Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Torin
Once I reach the other realm, I can immediately feel the Door opening.
I startle an undead woman who’d been standing near the couch as Quill and I tear through the front door and race through the city.
The clouds start to creep in, almost like they’re aware of what is happening while I urge Quill forward.
I’m disoriented by the endless stretches of buildings that I have no way to cut through while noisy cars surround me.
Every step Quill takes has to be made with thought to avoid cars, bicycles, and people.
He dashes through the city, the sound of his hooves striking the ground echoing around me while I beg that whatever happens today, Riley will be fine at the end of it.
Have I ever feared for anyone as much as I fear for him?
I know without a doubt that I haven’t. I’ve never been so focused on a singular human in my life.
Lightning cracks and I see the black clouds roil above me. It’s darkest where I’m going. The horseman is coming and this time, he’s bringing all of his power with him.
And I’m still just a god with barely any strength, but I will use every last drop of it to keep Riley and the world he loves safe.
When I reach my destination, I see that I’m not the first there and tell Quill to stop. Imani gets out of a vehicle and hurries over to me.
“Where’s Riley?” she asks.
“His magic… something’s wrong with him…”
She seems to try to cover up the panic on her face. “What do you mean? We need him.”
“Well, you don’t have him,” I snap.
Imani appears uncertain, but I’m confident he’s safer where he is.
“You have me. Put up the barrier,” I say as I turn to examine the nearby cluster of houses and businesses.
It almost looks like a small town compared to the chaotic city I just traveled through.
The dilapidated buildings are covered in black vines.
The horseman’s magic is stretching far, consuming everything in its wake while he grows in strength.
How many people has he already taken in the time it took us to reach here?
She shakes her head. “No! The team isn’t here yet. You’re the only one here from Team A. And it’s only me and one other so far from Team B. Our barrier wouldn’t be strong enough.”
“It’s just going to keep spreading,” I say, and she has to see that. In fact, the worry on her face tells me she does.
Imani bites her lip. “Torin, you can’t fight him alone.”
“Put up the barrier,” I demand as a vine reaches for the car she’d just arrived in. The moment it touches the sleek black vehicle, it rusts and the tires rot. She jerks back when we hear the howl of a wolf.
She turns to the other woman and nods. “The barrier. Now.”
Quill rears anxiously underneath me before bolting right into the thick of it.
I know that stopping this horseman will not make up for the loss my own realm suffered. It won’t make those I promised to protect return from the dead. It won’t save those I loved and lost.
But hopefully… it’ll mean that this world with these people who took a strange god into their lives without hesitation will get to keep on living.
I pull one of my scythes free as the fire that makes up Quill’s mane flickers to life.
The area the horseman has ravished is a maze of buildings, and since it’s close to the Door, I can feel the magic emanating from it all around me. I hear the wolves, but I don’t see them yet. I’m sure they’ve consumed every human in this area and will soon be looking beyond it.
It takes me far too long, but I finally see the Door standing in the middle of a desolate street, vines reaching out of it. I rush toward it, planning to see what cutting the vines will do, and if it’ll help stop the spread. But more than anything, I hope to draw in the horseman.
I dip my scythe into the flames of Quill’s mane and the fire leaps onto the metal before I swing the chain attached to the handle and fling it.
The scythe flies through the air, catching onto the vine and slicing right through it.
It sizzles and snaps as the vine jerks back through the Door, and I slice another before the wolves attack.
But it’s not them I want, it’s the white horse with a rider on its back that now stands at the end of a long road. The horse stomps and the horseman’s eyes lock on mine.
“You’ve made a mistake coming here, god,” he calls.
“I’m going to kill you, just like I did the last horseman who thought he was stronger than me.”
The white horse rears and throws its head while the wolves gather around the horseman by the hundreds, with more filling in as we speak.
“Yes… but Brother Death had the last laugh when your realm fell to ruin—much as this one will, even if you somehow accomplish killing me.”
The wolves charge first, but the horseman is close behind.