by Ali Winters
By the time she finished ranting at him, she was panting, her fists clenched so tight her nails stung her palms as they dug into her skin.
Prometheus waited a beat then asked, “Are you quite finished now?”
“I—” she started, cut off when he held up a hand. Sparks danced in his molten eyes, telling her not to push her luck. He’d allowed her to lay into him once, out of shock or his own amusement, she didn’t know which.
“Do not worry about that.”
“Why not?” she asked suspiciously.
“Because, I’m here to help you.”
Nivian frowned. “Why would you help me?”
He didn’t respond.
“You’re betraying Hades, why?” she asked.
“No.” His eyes darkened into two burning coals. “Hades didn’t ask for your soul because he actually wanted it. He is bound to the rules of this realm as you are to yours. He is unable to help you through, even if he wished it otherwise. However, I am not of this realm, and therefore am not bound to the rules of this place.”
“But why help me?”
“Would you prefer I didn’t?” Prometheus raised his brows questioningly.
“No, it’s not that…” She rubbed her forehead. “I just don’t understand.”
“You were right when you mentioned the influx and eventual ceasing of souls into this realm. While the Underworld would not be affected, all others would, and I did not give humans fire and allow myself to be tortured every day for eternity just to sit back and watch them be destroyed.”
Nivian looked past him again and wrapped an arm around her middle, then gestured toward the river with her other. “What am I supposed to do now that you pulled me out? I still need to get to the other side and pass the other four.”
“The rivers are an impossible path for you.”
Nivian’s heart sank. Hades had tricked her. He’d allowed her through knowing he would end up with her soul no matter what. So how did Prometheus think he could help her?
“You are not yet among the dead, but if you continue on this path with as mortal as you are, then you will be soon enough.”
“Hades is cruel,” she growled under her breath and began pacing again.
Prometheus’s expression darkened and he took two long strides toward her so she was forced to tilt her head back uncomfortably to meet his gaze. “It is his duty to collect souls. He is bound to do so, no matter what he wishes. It is not his fault that you came so unprepared.”
Whether he was right or not, it didn’t change the fact that she was doomed.
She opened her mouth to protest, then thought better of it and snapped it shut.
Caspian was right, she thought. It is impossible.
She thought she’d been prepared, but in her anxiousness to find the entrance and bring Kain back, she hadn’t asked enough questions or demanded enough answers. Even if she had asked questions, the Moirai only spoke vaguely and only gave her enough information to guess.
Somewhere in the distance, a volcano erupted, sending a shower of sparks into the sky that looked like shooting stars.
The hidden lines of text and clues in the books were scarce, barely telling her anything.
No, being prepared was not something she could have been. Maybe if there was unlimited time and centuries for her to research and study and search. But it didn’t matter anymore. It was too late for her to start over.
Nivian stopped pacing and glanced at him over her shoulder. “So, what do I do now?” she asked softly. She held her hands palm up, then let them drop. Frustration getting the better of her.
“You must cross the valley of shadows, it will take you past the first four rivers.”
“Four? But what of the last one?”
“The river Lethe merges with the lake. If your Kain crosses into Elysium, then all will be for naught, and not even Hades himself could bring him back if he tore the Underworld apart with his own bare hands.”
Nivian swallowed hard. “Wha—” her voice caught and she coughed to clear her throat. “What happens if he does?”
“His soul will be forever cleansed and shapeless and everything that this Hunter ever was, will cease to be.”
“No!” Nivian cried. She looked at her hands, not realizing she’d grabbed him as he pried them off the chain wrapped around his chest.
“Come,” he said. “I will take you to the edge of the valley.”
Prometheus placed two fingers in his mouth and whistled.
The sound cleaved the air and Nivian clapped her palms over her ears, giving him a sidelong glance when she lowered her hands.
She waited for him to transport her, but he only stared off into the distant sky. After several minutes, a dark shape soared across the atmosphere. A loud screech echoed all around her as a giant eagle burst through a cloudbank and landed with a deep whomp that shook the ground.
Prometheus stepped up to the bird and stroked its massive beak and neck before mounting in a graceful leap. He reached down and held out his hand to her.
Nivian eyed the bird as it watched her every movement. She didn’t blame it for the untrusting look in it its eye, after all, she didn’t trust it much either. Nivian moved slowly, not wanting to spook the bird, then took his hand without hesitation.
He pulled her aboard the bird’s back. “You might want to hold on,” he said. He gave a sharp whistle and before she could process his words, the eagle took off with several powerful thrusts of its massive wings.
Nivian gripped the feathers under her to avoid falling off, eliciting an unpleasant screech from the bird.
“Hold on to me,” Prometheus said.
Once Nivian managed to find her bearings, she moved her hands to his waist and held tightly.
The land below stretched out as far as she could see. The City of the Dead looked immense even from such a high up vantage point. Nivian watched the buildings glint as they flew along the outskirts, only taking her eyes off of it when the bird veered right.
The five wide rivers came into view, spiraling around the rest of the land. There were a dozen mountain ranges, each more vicious than the last. Tall, jagged peaks reached upward as if they were trying the shred the sky.
Nivian’s fingers tightened around Prometheus’s chains. They passed over range after range. Her heart sank as she watched the terrain transform into something more terrifying than she could have imagined.
Without warning, the eagle dove, making her stomach jump to her throat. Nivian squeezed her eyes shut. The bird landed hard, making her body jolt and teeth crack together. She didn’t waste time letting go and jumping off the beast.
That was not a ride she wanted to take again any time soon if she could help it.
Prometheus remained on his mount and looked down at her, then out to the valley she would have to traverse. She followed his gaze and sucked in a breath.
As a Reaper, she wouldn’t have worried about the journey. But after nearly drowning in the Acheron, her mortality was all too apparent.
Rivers of lava ran rampant, keeping her path anything but straight forward. The streams of molten rock sputtered and popped as they flowed down the sides of mountains and transformed into waterfalls of fire down the many fissures breaking up the valley, leading to… only Gaia knew where.
“Head straight through the valley.” Prometheus pointed to a dark area on the far side. “Once you set foot in the river Lethe, the memories you bargained away will be forfeit even if you turn back.”
“Thank you for your help.”
“It is my pleasure, little Reaper.” He smiled down, then looked out upon the valley once more. “There will be no happy end this way,” he warned with midnight in his voice.
“I have to try. If I give up now—if I don’t at least try—then there really will be no chance for a happy end.” She lifted her chin a fraction of an inch. “No matter how this turns out, at least then I’ll know I did everything in my power.”
A ghost of a smile tugged
at one corner of his lips, but it faded quickly, replaced with a look of concern. “Surely there is another way to save the balance?”
She could almost taste the doubt in his words. Nivian bit down on the inside of her cheek. Not a single ounce of her wasn’t absolutely terrified at crossing the field of fire. There was no other way now besides going forward, and letting the fear get to her would only make it harder, if not impossible.
“Even if there were…” Nivian squared her shoulders. “I would still risk it.” She nodded, her words more for her than for the fire god. “For Kain… I would risk it.”
“What is it about that Hunter that you’d risk everything?” His hand stroked the bird’s feathered neck. A gesture he didn’t seem to realize he was doing.
“I love him. He’s worth everything and he would do the same for me.”
The bird squawked and danced in place, impatient with their talk. “Are you not enemies?” Prometheus asked, honest curiosity in his eyes.
“No, not any more.” Nivian smiled broadly at the fact that the man who held her heart was so much more than ordinary. “He changed that.”
“Then go and save your Hunter.” With that, the bird spread its massive wings and pushed off the ground, taking to the sky.
The second he was out of sight, Nivian walked down a burned path leading to the heart of the long, narrow valley. Though it was more of a maze of erupting peaks and trenches tied together by streams of lava than an actual valley. The scent of sulfur hung thick on the air.
Nivian skirted around the first chasm, avoiding molten rivers that were more like streams. The farther in she moved, the wider and more violent they became.
She flinched, ducking to cover her head with her arms as bright clouds of lava sprayed from the peaks like clockwork.
The weight of eyes pressing down on her became noticeable after a while. She felt like she was being watched. But not by any god or spirit. It was something far more sinister, dripping with ill intent.
Turning in a slow circle, she squinted and looked for any sign of movement. No one was with her, evil or otherwise.
It was all in her imagination.
She had always been the predator, the alpha, the one who stalked her prey… but now she felt as if she’d been laid bare. She was the one being hunted.
Nivian shivered despite the extreme heat. Had her marks felt the same as she did now in moments before she reaped them?
Nivian rolled her shoulders, forcing the tension out of her muscles. She was little more than halfway through. So long as she was careful with the path she chose, the less she worried about making it to the end.
The smell of burning hair mixed with acid moved in on thick, red clouds, making the air almost opaque and impossible to see beyond several yards.
An eerie rumble echoed from behind. The loose gravel at her feet rattled from the vibration that shook the ground, then moved up her legs and body. It surrounded her bones, slithered into her veins, and turned her blood to ice.
Nivian turned to look behind her, then ran.
TWENTY-TWO
NIVIAN
THE SHADOW OF a mountain rose up from the ground behind her and she ran as if it chased her. Nivian pumped her arms, forcing her legs to take longer strides.
A fissure appeared through the haze of dirt. She hadn’t been paying attention to her surroundings. There was no where else to go but over.
Nivian sped up and pushed off the ground, leaping into the air and landing with a roll on the other side. The impact forced the air from her lungs with a violent kick. She coughed and sputtered on the dirt cloud surrounding her as she forced her body to remember how to breathe again. Nivian hopped back to her feet, swerving to the foot of the nearest silent volcano. She skidded on loose gravel as she ducked behind a large outcropping of rock.
Her legs shook as she crouched within its shadow, pressing her back to the hard surface. Trying to become part of the rock itself, Nivian’s fingers clung to the uneven stone. She waited for her breathing to quiet and slow.
The rumbling stopped and Nivian turned her head to peek around her shelter. The haze of dirt still swirled, obscuring the landscape, turning it into a valley of shadow and fire and ash.
Nothing moved, but she waited for another long moment.
Then another.
And another.
Still, nothing. It had only been her imagination.
She never saw anything give chase, it was only the constant rumble of the ring of volcanoes as they prepared to erupt. But she couldn’t shake the crawling feeling, which lingered even now, of being watched by something dark and venomous.
Nivian leaned her head back against the rock and chastised herself for letting her imagination run away like that.
Eventually, she pushed to her feet and laughed quietly to herself. The sound came out a little strained, belying the lightness she tried to impart, her nervousness not entirely gone. She swiped strands of hair from her face, feeling the grit of dust smear across the back of her hand.
Nivian studied her surroundings and looked to the distance where the valley ended in a gap of shadow. Save for a few streams of lava that would cause her to detour, she could walk relatively close along the base of the volcanoes to get to the far side where the rivers met the lake.
Nivian started walking again, placing her feet carefully to make as little sound as possible and sticking close to whatever shelter she could find.
The feeling of being watched increased with every step. A shiver ran down her spine and she moved a little closer to the edges of rocks jutting out.
The rumbling started again.
Her eyes darted around, scanning the valley, but saw nothing different. She scoffed, brushing it off as her overactive imagination. It was probably nothing more than another eruption about to happen.
A rank, hot breeze stroked against the back of her neck, rustling the loose strands of her hair. Again. And again. Slow and rhythmic.
Loose pebbles rolled and danced at her feet from the vibration surrounding her. Nivian swallowed, her heartbeat thumped rapid and uneven in her throat. Slowly, she turned her head to glance over her shoulder.
The thick mantle of dust thickened all around her. A mountainous shadow grew out of the ground, hidden by the cloud just as it had the first time. But before she could dismiss it again, the shape shifted in place; a hill come to life.
It wasn’t her imagination after all.
Two bright orbs glowed from within the billowing murk, red as liquid gold. Then the shadow took form. Massive shoulders, with lines of cracked rock, flickered with fire.
A single bead of sweat dripped down her temple. She swallowed hard and, in response, swirls of sweltering breath pulsed within the clouds, rancid and vile.
Nivian didn’t wait for it to move, to advance, to zero in on her. She threw herself into a run, as hard and as fast as she could, feet pounding the baked, hardened dirt. Each step hammered through her, jarring her bones.
Faster… she had to move faster.
Louder and louder the thunder grew as the beast gained, nearly on her heels. The stench of its breath and the reek of rotting flesh coated her skin. She could feel the searing and greasy heat radiate from its molten body.
Nivian darted forward, running as fast as her legs would move. Sweat dripped down her face in rivulets, mixed with the steam created from her once dripping clothes. She struggled to breathe as she pushed and pushed herself to keep going. She couldn’t stop.
The rivers of magma and ravines gave way to a minefield of rounded vents and pools of liquid earth. Popping lava surrounded her on every side and the sound of thunder followed close behind.
Her eyes darted around, looking for the beast. But it remained just out of her line of sight.
Sparks showered around her as she swerved and darted. The dust storm grew stronger, changing direction with no rhyme or reason, whipping her hair around her face.
A wall of flame shot up inches in front of her. Nivian
screamed raising up her arms to shield her face. The heat singed her hands, her hair, her clothes. She threw herself to the ground to avoid falling into the fire and landed hard on her side, rolling to her back.
The quaking quieted and the only sound was her labored breathing and the popping of lava.
The beast had vanished.
She whimpered as small shards of black lava rock dug into the cut on her tender palm, making her eyes water. She sucked in a hiss through her teeth and took a second to examine the raw flesh of her hands. More abrasions had opened up, the existing one made worse by the volcanic glass.
Nivian looked to where she’d been running. Somehow she had veered away from the shelter of the foothills and was now exposed in the middle of the valley, surrounded by fiery pits.
The end of the valley was nothing more than shadow framed on either side by a long line of volcanoes. Nivian rose to her feet and the ground shuddered once in response. She was almost there, though her energy was quickly leaving her.
Behind her, just within the corner of her sight, slow, steady waves of dirt rolled toward her. The sharp jagged hill reappeared. She turned her chin just enough to take in the creature as the dust settled around it.
A Cherufe, standing at least fifteen feet tall, stomped one massive hoof making her teeth rattle and sending another cloud of dust in her direction. Even nearly half a mile away, she could feel its heat, smell the decaying flesh of its breath.
She had heard of this beast but seeing it with her own two eyes, standing in the same realm, it was far more terrifying than she thought possible.
The body resembled that of a bull, if it were made of broken rock glowing with molten cracks.
But the head—the head was large and humanoid, made of bone with two thick horns jutting out at the top, curving up and back. Two fiery coals in the dark hollows of its skull-like head blinked out at her through vertical slits of black down the center, holding pure rage. And hunger. Insatiable, endless hunger.
