26. Primordial Menace
26
Primordial Menace
ISSA
Z avei materialized in the banquet hall in a storm of golden embers.
The gods barely noticed him, canting their eyes from him.
When Ki’Remi raised a brow, Issa explained.
‘He is not one of them; they consider him a demi-god like myself, who only exists to serve them. Nevertheless, at the same time, he outranks them as Sulfiqar’s high guardian. ‘Tis a pain point all around.’
Ki’Remi huffed. ‘The flat structure of the Riders grows more desirable by the second.’
Zavei ignored the merriment as he bore down on Issa, his gaze piercing.
‘The Sanopic Jar,’ he commanded. ‘Now.’
A chorus of whispers slithered through the air. The celestial host was now intrigued, abandoning their goblets, plates, and conversations.
Issa exhaled and rose to her feet.
She let the silence stretch, then, lifting her chin, her voice rang out with quiet steel.
‘I made a vow, and as I told you before, I will present the Sanopic vessel to Sulfiqar alone.’
A murmur rippled through the crowd.
Zavei’s lips curled at the edges, his ethereal robes fluttering.
‘You think to defy me, Issandra?’
Issa’s jaw tightened. ‘ Nada . I only honor my word. You, of all immortals, know the Most Divine Deity would be most displeased if I altered my stance.’
Zavei’s eyes flickered.
His fingers flexed, the space around him distorting high above him, as a streak of lightning arcing in a warning.
‘I am his close advisor and defender. He asked me to fetch it, and the Divine Immortal wearies of waiting,’ he rumbled, his voice like distant thunder.
He lifted a hand as if to smite her.
Ki’Remi sucked his teeth and surged forward without hesitation to stand between the pair.
He raised his chin at eye level with the deific sentinel, eyes gleaming with ill omen, his honeyed skin lit by the otherworldly glow of his shifting tattoos.
‘You want her?’ Ki’Remi’s growl was cutting, a blade unsheathed. ‘You go through me.’
The celestial host stilled, their flickering wings dimming, their collective breath hitching.
Zavei’s expression shifted.
His scrutiny deepened, raking Ki’Remi’s face with a smirk of disdain as if peeling back layers, searching for what sat behind his cockiness.
His brow furrowed as his eyes narrowed as Ki’Remi released a split second of witchmen power.
It arced in the Rider’s eyes with undying, primordial menace.
Ki’Remi let it roil for a beat more, so the guardian of the Divine Immortal glimpsed the improbable, the unassimilable beneath the Sableman’s controlled facade.
Along with the logic and discipline, as well as his churning metanoids.
Zavei inclined his head, the quirk on his lips now laced with intrigue and a trace of wariness.
‘Not just a mere human, then? What are you?’
Ki’Remi chose silence, arching his brow, his chin raised in a challenge.
Zavei canted his gaze to Issa.
‘Well played, Issa. Tis poetic justice. In my arrogance, I thought this creature was mortal, which only allowed you to slip in a formidable secret weapon, ay?’
Issa’s mouth curled at the edges. ‘Something like that.’
Zavei laughed. A dark, knowing sound, full of calculation. ‘We shall soon see how impressive he ends up to be.’
And just like that, he took his leave in a whirl of paradisaical robes.
The gardens of Sivania were unlike anything in the temporal realm.
Ancient, eternal, untouched by decay.
The air was thick with the scent of celestial flora.
An intoxicating blend of honeyed moon-fruit, crushed silver leaves, and the deep, resinous aroma of life that had never touched death.
Luminescent trees stretched toward the violet-hued sky, their branches woven with sapphire-veined ivy that shimmered as though whispering to itself.
Floating blossoms drifted, suspended like frozen petals caught in a wind that did not exist.
Beneath their feet, the pathway was not stone but liquid starlight, solid enough to walk upon but shifting with each step, sending ripples of soft gold over the ground.
Ki’Remi walked beside Issa, his senses on high alert, his jaw still set from their earlier confrontation. He glanced at her features illuminated by the glow of the celestial flora.
‘I loved this place when I worked here.’
‘How long?’
‘Years as a Saatifa guardian soldier, then physician to Sulfiqar and his daughters, who have all fled Sivania and are now scattered through Pegasi and across the seven heavens. Hiding from their father because he wanted to drain their souls to remain immortal.’
‘ Fokk . He sounds like a macabre maniac who enjoys setting up divine death traps and pissing off the heavenly hordes, including his blood,’ he muttered.
Issa smirked. ‘He’s always been a two-faced divinity. Hell, they all are.’
They turned a bend in the path and slowed their roll.
In the distance, half-obscured by towering silver willows, two figures stood in hushed conversation.
Zavei and Somayeh.
Ki’Remi’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t need metanoids to sense the desire between them.
Zavei’s posture was possessive, looming over Somayeh.
She leaned intimately, her gilded robes shifting in the breeze, her dark eyes locked on Zavei’s face with intensity.
The war goddess surged forward and kissed the Saatifa commander.
Issa turned to her man and raised a brow as amusement flickered in her gaze.
‘Well, well.’
Ki’Remi exhaled through his nose. ‘I take it that’s not just a casual fling?’
Issa’s smirk deepened. ‘Not a chance. Those two? They’re up to something. I suspect Ssigard’s fall cleared a path to the throne for both of them.’
Ki’Remi tilted his head, observing the pair with his meta-vision, his instincts thrumming, his node recording.
He had seen enough power plays and manipulations in his lifetime to recognize a conspiracy lurking beneath the surface.
He glanced at Issa, his voice a timbred rumble.
‘Whatever they’re plotting, they just made things a hella lot more interesting.’