“What’s a car?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
KieraFreya scoffed. “Well, I guess that just shows how primitive your homeland is. We’re pretty progressive here in Obsidian.”
Chloe paused, staring at her bracers incredulously. “Progressive? The people here wipe their asses with leaves. I’m wearing leather armor. The entire patriarchal structure of the Oakston tribe is a laughable allegorical nod at what my civilization has spent centuries eradicating to allow men and women to have equal rights.”
KieraFreya chewed on this. “You realize that using the Oakston tribe as your example of a base culture of Obsidian is entirely redundant? I’m sure you have dozens of colonies in your land that live in the way that Oakston does. And ‘equal rights?’ Pah! I refer you to my original point.”
Chloe thought about that for a moment, then growled. She hated being proven wrong, and even more so by an enchanted piece of armor. She kept climbing, glad to see that her stamina had regained some of its points after the small rest.
“There really are other cities here?” Chloe asked, grunting as her latest handgrip crumbled and fell away. She stretched toward another.
“Of course. If you think Oakston is the epitome of living in Obsidian, you have yet to come across any of the great cities. Nauriel, Hammersworth, Killink View—the world is filled with civilization and culture. Just because you found yourself in the ass-end of nowhere, doesn’t mean that this is all there is. You should widen your worldview, babe. You’ve barely scratched the surface.”
Chloe imagined it now—fantastical cities like those she had seen in films. Great metropolises filled with many different cultures and races. She remembered that Blake used to spend hours in the cities of Relic Hunter, searching for quests, looting boxes, picking pockets, and acquiring items. It seemed like cities were the places to be if you wanted to level up fast.
Chloe pulled herself over a steep ledge, then rolled onto her back to catch her breath. “And how does someone find any of these cities? All I’ve seen so far are trees and rock. Oh, and a cave. Can’t forget the cave.”
When KieraFreya didn’t respond, Chloe sat up, not quite believing just how far they’d climbed. She looked down at her wrist and said, “Hey? You still there?”
Her wrist raised by itself, turning her body and pointing Chloe toward where the wisp was hovering in front of a tall stone door. Ornate carvings decorated its front, detailing scenes of people, light, battles, and peace. At the zenith of the doorway was a modest carved statue of hands in prayer, a complex carved bracelet around the wrists.
Chloe stood up, mouth open in awe. She slowly moved closer, her tired feet dragging as she went. The wisp met her at the doorway, stopping just in front of her face.
“Just when I was beginning to doubt you.” Chloe reached forward and tried to pat the orb, but her hand went straight through it. “Oops, sorry.”
She advanced on the door, putting her hand against the cold rock. She pushed gently, but there was no movement. Another push, then a shove, and it wasn’t long before Chloe was shoving against the door with her entire body weight, her shoulder against on the rock, then her back as her feet slipped and skidded on the ground.
“How the heck am I supposed to get in? You haven’t brought us all this way just to have us fail at the last hurdle, have you?”
As if acknowledging her words, the orb floated over to a small basin Chloe hadn’t even noticed. The bottom of the basin was dark, as if some deep-colored liquid had stained the bowl long ago.
Chloe looked at the orb for further explanation. Instead, the orb drifted into the bowl and spun around several times, then disappeared.
“Huh?”
Chloe pulled up her notifications, noticing an alert trying to get her attention.
Quest unlocked: Donate yourself for entry
You have reached the fabled “Seat of the World.” Legend tells us that in order to gain entry, one must first donate a piece of themselves as a tribute to the gods.
Rewards: 50exp, entry to the Seat of the World
“The Seat of the World, huh?” Chloe mused. “Do you know anything about this place?”
Chloe waited for a response but garnered nothing from KieraFreya.
“Trust you to go silent when I need you.” She sighed.
She ran a hand around the surface of the bowl, determining that the stain was clearly from long ago. She hunted for a lever or button of some kind and tried the door a few more times, then resigned herself to dealing with the basin.
“Well, we’ve come all this way.” Chloe reached for her sword and ran the blade over her palm. She winced as the skin opened and blood dripped. She squeezed her fist tight, and several drops of blood fell into the bowl.
Chloe stepped back, ready for something dramatic to happen—for the doors to swing open of their own accord, or maybe a voice to call to her and guide her home.
When nothing happened, she scratched her head and wandered back to the basin.
“You know it’s not blood they’re asking for, right?” KieraFreya said, finally weighing in. “The quest said ‘donate a piece of yourself.’”
“Yeah, so?”
“The gods require something bigger.”
Chloe’s skin went cold. “You don’t mean…”
“Mmhmm,” KieraFreya confirmed. “Chop-chop, Sweet Tits.” She chuckled. “Excuse the pun.”
Chloe stared back at the door, then, resolving herself, brought her sword to her hand. A single digit wouldn’t hurt, right? Just one finger. Would that be enough to please the gods?
As she closed her eyes and prepared to slice, she heard the grating of stone on stone. She noticed that the blood from the basin had disappeared and now dark red lines of flowing liquid coursed around the etchings on the doorway, making the place come alive. The carved hands pulled apart with a deep grinding sound, and dust drifted to the floor. They rotated until the palms were outstretched, pointing toward the valley.
Then, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped.
Chloe stared into the darkness of the cave, heart pumping.
“You nearly had me chop off my finger,” she growled, lips barely moving.
“I wanted to see how far you would go to complete my mission. Turns out, farther than most. I’m impressed. Now, chop-chop, little lady. You’ve got some goddess parts to find.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Demetri smiled into the darkened room, feeling calmer than a buddha in a health spa.
Working his ass off as a psychologist for years had taken its toll on the man. He spent day in and day out discussing people’s problems and helping them come up with workable solutions. Add that to the volume of time and work required to balance the world-renowned Lagarde family and its odd private appointments, as well as serving as his other clients, and Demetri had little room to manage his own life.
Sure, he made use of the Lagardes’ facilities—the heated pool, the spa, the gym. He was even lucky enough to be able to write off most of his expenses through the family’s accounts, so he made a fair living doing what he did. But did that really make up for companionship? Did that leave room for a social life?
Did that leave any room for love?
Demetri understood that love was an abstract concept; he was a scientist, after all. But he was also open to the notion that changes in bio- and neurochemistry created the base feelings and desires that many believed in as ‘love.’ Even so, that didn’t stop the butterflies fluttering in his stomach. An aviary of feelings and emotions that hadn’t surfaced in years now kept him awake as he watched her sleep beside him, eyelids fluttering on that beautiful alabaster face.
Demetri smiled and closed his eyes, remembering the warmth of her body on his. Remembering through a tipsy haze the taste of whiskey on her lips as they enjoyed a tipple while watching Chloe’s adventures on screen.
That was the first time they had made love. Chloe had been scouring the small tribal village, the name
of which escaped Demetri now, looking to increase her character’s experience and skills. The villagers had mentioned something about being blessed, but he could hardly remember what that meant. He’d been too wrapped up in the softness of Mia’s skin at the time. Her breath on his neck. Her legs around his waist.
And so it had been for every waking moment he could spare recently. Demetri’s day consisted of meetings and sex, sex and meetings. Every spare moment was spent either thinking about Mia—the one who had gotten away—or being with her. They ate together, they slept together, they showered together. Hell, a couple of times Mia had popped out of her small apartment and met Demetri outside the Lagardes’ condo, waiting on the ground level with a bag full of his favorite things.
Demetri rested his head on his arm and thought back to their days in high school. She had been just as pretty then. He had been even nerdier, his glasses often hanging off the end of his nose. They had spent a summer together at camp, growing close in the way teenagers do when they’re away from the schoolyard and familiar things. He realized now that the entire social structure changed the minute the students were dumped into a new place.
That was what had triggered his interest in the human psyche, he supposed—watching the popular kids befriend the social outcasts after discovering they were bunkmates. Watching the pretty girls speak to the rejects as if they were just people. If it hadn’t been for camp, Demetri never would have spoken to Mia in the first place.
Which also meant that Mia would never have broken his heart.
That was what cemented it for Demetri. It hadn’t been so much the social changes and the observation of how much fun could be had outside the schoolyard as much as it had been the reinstatement of the hierarchy when summer ended and they returned to school.
The bullies found their red flags again. The nerds found their hideaways. Summer friendships were shattered in a moment, and camp romances soon dissolved.
All it took was one comment, one single callout from Julia Hendricks—Mia’s best friend at the time—to say that single syllable that made teenagers cringe.
“Oooooh!” she had started when Demetri had waved at Mia by the water fountain.
His eyes met hers.
Her eyes met his.
He waved.
She turned her back.
Nothing to be done.
Now, though…
Now he watched her sleep, listening to her snores. Had it not been for the fact that Mia had approached him with the opportunity for Obsidian, would she be lying here now?
He doubted that very much.
Did he, at that particular moment, care at all?
Not one iota.
Water dripped from the ceiling to the floor, repetitive drops that produced their own music within the chamber.
The place was bigger than it should have been, a great dome of carved rock with patterns and sigils hewn into the walls. A large number of torches lined the round room in perfectly spaced increments, blazing with Chloe’s purple fire and casting a mystic glow around the place.
In the center of the room was a large throne, also carved directly from the rock. The floor was covered with dust and webs, and the chamber echoed with every step Chloe took.
She stood before the throne, eyebrow cocked.
“It’s a chair.”
KieraFreya mumbled her agreement. “A big chair.
“A big chair carved from rock.”
Chloe scanned the room, looking for any indication of what to do. The way into the chamber was nothing more than a long tunnel with smooth walls. There were no other entrances or exits that Chloe could see. There was simply a big chair and a plethora of images around her.
“Cool,” she said quietly. “Only one thing to do, I suppose.”
Chloe placed her foot on the first step and stopped.
“Wait,” KieraFreya said, tugging Chloe’s arm back
“Naw,” Chloe soothed, patting her bracers. “Finally, you’ve grown a conscience. You care about me. How sweet. But you really don’t need to worry. What’s the worst that could happen?”
Another step, and KieraFreya tugged her harder. She stumbled down to the main level.
“What are you doing?”
“I just want you to be cautious,” KieraFreya replied. “If something appears too easy, it’s likely there’s a reason. Didn’t your parents ever teach you that?”
Chloe rifled through her memory bank. “There’s always a catch?”
“Right.”
“Well, I don’t see any other option, and we’ve come this far, so…”
Another step.
Another tug.
Chloe slapped her forehead, sliding her hand down her face. “Look, if we die—”
“We end up back at that village, remember?” KieraFreya said more sharply now.
Chloe froze.
“That’s where your last respawn was, princess,” KieraFreya continued. “Remember? If you die here, you’ll be forced back miles and miles through the woods, and you’ll have to start your journey all over again. Is that what you want?”
Chloe considered the goddess’ words. That was the last thing she wanted. Now that she felt as though she was actually making good progress toward some kind of goal, she definitely didn’t want to be flung all the way back across the map.
“Fine. What do you suggest?”
KieraFreya considered the matter, and when no ideas struck her, she sighed. “Just...be careful.”
“I always am.” Chloe winked. “I have to admit, I like this side of you.”
“Don’t get used to it,” KieraFreya growled.
This time when Chloe took the stairs, she moved more slowly. Her ears were pricked, her eyes scanning the room for danger. At the top, she investigated the seat, finding nothing but smooth stone, and climbed on top. She sat down, facing back toward the entrance…
And waited.
And waited.
And waited a little more.
“The Seat of the World, huh? More like the Seat of—”
Chloe’s words were cut short as a blinding light exploded from the ceiling. It was as if a sunroof had opened and now allowed the daylight to flood the cave. Chloe shielded her eyes, trying her best to see what the source was, but couldn’t hold focus without it being painful.
A great booming voice began to speak.
“O mortal one who has discovered and summoned the great channel of the gods, tell us, do you have your one request?”
Chloe’s hair flew into her face, and her ears hurting from the volume of the voice. She felt a great presence around her suddenly, as though immense beings were speeding around the edges of her vision. She could sense clouds and hear curious chattering voices in the background, but most of all, the sheer power that overwhelmed her. For the most fleeting of seconds, she had the sensation that she was nothing more than a tiny insect in a land of dinosaurs.
“Forgive me, O great ones?” Chloe said sheepishly. “I’m afraid I don’t understand what you ask of me? I am but a traveler looking for adventure in this realm.”
“You mean to say that you have come unprepared for your bequeathing? Mortal, the gods do not hang around for indecisiveness, nor do we appear at will. As punishment for your insolence, our offer has been withdrawn, and a tag placed against your character as a time waster and a nuisance of the—”
“Oh, give it a rest, pea-brain!” KieraFreya called, rage in her voice that Chloe had never heard before. “You think you’re sooooo high and mighty up there in your ivory tower!”
There was a moment of silence, during which the only things Chloe was aware of were the beings flying and swooping outside the light.
The voice returned, softer this time. “KieraFreya? Is that you?”
“In the flesh...kind of...you son-of-a-bitch! Why don’t you cut this ‘mortal’ some slack and just allow her a minute to ask a friggin’ question? Aren’t you gods supposed to be all-loving and kind? Oh, wait, I forgot. That’s to every
one except your family, right?”
Chloe stared down at her bracers in disbelief. Had she really just said that to a god? She supposed that since KieraFreya was a goddess, it might not have been as much of an issue. Still, the venom in every syllable was alarming.
“KieraFreya, I’ve waited so long to hear from you—”
“Save it, pube-beard. I don’t want to hear it. Grant this bitch her request and let us get on our way. I don’t want to tie up the line for any longer than I have to.”
Another pause, this one heavier and much longer. Eventually, the voice said, “As you wish.”
Chloe twiddled her thumbs, waiting for some kind of instruction. When none came, she said, “Oh. Er, okay. I need some help completing a quest and...well, I’ve got no—”
“It is done.”
Chloe took a large inhalation of breath as the world went black. A second later, she was looking down at the landscape from the height of a bird, soaring through clouds, diving over mountains, sweeping across oceans. The images came in strobe flashes.
A thriving city with people. A great gray tower of marble penetrating the sky. A wide-open ocean strewn with great blocks of ice and snow. Lava spewing from the mouth of a volcano in a land ashen and black. A field of wildflowers falling down a well to the caverns below, walls glimmering like a thousand stars…
Image after image assaulted her almost physically. The light rimmed her vision. She felt KieraFreya’s presence on her wrist. Felt the bracers vibrate as the next barrage of images came.
A breastplate shining gleaming with emeralds and gold. Gauntlets rotating and hovering in a shower of sparkles. A cuirass. A gardbrace. Greaves. The list went on and on, individual components of armor of the same ornate style as the ones that Chloe’s wrists sported. Snow-capped mountains, caves, and volcanoes formed the backgrounds.
The vision turned. Now Chloe could see them all—the monsters of Obsidian. Flashes of enormous trolls, dragons, great beasts with many limbs, tentacles, leagues of fires, crypts, daggers, boobytraps, and more.
As suddenly as the visions came, the light vanished. Chloe dropped back onto the great throne, her ears ringing. The silence of the room was a stark contrast to what she had just experienced.
Collecting The Goddess (Chronicles Of KieraFreya Book 1) Page 16
