46. Nyssa
Nyssa
He was dead.
“NO!” I screamed, my powers exploding outwards — agony tearing me apart. I longed to destroy it all: the crowns, the realms, fate itself. I longed to shatter it, burn it, tear it all apart.
Little one, Velira said softly.
My soul had been cleaved in two. My chest felt empty. My heartbeat raged, then stuttered, then raged again.
I tore the dagger from Caelus’ chest and launched it at the murderous bitch as hard as I could. It impaled Hera’s left shoulder. Her mouth dropped open in a scream — but I couldn’t hear it through the roar of my grief.
Little one , Velira said again, firmer.
Dimly, I registered Charon’s arms around my waist — holding me back, or holding me up. I neither knew nor cared which.
All that mattered was the man before me, growing colder by the second, his eyes still locked onto my face. I threw myself over his body while it was still here, sobbing harder than I ever had before.
How could we have had so little and lost so much? How were we allowed only a taste of possibility, of promise, of devotion — only to have it ripped away before it ever really began?
I never even told him I loved him, I wept to my grieving beast.
Little one , she said more forcefully. Find him. Bring him back. Quickly!
It took a moment for her words to pierce the haze of anguish.
Bring him back?
I have suspected for some time… never mind. Just bring his soul back to his body before it fades.
With devastation still clawing at my heart, I did as the dragon suggested. I sent a second wave of power out in a burst, capturing and clutching onto any soul within the vicinity.
And somehow — surely by fate’s design — I found it: the quickly disappearing soul of the man I loved on his way to the River.
I dropped everything else, forgot everything else.
Gasps of relief tore through the Parthenon, but I ignored them.
Concentrating solely on that wondrous bright speck in the cosmos, I dragged him back to me, one agonising breath at a time.
Caelus, in his purest form, seemed to reach towards me.
His soul grasped at the tendrils of death like they were lifelines, like he would seize any piece of me, no matter what form I took.
But he was still so far away. I could feel the strain of holding him begin to sap my powers and ignite a fierce ache in my bones.
I wrenched harder, and he came a little closer as my power drained further.
I pulled again, but this time I met resistance in the very fabric of the realm. Fate, or balance, or whatever it was that kept the three realms separate, did not condone this.
“No! You will not take him!” I roared into the faceless abyss.
Charon yanked at my torso, pulling me back.
“NO!”
“Nyssa! You’re bleeding!” He bellowed, and suddenly I could feel the steady streams of ichor running from my nostrils, my ears, my eyes.
It did not matter. I would not stop.
I would not give up on Caelus to save myself. I’d rather join him in the afterlife.
With both hands raised and shadows wrapped around my arms, I reefed on the tendrils.
I screamed my dissent at whatever was holding him back, ichor gushing from my nose into my mouth.
I didn’t care about the sickly sweet taste coating my tongue, choking me — or that my arms felt like they were being torn from my body.
I would gladly sacrifice every part of myself for him.
His soul slowly drew closer. So close, I could almost make out his beautiful features within the orb of light — his soul. We were steadily winning the metaphorical game of tug-of-war against the realms.
“Nyssa, you have to let him go!” Charon cried, devastation thickening his voice.
The floor shuddered. Pillars creaked.
One more. Just one more.
I burrowed deep within myself, scraping every last reserve of power. And as I emptied the well within me, I stumbled upon a sphere of light hidden right at the bottom. I grasped that too, pulling it up, feeling its unusually pure lightness , and I tossed it in with the remnants of death.
Screaming, I gave Caelus’ soul one last roaring wrench, and just like a scrap of parchment, the fabric of the realms tore open. A single split in the sky pulsed and flickered as his soul came careening towards me.
Just before it could tangle with mine, I thrust it down into his body. A burst of brilliant white light flashed beneath his pale skin.
And I collapsed. Drained.
Olympus trembled.
Without Charon holding me up, I’d have flopped listlessly to the tiles beside Caelus’ unmoving body. My powers had completely dried up. Not even a flicker stirred within me. I knew I should be worried, but I wasn’t. I could only stare, unbreathing, at Caelus.
He did not stir. And I could no longer see his soul; could no longer feel it.
It was gone.
“It didn’t work,” I sobbed into Charon’s arms.
I’m so sorry, little one, Velira mourned into my mind.
“Shh,” Charon soothed, running a hand over my hair. “I know. It’s okay. I’ve got you.”
The ominous rift in the sky pulsed brightly, and Olympus shivered violently. Pillars cracked. Gods screamed. Parts of the ceiling crashed to the floor with a dusty boom.
Hephaestus alone approached the tear and inspected it keenly.
Sobbing, I ripped the twin crowns from my head.
“They’re not worth this !”
I launched them directly at the rift, screaming. Let the cosmos devour them, for the price we had paid was too high.
The price he had paid was too high.
“Nothing is worth this !”
A second before the crowns struck true, a flicker of darkness darted from the rift — so fast I barely registered it. The split pulsed again, and the tiled floors shattered. The Parthenon was coming down on top of us.
And I didn’t care.
Let the stones bury me. Let me find my heart on the other side of life and death.
I threw myself over Caelus’ lifeless body as someone — Aphrodite, perhaps — wept nearby.
When I was sure the ceiling was about to drop down on top of me, the shaking relented.
The crowns were spat back out of the tear, landing on the floor with metallic clinks.
The rift sealed itself back up as though it never existed.
The only signs that it had, were the distinct fracture the Crown of Olympus now bore in its shiny surface, and the sickly, smoky grey the Shadow Crown now flickered — no longer the deep black of midnight.
The dust settled. The damage was revealed. Half of the ceiling had collapsed with limbs poking out from beneath the rubble. I had no way of knowing who they were, or if they lived. And it no longer mattered because I had still lost him .
I closed my eyes and imagined he was merely sleeping — that we were still curled up beneath my silken sheets. I imagined the rise and fall of his chest, the warmth of a lightning-blessed god seeping into my cheek, and the steady thrum of a contented heart.
I envisioned it so vividly, I swore I could feel the thump of his chest against my face.
It thumped again.
This time, I was sure.
I sat up so quickly my head spun, my gaze snapping to Caelus’ bloodied face. I barely dared to breathe, let alone hope.
Thunder rumbled in the distance.
Lightning cracked with a startling boom.
Caelus’ heartbeat picked up its tempo as his lungs stirred to life with a crackling wheeze.
Then he sat bolt upright with a piercing inhale, his eyes locked on mine.
“Caelus?” I whispered over the silence of the atrium.
Everybody watched with rapt fascination; nobody made so much as a move towards us.
His eyes were glaringly bright, but not quite the same. Within the flashing silver, tendrils of black now twined around the edges. My powers had brought him back… and it seemed they had not wanted to let go.
He blinked rapidly, as if waking from a dream, and extended a tentative hand towards my face.
“Nightshade?” he rasped.
I fell into him with a wracking sob, felt his arms curl around me, their solid weight reassuringly warm once again.
“What happened?” Caelus asked over my head.
Charon answered from behind me, relief clear in his voice. “You died.”
Caelus flinched beneath me.
“You died, and somehow, she brought you back.” His tone shifted to awe, and Caelus tightened his grip around me.
I felt the threads rebind to my sternum — or maybe my heart — like a blow to the chest. Caelus grunted, and I knew he felt it too. Terrified, I broke free of his grasp, tearing his shirt open.
The stab wound had healed, leaving nothing more than a faint scar. But his veins flashed beneath his skin. Lightning traversed through his whole body, lighting him up from within. He was ethereal — more beautiful and alive than I’d ever seen him.
Still bordering on disbelief, I pulled his face to mine. I needed to feel his lips again, his hands reclaiming my body. I needed every facet of the god before me more than I needed crowns, or prophecies, or air.
Caelus groaned. But I needed more. I needed something else.
I pulled back, just enough to meet his two-toned gaze.
“I love you.”
I tossed the words at him so unexpectedly that his brows jumped in surprise.
“I love you so much, Golden.” My lip trembled. “If you ever dare to leave me like that again, know that I will follow you into every afterlife, and every endless void. I will not stop until I find you, because you are mine , just as I am yours.”
His face crumpled and he kissed me again — fiercely, furiously — conveying every word he need not say. Every word I felt.
Velira growled, sending a blast of hot, fiery anger down the bond.
That’s not the reaction I was expecting, Vel.
She did not reply. Instead, she launched to her feet, roaring at me.
I stared, bewildered by my dragon’s narrowed golden eyes, until an icy finger traced its way up my spine.
Goddesses screamed or stood bravely. Gods shouted, some cowering, some drawing weapons. Whatever was behind me had stirred something ancient and primal in them.
Caelus, Charon, and I shot to our feet, fighting stances deeply ingrained.