by Eva Brandt
With a thought, we transported ourselves back to our small base here on Terra. I’d been tempted to go back to the Apsid Quasar, or at least to Mercury, but that would have been too strenuous and pushed our skills too much. Instead, we’d taken refuge near the destroyed remnants of Gaia’s Haven.
There was nothing left of the old settlement now, but there was a reason why The Grand Judiciary had sent the Grand Chimera Unit here, and why the Haven had been built in this place in particular. This was the perfect place to hide and recharge.
We were supposed to rest, but the moment we entered the ravine, something powerful touched me. Down here, it was dark and cold. Helios’s gift still reached me, but it felt more distant. There was another presence niggling at the back of my mind.
Like a man in a dream, I knelt and touched the earth. Instantly, I heard a voice and the sound of distant laughter.
“Why her?” I asked, not really expecting a reply. “Why pick her?”
“Why not?” the voice shot back. “You should know by now, Jared Glass, that humans don’t matter to gods. Their souls are just fuel for greater beings.”
Behind me, my companions stirred, obviously anxious. I wasn’t sure if they heard the voice or not, but I’d worry about that later.
“Selene isn’t fuel! I refuse to believe that.”
“Helios indulges you too much. He always has. The world isn’t that kind, child. You’d best be aware of it.”
“Oh, I’m aware. That’s why we’re on Terra, after all.”
“No, you’re here to save her, yourself, and that spawn of yours.”
“Do you really have no love in your heart for mankind? Do you really think they’re a hopeless species?”
“They’ve always been hopeless, flawed. It was a mistake to leave this world in their hands in the first place. The only thing they’ve ever done is destroy.”
“And you could’ve intervened much sooner if you had cared. If things reached this point, you only have yourselves to blame.”
A jolt of pain rushed through me and for a few seconds, I felt as if I was being disintegrated again. “Jar’yd!” Teela cried out.
I waved her away, silently telling her to keep her distance. I hadn’t expected this, nor had I intended to have a conversation with a deity, but if I’d been approached in this way, I wouldn’t back out.
“Watch your tongue, ant,” the goddess told me. “You might be Helios’s subject, but you aren’t in the Quasar now. Helios can’t reach you here.”
“Maybe not, but some things are more important than others. You’re a deity of life, Gaia. Surely you can understand that.”
“Yes, but I’m not the one who gives second chances.”
Silence fell over the ravine. I hadn’t expected anything to come of this conversation, but still, I couldn’t help but be a little disappointed. I’d hoped that I’d be able to do more than just wait here until the next stage of the plan started.
Just when I’d given up, another voice echoed in my head, this time male. “You children are so exhausting. Fine. We’ll help you, just this once.”
The ground parted and a group of chimeras emerged from beneath us. This time, they weren’t in their metallic shape, but rather, flesh and bone.
“We meet again, Jared Glass,” Sphinx said. “It took you forever to see what was right in front of you.”
She was talking as if the assistance of the gods had been guaranteed from the very beginning, and although I knew that wasn’t true, I let it go.
“Delayed or not, we’re here now. Can you help us?”
Zephyrus popped up from behind her, so much smaller than Sphinx, but still comforting just because she was there. “Of course. That’s why we’re here. It’s time to end this war, once and for all, no matter what it costs us.”
That sounded a little ominous, but regardless, I accepted it, because it meant we finally had some hope. I had to believe the chimeras would provide us with enough reinforcements for whatever was waiting for us. Because somehow, I had the feeling that Selene’s part of the plan wasn’t going as smoothly as we’d have all liked.
Destiny of Death
Selene
Meanwhile, New Washington
“Mother! I’m so glad to see you. I received word that there was an attack on New Washington.”
As she greeted me in front of Gaia’s Temple, my mother wrapped her arms around me and pulled me close to her chest. “There was. Chimeras, if you can believe it. They were hunting a Sun-Dweller.”
My stomach turned when she touched me, because it reminded me of what she had done, of what she had almost robbed me of. I hid my discomfort and hugged her back.
“I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”
“It’s not your fault.”
It was an automatic response, and I got the feeling she didn’t truly believe it. But if that was the case, she didn’t care about my part of the blame in the incident either.
When she finally pulled me into her office, she looked like she was about to cry. “Oh, Selene. It was that man. That horrid creature. He said you’d been taken by King Philip and asked for my help. Then, the chimeras came after him.”
“King Philip did kidnap me, but he isn’t an issue anymore. I made sure. And Jared is dangerous, but not that important in the big picture.” I dropped down on a chair and let out an exhausted sigh. “Tartarus Base was attacked too, you know. We have no idea where those Centaurs are coming from, but we have to find out. Brendan thinks they’re not after Jared at all, but after me.”
“You? Why would they be after you, Selene?”
“I don’t know. You tell me.”
I shot her a pleading look, hoping I hadn’t come here for nothing. A part of me understood why she’d acted the way she had. She had stolen my choice and endangered my life, but she did love me. I was relying on that, on that feeling that had made her try to protect me, even at the cost of her integrity and morals.
My mother tensed. “If you’re asking me that, Selene, then you must already know the answer.”
“I have no answers, only suspicions.” With a shaking hand, I retrieved King Philip’s tablet from my jacket. “I got this off the king the day he died. He was trying to rape me at the time. It turns out it’s not a good idea to touch me when I’m unstable. The powers of Gaia and Tartarus don’t like to be defiled.”
She went white and leaned against the wall, clutching her chest, as if she was suffocating. “What? No! You can’t… You shouldn’t… Don’t touch that.”
“Please, Mother. Just tell me. I can’t live like this. And I’m so scared. I don’t feel well.” I swallowed and allowed myself to show my anguish. “The doctors at the base are saying something about my body is making my pregnancy consume me. I don’t know what’s happening.”
Just like I had hoped, my mother let out a broken sob and collapsed. “Oh, Gaia. This is all my fault. It didn’t occur to me…”
I should’ve probably gotten up and reassured her, but I didn’t have the energy. There was only so much I was willing to lie and pretend. I’d been honest when I’d told her I was scared, but I didn’t think I could ever explain how scared I’d been during those awful moments when I’d thought I’d lose the baby.
After what seemed like forever, my mother composed herself. “Selene, the truth is you were born as part of an experiment. The Grand Judiciary wanted a way to bring back the original chimera, the most powerful creature and the supposed leader of those beasts. They owned two of its souls, but not the third, and they thought a flesh and blood vessel would help. Since I was High Priestess, they believed I was ideal as the mother. Your father and I provided the biological material, but honestly, I’m not sure what else was done to ensure you were created. The egg was fertilized in a lab before it was implanted inside me.
“When they learned you were a woman, and an Unblessed at that, The Grand Judiciary lost interest in you. But then… I think someone found out about the project. All those extremist gr
oups being targeted—they were after you and the other children created.
“And then, that Sphinx took you. I hoped that it was an anomaly, that your power was the only side-effect left behind by the experiments. But it wasn’t. When it became obvious that you had Gaia’s Gift too, I knew they’d succeeded.”
“And let me guess, it was a problem, because I had my own mind and I had support from Brendan and the others.”
My mother nodded. “You were a target. And to make matters worse, that creature had to go and breed you. Like you were an animal. I’m so sorry, Selene, but they… They would have killed you. I didn’t want to hurt you or your child, but I had to do it.”
I believed her, but it changed nothing. I’d gotten my answers, but I still hadn’t fulfilled my goal.
“Mother, why did the Centaurs leave? I can’t imagine they suddenly decided to stop destroying New Washington. Did they simply go once they realized I wasn’t here?”
“No, my child. To tell you the truth, I don’t know why they left. They just… vanished.”
I didn’t buy that for a second. Chimeras didn’t vanish for random reasons. But my mother had been honest about what she’d tried to do to me and Nestor. Would she really lie now?
No, I couldn’t let myself get distracted this way. I’d come here for a reason, and it wasn’t just because I wanted to hear the truth from my mother’s own mouth. There was power hidden below us. The temples of Gaia weren’t built randomly. They were connected to Terra’s core and to each other. It wasn’t an organized network, not in the sense the people in Tartarus City could interpret, but it was there and it formed the basis of our true civilization.
“Mother, take me to the temple’s core. I think it’s high time we faced all the truths you’ve been hiding, don’t you agree?”
Impossibly, she paled even further. “No, Selene. You can’t.”
“And why is that? I’m not pregnant anymore. You and people like you have taken everything from me. I need to fulfill my goal. That’s the last thing I have left.”
That couldn’t have been further from the truth, but on some level, maybe I did believe it, because the ground itself responded to my anguish. As a hole opened up in the middle of the room, my mother cried out in a panic. “No! No, please, no. Don’t do this, Selene. You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into.”
“The First Chimera Project, you mean? Like you said, I’m already a part of it.”
Without another word, I jumped down the hole. It wasn’t very deep and I easily landed on my feet. What I found inside surprised me—and yet, it didn’t.
Rows of massive, glowing diamonds stood before me, all of them emanating crimson power. An aura of tachyons floated around each diamond, making their surface very difficult to see through.
But despite the high level of opacity, I could distinguish enough to make me understand the second part of the story—what my mother had refused to tell me. In each and every diamond, there was a person.
“Tartarus magic must come from somewhere,” my mother whispered. At one point, she’d joined me in the cavern, although I hadn’t heard her move. “It’s always the power of souls that feeds it.”
“Just like the deaths of the people in Gaia’s Haven fed the chimeras, right?”
“Yes. But it’s different. These people were all chosen as a punishment for their crimes.”
I wondered if that was what always happened to the terrorist groups The Grand Judiciary captured. Were those women who’d tried to take Sphinx here? I wanted to ask, but decided other things were more important.
Beyond the diamonds, there was a massive green sphere. I easily recognized it as aligned to Gaia’s power. I shouldn’t have been afraid, but for some reason, the sight made me apprehensive.
I knew now that I was far more than an Unblessed and I was ready to face that. But a small part of me wished I’d listened to the others and found another way, preferably without having to return here.
But there was no turning back. Maybe there never had been, and it had been my destiny to face this from the very beginning.
Taking a deep breath, I brushed my fingers over the green sphere. The result was almost anticlimactic. I blinked and a woman popped up in front of me. She wasn’t wearing anything, but at the same time, she wasn’t showing any skin. I wasn’t sure how that was possible, but gods could break and bend reality to their whims. This was nothing.
“So, the seed had finally bloomed. You say you are ready to embrace your truth and your destiny. Let’s see if that is true.”
“It is. I have no other choice.”
Gaia laughed. “There’s always a choice, dear child. The path you have to follow is a difficult one. In your heart, you know there’s no turning back from this.”
I clenched my fists so hard I could’ve sworn my fingernails drew blood. “Please. Just tell me. I need to hear it.”
Gaia’s amusement melted away. “So be it. It’s quite simple. The world will always unite under one banner as long as there is a foe powerful enough to be a threat. Despite everything, that was what made it possible for The Grand Judiciary to take over in the first place. But that enemy was, in part, fabricated, specifically so that they could acquire power. To counter that, you need someone new—someone mankind can defeat. And that person is you.”
I suppressed the hysterical laugh bubbling in my chest. “That can’t be right. I’m powerful, but I’m just a person. One single chimera could crush me.”
“I think you and I both know that’s not true. The Great Mother was right, Selene Renard. You might not have been able to take on your previous foes before, but now, you can do it. My power isn’t easy to control. Do you know why that is?”
It sounded like a rhetorical question, but I decided to reply anyway. “It’s steady, but stubborn. It refuses to obey.”
“Something like that, although it’s not so simple. Every deity has an alignment, Selene. Helios won’t just resurrect anyone who dies. Tartarus won’t give tachyon manipulation to everyone. I won’t bestow my gift to every single person in the world. Other gods and creatures are the same.
“In my case, the people who are most aligned with me are always women—and always mothers. Because that is what I am, Mother Earth.”
I thought about Nestor, about the child I’d been forced to leave behind in the Apsid Quasar. His name meant ‘homecoming,’ but that was the whole point. I’d always known I wouldn’t be coming home.
“If I turn on them, if I fight them, everyone will look down on Terran women,” I said weakly. “We can’t let that happen.”
“Don’t worry. By the time I’m through with you, there will be no trace left of Selene Renard.”
It was so ironic that I’d been so angry about the fate of the people in Gaia’s Haven, and now, I’d be doing something far worse. But in the depths of Gaia’s green eyes, I saw my own destiny of death. I took her hand and prayed my family would forgive me. Please, take care of Nestor, I thought, and then my world turned to magic and ash.
****
Knox
The crowning ceremony went well. The only problem was Selene’s absence, but that couldn’t be helped. Officially, this was a formality and our focus was on stopping the rebellions on Terra.
The rest of our unit flanked Brendan as he took the vow to protect Terra and the future of the dynasty. We stood in the grand hall of the Hades Moon Base, surrounded by Chimera aristocracy. I’d never felt more aware of just how distant my family was to me. “I vow to abandon all selfish ambition and guard our world from our foes,” Brendan said.
“This vow, we accept,” the head representatives of The Grand Judiciary said.
“I vow to obey the will of Tartarus and Gaia and uphold the standards of our ancestors.”
“This vow, we accept,” they repeated.
It went on and on, the litany of words washing over me, barely comprehensible. For the most part, they were empty promises, since half the time, nobody cared about w
hat the gods actually wanted. The assembly knew that as well, because a lot of its members watched Brendan with visible anxiety.
It was ironic that one of our staunchest supporters turned out to be Paul Welton, but I knew we couldn’t rely on him. He might decide to betray us, and the whole business with the First Chimera Project had scared him.
As Brendan finished taking his vows, the representatives clapped their hands. Waves of tachyons surging from each of them struck Brendan. I’d known it was coming, but I still hated seeing it.
It was a small test, one meant to show that Brendan could indeed carry the weight of the dynasty. As a rule, the force employed was limited. When Philip had been the one standing in Brendan’s place, the whole thing had been mild at best.
I expected the representatives to try to take things further with Brendan, but they didn’t. That did nothing to reassure me. I eyed them all suspiciously, registering which of them was most resentful of the process. I’d have to get rid of them soon, before they became a threat to Brendan.
The crowning ceremony ended with an explosion of enthusiasm that was only half-faked. If nothing else, The Grand Judiciary did seem to believe that Brendan was the solution for the problems we all faced. So far, our plan was working.
Of course, that was when things had to completely go to shit.
An explosion shook the base, so powerful we almost fell over. It was much worse than what we’d experienced at Tartarus Base. I instinctively steadied Brendan, but most of the members of The Grand Judiciary weren’t so lucky and collapsed to the floor like domino pieces.
They got up quickly enough, at which point panic rushed over the room. “Terrorists?” Leonardo cried. “Here?”
“That’s impossible,” August told him. “They couldn’t have made their way to the moon, especially not without being spotted.”
“The attacks on Terra have just started,” Pollux reasoned. “The rebels aren’t powerful enough to come here.”
