6. Hermes
6
HERMES
S ometimes, luck is on my side.
The second level of metal is in place. It’s a hideous sculpture of curved gold, silver, and bronze. The truck is supposed to deliver a special shipment for what will be the top level when we get to it. The amount of money that has been spent on this monstrosity is outrageous. The Truth’s pockets are apparently deeper than we assumed. I just need to stay there until I can discover what this is for. It’s Medea’s, so that means magic of some kind, but why? Is she trying to harness more power? That would be bad. Or is it something else? With Medea, it’s impossible to say. She has always been power-hungry, but it’s also always been for a reason. The destruction of the gods. I have to find out the truth, and I have to find it before it’s too late.
In the middle of today’s build, we discovered that we were running low on some essentials. We can’t weld the metal together cleanly if we don’t have what we need. Typically, I would have sent one of the guys under me – but today, I needed to get away myself. Not just for the supplies, but to visit an old… Well, a friend would be the wrong word to use. The Dark Raven was no one’s friend. They were just an enigma of half-truths and pure knowledge if you were willing to pay the price.
I had no choice. If anyone could understand what Medea had planned, it would be Nepthys. Magic was their domain. They were also difficult to find. The steep hill where Nepthys lived was treacherous even in my jeep. I drove the winding roads carefully as I was already going to be gone longer than I should. Hopefully, Medea was busy elsewhere and would barely notice my absence. It was a chance I had to take.
I had been careful and made sure that I wasn’t being followed. I had found it best to trust no one in the organization. There were eyes everywhere, and after Eros’s bow was stolen back from them, the entire camp was under constant surveillance.
The road was only wide enough for one car to use. A sheer cliff waited on either side of the road for anyone who wasn’t careful. Nepthys, as always, made sure that fear and danger were a part of the quest for their information. I carefully drove around a large curve and up the steepest road I had ever seen. I switched my gear to get better traction on the gravel and carefully ascended.
The house was large and looked like it was in total disrepair. From the outside, it should have been condemned. A total teardown that might fall at any moment. But I knew it was an illusion. Nepthys hated visitors, and their house looked this way on purpose. But inside the house was a maze of magic. To get an audience with the Dark Raven, you had to give something in return. It was not a pleasant experience.
I parked my jeep and stretched my legs as I slid to the ground. The air up here was still and stale. That was weird since the trees swayed in the breeze around the house. But here, not a leaf moved. Perhaps it was an illusion or a magical barrier to keep Nepthys hidden?
I walked up to the stairs and tested the first one. They looked like they could collapse and wouldn’t be able to hold my weight.
“ Who is this sad man creeping up to my door ?” Nepthys voice rang inside my head.
“Someone seeking knowledge.” I stood still on the step and waited. I knew what was expected. I just didn’t think it would happen until I entered the house. They had been expecting me.
“ You are not what you seem. To seek an audience with the Dark Raven comes with a price. What will you pay?”
“What I seek will affect you, too, wise one.”
“ Will it? Time affects all, but for those of us old enough to know that the balance always sways in and out of our favor, time is meaningless. This age shall pass, and a new one will begin. What is the affairs of humans to beings such as ourselves?”
“They are a part of us. We bestowed our gifts upon them, and they are, as always, in our care whether we wish it or not. The affairs of man have become the affairs of all.”
“ What will you give? Did you bring me a gift ?”
“Enough, Nepthys. What will you ask?”
“ Hmm… If it is to be my choice – I want to see you without the illusion, and then perhaps we can speak. Reveal yourself, son of Zeus .”
Mist swirled around my feet, and my body began to morph. I hadn’t lived in my own skin – in my own form for too many months. Subterfuge and secrecy had to be my life while I was with The Truth. But here, with a mere thought, Nepthys stripped away my changeling disguise, and I stood on their steps as Hermes, the messenger of the gods.
“Whose form do you wear?” The front door opened, and out stepped a dark-haired teenage boy with some serious eyeliner on. “I find it repulsive.”
“I wear a man named Denny, as you already know.” Nepthys had pillaged my mind while I stood there. It was just their way. It was impossible to hide anything from them, and only a fool would try. “What do you ask of me?”
“I would say that it’s good to see you, Hermes, but we both know I would be lying. Whenever a godling comes to my door, trouble soon follows. I sense a turbulence inside you. Darkness covers you, but it’s harder to see than I’d imagine.”
“If it’s hidden from you, then you can guess how I feel.”
“True,” he laughed and slowly morphed in front of me to a young girl with pigtails. “Most things that are hidden can be revealed, but some things should stay in the shadows. Medea… Her stink is all over you.”
“I’ve had another visitor. One, I think you know. When we are done talking, she will take you to where you have to go. Understand?”
“I have to get back to camp, or they're going to think something is up. I am undercover there.”
“True. But this is also important. You will go with our visitor because you have to. A prophecy was spoken, and sadly, it involves you. The air is shifting around us; can you feel it? Soon, a storm will come through and blanket this place in winter’s magic. It will be a hard time for all. But to get to the spring, we must harden ourselves in the winter.”
“Talking to you is never pleasant,” I huffed.
“Yet here you are. What is it that you need to know?”
“I think it best to show you. I snuck some pictures on my phone before I left. Medea is building something, and I need to know what it is.”
“Show me.” She gestured for me to walk up the stairs.
“Here.” I pulled them up on my phone and stood before the small girl. They transformed again, and there, in the little girl's place, stood an old crone in a dark brown robe. Their eyeshadow blackened their eyes. I scrolled through the pictures, and Nepthys stiffened as they looked at them.
“This is… Medea is building that here in Valleywood? How did I not see this?”
“Yes, it’s outside the city, just a little way out of the city limits.”
“The metal is gold, silver, and bronze? Magical conductors.”
“Yes. We’re supposed to get some kind of special delivery for the metal that will be on top.”
“Celestial bronze – the true conductor of magic. You must not be there when it arrives.”
“What is it?”
“Something that must be destroyed before it can ever be completed. Those runes that are inside the structure are the end of everything. It’s ingenious and terrifying how they’re designed into the structure. How did she accomplish this? Only a few of us old ones even know these runes. Medea is not alone in this. She had to have help.”
“You’re scared?”
“ As you should be . This is not just… This is an apocalypse. Are these pictures from today?”
“Yes, just an hour ago.”
“Two more layers of runes and then the celestial bronze top to manage the power. This device is meant to reveal magic – to strip it away at its source. Magical beings will lose their humanity and stand in the light of day in their true forms. Gods will tower above in their golden skin as shifters transform to their animal sides. Magic users will be stripped of their powers, and the years will ascend, destroying most who aren’t part of the eternal.”
“How can it be stopped?”
“Once it begins, only sacrifice will stop it. But this has never been used before. It’s all theoretical at this point. It was meant as a safeguard against the world’s magic. I helped many other beings at the dawn of humanity come up with plans for this in case it ever had to be used. Magic was young at the time, and we had to be prepared if it ever became too powerful. But that was thousands and thousands of years ago when mankind was young. Now, if this machine was used, it would mean a war between man and the magical world. They are not ready to discover our secrets – our existence. But how is she planning on powering this? It would take the blood and soul of a pure god.”
“Wait! You created this.”
“Many, many millennia ago, all of the pantheons sent a representative to a round table where we discussed a failsafe to keep magic in check. There were few true magic users amongst the gods. Sure, magic flows in our veins as it does the universe, but the magic we feared was the magic that seemed to begin on its own. A wild magic that none of us could control, created by the universe itself and not under the power of the gods. A magic meant for humanity alone. It seeped into the bloodlines and souls of the human race, and as man developed, so did the other races of man. The shifters, the witches, the changelings, and the world of the fae all sprouted from this magic. It had to be kept in check. But the only way to ensure we had control of the wild magic was to control all magic, even ours. Do you understand?”
“My knees are actually shaking.” They were. This was worse than I had ever imagined. “Does this mean that they have a god?”
“Perhaps. It couldn’t be any god, you understand. It would have to be a powerful one. Eros, or someone of his esteem. It would drain and kill them. You might be strong enough as you have retained your glory. I don’t think Apollo, Loki, or Horus could manage it. But there are others. If she’s planning on using this, it would have to be at the full moon. It would only work then, and the coming moon will be one of the strongest magical moons of the year – the cold moon. A moon that is filled with winter’s malice.”
“How do we destroy it? It’s metal, and Medea has placed protection spells upon it. I can feel them as I’m working on it.”
“It can be destroyed, but only once the celestial bronze is placed on top. Only death and sacrifice will be able to destroy it. This has never been created before, Hermes. The way to stop it has not ever been put into action. But it would mean giving up everything – losing all for death. Only the death of a god upon the celestial bronze – the golden ichor that is freely given would stop the machine forever.”
“Only death. Great.”
“Not just death. There would be no afterlife for the god who gave everything. They would cease to exist in every way.”
“Can you help us? I mean, you did help create this shit storm.”
“I am afraid that I cannot. This is… I will fade back into the darkness for now.”
“You’re running away?”
“I’m preserving life. Once magic is gone, all of our protections will be stripped away. The world will see us and know us and fear us. But for one like me, a being whose only purpose is magic – I would be destroyed. This is not my quest.”
“I thought better of you, Dark Raven.”
“That was your first mistake. Now, you do have somewhere else to be. Kitty?” They transformed once again back to the skinny boy with dark eyeliner. A cat came and rubbed up against their legs. “I think you know each other.”
The cat transformed, and there stood someone I hadn’t seen since I helped her flee from the encampment close to a year ago while we stole Eros’s bow and arrows.
“Eros awaits.” She smiled. “You have a lot to learn.”