"We have ten minutes," Savannah interrupted, looking at a watch I had assumed was for show and not something functional. "We should get going."
She was right. There was no sense in dwelling on the fact Asher had infiltrated our group and no doubt gotten information from us that might prove useful to the Titans. I could only hope whatever he had picked up wouldn't turn out to be our downfall. At least most our plan had been made after we returned.
"Okay, Aidan, I need you to stand here so I have a visual to work with and Blaine, if you want to stand here and try not to move. The slightest movement might make you turn out hideous." My head snapped to the side to look at Hermes with a glare. Now was not the time to be pressing his luck with me, but Stirling liked to live on the edge of danger.
Everyone else moved around to get ready while I stood in place and continued to glare at Stirling as he worked. It was both fascinating and disgusting to watch him shape and mold Blaine's face into an exact replica of mine. I wasn't sure how I felt by the time he was done with the idea of having a doppelganger who could pass as the King of the Gods. My eyes flicked to Savannah as I possessively worried Blaine might try something with my Queen.
"One problem," I breathed a sigh of relief, Savannah was worried about it too. "Aidan's about five inches taller than him." Oh.
"Not a problem." Stirling shot up in the sky, hovering over all of us, "Griffin, Aidan, please stand on his feet to hold him down." I arched an eyebrow, glanced at Savannah before doing as I was told. Before I had the chance to do or say anything else, Stirling grabbed Blaine by the shoulders and stretched him. It was awful. His entire body looked like modeling clay being tugged and all the sudden, he snapped back into place and he looked exactly like me. I blinked at my mirror reflection before stepping back uncomfortably. Yeah, this wasn't okay.
"Swap clothes. He might remember what you were wearing," Savannah commanded and I looked at her in incredulity. Was she not weirded out by this whole thing? There was two of me! Of course, she must be loving it.
Everyone cleared out giving Blaine and I the chance to change. His clothes didn't end up fitting me so Savannah and I headed back to our bedroom to change.
"You alright?" She spoke quietly as I tugged a shirt over my head, pausing as my head cleared the hole to glance at her.
"Yeah, why?"
"You seem... I'm not sure. I can't put my finger on it but not normal comes to mind."
"I'm alright. This is a lot. Two months ago, my biggest worry was getting Nike to sign onto our firm."
"Now you're worried about a different Nike."
"Huh?"
"She's a minor Goddess..." Savannah shrugged before holding out a belt to me.
"Right, sure." She smiled tightly and touched the lightning bolt on her collar. "It's not me, is it?"
"This isn't about me giving you a necklace instead of an engagement ring, is it?"
"No, not at all," she said before looking away, "now isn't the time anyways." As soon as she spoke I frowned, wondering why she was trying to justify to herself why I wouldn't want to marry her. Hadn't I proven to her in the last two weeks I was committed to this? Yeah, okay for other people two weeks was nothing but for me that was a huge accomplishment.
"I want you Savvy, you." I grabbed her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze before tugging her toward me. "Only you." I leaned in and kissed her, "don't you ever forget."
"Hah, yeah, okay," she said lightly before kissing me back. I gave her a strange look before letting it go, whatever was going on, it was complicated female emotions I did not want to get involved with. At least, not right now.
Savannah led the way back out of the room to the passage Griffin had made to fast track us to the fight.
"You have to go first," I said as I paused by the door. She nodded in agreement before letting go of me. She still looked like there was something else she wanted to say but whatever it was, she let it go as she walked through the threshold into the fray. I waited for a few minutes, counting to ten under my breath and I walked through, keeping to the shadows so Soren and Asher didn't see I was there.
Chapter 3
I watched Blaine crumple to the ground, immediately feeling regretful of the sacrifice he had made for me. For everyone. The fighting broke out as we attacked. Charlotte landed a vicious blow to Hanna's back, sending her to the ground in a pool of her own blood. Griffin scrimmaged with Gage momentarily, trying to get through to Valentina when Soren turned his attention on him. Now was my chance.
I took off in a run toward them, sprinting through the circle of flames someone had thrown and tripped into the middle. Baby flames licked at my clothes, catching the hems in little sparks. They licked at my skin underneath but my immortality shrugged it off, absorbing the burns before healing my skin and starting the process all over again. Any effect Oliver hoped it would have was lost, the fire only resulting in being mildly annoying to me. I patted the flames off and turned to face my nemesis. Griffin was all ready to finish him off but this wasn't his job. It was mine, I had made a promise to everyone and I was going to keep it. Blaine hadn't made his sacrifice for nothing, of that I was sure.
"He's mine, Griffin. Get your girl." My voice drew attention to me.
"What? But you..." Soren looked at Blaine's corpse first with shock and anger at being tricked. The Titan in him rumbled as he threw magic at me, the blast hitting my chest and throwing me across the ring where the scrimmages were going on. That's all it took as I drew my magic, summoning a lightning bolt and shot it back at Soren. It singed his arm but didn't land the kind of lethal blow I was hoping for. Soren looked at the mark and laughed like a maniac as he ran toward me at full tilt. I wasn't sure what he was about to do but I scrambled to my feet nonetheless in a sad attempt to dodge his blow.
Soren's hands found my body and before I knew what was happening, my vision disappeared. It was as if someone had drawn a heavy blanket over all light sources in the room and yet I could still feel the fire bursting nearby. Stumbling away from him, his laugh echoed in my ears as he watched me fumble around blindly. Griffin had mentioned something about Soren being able to take powers from people but I didn't know a God who could take senses away from people. How the hell was I supposed to win this fight without my vision?
Without another choice under my belt, I summoned the power of a lightning bolt in my hand, feeling it's rush of power crackle against my palm. I had to trust my instincts as I followed my gut, focusing on the noises around me and zeroing in on Soren's arrogant laughter. Once I was sure I had pinpointed him I threw the bolt, waiting to hear the crack of the impact.
"Argh, you bastard!" I managed a smirk, knowing I hadn't hit him in the chest like I was aiming but a blow of any kind was welcome right now. Something hit me from the right and I went skidding across the rocky floor through another wall of flames. When my body stopped moving the flames rushed harder around me, burning at my skin uncomfortably.
The rocks under my body began to shift and I realized Soren was moving them. I scrambled again to get out of the way but my foot got caught. I could feel the press of rock on either side of it and knew freeing myself was going to hurt. Steeling myself with a deep breath, I tried not to waste any time on discomfort and yanked. I felt my bones crush and crumble as the pressure of the rocks fell harder on my ankle with every shift. By the time I managed to free myself I was sure, based on the level of pain rushing through me, I had done a bit of damage to myself.
I didn't have time to linger on how I was going to manage as I summoned another lightning bolt and shot it at Soren. Maybe if I could knock him down and get closer one touch and I would be able to restore my sight. Or I needed Everett. Had we brought Everett with us?
"Good try Aidan, but you missed." Soren's mock echoed through the blackness I continued to miserably navigate myself through.
"Trust me, I didn't." I managed to at least sound like I had a game plan and the moment of hesitation before Soren replied was long enough for me to know it w
as working.
"Try all you want Aidan, but you've already lost." Now that lie I could see right through. Without my sight, my hearing was fine, if not better than usual and I could still hear my friends fighting around me. But that moment of scrutiny cost me as someone's right hook landed a harsh blow on my jaw, cracking my teeth together so hard my gums began to bleed. But that blow also gave me one advantage Soren hadn't thought of.
I reached out and found the person responsible for the sucker punch, making sure my hand was touching bare skin before releasing a powerful charge through me to him. Soren's body lost control as it bounced around, jerking and jiggling while the electricity coursed through him. His control over his own magic slipped and my vision returned, once more as though someone had drawn back the blanket. I momentarily wished I knew whose powers he was abusing but I didn't have time to think too much.
While he was still out of control I landed a punch of my own, this time right into his chest aiming for the spot where I hoped I might cause an agitation of the heart. The likelihood of my managing to stop his heart and kill him was low. He could've already united with his God. Or, although we called him Soren still, it was entirely Coeus in charge. Either way a deathly blow to the heart wouldn't be enough to stop him but it would be enough to slow him for now. It would give me a chance to regroup and figure out what the hell I was going to do if my powers didn't work on him.
Or so I thought.
Soren was moving again, this time with a renewed look of hatred in his eyes. He moved toward me with the delicate grace of a predator, his hands balled at his side. I had no idea what other tricks he had up his sleeve but I was sure if he managed to take my vision again it would not be fun figuring them out.
I conjured another lightning bolt, carelessly tossing it from one hand to the next as I waited for the right moment to strike at Soren. But the moment didn't come, or maybe it did and I missed it. Either way I lifted my hand with every intention of throwing the lightning bolt when something hit me again from the side. This time I was better at taking the blows, releasing the bolt haphazardly before ducking into a roll that threw me through the fire. I landed on the other side in front of Griffin, momentarily disoriented.
"Val?" I caught the stray lightning bolt before someone else could.
"Safe," Griffin assured me as I turned back toward Soren.
"Good." I threw myself back into the flames, holding the lightning bolt out like a spear but as I dashed toward the Titan he was ready for me. He caught the bolt, turning the tide of the fight and before I had the chance to stop him, he drove it right through my chest.
"AIDAN!" I heard Savannah scream but I couldn't see her. Everything seemed to stop for a moment as the searing pain of my own power coursed through me. My body wasn't prepared to handle the magic in such a way, it reacted in the only way it could: it allowed the bolt to do as it was intended. Kill.
It felt like a sword as it sunk into my body. My chest burned and unlike the flames, the scorch mark it caused didn't heal right away. Zeus' shock was translated in the silence that followed this turning of the tides. My knees buckled from under me as I slipped to the ground, coughing. Blood filled my mouth, the taste not foreign but surprising. At least in the quantities it was coming in.
Was I dying?
I coughed again, choking on the blood streaming down my throat as the rest of my body fell to the ground. The darkness from before descended once again, but before it claimed me, I felt Savannah rush to my side. Her arms went around me, and mine around hers as a moment of panic seized me. If this was truly it, who was going to keep her safe?
The darkness claimed me.
I didn't know what to expect from death but what I got wasn't what I thought it would be. The darkness remained, always hovering close, but I was still conscious. In fact, the world around me shifted until images from my life began to play out. This must've been what people meant when they said they saw their lives flash before their eyes. But this wasn't a memory.
Savannah sat in the bathroom, using the toilet as her seat as she stared at her hands like she thought they were the Devil himself. Someone knocked on the door and my view shifted to it as it creaked open revealing myself.
"Everything okay? You've been in there for a while." She stood abruptly and smiled at me, shaking her head.
"Yeah fine, got lost in thought."
"Glad you came back to me," I teased, making her smile.
"Me too." She moved toward me and kissed me. I remembered this day, it was two days before everything went to hell in the throne room. We were getting ready for our coronation. I didn't understand why I was seeing everything from Savannah's point of view.
"I'll be quick, I need to change."
"Seriously, be faster than Hermes going around the world."
"Five minutes, I swear." She held her hands up like she was taking an oath before smiling again, ushering me out of the bathroom to wait for her. I was always waiting for her. It came with the territory. I left the room and my vision remained hovered on Savannah as she moved her hands again, lifting her t-shirt and throwing it onto the pile of laundry. She turned to look at herself in the mirror, turning to her side to examine her body.
"Goddess of Childbirth," she whispered to herself, shaking her head with disgust. "Not yet, not now. It's too soon, I'll lose him." She kept her hands hovered over her belly and concentrated. I watched the last thing I ever expected to see her do again. Her bright, lively magic glowed from her hands and lit her belly. She watched herself in the mirror, heartbreak lacing her features as she watched the glow appear and disappear. When she dropped her hands, she turned to look at herself in the mirror again and this time I sensed something was different. I couldn't put my finger on it.
At some point she had started crying, she looked at herself in the mirror, fussed with the lines of mascara on her cheeks and went to change. By the time she came out to meet me and I remembered this part, she was cheerful again like she didn't have a worry in the world. What was going on?
"What happened?" Griffin's voice pulled me back to reality, surging the lingering darkness far away from me. I felt myself take a deep steady breath that seemed to calm the growing panic in my chest. I couldn't remember why I had been worried or what had upset me. Surely, I would remember again when it was important.
"Soren drove Aidan's lightning bolt into him." She touched the tenderness on my chest and I wanted to flinch as a sharp burst of pain flowered on my chest.
"He'll be fine," Griffin reassured her making me want to grunt at them. I was right here, they didn't need to talk like I was dead.
"What if he's not?" Savannah's voice was edged with fear but also worry.
"He's Zeus, he's the most stubborn jackass I know."
Savannah, my beautiful and loving girlfriend, laughed, "This is true." She touched my face and I grunted this time, ready to make my reappearance.
"You both don't need to talk like I'm not right here..." Talking hurt, I decided. But it was better than listening to the two of them talk about me.
"Are you healing?" I thought about it for a moment, concentrating on the sensation still blooming on my chest. I could feel my body sewing itself back together but it wasn't at the pace I was used to.
"Slower than normal. It doesn't feel right."
"No... You're right. something is wrong, Soren upped the ante and I-"
"Asher, this has to be Asher. He wasn't here at first." The thought hit me. Our plan hadn't included having someone to keep an eye on the mysterious God and we didn't know the extent of his powers. This had to be it.
"Do you think it's the prophecy?"
"What prophecy?" asked Griffin.
"The one Atlas was always going on about. Cronos, too. He talked about something big was going to come, like he knew the details."
"Something like this?"
"Maybe. Through dark and dust do yet they rise. Once more may they cast their eyes. Yet from their slumber, did they wake. A demon whose po
wers shall retake. The heavens and earth must fall. A new King intend they to install. The sun of one, and King of all." As they spoke, I considered what she was saying. It made sense.
"Yet from their slumber did they wake a demon whose powers shall retake... ‘they’ would be us. When our Gods woke, we woke whatever Asher is, as well. The heavens and earth must fall... That's already happened. It has to be the prophecy, it's coming true," Savannah spoke hurriedly, her eyes wide and fearful as she gazed at me.
"The son of one," I frowned, already knowing where this was going. "Atlas said he released our Gods prematurely once and that's what kick-started the prophecy, didn't he? Son of one... King of all." My stomach sank. Damnit, don't you know how to keep it in your pants? I scolded my God before forcing my eyes open so I could properly see Sav and Griff. "My son. Zeus must've impregnated someone when he woke the first time. Asher must be my son.... Son of one, and king of all. I'm the king of all and only my bloodline could claim that."
Savannah looked grief stricken at the idea I had a son. Well, not me, but Zeus. Still, it was a hard blow to our relationship. Something scratched at the back of my mind trying to make me remember something important I was forgetting.
"What does it mean if he isn't a specific God?"
"He's only half-God, for one, which means he can be killed. But his powers would be non-specific, I guess. He has no domain over which to rule like the rest of us. He would have magic at his disposal. He's been training for centuries for this moment, that's why he knows so much about us - about our king."
"You're still King of the Gods though, couldn't you give him a domain to rule over like mud or something useless? Then, he wouldn't be a threat."
"I don't think it works like that and the only person who would know is Atlas..." My chest tickled as the end of the healing process began. I coughed as the itch climbed my throat. I checked my chest, seeing the pink flesh regrow there. "And Atlas had to be the one who trained him on how to use magic. How else would he have known about who he was and what he was supposed to do? Atlas was the only one of us that was free to reign."
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