Chapter 14 Nyssa #2
My mask must have slipped, portraying the confusion I presently grappled with.
Aros leaned in to explain. “Paeon is a demi-god of war. He has no influence over such things, but he can feel when war and violence are stirring nearby.”
Paeon nodded. “When I felt the call from Thaldon, I ran to Kardia’s temple and used its portal arch to travel to the Temple of Poseidon.
Neros was but a few miles south of there.
Though, in the end, I did not need to run the whole way.
The devastation of the oceanic capital was clear, even from such a distance. ”
Silence answered him. He shifted, scratching at his arm, then continued.
“Neros was burning. The road leading there was packed with people fleeing, and a few brave souls running towards the flames to lend their help. By the time I got closer, I knew for certain that the city was too far gone.” He shifted his weight from foot to foot, lost in the memory of his sprint.
“Neros had already fallen. There was nothing left to save. No one left to rescue. Nothing but charred ruins and the stench of burning flesh.”
I swivelled, immediately locking eyes with my storm-wielder. His anger simmered beneath my breastbone, as hot as Velira’s belly, mingling with my own.
“And what of the attacker?” Caelus bit out, his deep voice barely holding back the depth of his emotion. “Did you see any sign of who or what might have wreaked such destruction?”
Paeon averted his gaze, shaking his head. “No. Nothing.”
“I have to go,” I murmured, more to myself than to anyone else. “I have to see it for myself.”
Caelus pinned me with his two-toned stare. You’re mad if you think I’m letting you go alone.
Who said anything about alone?
Without another word, my shadows whipped out, forming an inky doorway. I stepped through, caring little who joined me — the more, the better.
Let them all see the consequences war unleashes on mortals.
Let them remember what their power costs.
It was as Paeon had said: charred domiciles and burnt flesh.
The acrid scent of smoked pork seared my nostrils as my shadows dissipated, leaving me standing in the blackened soil alongside seven other gods.
Caelus, Aros, and Athena did not hesitate to follow me into the darkness.
What surprised me was that Aphrodite followed a second later, with Artemis and Hermes just behind her. And then Velira had managed to wriggle through the god-sized doorway as well, surely through some magic of her own.
All came to bear witness to the devastating remains of Poseidon’s mortal capital.
And it was devastation. Gutwrenching and nausea-inducing annihilation.
I forced myself to wade through ash and bones — almost all that was left of the once thriving seaside city.
I compelled my feet forward, desperately attempting to ignore the singed scrap of a child’s stuffed toy, and the too-tiny bones of some much beloved pet.
I took to scanning the ruins for any signs of life — or any evidence of who caused this.
Vel skirted the bulk of the carnage, careful not to disturb the final resting places of countless mortals. She sniffed at what little remained of someone’s home, then snarled, the sound grating deep in her throat.
This was no ordinary fire.
Can you tell what caused this?
Nothing natural, she growled.
It wasn’t until I reached the scorched shoreline that I knew I was getting close to whatever it was I’d felt compelled to find. These landmarks looked oddly familiar, even though I’d never set foot on this island before.
I blinked and fell back into my dream — to the flashing image of a domed building aflame. It was the last thing the woman had seen before succumbing to the fire.
I spun in a tight circle, scanning my surroundings. Desperate — and yet terrified — to find it.
Moments later—
There.
“Nyssa!” Caelus called after me, but my feet were already kicking up sand in my wake as I bolted, trying to line up that image in my mind. “It’s not safe! This could be a trap!”
I ignored him, now running perpendicular to the building until it was framed exactly how I’d seen in my vision. Pulling up short, I swallowed, mouth dry, as I looked down at the blackened sand, slowly being swept away by the rising tide.
He’s not wrong, Vel said, her beating wings setting the ash aflurry.
I have to be quick. I have to find her.
Find who, godling?
Seconds later, I succeeded. Mostly.
Her.
All that was left of the burning woman were ash and blackened bones. She lay face down in the still-hot sand, her charred skeletal fingers reaching up like if she could only extend her arm a little further, someone would grasp that hand to save her.
Bile burned the back of my throat as I made myself look closer.
A scrap of skin still remained on her right forearm — preserved like the warning it was. On it were black intersecting lines: a tattoo. The tattoo I still bore the ghostly echo of on my own right arm.
And her fingers were not extended to her salvation, but instead, reached for our ruin.
She was pointing to a hastily carved message, written with her dying breaths. Melancholy threatened to exit my body in the form of vomit as I read each line.
All that was left of Neros was this. This warning. This promise.
The gods have abandoned us.
Long live the monsters.
Unfortunately, I found I could understand why the people here would turn to our enemies — we had been too late. Us. The Olympians. Their protectors.
Even death had not been quick enough to help them — and those few who remained would never forgive us for it. The fact that we were here, now, meant little to the survivors. The witnesses.
We could not bring back their families, or alter the fact that they had suffered — irreparably.
“This will make things harder…” Athena murmured from somewhere to my left. “Mortal casualties are always the first to fall in a war among gods… and they are always the heaviest to carry.”
Our attention was snagged by the sounds of someone retching.
Hermes had taken one look at the worrisome message beside the charred arm, and folded in half. “I cannot do this,” he whispered.
His black eyes clashed with mine, fear lining their edges.
“I won’t,” he declared softly, wiping the back of his hand across his mouth. He straightened slowly, gaze never once leaving mine. “Dromaris will not side with you.”
My brows rose.
Caelus and Aros both moved at once, but Hermes’ gilded talaria had him snaking backwards, out of reach. “I won’t side with him either, though. My people need me,” he murmured, looking east.
Then, with nothing more than a click of his fingers, the god of thieves vanished, stealing a sliver of our remaining hope as he left us in the blackened sand.
“That’s not going to make things any easier either,” Aphrodite muttered.
“No. It won’t.” My mind whirled through a thousand different thoughts at once.
While Hermes was a thorn in my backside, his allegiance meant that we were one Olympian stronger in our war against Kronos — against evil. The loss of him now meant that the transportation of armies and supplies would fall solely on me.
An amused whistle jolted me out of my torrential mind. Aros teetered on the balls of his feet, somehow smirking amid the smoking ruins.
“So… Who wants to be the one to tell Poseidon about all this?”
He, at least, had the decency to cringe as my lip twisted up into a soundless snarl. “I guess that falls to me.”