Chapter 14 Wrath
WRATH
I stood in the center of the clearing in Riviana Star and looked at the sea of stars in the night sky overhead.
A coolness had settled into the forest, drops of dew reflecting the light of the moon where they clung to leaves.
Crickets chirped into the night, and the fireflies cast their glow throughout.
I heard a distant sound of frogs from somewhere in one of the nearby streams.
It reminded me of home. We used to sleep with the window open in the summertime to let the breeze cool down the small house. When the boys were young and up throughout the night, I would struggle to go back to sleep, so I would just listen to the night.
My sons had grown into men long ago and had their own children and grandchildren…
and died far in the past. But I would forever be a father frozen in the icy depths of grief.
I’d watched their lives from a distance, had partaken in all their major milestones, got to watch their smooth cheeks become pocked and wrinkled… but it wasn’t the same.
It wasn’t the same because they would never know how much I loved them.
How much I still loved them.
That I would think of them every day for eternity.
She appeared before me as I remained lost in my miserable thoughts.
It took me a second to understand she stood before me, her fiery red hair blowing in an invisible breeze, a golden light surrounding her that cast a glow all around us.
Fireflies immediately flocked to her like they mistook her for the sun.
Her emerald-colored eyes looked hard at my face, gauging me as friend or foe. “We both know you shouldn’t be here, Wrath, God of the Underworld. Our worlds are never meant to collide. A violation that the Covenant would interpret as treason.”
“You wouldn’t stand before me now if you feared me.”
“I fear no one, Wrath,” she said. “But you’re right, your intentions seem altruistic rather than malicious. What do you seek?”
“A favor.”
“A favor.” She felt the words on her tongue like she needed a moment to understand them.
“We’ve pondered the antidote to the cursed blades the Barbarians brought but are no closer to finding the answer than we were at the battle that took place here. It’s difficult to search for something that you don’t know you’re looking for. I ask you to impart your wisdom in this matter.”
“And what makes you think I have wisdom in this matter?”
“Because you’re the god of the living. Perhaps you know the substance that heals the destruction.”
Her bright eyes flicked back and forth between mine as her long gown moved in the breeze I couldn’t feel. “You’ve been lucky to meddle with the living as much as you already have and remain uncaught. But you’re pushing it, Callum.”
“I’m aware.”
“You know your punishment will be ejection or to become an eater.”
“I’m aware,” I repeated calmly. “But I fear we’ll never find the antidote at this rate. The dragons don’t have limitless amounts of energy to stabilize her father, and if war approaches and half their fleet of dragons is compromised keeping him alive, it could be disastrous.”
“You risk what you have left of your soul for her father?”
All the muscles in my chest tightened at the question.
I’d been dead nearly four hundred years, but part of me felt alive when I was with her, when I simply thought of her.
“Everything I have left…it’s all for her.
” Talon was a great father who deserved to be reunited with the daughter he loved more than himself.
And I didn’t want her to lose the unconditional love that could only be given by a parent.
“A different man would save this favor for something else.”
“Perhaps.” But without a clear direction or any true understanding of what we searched for, we were doomed. And my army and my strength might not be enough to prevent Lily from being wounded herself. I would be powerless to save her.
“You know we’re not supposed to interfere with the living—”
“I committed treason when I saved your tree. If the Covenant ever discovers my part in this, I will be sent to the void and cease to exist.”
Her eyes flicked back and forth between mine. “Don’t pretend you care about this forest or anyone in it. You committed treason for her.”
“I did it for both. Don’t forget that I have people I love on the other side of that door. People I think about every single day. And I demand payment for that intervention.”
“They were only here because of you.”
“They chose this forest on their own. I simply gave him the army of orcs they requested. Don’t tell me we aren’t supposed to interfere with the living when you wouldn’t be here right now if I’d made a different choice.”
Her eyes sharpened like a blade. “If the tree is ever compromised, I can still defend my realm.”
“Hopefully you’ll never know if that’s true or not.”
Anger continued to bubble deep beneath her gaze as she regarded me with coldness.
I stood my ground, determined to get what I’d come here for.
Her arms were stiff by her sides as the invisible breeze continued to blow through her hair and gown.
Full of elegance and grace, she was a beautiful woman who could hypnotize any mortal who laid eyes upon her.
But my desire for a woman had been swallowed by the permanent grief I carried… until Lily.
Until that woman set me on fire. “I humbly ask for your help, Riviana, God of Caelum.”
My praise and respect somewhat restrained the anger that had played on her face.
“You don’t have to tell me where I can find it. Just tell me what I’m looking for.”
She took a heavy pause before she answered, surveying the forest around us as she considered the request.
“Talon Rothschild has defended this forest more than once. He is a good man and a worthy king to rule this part of the world. He came to your aid without hesitation, and it may have cost him his life.” I put aside my own jealousy and resentment and fought for the man Lily loved with all her heart.
Fought for him, father to father. “And you know he will always fight for this forest as long as he lives. You have deep love and respect for him. Help me help him.”
“I’ve already interfered for him before, and it nearly cost our entire way of life.”
“But this favor is minuscule compared to that. Just tell me what I’m looking for.”
She considered the request in silence again, her hair looking like dancing flames.
“The type of gold forged in their blades is different from what is seen here and in other parts of the world, the kind that adorns women’s necks and sits on the hairy knuckles of men.
This substance is so pure that it absorbs what it destroys.
At some point in time, the substance will fade from his flesh and he’ll be able to heal, but it may be months before that happens. Time that Talon doesn’t have.”
I listened to each word, waiting for the answer I sought with every fiber of my being.
“You need a substance to counteract it, something stronger and purer than this type of gold. And that substance is called platinum. Brilliant like a diamond but malleable like hot steel. It’s rare, but it exists. I can’t tell you where it can be found because its location is unknown even to me.”