“So like your sister,” she hissed, turning her back on him and crossing her arms over her chest defiantly. I smiled when my eyes met Mark’s.
He offered a smile in return and then sobered. “If the Alchemists are there, they’ll do anything to capture you. Anything.” His eyes darted to Theo and back. “Nothing else matters but Aether. Arguing with them. Bargaining with them. None of that will work. They’ve been doing this for centuries, and they remember.”
The Athanatos did not.
I nodded my head.
“If you spot them, act quickly,” he advised. “Don’t hesitate. They are more dangerous than Nero’s sea monsters.”
“I seriously doubt that,” Nico replied. “What are a bunch of humans with borrowed power against Pyrkagia royalty?”
Mark turned his level look on Theo’s cousin. “They will count on your arrogance to win. Be careful, Pyrkagia, they have not forgotten.”
Nico shifted uncomfortably.
“Thank you for the advice,” Theo said, drawing Mark’s attention away from his cousin.
Mark inclined his head and said, “You, they will target.” This time his eyes darted toward me. “A distracted Aether is a weak Aether. They don’t care if you’re broken, Case. They just want you under their control.”
“Tell me again why you became an Alchemist?” I asked with a hint of disgust in my tone.
“Because one day Gramps knew you’d need me. To fight them.”
Then why had my grandfather become an Alchemist? Why had he aligned with humans who stole Elemental powers and weren’t afraid to kill to achieve their goals?
Mark had once said the Alchemists had been Aetheros’ followers. The recorders of Elemental history. They worshipped Aetheros and at some point coveted the power of their god’s children. Religion had a lot to answer for in this world. The Alchemists’ actions were a betrayal that Aetheros must have felt keenly. And then his children abandoned him.
No wonder the god was absent.
How the freaking hell did I correct this? Would I have to win the Alchemists back on side too? That was a task too far out of my reach.
I laughed mirthlessly at that. Which part of balancing the world was within my reach?
“Casey?” Theo asked. I shook my head and offered a rueful smile.
“Ready?” I asked.
“Isn’t that my line?”
The smile became genuine.
“Stick close, Pyrkagia Prince. I’ll protect you.”
“Sometimes I wonder who wears the pants in your relationship,” Nico quipped, moving to my other side.
“A strong woman is a truly beautiful thing, cousin,” Theo replied, slipping his hand into mine.
I stared at the ground for a moment, wondering if I was strong enough for what lay ahead.
The wind whistled a sorrowful tune. The ground shuddered with foreboding. Raindrops ran like tears down marble columns. Lightning forked through the sky and struck a tree, flames leaping forlornly into the sky.
“I guess that’s our signal,” Nico said quietly.
“We don’t have much time,” I announced. Whatever The Reckoning was, Hip had been right: It was coming.
I squeezed my companions’ hands and nodded my head to my brother, our eyes locked, our faces grim.
“Good luck,” he said.
“Make them burn,” Isadora added, completely missing the intent of this visit. “What?” she said, all huffy and innocent at once. “I meant the Alchemists.”
“Yeah, sure you did, Princess,” Mark drawled. I ignored their tension releasing banter, and thought, Atlantis.
As you wish, Aether, Air replied and then laughed.
I didn’t have time to understand what that chilling sound meant before lightning struck, ozone wafting up to tickle my nose, and the world turned to a blinding shade of white. My back arched, my fingers tingled where they held on to Nico and Theo, and the world spun around in a dizzying array of not-colours; sparks of light and flashes of brightness burning into my retinas.
I felt sick when we landed. Doubling over to avoid puking, then straightening up again when I realised where we were and why we were here and what that could actually mean.
“Aether!” came booming from the side.
Screams and hisses and a wall of water surrounded, pressing in and kept from crushing us only by my own call on Nero. Sweat blossomed on my skin immediately. Bile rose up my throat. My breaths came in agitated pants; gasps almost for much-needed air.
“Casey?” Theo called. “Do we retreat?”
We’d expected an unhappy welcome, but we’d assumed their Pyrkagia could offer some assistance in the meet and greet. But four walls of Water, and no visibility beyond meant Fire was useless here.
“Give me a second,” I managed through gritted teeth. Then pulled on my Thisavros’ power.
My legs buckled, my vision dimmed, a ringing sound echoed in my ears. I pushed the walls of Water back a single foot.
Only to have the tops of them roll over like a breaking wave, smashing against rocks.
My hands rose instinctively, pressing up and out at the same time. I shook with the effort, realising they were using every single Nero in Atlantis to mount this attack. I should have brought Mark with me. But then Isadora wouldn’t have been able to hang back and come in as support. Which meant, if I couldn’t get this under control, we’d need them sooner rather than later. And so far, we had no idea if the Alchemists were here or not.
Bringing Mark, an Alchemist in touch with Nero, into their mix before we ascertained that was not the best move. Not yet.
I stumbled sideways, both Theo and Nico holding me up. I drew on all four Elements for strength. My Thisavros connection for even more power. And prayed to Aetheros to lend a helping hand. The god did not. A sense of waiting invaded. An anticipatory feeling that fell from above. Stars twinkled briefly through the billowing black clouds. Then winked out of sight as if they had never existed.
I wondered whether they had; that I might have been hallucinating with the amount of energy required to keep the Water prison walls back. But that sensation of being watched, of some…entity observing and waiting made me wonder another thing.
Was The Reckoning, Hip spoke of, the Judgement of Aetheros himself? Which would make you wonder if Genesis had been his making too. An angry and vengeful god teaching his children and their followers a lesson.
As far as reprimands went it packed a mighty punch.
Aether, I called out inside my head. I need you, Aether. Wake up!
The stars glittered in the dark and murderous sky and I held my breath. Perhaps asking for an Awakening whilst in the middle of trying to survive a Nero attack was not the wisest move. But Aether didn’t Awaken. Only watched.
Judgement Day. Was that it? Aether waiting to see if I deserved it?
I’d had enough of tests. I’d had enough of being pitted against enormous obstacles. Unaided. Alone.
I’d had enough.
I screamed, attempting to use my anger to fuel me further, to fight this losing battle and win. But, even if I was Aether, at last count in control of four Stoicheio, I was not strong enough to fight all of Nero.
I was not strong enough.
With what was left of my resolve I reached out to the Rigas. I opened my arms and accepted my fate.
Nero King, I sent through the Water. Hear me!
Pisces screamed.
Nero King! I yelled inside my mind. Hear me!
A chorus of voices screeched inside my head. I wanted to cover my ears, but Theo and Nico were still holding me aloft by my upper arms; movement was restricted. And covering my ears would do nothing against a telepathic attack.
I’d opened that channel of communication; I only had myself to blame. Wetness dribbled down my neck; for a moment I thought the Water wall had succeeded in covering our heads and was dripping. But when I lifted my exhausted head, I saw only dark, ominous clouds boiling overhead.
A drop of blood d
ripped off my jaw and landed at our feet. I stared down at it, my head so heavy on my shoulders, and watched as it trickled through a crack in the marble stone where we stood.
“Get ready,” I mumbled.
“Casey, we need to leave!” Theo shouted above the sea creatures wailing.
Oh, they weren’t doing that just inside my head?
Through the wavy Water wall, I could see Pisces; Cancer clacking his pincers as he paced. Taurus butted huge horns against the Water as if wanting to charge us. Leo roared out of a lion’s face. Virgo flapped ethereal wings as she hovered above her siblings. And Sagittarius drew an arrow ready to loose it from his bow.
How could I get these people to listen? How could I combat such anger and rage?
The ground rumbled, announcing when my blood had hit dirt. The marble floor beneath our feet buckled. A geyser erupted on the other side of the Water wall. Lava followed, hissing and spitting and glowing with warning. The wind whipped up the clouds, making gaps appear through the darkness. The sun shone down, serene and peaceful. Lighting a tableau of horrors that mocked heaven.
The Nero Rigas’ children wailed.
“Nero King!” I shouted, my back bowed as Theo and Nico held me. “HEAR ME!”
In one thunderous wave of motion, the ground lifted up and swallowed the Water wall whole.
We stared into the murderous eyes of Zodiac creatures that should not exist, as a silence as deep as any ocean abyss surrounded us. I gasped for breath. Blinked through alternating bright spots of light and utter darkness. And searched for the Nero King.
He stepped out of the protection of his children, shoulders rigid, back straight, death a mask on his face.
“Aether!” he thundered. “You trespass!”
With shaking hands, I caught a drop of rainwater, lifted it up and made it dance.
“Come dance with me, Rigas,” I murmured, my lips numb, my breath a wheeze in the back of my throat.
The drop stretched and twisted, turning into a woman; arms raised, back arched, legs twirling. Dancing. Water dancing.
“She has Nero,” someone whispered, but in the sudden absence of ambient sound the words travelled and reached their King.
“Aether,” he said, less murderous, but still conflicted.
“She has Nero!” someone else shouted.
“Not just Nero,” I offered, making the Water woman dance across the space between us and entwine with a flicker of flames. Fire and Water dancing. The next was harder than I could ever have imagined in my current depleted state. But Theo whispered encouragement, as Nico stood guard, Fire in his palms a mere thought away.
A green root broke through the marble, where greenery shouldn’t be. It wrapped itself around the dancing water/flame, not getting singed but embraced. I shook with the effort it took to call on Air, my vision dimming alarmingly. If I intended to prove my power to these people, one look at the sweat that coated my brow and the tremors that wracked my body would ruin everything.
Wind whispered through the gathering, touching every single Nero and moving on. It picked the dancers up and spun them ever faster. Fire, Water, Earth and Air broke apart.
I was left slumped in Theo’s arms, attempting to look hale and hearty. I was sure I was failing miserably. I licked my lips, forced the nausea back down, and blinked open heavy lids.
“Aether,” I said from a parched mouth.
“Aether,” murmured through the crowd.
“Then why are you here?” the King demanded.
Silence. It was heavier than it should have been. And it should have been extremely heavy as it is. These people expected me to finish off what I had started, sink Atlantis or blow it to bits. But this silence was heavier even than that.
An expectation I wasn’t sure I could meet.
I stood up straighter, the world spinning around me and threatening my equilibrium. If Aetheros was listening, then I needed to send this message home.
“You’ve been gone too long, Nero,” I said, my voice only slightly warbling. “You’ve hidden beneath the sea for centuries. It’s time to breathe Air again. To feel Earth beneath your feet. Warm your bodies by a welcoming Fire. It’s time to return to the old ways. Athanatos do not cower. Ekmetalleftis do not bury their hurt and rage. Rise, Nero! Rise with Aether. And return.”
“No,” the Nero Rigas simply said.
I started laughing; it was a little unhinged. Theo made a sound at my side, close to my ear. It took a second to decipher it. Worry. He was worried for me. Not physically, I should think. But mentally. I did sound a little crazed.
“Can I ask why not?” I said, not sounding in the least like any Aether I was sure they’d ever heard of.
“You ask too much, Aether. Nero may run through your veins. Power you may have at your fingertips. But this…this you cannot demand of us. You know nothing of our pain.”
I wasn’t sure what to say to him. To any of them. I knew the pain he spoke of was the loss of their Thisavros, but they had Hataera now. And Pallakae. Would mentioning their Thisavros offend them? Would it turn this fragile standoff into a battle again?
I let out a long breath of air, not in defeat exactly, but in resignation. I had to try.
“Then tell me,” I said. “Share your pain.”
“It is not something we speak of,” a deep and disturbingly dark voice growled from behind the King. Pisces stepped forward, his spear in his hand, but thankfully not aimed at me. The tip pointed toward the cracked marble of their Pyrgos, reminding me of the physical damage I’d inflicted on these people.
But physical pain was not what made them hide themselves. It was not what made them reluctant to speak of their history.
“Perhaps you should,” I said softly. “Perhaps it is time to remember.”
“No!” the Rigas growled, Water rising at his feet. “Never! It is forbidden.”
“By who?” I demanded.
“It is the law!” he screamed.
I looked at the Nero people, shaking with fear and worry as they watched their King. I realised something then; I’d never seen the Nero Queen.
I took a step forward. Theo gripped my arm tighter, pulling me back against his side. I turned and looked up into my Thisavros’ gold tinted eyes.
“The Alchemists aren’t here,” I whispered almost too low for him to hear. “I feel only Nero on this island.”
“Are you sure?” I nodded. “He’s unstable.” His eyes lifted to look at the King.
“And I think I know why.”
Theo looked back down at me and reached up to cup my cheek. “You promised, remember?”
I promised to retreat if things went badly.
“Five minutes,” I said. “Five minutes and if we’ve made no further progress we’ll pull back.”
“Five minutes,” he said through a low rumble, “and I’ll pull you back myself.” Nico nodded his head in agreement.
Great. Two overprotective keepers. I smiled, squeezed Theo’s fingers, met Nico’s eyes briefly, and then turned to walk towards the Rigas.
I was not alone.
My eyes darted up to the sky, the clouds still absent, my Air pushing a fresh breeze over our heads, ensuring the sun shone down. To witness.
I wasn’t sure if it was Aetheros watching, but I knew something was. I could feel its eyes on my back, on the top of my head, inside my mind. Something was waiting. Reserving judgement.
The Reckoning, whatever that was, had arrived. But it hadn’t started as Genesis had. With a boom and a crack and the End of Days.
I wasn’t sure which was worse. Facing your attacker head on? Or feeling it watch you instead and wait?
A shiver shot down my spine, but I held myself rigid. I just had to get through this, and then I could sleep. Then I could dream. Then Gramps could answer some freaking questions.
“Rigas,” I said as I approached the Nero King. He looked wary. Angry. Uncertain.
I was Aether. I fought the entire might of Nero. Water danced to my tun
e.
But I was so much more to him. I represented his pain.
“You ask too much,” he whispered as I drew closer.
“Tell me,” I said and reached out with my mind to his. The Nero King hadn’t been the first Ekmetalleftis to talk to me inside my mind. The Gi Rigas had managed that as well. It wasn’t a singular talent to the Nero. But there had been more than just words shared when the Nero King had spoken inside my head that first time.
I had tasted the sea. I had been pulled toward a tantalising flavour. The Nero Rigas had drawn me to him as a siren would lure unwary sailors onto rocks. It was their thing. The Nero tantalised, tempted, and then captured those they wanted to consume.
And I had thought the Pyrkagia feeding off passion was bad enough. Nero fed off loneliness.
They had been calling to me.
But I was not alone. And the Aeras shaman could stick that in his mood-altering, herbal pipe and smoke it.
The urge to look back at Theo was enormous, but the Nero needed me.
“Brother Nero,” I murmured, holding out my hands. “Share your grief.”
The Rigas looked at me; time seemed to stretch. In his eyes, I saw loss and heartache, broken briefly by an emotion it took too long to get.
His hands wrapped around mine. His mind opened and drew me in. And in the split second before I felt their collective pain, I thought I recognised it. The momentary flash of emotion that had broken through his heartache.
Calculation.
It was too late. He held me fast. That siren call trapped me completely as images assailed my mind. A young man and his wife playing with their Stoicheio under the warmth of the sun; Water danced, Air made it spin ever faster. A child running toward a grandmother, her arms out wide, waiting for a hug; wind brushed her hair as the child smiled. A mother smoothing the wayward locks of a blond boy as he cried; the tears wiped away without fingers.
Air. Water. Here an Earth sign wrapped up in a Nero’s love. Fire. Air. Water. They danced and sang and laughed.
A husband running into a room in an old stone house, fear and desperation in his eyes. His wife turning from the laundry she’d been drying, the wind whipping away to nothing at the devastation in her husband’s ice-blue eyes. He said something. I couldn’t understand him. He might have been speaking in Greek. His wife collapsed to her knees, a keen wail erupting from deep within her chest. He rushed to her, held her, cried with her. The wailing reached the ears of her young children, who’d been sound asleep. Fear skittered down everyone’s spines. Including mine. A toddler came out, rubbing sleep-crusted eyes. Auburn hair. Deep blue eyes. She looked up at her father; so similar; so alike. Nero. They were Nero. And as the walls rattled, and the shutters blew back against stone, the mother’s anguish was brought forth in a shocking blast of Aeras.
The Tantalising Taste Of Water (Elemental Awakening, Book 4) Page 16
