by A F Kay
The Second Betrayal
Divine Apostasy Book 2
A. F. Kay
The Second Betrayal, Divine Apostasy Book 2 by A. F. Kay
afkauthor.com
Copyright © 2020 by A. F. Kay
All rights reserved. This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by United States of America copyright law or in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews or articles. For permission requests, contact the publisher at blackpyramidpress.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Published by Black Pyramid Press, LLC
blackpyramidpress.com
Editing by coraljenrette.com
Cover by coverquill.com
Contents
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Epilogue
Appendix
Acknowledgments
Special Thanks
Author’s Note
For Erika, my patient wife,
who is always right in three languages.
Je t’aime, te amo, I love you.
Prologue
Naktos felt a slight pressure against his outer ward and looked up from his book. He focused his attention on the multiple shells of Spirit that surrounded his home and kept him safe. Nothing retested his ward, and after a moment, he relaxed. This deep underground there were giant worms, among other things, that would sometimes bump into his protections.
He closed the book, Terium Vein Survey, and stood. Glancing around his library, he wondered how much longer the book would remain here. The cylinder-shaped room spanned a hundred feet, and shelves covered the walls. A miniature sun hung suspended three hundred feet above and provided a pleasant reading environment. Naktos pulled a tiny bit of Refined Spirit from his Air Meridian and floated to a shelf fifty feet off the floor.
Something penetrated his outer ward. This time there was no pressure, just the briefest of gaps allowing the intruder to pass without being vaporized. Naktos’s remaining eight wards quickly met the same fate. While not the most powerful of the deities, he was far from the weakest. Only two of his peers, twins, had the power to so effortlessly bypass his work. He wondered which one it was.
Naktos pushed the fear into his center, allowing him to remain calm. The Pact had been made for this exact purpose. To keep them all from killing each other. While breaking his wards was insulting, the Pact didn’t prevent it. And if it came to a fight, he would be hard to kill here at the source of his power, even for one of the twins. Which is why he rarely left.
Only the Ascendancy of a new Champion, or his plans to expand his control, could pull him from his books now. Champions who lived too long tended to upset the balance with their power. And Naktos wanted nothing more than to weaken his peers.
Which probably meant Uru had come. Over the past few hundred years, Naktos had taken three of her Champions and had a team searching for her latest. They must have succeeded in either trapping him in the Spirit Realm or making him unrevivable. These catastrophic losses for Uru were the main reason Naktos had agreed to join the planned invasion of Uru’s lands.
Naktos tensed, not from the fear of a fight, which even here he might lose, but of giving something away with his words. If Uru suspected three of the gods had joined forces to take her lands, what would she do? Could that be why she had come? Did she know?
Of all the deities, Naktos feared her the most. Uru possessed three traits that became deadly when combined: power, intelligence, and patience.
A light knock came from the other side of the library’s cherry doors, and Naktos floated down to them. He steadied his breathing and prepared himself for battle.
“Sorry to bother you, Naktos. I was hoping we could talk,” a male voice said from the other side.
Naktos relaxed and raised an eyebrow in surprise. Why had Uru’s brother come? With a gesture, Naktos opened the double doors as his feet touched the ground.
“Hello, Izac,” Naktos said. “Please come in.”
Naktos pulled Refined Spirit from multiple Meridians and created another chair opposite his own.
“Thank you, Naktos. You’re too kind,” Izac said.
The gills on Naktos’s neck processed the air around him, which consisted mostly of methane and nitrogen. Naktos walked to his chair, sat, and studied Izac. The young god had short strawberry blond hair, blue eyes, and an easy smile. Naktos kept this room free of oxygen to remove the chance of fire. Izac showed no ill effects from the unbreathable air, likely healing the damage as fast as it occurred, or just purifying it with Spirit.
Izac sat and pointed to the book in Naktos’s hand. “Is it any good?”
Naktos handed the book to Izac. “An early journal. Detailing some of the initial discoveries and choices made here. I was looking for patterns.”
Izac nodded. “You were always good at that. One of the smartest of us.”
“That is kind of you to say.”
They both knew who the smartest of them was.
Izac handed the book back without looking inside. “That’s why I’m here, actually.”
Naktos took the book and placed it on his lap. He’d known Izac wouldn’t read it. While he shared the traits of power and intelligence with his sister, he lacked her patience.
Izac leaned forward. “She got her Champion into Mira.”
“I didn’t know that,” Naktos said, not bothering to hide his surprise.
“Does that worry you?”
Naktos thought for a moment. “No. Mira is the Adjudicator, and her deci
sions have always been objective and fair. She wouldn’t break the Pact herself. The only benefit is access to the dungeon. But Uru’s Champion just Ascended, at that level, thousands of dungeons would be no different.”
Izac relaxed back into the chair. “Good. That’s what I was hoping.”
“Do you have anyone close to her Champion?” Naktos asked.
“Not as close as you,” Izac said with a smile.
Naktos forced his heart to keep a steady beat. Izac would be able to hear its rhythm, and he didn’t want to give away his shock. Could Izac know about Naktos’s contact? This person had provided the information that had allowed Naktos to trap three of Uru’s Champions, and maybe now a fourth. But, how could Izac know? Naktos had found and turned the contact himself. Easy to do when Naktos had so much of what the traitor needed.
“We all know,” Izac said.
Naktos forced his breathing to remain even. “All of you?”
Izac laughed. “Yes. A huge disturbance in Deepwell, and your people at the center of it. How do you always know where her Champions are?”
Naktos smiled, relieved that his secret remained intact. The closeness Izac had referred to was the team Naktos had placed in Deepwell, not his contact. “Luck.”
Izac laughed. “Well, whatever your secret, I know it isn’t luck. You have to admit, finding four of her Champions is a pattern even I can see.”
“Yes, we are fortunate, too. Her Champions have created the biggest imbalances in the past.”
Izac held up his hands. “Please don’t misunderstand me, Naktos. We are all thrilled, if not a bit jealous, at your success. It’s more the method that has me worried.”
“Because of the soul magic?”
Izac nodded.
“Does this have anything to do with your Champion that I trapped?” Naktos asked.
Izac smiled again. “To be honest, a little. I really liked Jagen. But that is ancient history. What I really want is some reassurance. You’re the one who discovered this branch of magic, and I just want to hear that it’s permanent.”
“It is. The Ascended get their Mana from us. In the Spirit Realm, their connection to us is lost, and with no Mana, there is no magic and no portal home.”
“But the Spirit Realm is connected to our Divine Realm, and ours to theirs,” Izac said. “A path exists.”
“But to travel that path, you would need Portal Chalk, divine gate runes, the location of the Iris, and now we’ve reached the impossible part: Spirit to power the portal connection.”
Izac rubbed his chin. “The first three are difficult, but there are Harvesters who visit the Spirit Realm. If the Champions happened on to one of these visitors, and somehow gained the other three pieces, then what? They could use the Harvester’s Spirit to power the portal.”
Naktos nodded. “Harvesters occasionally journey there, but to power a portal for divine gate runes, you must use seven Meridians. The only Harvesters capable of that are already gods and are bound by the Pact.”
Izac looked thoughtful. “I’m sorry for the interrogation. You’re the only one brave enough to spend any time there. Hearing this does lower my anxiety.”
It had been risky, spending so much time in the Spirit Realm. Naktos had nine of his twelve Meridians attached to his center, one fewer than Izac. If he somehow took significant damage in the Spirit Realm, the chances of reforming with all nine Meridians still connected would be unlikely. Not only would he be stranded there, but his power would be destroyed. He would no longer be a god.
But he had risked it, and the reward had been his Soul Mirror spell. A spell he had developed and used to eternally trap the Champions of his peers. It had succeeded beyond his wildest hopes. The other deities called it Naktos’s Embrace, and the fear in which they uttered its name gave him great pleasure.
Izac still looked worried, so Naktos offered one more point. “Her Champions have been trapped for hundreds of years. If they could get out, they would have already.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry to have bothered you. It’s just, I know my sister, and something feels wrong. I’m worried she is playing us somehow.”
“Have you talked to her?”
“Not since the Conclave.”
Naktos kept his happiness well hidden. The siblings were manageable while apart. If they were to ever cooperate instead of fight, it might be the end of Naktos and the rest of the gods. The division between the siblings made them all safer. One of his fears about the planned invasion had been Izac coming to his sister’s rescue. But it appeared the rift between them remained.
Izac rubbed the green fabric of his chair. “Clapping Brawler skin?”
Naktos smiled. “Yes, you can’t beat the softness.”
Izac grinned. “That reminds me of the early days.”
“I remember. We had some good times with Mira.”
Izac stood, and Naktos did as well.
“I’m not offering a truce,” Izac said, “and I don’t want to break the Pact. But if she is up to something clever, and something goes wrong with your magic, will you please notify me?”
Naktos didn’t want to help Izac, but he also didn’t want to make him an enemy. Especially with the coming war. Plus, he knew an Ascendant in the Spirit Realm could never leave. Agreeing to something you knew would never happen was easy.
“Of course,” Naktos said.
“And if for some reason your people need help, let me know. It is in all our interest to keep her weakened. My people are near Deepwell. All I need is her Champion’s identity.”
Naktos nodded. He would consider it, but not until exhausting all his resources in the area. He didn’t want to share the glory of trapping another deity’s Champion. It was one of the few fun things left after the Pact had been created.
“I will remember you if the need arises,” Naktos said.
Izac bowed to Naktos. “Thank you for your time. It was nice catching up.”
Naktos returned the bow. “It was a pleasure.”
A portal appeared before Izac, and he stepped through it. Naktos felt the surge of Spirit as Izac departed.
Naktos sat back down, tapped the book on his lap, and stared at the empty chair across from him. Could Uru be manipulating him? He had gained much prestige and even additional power from defeating her Champions. Their removal was the foundation the coming invasion had been built on.
Could the banishment of Uru’s Champions to the Spirit Realm somehow have helped her?
Chapter 1
Ruwen’s legs were wet with Sift’s blood. Hamma’s Summon Order spell still filled the sky with light, and streams of glowing branches, like a giant weeping willow, had almost reached the ground.
“How much time does he have?” Ruwen asked.
Hamma bit her lip. “His stats don’t make any sense. He should already be dead.”
“Hamma? How long?”
Hamma glanced at all the blood on the ground. “Less than a minute.”
Ruwen took a deep breath and cycled through his Inventory. He let go of Sift, and Hamma cradled Sift’s head.
Ruwen removed his Rock Serpent Ring of Health and Ring of Exploding Regeneration and slid them both onto Sift’s fingers. The plus twenty-five Health of the Rock Serpent Ring wouldn’t do much, but Sift needed every advantage he could get. The Ring of Exploding Regeneration would add plus one Health per second to Sift’s Health Regeneration, which was more significant, but probably not enough.
Focusing on an area ten feet away, he pictured the icon for Campfire. Five seconds, and one hundred fifty Mana later, a fire appeared.
Pulling his Void Band open, he passed his hand under it, catching the Rod Spider Webbing as it fell out. He handed the stack of ten to Hamma.
“Place one on each wound. It should stop the Bleed debuff,” Ruwen said.
Hamma didn’t argue and immediately did as Ruwen asked.
He reached into the top of the band and retrieved the Stuffed Centipede of Solace. Ruwen didn’t know the
level of the poison that coated those bolts, but the Stuffed Centipede of Solace would cure a level one poison completely, and reduce the effect by half for each additional level of potency. But activating it required a kiss.
“Those bandages are helping,” Hamma said.
“Good,” Ruwen said and then leaned over Sift. “Sift, hey, buddy. Sift.”
Sift didn’t respond.
Ruwen looked up into the sky for a moment. “Forgive me,” he whispered.
He leaned back over Sift’s head. “Hey, Sift. Lylan’s here.”
Sift whimpered.
“Sift, hey, buddy. Lylan’s here. She wants a kiss. Can you manage one?”
Ruwen looked up to see Hamma’s brow furrowed in confusion. But she didn’t interrupt him.
Ruwen brought the Stuffed Centipede of Solace to Sift’s lips. “Hey, Sift, It’s Lylan. I just want a kiss. A simple kiss. Can you do that for me?”
Ruwen held his breath, and after a few seconds, Sift puckered his lips for just an instant. Was it enough?
The Stuffed Centipede of Solace came alive and crawled onto Sift’s face. Hamma screamed, and Ruwen jerked back. The small stuffed centipede bit Sift’s cheek, and a moment later, black fluid dripped from its tail.
