Chapter 25 Morgen
Morgen
The dragon, Varax, finally spoke to me. I could sense it, when she opened the pathway between us, but as soon as I began to tell her of the coming danger, she told me she has heard the same warnings from her kind for many years.
She chose them anyway. I left her after that, wondering if her choice was made out of love or foolishness. Perhaps they are one in the same.
—Ana, Priestess to the Usurper King, Arcadia
The light was unnaturally low, even for the Gods’ Aisle.
Varax landed with a deafening thud atop the ashy floor of the valley, shaking her head in aggravation.
Morgen knew she could feel the unnatural tether on the other end of the bond just as well as he could.
He reached for Nya again, only to be met with the same suffocating press on his lungs, like he was drowning in ice.
Don’t, Varax warned when he pushed.
He pulled back, coughing as he opened his eyes. When he pressed his hand to his lips, it came back coated in crimson.
Nyx, Thanatos, Juno, Sora, Vane, and Carus all waited below.
Heles, Thessilnn, and Veeron were perched on a nearby cliff, huffing and restlessly slapping their tails against the rocks.
Vulcan was still circling above with his dragon.
Carus had gone earlier to warn their forces to lay low for now.
None of them had protested, despite their absence over the last several days.
They were used to obeying orders. He just hoped Sol would be too occupied to target them.
Nya, Morgen tried again, his heart beating frantically. The agonizing pain he’d felt earlier had subsided when he portaled into the mountains, but the relief had been short-lived.
“I’m sorry,” she had said, like it was already over, like it was another way to say goodbye. He would not accept it.
He wiped the blood from his hand against his pants and dismounted, choking down the iron tang when his chest spasmed again.
Sora rushed towards him, Vane close behind her. “Anything?” she urged, her blue eyes huge and pulsing with silver.
He coughed wetly, and Carus looked at him sharply. Morgen ignored him.
“I heard her, but neither Varax nor I could track where she was. Sol must have put up wards, strong ones at that.”
Sora’s hands curled into fists at her sides, but she did not cry or delve into hysterics at the bad news. Instead, she squared her jaw and took a slow breath before she asked, “What did she say?”
He hesitated and found his gaze drifting behind her, landing on Vane.
Morgen still remembered Imeria’s frenzied words from decades ago now, when she had told him there was a warrior cutting down Kronos’ guards like they were nothing but nuisances.
As a child, he almost hadn’t believed her.
Such a thing wasn’t possible; his father’s guards had been trained practically since birth.
But when he had raced to the throne room, determined to see Kronos’ demise himself, he’d realized how the warrior had done it.
It wasn’t merely skill that had secured the impossible victory of reaching the throne room. Incomprehensible love and reckless devotion were what had felled his father’s guards in the end. They were also what had led to Sora and Vane’s deaths and reincarnations.
Morgen wondered if those same things would save any of them now.
“It has her, doesn’t it?” Vane asked, his expression hard and determined.
Morgen swallowed hard, nausea rising at the metallic taste still coating his mouth. “Yes,” he replied with a short nod. “It does.”
“Morgen!”
The familiar voice had him whirling, but he stiffened when he found Imeria standing a few feet away, covered in blood. Varax growled, the sound low and rumbling across the rocks. Heles and Thessilnn mirrored the sound, all three dragons crawling closer.
Something was wrong.
“Imeria.” From behind him, Carus said her name slowly, an edge to his tone. “What’s happened?”
She was trembling and breathing hard, as if she had just run a great distance. Morgen almost asked her if she was alright, but then she said, “Sol made me. I swear, Morgen, I didn’t want to hurt anyone—”
“Made you what?” He somehow managed to keep his voice level, but he was about two seconds from losing it. Magic hummed beneath his fingertips, surges of deadly electricity begging to be released.
“There were others,” she whispered, her eyes huge and shining with tears. “We were supposed to help keep her contained while Sol talked, but she killed them. You need to flee now. I can get you somewhere safe—”
“Who?” he cut in sharply. “Who killed the others you were with?”
“Nya.” She said her name like it was a curse, and his anger flared into something dangerously close to uncontrolled. “I knew there was something wrong with her, but no one would listen! They all said we just had to follow your orders.”
He took a single step closer, suddenly hyperaware of every sound and sensation around him.
Tiny rocks crunched beneath his boots. The air smelled acrid and hummed wildly with the energy of all the powerful gods behind him.
Imeria was breathing fast, and the scent of blood that wasn’t hers clung to her clothing and skin.
The blood smelled familiar, he realized, like fire and metal and something else that was unnamable and ancient.
Nya.
“Did you send Feron and Sillas to kill her?” he asked in an emotionless voice.
Imeria took a step back, a shaking hand held in front of her. “Please, I was just trying to keep you safe.”
Varax snapped her jaws behind him, and this time, Morgen did not suppress the magic slamming against his skin. A bolt of crimson lightning exploded, close enough that Imeria yelped and fell back.
“I am fully aware of my own wife’s magic.” He dragged in a breath through his teeth, the temptation to strike her down where she stood growing stronger by the second. “And if you were truly loyal, you wouldn’t have questioned that or tried to turn my own soldiers against me.”
“Morgen, please. You don’t understand!” Imeria cried out, holding her hands in front of her. “It’s not just magic. There is a terrible place, a dark void no one should be able to touch, and she willingly reaches for it!”
He smiled, dipping his chin. “Oh, I know. I’ve been there more times than I can count.”
Beneath the droplets of blood, Imeria’s face abruptly lost all color, her lips parting in horror. The sky darkened abruptly, and Sora called, “Dragons!”
“Sol’s fleet,” Vulcan said, adding, “Be careful. They have riders.”
Imeria turned and ran, but this time, Morgen didn’t bother with her. He would deal with her later—if there was a later.
“Morgen.”
He turned and stiffened when he found Sora in front of him. She reached up and touched his cheek, her blue eyes nearly blotted out with ether.
“Find her,” she said. “We’ll hold off the fleet.”
He stared at her for a long moment. Shadows danced behind the silver in her eyes, subtle and fleeting. Even still, he could feel the force of her magic under her fingertips; dark and velveteen death. Sora coaxed living things to death softly, in the same way he coaxed them to life.
“I will,” he vowed quietly. “Stay alive.”
She raised a brow, the ghost of a smile on her lips. “That’s never been a guarantee. Not for me.”
She pulled her hand away, hurrying towards Thessilnn. Vane glanced his way and gave a curt nod, before turning to Sora. Morgen looked away when they bowed their foreheads together, speaking words no one else could hear.
“I’m coming with you to look for her,” Carus said. “Don’t argue. We don’t have time, and you need me. Veeron says we should be looking for a cave.”
Veeron, who had landed next to Varax without Morgen noticing, ruffled his wings and screeched at the approaching fleet.
“Fine,” he bit out. “Does Veeron have any idea where?”
“No,” Carus said. His eyes followed Thessilnn and Heles as they took off. Vulcan soared above, riding an azure dragon and motioning to Sora and Vane.
Defense, Morgen thought distractedly. He was signaling for a defensive strategy.
Nyx, Thanatos, Juno, and Anabeth had all disappeared by the time he took his eyes off the sky, but he didn’t care enough to question it, not when he hadn’t been able to reach Nya down the pathway since he landed.
He was just about to tell Carus to mount Veeron when Varax roared abruptly. Carus shouted his name, and Morgen whirled, his blood running cold when he saw what had caused them such alarm.
Nya strode slowly towards them, her steps almost casual.
Her eyes were completely flooded with inky black, and she gave them an empty smile when she paused at the edge of the empty clearing.
But it wasn’t the knowledge the void had a complete hold of her that made his lungs empty out, his heart beating so fast, he could hardly breathe.
There was a deep gash just above her collarbone, the wound gushing freely. If he didn’t heal it soon, she would lose too much blood.
She would die.
“Oh,” the void said, brushing Nya’s small fingers across the wound and coating them in crimson.
“Sol thought it might be fun to try and cut out the blood binding. He’s always been a little too confident in his ability to control anything and everything.
Don’t worry; I made sure to numb the feeling of his silly efforts on your end.
It would have been beyond agonizing for you otherwise. ”
Morgen took a step forward, ignoring Carus when he said his name in warning.
“She’s going to die if she keeps bleeding like that,” he said hoarsely.
The void chuckled. “Oh, yes, she’s close. While I’m here, I can hold that off, but as soon as I let her go…” It shrugged. “She will join me in the dark within a few moments, I’m sure.”
The void seemed pleased at the thought.