2. The Power of a Name
Chapter 2
The Power of a Name
Ella
“ W elcome back… sister.”
Sister.
The moment I heard this particular word, my internal battle began. I tried to deny it with every fiber of my newly acquired immortal being. I even found myself shaking my head and whispering,
“No… no, it’s… it’s not possible.”
I lowered my head and ignored the painful expression that overtook the features of Jared’s wife. And suddenly, just like that, her being alive became a secondary fear in light of what she now spoke of. It meant that not only had Jared been played all those years ago, but now it had intwined my Fate with their own in such a way I never thought possible. It meant tying me to his first love in an unbearable way, meaning that I could do nothing but deny it.
It just wasn’t possible.
“It’s true, you just need to look deep within…”
“No!” I snapped in a dark tone I barely recognized as being my own, knowing that, in this very moment, had I been faced with a mirror I would have no doubt seen someone else looking back at me. Because now I was looking up at her with all the hatred that I had felt that day, feeling it course through every inch of me. The day I saw her planning Jared’s death with those that would force a good man to his knees to save the woman he believed loved him.
My eyes narrowed on her beautiful face, and I felt them getting hot, my hands felt even hotter just before a small green flame erupted from my palms. Her angelic features should have been enough to dampen the fire burning within me, but they weren’t. Her almost white blonde hair escaped her intricate braid as she shook her head in sight of the danger coming closer. Because with every step I took closer to her, she in turn wisely took one back.
Her delicate, pale hand trembled as it rose up in front of her. The silken sleeves of her white and gold dress rippled down her arm, with its golden thread catching the light of the lanterns hanging around what I could now see was a temple of sorts. It looked like someone had lifted it straight from a story book or maybe the mythological tales of Ancient Greece. Hell, I could have been transported to Mount Olympus itself.
The temple looked as if it had been carved out of a mountain side made of white stone, with veins of gold branching out like threadlike streams frozen in time. A rugged ceiling of stone was held above us by giant Greek columns. Elegant and ornate Corinthian columns, decorated with acanthus leaves and topped with curled scrolls. Carvings in the walls depicted different objects, like scepters, tridents, a bow and quiver, helmets and spears, and even an owl. However, it was when I saw the thunder bolt that I knew that each carving must have represented one of the Greek Gods.
The view from beyond the temple was seen all along one side as the cave was against what looked like an ocean of crystal waters with a cloudless sky above. It was the most serene place I have ever set foot in, making me wonder if this was in fact Heaven? And if it was, just how long would I last here when my first act would soon be murdering one of their own?
Well, if Hell was the destination I was trying to get to, then that particular act was one sure way of getting there. Which was why as the soft gentle waves washed up against the cave’s edge, I let my murderous thoughts fuel my determined steps. Steps I took toward her as she continued to back away like the frightened prey I proclaimed her to be. Her porcelain pale skin was marred by a red blush at the apple of her cheeks in her rush to get away from me. Her aquamarine-blue eyes grew wider in sight of my power taking over my own features.
I could feel it building up in such a way that it now started to transform far more than just my body. Because with merely a passing thought of what I was wearing, I started to change. Which meant that soon the pajamas I was wearing before disaster had struck the cabin disappeared, quickly replaced by that of a warrior ready for war.
Ready for Death.
A simple glance at the floor showed me enough to know what was happening to me, the reflection in the polished marble floor was like looking into a mirror. Dark-green leather boots covered my once bare feet, with tight green leggings made from a material I had never felt caress my skin before. They looked like scales of some kind, and far harder on the outside than what they felt next to my flesh. A long piece of material hung from my waist in between my legs like a skirt without sides. This was attached to an armored breastplate that felt as if it had been forged with my exact body as its template.
Shimmering green metal molded to my frame like some steel corset, with decorative panels contouring to my body shape in lines of gold. Like the flare of my hips, interlocking plates curved over them before sloping down to join the summoning crest at my lower belly.
Symbols and runes straight out of the book spoke of my royal summoning lineage, and I recognized them instantly due to my connection. There was a summoning circle with a slightly smaller circle inside creating a frame of runes. Inside this was a pentagram with a series of symbols at each point of the star. But what dominated it all, at its center, was what I now knew to be the symbol for Hades, thanks to the book of souls.
The symbol looked almost like a cross with the bottom carved into a sharp and deadly point. As for the top of the cross, this was like a two-prong pitchfork. Each point was curved inward like a cup, with each end tipped like two demonic talons facing each other. And at the center of this near-joined circle was a single black dot.
Finally, above this symbol for Hades was a crown of Asphodel flowers. Something the book communicated to me was the flower associated with the underworld, death, and mourning. I wasn’t surprised I knew all this because the book had communicated a lot to me since taking possession of it. More than I had been willing to tell Jared when dreaming of it.
Like the way it would reach out to me in my sleep, gifting me with only fragments of a life I didn’t understand. A history it seemed sure I was entwined with. But with only shadows of a past I didn’t know, I was left with only snippets of information I could make sense of. Like how the symbol on the front of the book had changed the moment I had taken possession of it. The symbol of Hades had never been there before.
The question that was always left lingering in my mind was how exactly did it believe I was connected with the mythological Greek God of the Underworld?
Well… perhaps there was finally one person who may have my answers and right now, in the depths of my hatred, I was prepared to do whatever was necessary to get them. Even if it meant having the bitch’s blood on my hands. I even found myself rolling my shoulders, the interlocking plates that tipped into deadly spikes clinking against each other. My gauntlet-covered hands formed into fists and the same sound echoed in the cavernous temple, as if the threat was one the Gods could also hear.
“I understand how difficult this must be to accept…” Lerna started to say, making me grit my teeth as I thought back to all the lies I had heard spill from her lips.
“You understand nothing!” I snapped, looking back and seeing the remains of the glowing portal for the first time.
It was a haunting sight that filled me with heartache knowing that the other half of my soul was just beyond it. That he had been fighting for his life and all I could hope was that my summoned souls destroyed every last HellHound that had attacked him. That once he had the time to heal, he would one day find me. I knew Jared would stop at nothing until he had me back in his arms once more.
Just like he had done with his wife .
The painful truth made me put my fisted hand just over my heart, hammering it against my breastplate. Because here was the woman he had once believed loved him when I knew the awful truth…
She had only ever used him.
Which was why I turned my venomous gaze back to her once more, hatred heating my veins into a blaze. Her eyes widened again in concern, despite her having no idea what I had seen in the past. A past she would have no knowledge of as that thread of time had died for everyone but those who had traveled Janus’s forbidden journey.
“You!” I snarled, making her hold both her hands up in surrender.
“Easy now, sister… just… just let me explain,” she said fearfully, and I soon knew why the second I looked down to see my gauntleted hands now fully consumed by the green flame. The jade fire licked out around the metal that covered most of my arms and seemed to dance along my armor. Which was when I knew the book was calling to me and trying to tell me something.
‘No living soul left but that of our HellBeast King.’ It spoke in my mind, making me close my eyes in utter relief.
My love still breathed life… I had saved him.
I didn’t know what Lerna thought of my sudden sigh of relief or the way that I now held my hand out toward the portal. But I heard her gasp of shock when my summoned souls started to flow back toward me. With a flick of my wrist, the book quickly appeared next to me, hovering, at the ready to receive the souls at my whim. I had complete control over each and every one of them, and they were just waiting for a single command. Especially when they knew that I stood facing what they felt was another enemy. Because the book and I were connected by my own soul, which meant that it felt whatever I felt. And right now, well… it could feel the hatred for this woman coming off me in waves.
However, I knew that I didn’t need the aid from my souls to deal with Jared’s traitor. Which was why with a sudden and calculated move I struck like a venomous snake. I flicked my wrist and felt power snap out to grab her. Her eyes flashed in panic seconds before she began clawing at the demonic green hand around her neck.
Then once I had her in my demonic grasp, I told her in a voice I didn’t recognize as being my own,
“I am not your sister!”
The tears in her eyes weren’t just from the pain of having her throat squeezed but from what I knew were my hateful words.
“Please… please… don’t… don’t become what he wants you to turn into… don’t…” she pleaded as my rage fueled my power with every threatening step I took toward her, now bringing her to her knees. Her long flowing gown of white bellowed out around her, the gold edge creating a holy circle around her as this Angel of treachery was forced to pay for her sins against us.
“You did this! And now you will pay!” I threatened, feeling myself quickly lost to my loathing and doing just what she said. I could feel the hatred and pain writhing through my veins, turning me into something dark and twisted that my mortal self wouldn’t have even recognized.
“Please… please just listen to me… please, my sister…” She paused trying to draw breath so she could utter one last word.
No, not a word this time… but a name.
“…Anástasi.”
I gasped. The sound of the name had the power to hit me hard enough that I actually took a staggered step back. My hatred evaporated in seconds and, with it, the control I had over the book. The green mist holding her by the throat disappeared instantly, fading and leaving the helpless woman on the floor… one that my mind was strangely now starting to recognize.
“What… what did… did you just call me?” I stammered out, now feeling weak and left unsure of, well… of everything.
Tear-filled eyes looked back up at me, like blue crystals sparkling under the water as she started to tell me,
“Anástasi… it’s…”
I gasped before finishing off that sentence for her, speaking the truth with my own lips and eradicating the lies in which she had once told…
“…It’s my name.”