being held at thirty thousand feet. At the most dangerous point of the vortex. You fly towards it, energies high, and it will . . . what is the word . . . overload. It will overload and shoot out its own energy, causing a catastrophe. So the flying metal contraption it is. You can fling out all your powers once inside it. With any luck, the vortex will tear your head off after you get Ismini’s soul, and then I will not have to finish the job.” Dimithinia stares up at me with eyes that are innocently wide.

  I will not be amused. This is not the time. Damn her. “Will this work? Can I get her back?”

  Zen pauses mid-step.

  I know he needs to hear the answer as much as I do.

  “I told you. I saw Dimithinia, Ismini, Evesse, and others as part of this war. Now can both of you go get your women? We need them back here.”

  “She’s not mine,” Zen mumbles as we exit the room.

  Nylicia walks up to Zen and smacks the back of his head with her translucent hand. “Not yet, but you’re going to remedy that, aren’t you? Besides, you already walked through the portal last night in your dream, just like the God of Horniness, here. There’s no going back, you fool.”

  My dream finally comes back to me in full detail.

  Zen grumbles, rubbing the spot. Dimithinia hits him, too, as she walks by. “What the fuck, woman? I haven’t even been introduced to you!”

  Dimithinia shrugs and continues walking. “Apparently, you are another fool who is hesitating to claim what is his. I tend to have issues with males of the sort. So I know all I need to know.”

  Nylicia’s laugh echoes down the hallway.

  I ignore them, thoughts filled with the idea of having Ismini with me again.

  We haven’t gotten her back yet.

  Yes, but even if I end up having my head torn off, as Dimithinia so nicely put it, I’ll find a way to make this work.

  I’m a fucking God, damn it. No way I can’t find a way to bring her back, the Fates be damned.

  CHAPTER 28

  Altitude: 28,527 feet and climbing.

  – Earth. Sedona, AZ. (USA)

  DYLETRI

  “D imithinia . . .”

  I watch her pace back and forth inside the empty cargo plane. She’s been restless the whole flight, ever since she emerged from one of the rooms in the compound, changed into jeans, leather ankle boots, and a black shirt.

  An outfit that fucks with my mind considering I know when she was last on Earth.

  “Dimithinia,” I say a little louder.

  “What?”

  Rolling my eyes, I get up and grab her arm. “Chill out and tell me what’s up.”

  “Chill? What is up? Give me a moment. I do believe I heard those terms in the television Crius would put in front of . . .” Her voice stalls, and her eyes cloud over.

  It worries me. She was ripped into the world as a higher being with powers and a vague understanding of what this new modern world entails.

  On top of that, it’s obvious she’s choking on the loss of one specific male.

  “This is about him, isn’t it?”

  I’m not jealous. I was at one time, but then again, I now recognize that it had been more of an annoyance. After everything that went down, I had always felt responsible for Dimithinia, and it was aggravating to see Crius usurping my role.

  “I . . .” Dimithinia trails off, seemingly unable to continue.

  Zen is sitting away from us in deep meditation. His eyes were flashing red and black every few seconds, so he’d forced himself into a trance.

  It’s getting harder for him to keep Mavrak locked inside. A problem, considering that everyone present has a less than pure past. Dimithinia’s is especially shady.

  Mavrak gets out, we’re all done for.

  All that’s left is the hope that Eve returning will be enough to lock the God of Vengeance back in his cage.

  I lead Dimithinia by the arm and sit down on the floor of the plane, patting the spot next to me. “Come. Talk to me.” She seems hesitant, so I smile and put on my best “please” face. “I might die in a few minutes when we arrive at our destination.”

  She glares at me playfully. “One would be so lucky.”

  I watch as she slides into the spot next to me. “Aw, come on. You’ve been verbally abusing me from day one. Can’t you be nice to me in my last moments of my life?”

  It’s true. Even during our brief relationship, if one could call it that, the woman always had something smart to say about me.

  About everyone, for that matter.

  I was forbidden from killing her piece of shit husband, but sometimes I noticed that her smartass personality had infatuated even him.

  She looks up at me with a bullheaded expression. “You are not going to die. You and Ismini will be happy forever if I have anything to say about it.”

  My rib cage tightens around my lungs, cutting off my breath at the thought of my R’ma. “You know . . . when I first met Ismini, that’s one of the things that hit me the hardest. How much she wanted that for you and me despite the fact that it would cost her life
.”

  Dimithinia stares at the ground, her brow furrowed. “I am nothing like that girl. Nothing. I am a monster,” she whispers. “I am a horrid abomination, and I have to live with that every second. In whatever form I exist, I have to live with my crimes. Not just the lives I took . . . the lives that were taken because of me. An entire empire. Millions of people.”

  I can’t help but sympathize. To all of us that had personally known her, her actions had always been incongruous with who she is. “I hurt you. Pushed you into madness—”

  “You did no such thing. It was my fault. I was already so close to madness by the time I met you. I thought I loved you but I . . .” She shakes her head. “I was young and desperate. Miserable. You were the first to show me kindness outside of my one friend. And yet I know that I did not do it because of you.”

  “Why did you do it?”

  “I do not remember.”

  I’ve never heard such despair in a being’s tone.

  “I have spent the last fourteen-thousand-years trying to piece together the events that led up to my actions . . . and all I can sense is this pit in my being.”

  “A pit?”

  “A yawning emptiness. A chasm I cannot bear. As if I not only lost the memories, but also lost something of the utmost importance to me.”

  The sunlight glints off her odd eyes, bringing out the blue and black tones in them. She always had a thick, black outline around her irises, but now that she has powers and her eyes glow brighter, those outlines stand out starkly.

  “I hope what I said does not offend you. I care for you, Sal—Dyletri. I always will. But I was just desperate for someone who did not treat me as a queen or as a punching bag, I believe the term is, yes?”

  “Yes, that is it the term. And, no, I’m not offended. So Crius put your Aristi in front of a television so you could see the modern world?” I ask, steering the conversation in the direction I want it to go.

  Crius feels her. I saw it in his thoughts.

  “Oh, yes. He would carry my Aristi with him and take me out into the modern world. The movie theaters, I think they are called, are amazing with their huge screens!” Dimithinia glows with all the excitement of a child.

  The image of Crius sitting in a dark movie theater with her orb is almost too odd to process.

  Holy fuck. Forget feeling her. For him to act that out of character, he has to be utterly gone over the female.

  That bastard did manage to block some of his thoughts from me.

  I wonder if Cyake is hearing this from the front of the plane. He’ll be just as shocked to hear how ruined his brother is over this female.

  “I never knew he took you out. Is that why you were mad that I brought you back?”

  She says nothing.

  “He cares for you, Dimithinia. And I get the feeling he’s the reason you realized you didn’t really love me back then, isn’t he?”

  “It does not matter now.” Dimithinia stands back up.

  “Why? Why doesn’t it matter? You have a body now. You two could try—”

  “No. He will never feel for me the way I feel for him. He might care, but that is it. He will never have me in this form. Besides, a monster like me does not deserve what you and Ismini now share.”

  “Dimithinia, why? Why won’t he—”

  “The moment he knew I was about to return, he rushed to deposit my Aristi in Enzyria so he would not be present upon the moment of my rebirth.”

  That motherfucking pussy.

  That motherfucking, paranoid pussy.

  Cy, if you can hear me, I’m letting you know right now. I might end up killing your brother.

  “Dude, wait ‘till I tell the others. Holy shit.” He means their other four brothers. All of whom will be equally shocked to find this shit out.

  “Dimithinia, you don’t understand—” I’m interrupted yet again by another pesky female’s voice.

  “Drop it. He made his mistake and the wheels of Destiny already turned due to it. Just let me do my gods damned damage control.”

  Gods damn it, is right. Nylicia isn’t even on the plane but she has no problem being all up in my head.

  “Let us change the subject now, please?” Dimithinia stares at me pleadingly.

  I sigh but do as both females ask, even though I know damn well that Crius' past is the reason why he’s being this way. It’s all about his last life and what was done to him by the woman he adored.

  “We’re here.” Zen opens his eyes and stands. His eyes are still flashing between red-and-black and blue-and-gray.

  Almost as if she’s fully aware that he might be a danger to one such as her, Dimithinia steps back away from him.

  Zen focuses on her, expression regretful and solemn. “I will never hurt you, Dimithinia of Maleksoraniel, as long as I still have some control. Regardless of what lies within me or what lies within you, I know you regret your actions.”

  Dimithinia nods but doesn’t say anything in return.

  The cockpit door flies open then, and Cy leans out, a huge pair of headphones on his head.

  “Yo! Remember when you fuckers laughed at me and said I was wasting those two seconds of my time learning how to fly a plane even though I saw it was going to come in handy one day? Yeah, motherfuckers!”

  Ian’s hand appears from the right and pushes Cy’s face back. “We can’t see the vortex in the daytime, but this gypsy mofo says we’re close!” he yells out as he walks towards the back, leaving Cy in the cockpit to steer the plane.

  “Gypsy motherfucker? Fuck you! I am a seer, asswipe. A seer. Get it straight!”

  I ignore Cy’s usual ridiculousness and lock eyes with Zen. He nods at me, his expression as determined as mine must be.

  Walking up to the cabin door, I raise a Gnetica that the others help reinforce, and pop the latch. The air outside roars as the seal is broken, but thanks to the Gnetica, none of us are sucked out.

  Ianthen’s white eyes stare out into the clouds passing by. “You two fuckers are crazy for attempting this, but I’m not going to act like I don’t understand why.”

  Zen and I exchange a wide-eyed look. Cy sticks his head out again, and I see the slack jaw he’s sporting. The only person who doesn’t seem surprised is Dimithinia, and that’s because she has no idea how epic a statement that is coming from Ianthen, God of the Hunt.

  “She’s going to destroy him,” Zen mumbles out of the corner of his mouth.

  We all know which she he’s referring to.

  Ianthen scoffs. “Fuck you, asshole, I heard that. And this isn’t about her.”

  I laugh despite my current situation. The irony’s too much. Soleria, a human who hates Ian’s type, has gotten to him.

  Even Zen starts laughing. “Oh, this is going to be good.”

  “You know what?” Ian says. “We’re here. So both of you, do yourselves a favor and throw yourselves off this plane before I fucking do it for you. Oh, and Dy, I hope whatever Nylicia is doing to keep you healthy fails on you mid-fall, asshole.”

  I give Ian the finger over my shoulder and stare out into the open sky. The energy in the wind around us is unmistakable, but I can’t pinpoint exactly where the source is. “This is going to be difficult.”

  Dimithinia wedges her way between Zen and I. “I can help. I will call out to the Illion and ask it to connect with the Fates. Nylicia told me I should be the one to do it.”

  “Why you?”

  “I do not know but she has never been wrong about anything this far.”

  I reserve my opinion on that. Until I have Ismini back with me, or I’m with her on the other side, I’m still not sure this will turn out for the best.

  “Now, I will call to the Illion, and I can also try to highlight where the exact vortex is.”

  “How are you going to do that?”

  Dimithinia holds up her hand. A flare of dark purple energy appears, tendrils like wisps of smoke as they curve around her fingers. “I have returned with many powers gifted to me
by Nylicia. I do not yet understand them, but I am very sure I can use this specific one to our advantage.”

  With that, she holds out her hand in the desert sky.

  CHAPTER 29

  DYLETRI

  P urple energy flies from Dimithinia’s hand towards the front of the plane. It stops suddenly and violently, as if it collided with an invisible wall. It splits in two different directions until a spiral forms, stretching from the top of the Earth’s atmosphere and spreading like a tornado until it touches the mountain formations below.

  Violence stabs me in the gut. Seeing it with my own eyes makes it even more real.

  That’s where it happened. Where they threw my R’ma in to be shredded alive.

  The same place I would’ve had to throw her had I been forced to go through with the sacrifice.

  I wouldn’t have done it. That’s clear now. End of the universe be damned, I wasn’t going to keep my promise to the Fates. “We’re hunting them down and tearing the skin off their bones when this is over.” There’s no need to clarify who I’m talking about. Zen knows.

  “Agreed.” His black and red eyes are on the same exact spot.

  Ian looks worried despite his earlier threats. “First off, you motherfuckers have to survive this.”

  “They will.”

  We turn as one as Nylicia’s form shimmers into view. She nods at me then stares at the energy vortex.

  Now she decides to join us. “Have you seen it coming to pass?”

  “Just now, actually. This is going to hurt both of you. I have to work with the Illion to re-form their bodies within the vortex. Once you each latch on to their souls, you can’t let go until it’s done. I am not uniting with that damn force just to have you guys fuck it up. Got it? Don’t make this be in vain. Touching that thing is the last thing I want to do.”

  Damn. What the hell did the source ever do to her?

  “All right, Dimithinia. Get ready to summon the Illion. You two, when I give you the go ahead, jump in. You should recognize where their souls are immediately. Latch on as fast as you can, and remember—do not let go.”