Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
YEAR 203, ERA OF THE GODS
I ’d always heard of the gods’ elaborate parties. They held them in their temples and invited powerful mortals, their most ardent followers, their lovers, and sometimes, they’d even extend an invitation to other mortals who weren’t famous or powerful.
I’ve never been to a party until last night, and it couldn’t have gone worse. Khalasa has managed to hide me from the other gods for two full years. She told me it was important the other gods didn’t know about me, that they used each other’s lovers as pawns in their games. Uruth’s mistress was turned into a cactus by Aetheria simply because she’d supposedly given the goddess of earth a dirty look.
Apparently, she brought the cactus to every party they attended together.
Suffice to say, I’ve never been eager to meet any of the other gods, and how I ended up at the party was an unfortunate accident.
Since my mother died, Khalasa has spent most of her time with me on my farm, bringing books from libraries all over the continent, poring over the texts, trying to figure out a way to rid herself of her immortality.
One day, she asked me to come to her temple with her. She wanted to show me something that she’d found, something she claimed was too precious to bring to my home. She’d flown me to her temple, something she’d never done before.
It was the oddest sensation I’d ever felt. My stomach leapt to my throat, the entire world a blur, and then before I could think too much on it, we stood in her temple on top of a hill, the starry sky sparkling over us.
She pointed to a stone that sat on the ground next to the bubbling fountain. I remember being confused. A stone? Why was she showing me a stone?
Before she could answer, the goddess of water appeared.
Larissa, much like all the gods, is impossibly beautiful. Her blue hair looks like waves washing over her head, with seashells and pearls adorning her strands. She took one look at me, and I’d seen the fear that flashed in Khalasa’s eyes.
But it was too late.
Larissa insisted we both come to her party later that night. Khalasa was afraid saying no would insult Larissa, put more of a target on my back, so we had no choice but to agree.
The party started off okay. Everyone was already drunk and high by the time we arrived. Smoke filled the air, thick, scents mingling from all the different pipes being smoked. Someone shoved a drink into my hand right away, and Khalasa snatched it and told me with a stern voice that I was not to accept a drink from anyone.
Right away I could see all the gods present—except for the god of shadows. He wasn’t known to attend many parties.
I’ve never seen anything like Larissa’s temple. The floor is made of glass, the ocean underneath it. It gives you the feeling of walking on water. Fish, sharks, and even a few of the sea folk swam under the temple. Khalasa told me it would be better if she didn’t stay by my side all night, if she acted aloof and distant so as not to draw too much attention to our relationship. If everyone thought I was just a casual lover, they wouldn’t care about me.
I’m a simple farm boy. I don’t deal in the politics of the gods. I don’t know how to play their games. So instead of trying, I slipped into the shadows where no one would notice me—and I ran into the god of shadows. Death himself.
From the way he glared at me with those red eyes, I thought he might wipe me from existence right then and there. I’d heard of much lesser crimes mortals committed to earn his wrath. His shadows swirled around him, and he held a drink in one hand.
Then he did something I didn’t expect. He spoke, asked me why I was hiding.
I told him a little bit of the truth: that I felt overwhelmed with all the people, the chatter, the music.
“You’re smart,” he said to me. “The gods will eat you alive if they realize how hard Khalasa has fallen for you.”
He knew, and my first instinct was to panic. But he only laughed and told me not to worry. That the other gods were too self-involved to notice me.
Then he threw back his drink in a single gulp, stalking away and into the party. Everyone quickly parted, making a path for him, some of the laughter and chatter dying down as he shoved his way through, his shadows lashing out toward the partygoers.
“Oh, don’t mind him!” Larissa had shouted as he disappeared in a poof of black smoke. The tension died down, and everyone began dancing and drinking once more.
Women and men lay over the gods’ laps, petting them, feeding them, serving their every need. Uruth and a blond woman made out while he groped her breasts, not even caring that they were in plain sight of everyone.
I drank, I observed, and I even ventured out into the crowd to mingle.
I was just starting to relax when a shriek split through the air, and the crowd began chanting and circling around some kind of commotion. I should have stayed in the shadows. But I just couldn’t help myself.
So I emerged, pushing through the everyone until I saw a rope tied around a woman’s ankle, the woman’s head dangling just above a hole in the floor. Ocean water bubbled up through the hole, and a sea serpent coiled in the water, mouth open wide.
“You’ll get your meal in a minute, Saree,” Larissa cooed to the beast, and I realized the rope was made of water magic.
Larissa held out her hand, controlling it.
She was going to feed this woman to the serpent. I looked around in horror, but everyone just stared eagerly, some people even cheering.
The other gods all sat in chairs up on a dais, Larissa’s throne in the middle, and the god of shadows’s chair empty. I met Khalasa’s gaze. She just sat there while the other gods looked bored of the entire thing, Uruth still making out with the woman on his lap.
“Feed your pet and let’s get on with the party,” Aethira shouted from her chair, vines wrapping around her body like a dress.
This was a woman’s life. And the gods were just so callously throwing it away for... what? Fun? Entertainment? To feed the goddess’s pet sea serpent? My hand twitched at my side. Khalasa must’ve known what I was going to do before I did.
She reached for me from across the room right as I stepped forward and commanded the goddess to stop. Truthfully, I think I blacked most of it out. When I came to, I stood there in front of the goddess of water, fists curled. Everyone had gone completely silent. I wasn’t even sure what I’d said, but I knew it couldn’t be good based on the terror flashing in Khalasa’s eyes.
Larissa had looked at me, blue eyes glimmering with rage. “Should I feed you to Saree instead?”
“You shouldn’t be feeding anyone to the sea serpent,” I found myself saying against my better judgment.
The crowd shuffled uncomfortably. The gods had straightened in their seats, staring at me with interest, even Uruth now paying attention.
Khalasa’s face had lost all color.
“What did this woman do to deserve a fate like this?” I asked.
Larissa just shrugged my question off. She didn’t even have an answer, which confirmed this woman was innocent.
The woman in question whimpered, staring up at me with tear-filled eyes.
“Let her go,” I pleaded. “She doesn’t deserve to die.”
“No one does,” Larissa said. “You die at our whim. You live at our whim.”
“Oh, enough of this.” Ragar disappeared from his chair and reappeared in front of us. He looked up. “Sacrifice her already.”
Inky shadows appeared out of nowhere, and I whipped around to see the god of shadows standing behind the crowd, his shadows slipping through them like smoke.
A few people let out screams when the shadows brushed past them. The shadows surged forward, wrapping around the rope, fraying its edges until the rope snapped in half, and the woman fell. Ragar and Larissa both smiled, cruelty and mirth shining in their eyes that made me shudder. When I turned to the god of shadows, he was already gone.
The sea serpent devoured its prey, everyone breaking into cheers.
One minute I stood in that temple, and the next, I was being wrenched outside, Khalasa grabbing me and flying me back to my farm. We didn’t speak until we landed. She stood in front of me, her shimmery purple gown bunched in her fists.
“How could you be so stupid?” she’d asked.
I’ll be honest. I wasn’t expecting that kind of response. Khalasa has spent so much time telling me she hates the other gods, hates their callousness, hates the games they play with mortal lives.
So I couldn’t understand how she could be so angry with me for standing up for a mortal.
She told me I put myself in danger, that I made myself into a target.
But I didn’t care. That woman deserved better. In fact, I was growing angry at Khalasa for not doing something. She was a goddess. She had power. She could’ve stopped that. It made me wonder how many other deaths Khalasa had witnessed, how many times she’d done nothing to stop the murders of innocent souls.
Up to that point, it was like we’d been living in our bubble, but now that bubble had burst, and it had changed everything.
She’d done something, then, that scared me. Her eyes turned a deep maroon color, and she’d raised her hand like she was about to call down her powers. I’ll never forget that look on her face. Her features were twisted in rage, an expression I’d never seen on her before.
Then her eyes widened like she realized what she was doing, and she lowered her arm and disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke.
I haven’t seen or heard from her since.
I want to say the most disturbing part of this tale is the woman who I saw murdered. But it’s not. The most disturbing part is the goddess that I’m beginning to think I don’t know as well as I thought I did. In fact, I might not know her at all.