He spoke in a neutral tone, and his warm breath filled the air. “My name is Onaran, and our agreement hasn’t changed.” Given the length of my prior story, his reminder about our terms was surprising.
Something about the blackness of his cave bothered me. It wasn’t the absence of light that I found challenging in the regard that I couldn’t see. If I wanted to, I could see anywhere, but maintaining eye contact with Onaran required the constant engagement of my abilities. If he expected me to continue, at the very least, I wanted a reprieve from forced magic. “Of course,” I responded with a long pause. “But are you expecting my entire life story?”
“Goddess Arleia, are you well?” His words were mocking, yet his tone was unchanged.
I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at his inquiry. “Yes, why do you ask?”
“It sounded like you were abandoning your efforts to recruit me.”
If he was going to toy with me, then I thought it was fair to reciprocate. “That’s one interpretation, but not an accurate one.”
Onaran sniffed the air, though he had proven that he didn’t need to breathe if he didn’t want to. “Then why do you delay?”
His question wasn’t straightforward, so I didn’t give him a straightforward answer. “Why do I delay what you referred to as inevitable, or why do I delay telling the next part of my story?”
“Yes,” he said, drawing out the hiss of his word for a long moment.
I folded my arms, but then reconsidered and unfolded them again. “I’m tired of standing in the dark, and I don’t believe the transition is inevitable.”
“Beliefs,” he said with a click of his tongue, causing a slew of hanging lanterns to materialize which illuminated the cave’s darkness with their glowing brilliance. “Do not change the truth.”
I finished my sentence without acknowledging his interruption or the sudden addition of lights. “And I’m delaying as a means of getting to know you.”
With the additional light, I noticed Onaran’s bulk hidden within a nook. His long neck protruded toward me, exposing the vertical slits of his red eyes. Soot shrouded his thick, leathery scales like an old blanket. Bits of it had flaked off where his body rubbed against his den’s walls, exposing what seemed to be a semi-translucent iridescence.
The cave itself wasn’t that large. Though I assumed the black particulate covering the surfaces was deceiving. It was warm enough too, though my sensitivity to temperature changes seemed to be decreasing over time.
His response came as a low grumble. “You question my prowess.”
I sensed sarcasm in his tone, but ignored it. “Oh, no, no, not that. It’s just a concern that maybe you’ve been in this cave for too long, and you’ve forgotten the risks of living.”
Onaran’s jowls contorted, exposing pointed teeth, but it seemed like his version of a smirk. “Now you’re interpreting.”
“Yes, and it’s working,” I said, half grinning at him. “And thank you for the light.”
“Enough of this. Sustain your agreement.” His voice was pointed, then transitioned back to his benign indifference. “Reveal yourself through story or be gone.”
“I will.” Though I wanted to reiterate my reason for our discussion. “There is a new era coming, and we need your help to protect our share.”
“So you said before.” His eyes rolled away as he curled onto his forelegs, resuming his listening pose. “You stake claims on that which cannot be owned.” He sighed, pushing my hair back with his breath. “No more delays.”
I relented, sensing that further banter wouldn’t work in my favor. “More died than I care to recall; I lost my status as a goddess, and yet they say I’m a hero.” I studied a deep scratch in the cave’s floor and shook my head. “It still doesn’t sit well with me, but I’ll tell you what happened.”
Chapter One
I awoke unable to open my eyes. Hard bindings chewed my wrists, and I flailed, smashing my bare toes. An acrid bitterness stung my throat, and I tried to spit, but a wad of cloth filled my mouth. Bile rushed upward, and I thrashed. My stomach churned, and I launched the gag along with last night’s wine.
My core’s magic engaged, clearing the nausea and healing my arms, but I couldn’t see. Feet shuffled, voices murmured, and sap popped. Smoke filled my nostrils and heat toasted my ankles. I grabbed at the restraints and pulled myself up as I spat sick remnants into the unknown.
A man’s voice cracked. “A-Arrows!”
Bows twanged, releasing their projectiles. One hit my thigh, then my side; multiple others sank into my abdomen, and I wheezed through a punctured lung. It hurt, but not as much as being charred to a crisp or dumped from a cliff.
I flinched with every blow, exaggerating my wounds as I scraped the back of my head against my restraints. With a swing of my neck, I tossed the blindfold off my eyes and slumped forward, stilling myself. They had tied me to a stake and were attempting to burn me like a heretic.
The act of leaning over the flames went against my every instinct, but I played dead, letting the rough metal grind skin off my wrists. The pyre they’d crafted was in a field, and shadowed outlines of buildings suggested we were just beyond the edge of the city. Mist was hanging at grass level, likely caused by the cooler fall air pushing against the warmer ground. A line of dark gray tickled the horizon, yet the sky was black, and I assumed they’d drugged me in my sleep.
A group encircled me. Faces appeared through the smoke of my fiery pedestal. There was nobody I recognized, which meant little since yesterday was my first official night as their goddess. My wounds had sealed, and my legs were healing as fast as they were burning. The hem of my nightgown was smoldering. They had more arrows notched and ready, making movement tempting.
If they had known anything of my powers, they would have severed my head instead of tying me to a post. I was about to melt my bindings and walk off the logs, but a glimmer of source particles caught my attention. A short distance behind the men, a cluster of them was glowing brightly and sparkling with intensity, then vanishing into the darkness.
For a second, I hoped my goddess was about to appear, that this was all a joke, and Tathana was coming to whisk me away to the hereafter to reunite me with my mother. But the source’s glow ceased as if someone snuffed out its energy, and a gray cloud spawned in its place, instead of seeing a portal open in the usual way.
I stared at the cloud, transfixed as if nothing else mattered, and then it grew. What first appeared as an ashen puff no larger than a cotton boll, spilled out from its origin, creeping across the ground. It didn’t billow into a single mass like smoke does. There were ashen strings of it, intertwined and moving fast, like a rolling bramble.
Then misty runners extended from its bulk, stretching toward the archers. A man howled, screaming as if someone had cleaved his life from his bones. His hand extended from the gray, grasping for help, but the cloud swept him away. Then another screamed, and another, disappearing as if they were being dissolved in its essence.
“No!” I shouted, jerking forward, but my restraints caught me, shredding more flesh from my wrists.
I focused on the clasps, melted their straps, and leaped forward. But the cloudy appendages were already retreating, shrinking back to their origin until it was nothing more than a tiny gray puff. I leaned into a sprint, but before I could take the first step, its remnants broke apart and dissipated in a breeze.
The fire crackled behind me, illuminating a few bows and daggers where my attackers had been. I clenched my jaw and pulled the arrows from my body. They hurt worse coming out, but it was better than leaving them in. A thumping caught my attention. Steady footfalls were approaching. Polished steel glinted over the road, but I smiled at her approach.
“Arleia,” Galdrous shouted, sprinting toward the clearing. She grabbed at me, poking her fingers through the blood-stained holes in my gown. “Who did this to you?” She raised her sword, threatening the night. “Stop cowering behind the trees and show yourselves!”
I moved in front of her and pushed the sword aside. “I’m fine. Are you okay?”
Sweat covered Galdrous’s face as if she’d sprinted all the way from the palace. Her long dark hair was dangling over her shoulders, and I pushed strands of it behind her ear. Dawn was coming, and in the bone-gray light, her protective nature was even more attractive. She wrapped her arms around me, and we embraced as if I’d risen from the dead.
“Now I am,” she replied, letting herself breathe again. “By the time I heard them, it was too late, and they got the drop on us.” She mimicked a cloth going over her mouth. “When I awoke, you were gone. I was scared they might have found a way to.”–She cut herself off mid-sentence, averting her eyes.
“Galdy, Arly, there you are!” shouted a deep voice from behind us. He was just a shadowy figure in the distance, but Draven’s baritone voice and bulky frame were unmistakable. His ponderous running stride transitioned to a fast walk, and he pointed at the post. “Shit, Arly, they tried to burn you up, didn’t they?”
“Yeah,” I nodded. “And then something took them.”
“Took them. What does that mean?” Draven asked as he stopped beside us and leaned on the hilt of his axe. Perspiration covered the bare skin on the sides of his head. “Shit, I had too much wine last night,” he complained, spraying sweat from the tip of his nose.
A scratchy voice came from the far side of the fire. “And this is why the gods don’t sleep in their palaces.” Jes announced. “At least part of this is my fault. Goddesses aren’t supposed to have talking cats.”
He came bobbing around the fire with his peculiar four-legged canter, and I snatched him off the ground, setting his fury black body on my shoulder. He slunk across the back of my neck, snagging a few strands of hair with his leather vest. “Which part is your fault, Jes?” I asked, looking into his yellow eyes. “The part where your feline senses failed us, or perhaps you’re to blame for the roving death cloud that ate my kidnappers.”
Draven furrowed his brow. “So that’s what took them?”
“Yeah,” I replied.
Galdrous raised her weapon again and turned in a circle. “You think it’s coming back?”
“Nah.” Though I didn’t know why I thought that. I told them what happened, but the events unfolded as if I were trying to explain a wild hallucination. “I had just pulled the last arrow from my side when Galdrous got here,” I concluded.
Though I wanted to tell the tale as a onetime freaky phenomenon, that it couldn’t or wouldn’t happen again, but nothing about the situation seemed right. Before the cloud appeared, source flecks glowed the same as they would if I or any of the other so-called gods were opening a portal. It meant that whoever created the cloud was another magician, but their abilities were far beyond my understanding. The best my magic could do was the manipulation of free energy in my immediate area.
“My feline senses didn’t fail anything,” Jes started. “You lot were too shit-faced to wake up. By the way, I spent the last hour being chased by a very nimble and clever young woman. As soon as I got away from her, I came looking for you.”
Galdrous stroked Jes’s head. “You didn’t want her pets?”
“Very funny,” Jes laughed, then his voice went deep and serious. “She was threatening to eat me.”
“This realm is barbaric,” Draven grunted. “Jes is right, we should leave this place.”
I drew in a long breath and blew it out in a slow, measured exhale. The coming dawn outlined the clouds, and a few trees were changing colors. Besides my personal troubles, it was turning into a nice day. “Oh, I wish, but you know as well as I do, it’s not that easy.”
“But it can be,” Galdrous pleaded, grasping my hand. “They were fine before us, and they’ll be fine after us.”
“Before us was when they still had a god to worship, remember?” I released her hand and paced around the outskirts of the fire. “I’ve racked my memory trying to figure out why Tathana dumped me here and told them I was their new goddess. But there’s nothing there. My memories stop right after we killed Maethon and then start again when I woke up here.”
I propped my hands up as if reading a make-believe letter. “It’s not like Tathana left me a note saying, dear, Arleia, so sorry to have possessed your body, but I’m done with it now and I think you’d make a great goddess, so here’s your ready-made realm, full of followers. Oh yeah, and Sanntach is really beautiful in fall, you’ll love it.” I clenched my fists, shaking them in the air. “Fuck!”
“Feel better?” Jes asked, whispering in my ear. I was so accustomed to having him on me, I tended to forget he was there.
“A little,” I replied, feeling tension drop from my shoulders.
“Good, let’s separate the events for a moment, shall we?” Jes asked, speaking in his analytical voice. “My hunch is that the group who tried to burn you was a small group of extremists. Perhaps they heard me talking and thought I had corrupted you with my evil cat-ness, or that sacrificing you would bring Maethon back. Who knows what crazy people think?” Jes turned his head, rubbing his whiskers with his paw. “As to what or who created the roving death cloud, I can’t say. What I do know is that there is a large contingent of followers waiting to greet their new goddess today, and if we don’t show up soon, well, who knows what could happen.”
Galdrous crinkled the spot between her brow. “They’ll restart ritual sacrifices until your return.” Her body shuddered.
“Barbaric,” Draven repeated.
“Non-believers are present in every realm,” Jes responded. “It’s the reason the gods don’t sleep in their palaces. Wait, I think I said that already.” Jes sat up and poked my shoulder with a single claw. “At any rate, Arly needs to get to the palace and carry on as if nothing happened. Mentioning this could start a bloody inquisition. The last thing we need is for the true-believers to begin stamping out non-believers.” He sighed, slinking across the back of my shoulders again. “Perhaps you could portal us to your bedroom, maybe allow everyone to get prepared for the busy day ahead.”
I pulled my hair away from my face again, tucking it behind my ears. “When does this foolishness start?”
“Sunrise,” Jes replied.
“Shit,” I remarked. An orange glow was growing behind me; the sky overhead was transitioning to a pale blue, and the first rays of sunlight were threatening to blast over us. I pulled in a deep breath and focused, causing a barrage of source flecks to rush together and clump into a ball. With a swirl of my finger, the glowing ball splayed out into a hoop, and my palace bedroom appeared in its center. “Let’s go.”
We stepped into my bedroom, and I waved off the portal. Out of habit, I watched it dissipate and break apart into sparkling bits of golden dust. The room felt more like a great hall than a bedchamber. It was more spacious than most taverns, with high, solid marble ceilings. A giant square bed, large enough for a dozen people, occupied its center. Sofas and chairs surrounded the bed as if it were a spectacle.
I pulled Jes off my shoulders and made my way into the closet. A droning thump of bass drums reverberated through the building. It was my cue to make an appearance, but I was still barefoot, wearing a hole-ridden, blood-stained nightgown.
Shelves and cabinets covered three out of four walls of the closet’s interior, while the back wall was a solid piece of silver, polished to a mirror finish. I opened drawer after drawer, rummaging through garments. My devoted followers had already replaced Maethon’s clothing with an array of dresses, skirts, and blouses. “Not a single fucking pair of pants,” I complained.
“Well, they had a brutish god before you,” Galdrous said while leaning against the doorway.
I slipped out of my sleepwear, dropping it to the floor. “Well, let’s show them a freaking goddess,” I quipped while examining my body in the mirror, admiring perfect curves and the way my hair always fell, but it was my apparent age that still drew my attention. On the outside, I appeared to be in my early twenties, which was about half my actual experience.
Galdrous had fetched a linen gown and handed it to me. I pecked her on the cheek and slipped it on. “Ready?”
Her eyes widened, and I knew she didn’t want to accompany me. “You want me to go with you?” she asked.
“Yes,” I begged. “You don’t have to do anything, just stay next to me.”
“Ahem,” Draven interrupted, poking his head through the doorway. “My most beloved, beautiful and kind, amazing, and thoughtful goddess, Arly, would you mind if I excuse myself?”
I rolled my eyes and waved at the air, forming a quick portal that opened in front of Galdrous’s shop in Saorsa. It was a simple affair with a plain brick front, a pair of windows downstairs, a quarter loft upstairs, and a weathered shop sign that read Sew Pretty hanging over the door. “See you soon,” I said, waving to Draven before snapping at the portal.
The view through the portal’s opening flashed to the palace’s court, and the drumming transitioned from background noise to an ear-rattling onslaught. I had moved the portal to a spot behind Maethon’s deplorable throne. Its skeletal-styled ebony frame with blue velvet trim was fine, but the depictions of human sacrifices carved across its every surface were too much. I grasped Galdrous’s hand and pulled her through.
Chapter Two
We entered the great hall behind Maethon’s throne. It sat at the end of a long, rectangular space with a hundred stairs leading to the court below. Cloth banners bearing my predecessor’s insignia were still hanging from thick granite pillars that suspended a vaulted ceiling over an open-air court.
I told myself not to replace the banners, that I wouldn’t be their goddess long enough for it to matter. Besides, I found the blue cloth with ruffled gold edges quite striking. I had to give Maethon some credit; he had style, and his court had a fantastic visage. From the throne, the entirety of Sanntach spread out below me, with a sliver of the ocean in the distance.
I strained to smile through a clenched jaw as I stepped around the enormous chair and moved into view of the crowd below. “Shit,” I muttered as the drumming ceased and a thousand eyes focused their attention on me. My legs didn’t want to move. “Just walk around the fucking chair and sit, Arly.” I told myself, but I froze in place, consumed with thoughts of being a fraud.
I wanted to reveal that their former god, like me, was really a normal human with a magic stone in their chest. That before Tathana bequeathed me with the gift of magic, I too was a high priestess, consumed with the health and well-being of my divine mistress. It wouldn’t work, though. They would hear the denial of my divinity as a test of their devotion, just as I would have.
I raised my hand, gave the crowd a tiny wave, and sat on the throne. An intense warmth spread through my body, my muscles relaxed, and I thought it was the most comfortable chair I’d ever sat on. Then I remembered that each god positioned their courts to intersect one of the major thoroughfares of our powers. With a quick focus, I blinked, bringing source energy into view. A golden rope of glowing power was intersecting the center of my chest, extending across the horizon ahead of me and over the lands behind me. I moved my fingers through it, knowing nobody else could see it, but it was fun to imagine I was part of it, toying with the intertwined strands that enabled my magic.
Galdrous sat in an oversized chair next to me, and the drumbeat brought my attention back to the court. I let the source fade from view. Down on the main floor, the crowd parted as a string of priests and priestesses moved forward, and what came next droned on for hours. They danced, introduced people of purported significance, and then, one by one, village leaders ascended the steps. We had started at sunrise, and by the time the last one reached me, the day was half finished.
“My divine grace, Goddess Arleia, I bring blessings from–”
But I cut him off mid-sentence. “You can dispense with the titles. Please, just call me Arly. What’s your name?” I asked, but as expected, his expression was pure shock. Having his so-called god ask to be on a first-name basis seemed to rattle him.
“My-my-my.” He stammered.
To me, he was just another gray-haired village leader greeting his new god, carrying a leg of lamb or some other edible thing wrapped in the most expensive cloth they could afford. I took the gift with gentle hands, which caused even more consternation. His expression transformed from shock to pure terror. “It’s okay. I’m not like the other gods.” I tried to coax him into relaxing so he wouldn’t shit himself.
The man’s face was beet red, and he turned on his heels, running away as fast as his feet would carry him. After he was gone, I gave a nod to the closest priestess, a young girl no more than fifteen. She skittered to me in a flutter of loose clothing and long braids, collected the gift, and trotted off with it.
“Can’t you just make an announcement or whatever so they stop calling you Goddess Arleia?” Galdrous asked. She sounded as annoyed with it as I was, though she didn’t bother sharing her thoughts with anyone but me.
“I already did, which might be why I woke up tied to a stake this morning, but none of them can be convinced. Beliefs aren’t easily changed, you know?”
“Where are they taking that food, anyway? I’m famished.”
“Not a clue.” I said, facing Galdrous. She had splayed out, lying sideways across a chair next to my throne. She wore half of her thick black hair in a neat bun while the rest dangled across her chest. Rays of light cascaded over her trim, angular features, accentuating her beauty even more than usual. I was about to sit on my predecessor’s deplorable throne when thumping boots drew my attention.
Lucello’s voice resonated across the court. “Goddess Arleia! My divine grace. My benevolent, pristine deity.”
He was the most senior priest within the convent of Maethon’s worshippers. When he reached the stairs, he dropped to his knees and performed a series of arm movements I recognized as a salute of faithfulness. I let out a sigh as he shuffled up the steps to greet me.
His flowing robes and graying hair were more disorderly than usual, and he seemed out of breath as if the hundred steps were exhausting. “Yes, Lucello, what is it?”
He pointed to the lower courtyard where Jes was sitting between stone columns, facing two men and one woman. They were far away, but I could tell the individuals were tall and slender, their muscular development superb, their stature and clothing a notch higher than normal. “Oh shit, please don’t tell me that’s”–I blinked to bring the source energy into view and could see a glowing spot in the center of their chests–“the other gods.”
“Yes, the others.” Lucello beamed, tapping his fingers together. “Your grand ceremony and a divine council on the same day!” he exclaimed. “We will talk of this day for ages.”
I took a deep breath and opened a portal to the main floor.
“My grace.” Lucello yelped. “I shall not see,” he said and lowered his forehead to the floor.
I waved off the portal. “Lucello, get up.” I sighed at his mind-numbing enthusiasm for priestly decorum and waited for him to stand again. “If we’re going to work together, you need to get used to seeing my magic,” I said, nodding at him until he mimicked my movements. “Let me explain. You know how a slice of daylight entering a dark room can make dust particles visible?”
“Ye-yes, my most divine perfection.”
Galrdous rolled her eyes and walked away.
“What you call magic is nothing more than tiny energetic particles floating through the air, and just like dust, they’re usually invisible.” I pulled a small amount of source energy together, forming an acorn-sized clump that glowed in front of his eyes. “What makes me special is that I can tell them what to do. When I form a portal, it’s nothing more than a link that folds the space between them.” A vapid expression covered Lucello’s face, and I pivoted away from him. “You know what. I’ll walk,” I said as I started down the steps.
When I reached the far side of the court, the largest of the three gods came into view, and I knew it was Balmorin. He wore a moss-green shirt that flowed off his substantial shoulders to a trim midsection. His hulking manliness bulged in all the right places, and I decided seeing him naked again wouldn’t be so bad.
The other two were unknown to me, but the woman among them wore a sunflower-yellow dress that hung off one shoulder, exposing deep bronze skin. The other man was almost as tall as Balmorin, but he had a narrow build and hawkish features.
I overheard Jes as I approached. “You’ve got to be kidding. None of you is powerful enough to turn me back into a human?”
Balmorin’s eyes connected with mine, and I could see his relief. “Well, there she is.” He said, changing the subject while giving me a wide, toothy smile. “Good to see you again, Arly, but I guess it’s Goddess Arleia now, isn’t it? I mean after you dispatched Maethon, that is.”
“That was Tathana, not me.”
“But if you hadn’t done what you did, then she wouldn’t have done what she did and, well,”–he paused, rolling his eyes skyward–“you get it.”
My upper lip twitched at his statement. “You and I both know there’s more to it than that.” Balmorin’s eyes darted away, and I turned to the female goddess. “Hi, my name is Arly, and you are?”
“Lilra,” she said with a tight grin. “But you can call me Lilly.” Her eyes had a golden, iridescent quality to them, and I wasn’t sure if it was natural or an effect of her stone’s power.
“Charmed.” I responded, then shifted my attention to the other man. “And finally, who are you?”
His tone was deadpan and his face was slack as if he were attending a funeral. “Rovitt.”
“Lovely,” I put my hands together and grinned at them like I was about to introduce an entrée. “Well now, since we’ve made our introductions, what the fuck are you assholes doing in my realm?”
“Funny, I was about to make an inquiry along the same lines.” Jes said. “In my estimation, this impromptu visit is to measure your resolve, or rather, survey the competition.”
Rovitt’s eyes narrowed, and Lilra’s jaw dropped, leaving her mouth agape.
I pointed at her. “You’d better close that before a bug flies in there.”
A wicked grin contorted her mouth, and Balmorin stepped between us. “My apologies, Arleia. We should have provided advance notice, but given the abruptness of your ascension, we”–he motioned to the others–“decided to drop by and introduce ourselves.”
“What a pleasant surprise! Should I put on some tea, maybe get some little cakes for us to share?”
“Oh, I do love tiny cakes.” Jes added.
“Yes, they’re quite nice.” I tilted my head to make eye contact with Jes. “Especially the ones coated with sugary, buttery icing on all sides. Because you know, with godly taste comes–”
“Tiny cakes covered in icing.” Jes concluded.
“Exactly.”
Rovitt sneered at our banter. “Balmorin, it’s obvious that we came here to see if the rumors about Maethon’s realm were true, and they are. She’s in, he’s out, and Tathana’s dead.”
I clapped my fingers against the base of my palm. “Yay, he gets it.”
“No, she’s not.” Lilra muttered.
Balmorin chuckled. “Hey, let’s not go there right now.”
“Go where?” I asked.
Jes pointed his furry little paw at Lilra. “She’s inferring that Tathana’s not dead.”
“That’s fair.” I said. “She’s not dead, just resting. Being a badass is tiring.”
“Arleia,” Balmorin continued, speaking slower than normal. “We want you, or rather we would feel honored if you would join our group.” His hands were moving about in grand gestures. “You see, we have a pact to–”
“Oppress, enslave, torture, maim, kill, or just fuck people for your own amusement.” I raised an eyebrow, scanning his manliness. “I mean, seriously, Balmorin, have you forgotten how we met?”
His cheeks flushed, but he continued. “Arleia, you weren’t on the god side then, but you are now. It’s different if you’re–”
“Yes, it’s different to be the oppressor than to be oppressed, but what you’re really after is you want me to keep my mouth shut about the fact that you’re all human like me? That a magic stone lodged in your chest enables your magic. You’re terrified that I’ll share your secret and cause a revolution within your realms.”
Balmorin tucked his lips together and narrowed his eyes.
“What do you think, Jes, did I nail it?”
He nodded. “Think so.”
“Here’s the thing, though,” I said, shrugging and pursing my lips. “I know it won’t work. No matter how vile your behavior, I’ll never crack your people’s unwavering belief in your divinity. So there’s no point.”
The others glared at me, and a lingering silence grew between us. Someone outside our circle coughed. The other gods were so distracting that I hadn’t noticed the sea of people surrounding us, keeping their distance. Many were on their knees, while some had their heads to the ground. It was as if we were parents bickering in front of our little children. They didn’t understand what we were discussing but were reacting to the emotions of the conversation. Blood rushed to my face, and I clenched my jaw, forcing ambient source energy to bend to my will. I formed a wide circle and dropped all of us through a portal.
Chapter Three
We thudded to the ground, and I waved the portal out of existence. “That was too much attention from people who cannot possibly comprehend what we were discussing.”
The location I had taken us to was the equivalent of where we were, at least because we were steps away from a god’s court. However, I had landed us in Tathana’s former realm of Nadur. Overcast skies cast a flat gloom across burned out roofs and shattered pavers, making the ruins of what had been a picturesque seaside town appear even more desolate.
We had also traveled farther north, and the season’s progression was more advanced. A steady cold wind blew at my hair, and a displeasing odor filled the salty air. “Perfect, the seaweed’s in bloom,” I said, appreciating the scent of its decomposition. “The putrid aroma kind of adds to the experience, don’t you think?”
“Yes,” Jes added. “Set me down. I haven’t been back since—” But his voice trailed into distraction, and he didn’t finish his sentence.
Jes trotted downhill, moving into the remains of the city, weaving between stones that once formed the walls of homes and shops. I turned my back to the sea, facing a hillside bespeckled with a mix of seedlings and charred stumps. “Too bad the orchard burned. The leaves would be a lovely mix of gold and amber this time of year.”
I spun to face Balmorin, Rovitt, and Lilra. The palace remains provided the perfect backdrop. “So, you lot show up at my doorstep, accusing me of creating this.” I pointed at the fallen archway. “Do you think I asked for this?”
The gods didn’t have a clue that I had woken that morning tied to a stake. Perhaps they might have waited an extra day before coming to see me if they had. But my emotions were raw after a day of playing goddess, and I unloaded on them. “Last spring I wasn’t just a priestess, I was the high priestess.” I felt my posture perfecting as my shoulders moved back. “My team was the pride of Tathana’s court. Then your fucking friend Maethon showed up and killed me.” My voice faded out at the mention of death, but the others didn’t react.
“I went into the void that day. But then my heart beat, and I came back, healing though I didn’t know why.” My voice became a deep growl, and my angry spittle decorated Rovitt’s tunic. “I sought help, but they tried to rape me and then threw me off a cliff.” I chuckled at the memory. “The fall didn’t kill me, though. Nope, I healed from that too, and my captors forced into slavery as a gladiator witch.” I moved around Balmorin, rubbing my hand across his back because I had to know if his muscles were as firm as they appeared. “But when I landed in Contender’s Arena,”–I moved my head next to Balmorin’s ear–“and heard your proclamation about granting requests, I thought to myself, oh fuck yeah, I’ll win this contest and put my life back together.”
I paused to let my words sink in, though my eyes would have burned a hole in the back of Balmorin’s head if they could. “What was it you told Maethon again?” I put a finger to my lips. “Oh yes, with godly powers comes”–I pointed at him with a huge cheesy smile waiting for him to finish my sentence but he just stared back at me–“With godly powers comes godly responsibilities. That’s what you said. Then you left the room, and Maethon blasted me with that awful fucking curse.”
Lilra’s eyes widened, and I thought I spotted fear. “That’s all in the past, though. No harm no foul, right?” I slapped Rovitts’s shoulder, feeling his boney frame. “At least now I know the truth. None of you are gods. You’re just like me.” I put a hand up, moving it through the source band that intersected Tathana’s throne. “Kind of amazing that our little cores let us manipulate this stuff isn’t it?”
Their jaws opened, and the three of them exchanged glances, but Lilra clamped her mouth shut and turned to me. “Arly,” Lilra stared, giving me a perfect smile. “You asked us why we came to see you, and if you give me a moment, I’ll tell you.”
I took two steps backward, entering the side of what used to be Tathana’s court. “The floor is all yours.” I picked a weed that had taken up residence between cracks in the granite tile. “What’s left of it, anyway.”
Lilra’s eyes fixed on a piece of burned-out timber resting between two saplings. “Ever since, well, Tathana’s departure. There are strange things happening in our realms.” Her lower jaw didn’t cooperate, and it seemed like she was expressing sincere concern.
“The thing is,” Rovitt started. “You fought some of the beasts in Balmorin’s coliseum, so I don’t have to describe too much, but.”
“What, did someone leave their cages unlocked?” I scoffed.
Balmorin’s voice deepened, and I realized how much he had been raising it, trying to sound friendly. “Worse. So much worse.” He let out a quick breath and clasped his hands together. “You see, Arly, you are quite new to all this, so I’ll summarize. Our connected lands essentially form a vast island surrounded by water.”
“Yes, that’s the nature of an island,” Jes added. He had snuck up between us and was sitting on a broken pillar.
“Of course,” Balmorin added, stepping aside to include Jes. “The lands beyond the four seas contain many undesirable entities. The three of us have ventured there many times to procure beasts for my gladiator games, but it was always us going there, bringing back the beasts we wanted. Now its–”
“They’re appearing within our realms, seemingly on their own, wreaking havoc on our populations,” Lilra finished.
“Jes, what’s your take on these”–I put my hands in the air, waving them about like I was flicking water from fingertips–“undesirables.”
Jes shook his head. “I don’t know a thing about this.”
Rovitt flailed his hands, mocking me. “And why would you have? Tathana’s powers kept them at bay for so long they’ve faded beyond memory; they’re not even myths anymore.” He stared into my eyes. “Terrors like wraiths, manticores, or dirlagrauns aren’t something you’ve ever known.”
“Really?” I laughed. “Isn’t that odd beast Balmorin calls Fifth the toughest thing out there?”
“Not even close,” Balmorin retorted. “We raised him from a cub, but he’s just a cutesy pet compared to the horrors that lie beyond the seas.”
I put my hands up like I was about to shove them away. “This monster thing isn’t happening in Sanntach, so why are you coming to me with this?”
Rovitt stood in a fluid motion as if pulled up by invisible strings. “Ballsy, Lil’s, I don’t think Arleia and her little kitty believe us. Let’s show her.”
The hair on Jes’s neck bristled. “Jes, my name is Jes, and I was a man.”
Rovitt’s voice was flat as his fingers moved in concentric circles. Then he flayed them out as if he were pushing heavy drapery to the sides of a window. “Well, since Tathana’s gone, you’ll probably die as a cat, so you might as well stop bitching about it.” A section of wooden floor appeared on top of the weeds and broken tiles. Fuzzy edges of glowing source particles wavered at their edges, twinkling in the day’s fading gloom.
“How’d you do that?” I asked.
“By manipulating free source energy, the same way all of us do my magic, my dear, but illusions are my specialty. You’re looking at the floor of my study. Here,” he said, causing a wide table to appear. “See the map?”
The table had formed around my body, and I realized that neither the wood floors nor the table were solid. My hands flowed through the illusion and my feet poked through the wood. I moved back, taking myself out of the map’s corner so I could examine what Rovitt had conjured. Jes pushed up against my leg and I lifted him, holding him in front of my abdomen.
Lilra faced me, pointing toward the table’s center. “Within this map, our island is at the center of the known lands.”
The land I called home was an island in the center of what seemed to be a giant sea. Beyond the water, multiple landmasses sprawled to the map’s edge. “Where did you get this?”
Balmorin moved next to me, and I noticed a sweet odor as if he’d bathed in rich fragrances with a hint of spice. “Tathana shared it with us, but we don’t know if she drew it or found it.”
There was something magnetic about being near the other gods. It was as if my proximity to their cores was drawing me in and begging me to touch them. Without thinking, I had crept close to Balmorin, but between his sultry aroma and the rippling vein that trailed down his forearm, I had to step away. I paced around the illusion’s perimeter, making sure I captured the map’s details. “What about the source bands, how would they get overlaid on this?”
Rovitt contorted his brow and smirked before putting his palms over the map, adding to the illusion. “Something like this.”
A series of glowing concentric rings appeared, with the largest one encircling the area just north of us. I ran my fingers through the outer ring, tracing it to a place where I knew he had omitted details. “You’re missing the connectors. The inner rings connect to the outer ones.”
I kept my eyes down, but I sensed Balmorin, Lilra, and Rovitt doing their best to avoid obvious glances at each other.
“You’re right.” Rovitt added. “My mistake.”
At his admission, half a dozen connectors joined the rings together and I noted their paths across the realms. I knew that the intersections across their realms pinpointed the location of each of their thrones since direct contact with the bands of pure energy maximized our powers. The rings and connectors were identical to a map I had seen before, but Rovitt’s had more details.
Jes waved his paw over a long word scribed across it. “Good job keeping this a secret. So we live on a landmass called i-o-mall-ache surrounded by monsters?”
Lilra leaned in. “It’s spelled funny but pronounced M-o-lock.”
“Iomallach,” Jes whispered to himself, practicing the pronunciation.
It seemed odd that neither Jes nor I had bothered to learn about anything beyond our shores, but that was the nature of life within the god’s realms. True believers accept what they are told. To question the gods was sacrilege, and we burned heretics alive.
Balmorin waved his strong, meaty hand over a section of the map. “We’re not entirely surrounded by monsters. There are a few delightful spots I’ve found over the years, but yes, there are some nasty critters out there.”
“Shall we show her?” Lilra asked.
I tried to sound interested, but my mind was on the verge of disbelief. “Another illusion?”
“No,” Balmorin chuckled. “This is real, and you have to see it with your own eyes.”
Rovitt released his illusion, and it dissolved into golden flecks. “Lilly, your realm’s the worst, that’s your cue.”
Lilra ran her hand through the air, causing a string of source flecks to illuminate. Then she stuck her fingers in the center of them and pried a portal open. The scene that appeared was high in the air, facing downward, and my stomach lurched at the prospect of falling through it. I backed up to ensure my feet were on solid ground before moving toward it. “Is that Ladhar?” I asked, pointing at it.
“Yes, see there,” she said, motioning with her hand. At first I thought there was a parade. That perhaps a few people were running through the streets with orange banners until I saw that the things I thought were banners had arms and legs attached to them. They were beasts, twice the size of a person. Each one had a loping gallop and propelled itself with stilt-like arms and powerful legs. A shadow moved between buildings, and in a blur of motion, a man’s body was ripped in two. His entrails dropped to the ground, and the beast rapped its chest with a thumping growl.
I leaned forward, intending to drop through the portal, but Rovitt’s bony fingers wrapped around my shoulder. “You might be strong, but they’ll do the same to you.”
“But people are dying, we have to help,” I pleaded.
Rovitt’s voice was emotionless. “People die every day. The only difference is that more people than usual are dying right now.”
I wanted to tell Rovitt to fuck straight off, that making excuses exposed his weakness, but I checked my emotions. “What are they?” I asked.
Lilra turned away, releasing her portal. “Barlguras.”
“My turn,” Rovitt commented, snapping at the air, causing a starburst of source flecks to appear.
I grinned at his showmanship as I waited for the scene to come into view. For some reason, I had assumed Rovitt would show me his own realm, Feodar, but a familiar city materialized through his circular portal. It was tall and narrow, built in tiers, carved into a steep hillside like layers of a celebration cake. “I know this place. That’s Croga. Up there at the top, that’s where I flew off the cliff.”
One of Rovitt’s eyebrows lifted toward me. “I’m showing you Croga because they haven’t reached my realm or Balmorin’s, at least not yet.” Rovitt adjusted our view, moving his portal around like it was a handheld looking glass. He stopped at a vantage point, looking down between the rooftops. Half a dozen blood-red creatures were moving through alleyways. Their bulbous, orb-shaped bodies had tiny arm-like appendages dangling from rounded sides. The things weren’t walking, they were floating, each with a single green eye staring forward as they lurked through the streets.
“What the heck are those?” I asked, but Balmorin clamped his hand over my mouth.
I was about to struggle when the red creature’s eyes turned skyward. Their movements synchronized as if they shared a single mind. Narrow mouths displayed needle-thin teeth, and they spat, projecting viscous streams that soared toward us. Lilra pushed us away and put her hands out as if holding a make-believe wall. The liquidus gob smacked against an invisible barrier, and Rovitt spun, waving off the portal. The gobs dropped to the ground as a sulphuric rotting egg stench filled the air.
“Ugh,” Rovitt complained, waving his hand in front of his face. He turned back to me with a sly grin. “Those nasty things are Cacodemons.”
“Yeah,” Balmorin added. “That spew is why I never put them in my games. It’s just awful, isn’t it?”
I paused at his comment, considering the vile nature of the gladiator games and the roving monsters, but the issue seemed bigger than one god could handle. “Okay, but why aren’t there any of them here? With us. Right now?” I asked as I turned, viewing the scene. “Nadur is further out than either Ladhar or Croga.”
“Because it’s not random,” Jes remarked. “The gods’ realms are being targeted.” He added, shattering my naïve theory about hordes of stray, roving monsters.
Rovitt pointed at Jes and nodded. “Exactly.”
Jes leaped off his pedestal, talking as he walked. “None of this was a problem before Tathana’s departure, and you lot came to find Arly, hoping she would know something about it.” His furry tail was like a flagpole, weaving around our legs.
The three of them exchanged glances again, and Lilra pointed toward me. “We never had this problem while Tathana was around.”
Jes grinned at me, showing his little kitty fangs. I plopped my butt next to him and stroked his back. “This is a strange turn of events, wouldn’t you agree, Jes?” I asked, and he nodded. “Maethon’s last words were, kill me and the others will avenge my death.” I turned my attention away from Jes’s sleek black fur and focused on the others. “But you didn’t come to avenge anything; you came looking for help.” I shrugged at them. “After I plucked Maethon’s stone from his chest, it broke apart.” I twiddled my fingers in the air as if I were imitating a butterfly. “It blew away into the breeze.” I grinned at the memory, ignoring the slack expression on Lilra’s face. “The thing is, I didn’t know that Tathana was going to possess my body.” The memory distracted my thoughts, and I had to pause for a moment to refocus. “After Tathana finished doing whatever she did, she dumped me in Sanntach and told them I was their new goddess.” I shook my head. “I’m assuming you guys can do the memory trick.”
Rovitt sat on one of the few solid pavers. “You’re referring to our ability to go into memories and relive the past?” His demeanor had softened, and I enjoyed his kinder voice.
I pointed at him. “Yeah, that. Well, those few days that Tathana possessed me are empty. I didn’t dream, and I don’t remember a thing.” I drew a long breath and sighed. “When it was over, I woke up.”
Lilra had crossed her arms and was propping up her chin with one hand. “But she must have told you something before she left.”
“Yeah,” I teased. “She said my powers are stronger than any of yours, and based on what I can see, she was right.” I blinked, bringing the source into view and focused on the glow inside each of their chests. “Then she said I have something you don’t. Though I have no clue what the crap she meant by that.”
“May I?” Rovitt asked, though he didn’t wait for an answer as he sat across from me. “Based on the way you handled yourself, you knew Lilra and I had magic before we introduced ourselves. Then when we landed here, you stuck your hand up and talked about manipulating this stuff, but I’m sure you were referring to source energy. And just moments ago, you inferred that you know which one of us is the strongest, which leads me to believe you can see the source itself, can’t you?”
Golden light flashed across the ground as Balmorin conjured a portal. “Well, would you look at that,” he said. “The day’s about worn out, and it’s fight night.” He moved through the opening, but then poked his arm back through and reached for Lilra. “Join me my dear, it’s not the same with you.” She took his hand, stepped after him, and the portal’s glimmering edges dissipated into the air.
Rovitt didn’t strike me as the type to be without words, but he didn’t speak for several seconds. Jes swished his tail, and I stared out across the sea, not sure what to think. Balmorin was right about the time, though. The dull, overcast day was fading, and broad swaths of dark gray stretched from sky to land, marking the approach of a storm. I wrapped my arms around my knees and spoke in a soft tone. “Was it something I said?”
The corner of Rovitt’s mouth scrunched inward. “No,” he said as he stood. He reached out, contorting another portal into existence. White marble walls appeared through the opening, and the familiar roar of a thousand garbled voices assaulted my ears.
I didn’t have to be told that Rovitt was joining the others in Uachdrach. Balmorin’s voice boomed over the noise. “Welcome to tonight’s games.”
Rovitt turned to me. “We have responsibilities to attend to,” he said, then stepped through the portal.
The marble walls blinked away, cutting the crowd’s noise as a breeze carried the remnants of their sounds out to sea. Flecks of glowing source particles sprinkled to the ground where Rovitt’s portal had been, and I stroked Jes’s back. “What the fuck was that about?” I asked.
Jes grinned, showing me a single fang. “Too many variables to be sure. We should get back to Sanntach though. Galdrous is probably wondering what happened to us.”
