Chapter 30 #2
The Phoenix screeched from above, a streak of copper and turquoise, diving to land on Kaelen’s shoulder.
His fire scorched the black scales, but Kaelen didn't flinch.
The equation is balanced, Aria. You are the bridge.
If you remove the bridge, we are just islands drifting apart from one another on an ocean of darkness.
I do not want a sky, or a realm, or a life without you in it.
I have lived a thousand lives without you, and I refuse to live one second of another.
Flynn snarled, pacing around me in a tight circle, cutting off my retreat. His amber eyes were wild, dilated with the unique madness of a wolf cornered. He snapped his jaws at the air, saliva dripping from his teeth.
The pack stays together, he snapped, a growl of static and tearing meat. We hunt the dark. We eat the dark. But we do it together. I’m not being a pet to the dead, and I'm not walking free while you freeze. I’m not being a pet to anyone unless you’re holding the leash.
"You're idiots!" I yelled, tears finally spilling over, stinging my eyes and sizzling as they hit my heated skin. "You're choosing the Underworld! You're choosing slavery! Don't you understand what he is?"
We choose you, Kaelen snarled.
Smoke poured from his nostrils in thick, choking waves as he lowered his massive horned head until his snout was inches from my face. The heat was blistering, but I didn't pull away.
We choose the cage if you are in it. To hell with the sky. To hell with Olympus.
He turned his massive head toward Hades, his scales scraping against the rock with a sound like sharpening knives. The gold in his eyes was molten, terrifying, ancient.
Open the pit, Death God.
"No!" I screamed, finding my footing. I slammed my metal fist against Kaelen’s snout, a futile gesture, but it made him blink. "I will not accept this. Not without terms."
"Terms," Hades repeated, the corner of his mouth twitching with amusement. The shadow cast by the Devourer overhead deepened, turning his suit a shade of black that was so dark I couldn't even discern his outline anymore. He looked like a void cut into the shape of a man.
"We go down," I said, my voice vibrating with fear and rage in equal measure.
I was calculating, shifting gears from martyr to negotiator.
I was a Keeper of the Citadel, and I knew how to bind things.
"We fight the Devourer. But we do it as allies, not pets.
If we kill this thing, we earn our keep. "
I took a breath, the air searing my lungs. "We aren't slaves. We are..." I struggled for the word, watching the purple rot spread across the mortal sky, consuming the last of the light.
Guardians, Thane suggested, his thought heavy with the struggle of not falling through the earth's crust.
"Guardians. Or even partners," I finished, staring the Death God in the eyes. "We answer to no whip. We keep our minds. We keep each other. You will not control us. You will not separate us."
Kaelen growled low in his throat, a rumble of agreement that sent a puff of black smoke over my head. He shifted his massive bulk, the heat of his scales warming my back. Even as a monster, he was a wall between me and the dark.
We hunt on our own terms, Death God, Flynn added, his muzzle crinkled in a snarl, his hackles raised. You point us toward the Devourer. We kill it. But we don't heel.
Hades looked at the monsters surrounding me, the Dragon, the Wolf, the Bear, the Phoenix, and then at me, the glowing, metal-fused anomaly standing in the center of their protective formation.
"You negotiate at the edge of the apocalypse," Hades mused, checking a pocket watch that ticked backward. The hands spun counter-clockwise with a dizzying speed. "I see why my niece hates you. You have absolutely no sense of decorum. It's dreadfully inconvenient."
"Don't do this," Athena pleaded, looking at me with desperate eyes. "He will use you. He will turn you into his generals, his monsters."
"Look at us, Athena," I said, gesturing to the terrifying forms of the Princes. "We are already monsters."
Hades snapped the watch shut with a finality that echoed like a casket closing.
"Done. You clear the infestation, you keep your autonomy. You live in the dark, but you live free of chains. Fail, and you belong to the walls forever. Not as guardians, but as mortar."
"Deal," I said.
Aria! Thane’s panic spiked through the bond, sharp and terrified. The ground!
The Bear Prince gave a sudden, sickening lurch. The bedrock beneath his paws liquefied completely, unable to sustain his Titan-charged mass for another second. He began to slide backward into the geological soup, dragging a scream of tearing stone with him.
"Right," Hades said, stepping back casually. He stomped his heel on the melting stone.
The world dropped out from under us.
It wasn't a tunnel this time. It wasn't a graceful portal. It was a total collapse. The ground simply vanished, uncorking a throat of sheer, vertical darkness that smelled of cold iron, stagnant water, and dust that was older than the stars.
"Welcome home," Hades whispered, before dissolving into shadow.
We fell.
Wind rushed past my ears, a screaming torrent that tore the breath from my lungs. Kaelen tucked his wings tight, diving like a black arrow to catch the air currents. I reached out, grabbing his dorsal spines, the metal of my hand fusing momentarily with his scales for grip.
Flynn howled, a sound of terrifying joy, as he leaped into the abyss after us, abandoning the surface without a backward glance.
We left the bleeding sky behind. We turned our backs on the light and plunged into the roots of the world, heading straight for the stomach of the beast.