27. Aetheric Truths
27
Aetheric Truths
ISSA
T he palace quarters were quiet. Their divine splendor dimmed under the hush of the celestial night.
The silk curtains billowed, responding to an unseen breeze.
On the marble terrace of their Sivanian suite, night hung heavy over the heavens.
The silence was interrupted only by the slow shimmer of the cosmos beyond the crystalline rail.
Issa sat curled in one of the divans, nursing a hot herbal tea.
Her thoughts were scattered and fractured, her heart aching for her father.
She hadn’t spoken to her family since arriving in Sivania.
There was no way she’d chance a holo link in case the Saatifa guards caught onto it.
Ki’Remi reclined nearby, one arm behind his head, gaze fixed on the void above, his other hand on her thigh in reassurance.
His heated grasp tethered her, and she breathed, welcoming the silent support.
Being imprisoned and for an indefinite time sucked, Issa thought.
Still, they had to play this gambit out and hope that when Sulfiqar summoned them, she’d have enough leverage to get them out of their present circumstance.
Then came a sound.
A subtle shuffle, a furtive scuff, and a slide of boots on the floor.
A shift of awareness that didn’t belong.
In an instant, Ki’Remi was on his feet, his meta-charged energy flaring.
His wrist comm transformed, the noids within forming into a lethal photon firearm in his palm as a cloaked figure stepped onto the terrace from the shadows.
The stranger’s steps were fluid, rapid, rushing toward them.
Ki’Remi spotted a curved sword strapped to their back, another gleaming at their hip.
He slashed his hand, and his piece unleashed a laser blade.
The Rider lunged.
The shrouded intruder drew fast, steel clashing with metanoid potency, the collision of their weapons sending sparks arcing into the sky.
They moved like twin storms.
Ki’Remi was all brute strength and coiled power, and the stranger was slippery, quick, and precise.
The Rider tensed and unleashed the dagger on his weapon, preparing to release the full fury of his metanoids.
Issa’s voice cut through the fray as his energy spiraled into a tempest of charged force.
‘Stop!’ she commanded in a hissed murmur.
Ki’Remi froze, the tip of his glowing meta-blade humming inches from the cloaked figure’s throat.
The shroud dropped.
To reveal a celestial and very annoyed Sedevan glaring up at the Sableman with narrowed, blazing eyes.
‘Zenas?’ Issa gasped.
The demi-god growled in reply, shoving Ki’Remi aside. ‘ Fokk . Your mortal almost sliced my damned soul out of my chest.’
‘Who is he?’ the Sableman rasped, his meta-sword still pointed.
Issa came to his side. ‘He’s my cousin, Remi, also a top-tier Arch-Major in the Ssisigan military.’
Her kinsman’s mouth twisted. ‘No longer. When Ssigard fell, I left my post and joined the insurgency on New Savartin, fighting back against the scourge of gods gone mad.’
Ki’Remi’s jaw tightened, still bristling, but he stepped back, retracting his blade and weapon into his wrist comm. ‘Regardless, you shouldn’t be sneaking up on us.’
Zenas staggered, his shoulder bleeding where one of the Rider’s strikes had landed.
‘Shit,’ Issa muttered, rushing forward.
She pressed her palms to the wound, lighting it with radiant warmth.
Zenas hissed, then sighed, his muscles unwinding as her healing sank into his skin.
‘I didn’t come to fight,’ he said when his dermis was smooth again. ‘I came to warn you.’
Issa pulled back, rubbing her hands together. ‘Warn us?’
He nodded, his mouth a grim slash. ‘Although Sulfiqar lies half stricken on his onyx throne, sickness blooming across his divine form like rot, his once-glorious light flickered, corrupted, and warped; it is not he who banished your father. Twas Somayeh and Zavei.’
Issa’s breath stuttered. Her gut turned to a boulder.
‘Explain,’ she demanded, her utterance hard with steel, fists clenching at her sides.
Zenas pushed breath from his lungs. ‘I’ll start at the beginning. It’s common knowledge that Sulfiqar is obsessed with consuming pure souls, so they played into his greed for immortality.’
‘ Twas no accident,’ Zenas continued. ‘The corruption he carries now was fed to him. Laced within a soul that Somayeh chose. She tainted him deliberately.’
Issa gasped, horror crawling over her skin. ‘Why would she—?’
‘To weaken him,’ Zenas interjected, face grim. ‘To create an opportunity for a coup. She and Zavei have long plotted together as secret lovers. They want the throne, and not just Sivania’s. They seek dominion beyond Sivania and into the Pegasi system. They’re building forces even now to take over the universe.’
‘Why?’ Issa gritted. ‘Isn’t Sacra and the Seventh Heaven enough for them?’
‘Tis not,’ Zenas rasped. ‘They’ve made myriad decisions over time, wading into political intrigue and evil, in fact indulging in it, to stay in power, which has led to a dynamic inconsistency converting them both into tyrant war generals. They both may, eventually, come to regret this, but by then, they’ll have no exit options.’
Zenas sucked his teeth. ‘They planned a coup. Your father found out and refused to be part of it. So they punished him. Somayeh, who orchestrated his demise, and Zavei branded him a traitor when he refused to back their plans. They cursed him and your family, making it look like Sulfiqar’s decree. They used the Most High’s name and desire for a pure soul to cover their treason. When you stole from the Repository, they shifted their plans and hunted you. So you’d hand the souls within the Sanopic vessel to them to fuel Sulfiqar’s end.’
Ki’Remi’s eyes narrowed. ‘But the Most High still wants the Sanopic Jar?’
‘Aye,’ Zenas muttered. ‘Because he’s dying and needs the souls within to restore his health. However, Somayeh and Zavei want to use it to consolidate power. Whoever wields its influence can threaten to unleash the souls within to gain dominance. They mean to wrest it from you and attempt to unseat the Divine Immortal so they can rule Sivania together. They’re ready to wage conflict regardless to fulfill their goals.’
Issa’s stomach twisted as she parsed the level of betrayal, lies, and treachery. ‘How long before the war begins?’ she asked.
‘It already has,’ Zenas rasped with a bitter edge, the words like ash on his tongue. ‘You’re late to the battlefield. It was planned. All of it. Your Father. The Sirr Sanctum stone. Sulfiqar’s health demise.’
‘So the battle drums are beating, and I assume the war chest they’ve amassed at the armory is designed toward this end,’ Ki’Remi concluded.
‘ Naam . As I said, the gods make decisions while drunk on power and can only be assuaged with more.’
A guttural cry rose from Issa’s soul, rage and grief clashing in her heart.
Her father’s years of agony, her family’s suffering and exile, and the slow death he faced were all calculated.
All part of a divine betrayal.
Ki’Remi reached for her, and she bit her lip and shook her head, not wanting to lose control, not now.
Their eyes locked, and he raised his chin, receiving her message.
Later.
He clenched his jaw and crossed his hands over his chest, his gaze now canting to Zenas. ‘You’re saying Somayeh and Zavei have been playing us all along?’
‘Tis right,’ Zenas replied. ‘I swear to you, I knew nothing of it. If I had, I would have never let it happen.’
Issa twisted to him, the devastation in her eyes near unbearable. ‘Those two damned my father with a soulstone and transformed him into a daemon. Turned us into Sullied?’
Zenas’s jaw tightened. ‘ Naam . They cast the Vyri’el shackles and curses. Manipulated the Divine Immortal’s authority and masked their treachery beneath a sacred decree. They are the most unscrupulous of deities.’
Issa stood still, her whole body taut with fury. Her breath was shallow, controlled only by sheer will.
Ki’Remi’s mouth twisted. ‘They engineered this and dragged us into their gods-forsaken coup.’
Zenas exhaled in a bitter rush of air. ‘Now you stand in the center of it, both of you. Not by your choosing, but by fate’s long hand.’
Issa’s voice was a whisper. ‘What are we supposed to do?’
‘You may have to slay the betrayers when the time is right. After which, you run. You flee Sivania and never look back.’
Her eyes widened. ‘Kill Somayeh and Zavei? Never!?’
‘You might have to,’ her cousin implored. ‘It’s the only way.’
‘I won’t kill an immortal, a deity,’ Issa growled. ‘It goes against everything I learned.’
‘You destroyed the Ssigis hunters,’ her lover said in a low murmur.
She swiveled to the Rider. ‘They were demi-gods like me, also soldiers whose lives are forfeit in war.’
Zenas leaned in, his face hard as stone. ‘You must. You’re our only hope. You’re ex-Saatifa; you’re in the palace and can use all you know about it and them to rid us of their scheming forever.’
Issa blinked at her cousin, stunned. ‘I don’t think I can.’
‘You have to, lest you become complicit in not stopping what’s coming.’
Ki’Remi interjected in a timbred rasp. ‘What do you mean?’
Zenas’ expression darkened. ‘This.’
With a flick of his fingers, the space around them shimmered, the molecules bending into a vision of blinding gold and fractured silver.
The scene that unfolded was chaos, war writ in gold motes of godblood and ruin.
Celestial beings clashed in the skies above Sivania. Spears of burning starlight pierced through armors forged in collapsed stars’ hearts.
Ethereal wings were torn from spines, and divine screams echoed like thunder cracking through the bones of the universe.
Gods fell; some exploded into stardust, and others withered into ash as unseen, ravenous forces consumed their immortal essence.
‘The divinities are aligning, and factions are forming. Somayeh and Zavei want it all. They will not stop. If they win -.’
Zenas let the sentence dangle, his meaning implicit.
Ki’Remi’s jaw clenched. ‘ Kidaya , let’s take some time to discuss options before we decide. Sawa ?’
Issa and the Rider momentarily gazed into each other’s eyes before she sighed. ‘Should we, in whatever fantasy we’re contemplating, overcome Somayeh, Zavei, and gods help us, Sulfiqar, will you help us escape?’
Her cousin nodded. ‘I will send an escort or do it myself if I must. I owe your father and you that much.’
Issa took a deep inhale. ‘I came here to save, not to destroy.’
‘Then save Sivania,’ her cousin growled. ‘Not because you want to, but because the balance of this entire realm and the universe your family now lives in depends on it. If the wrong divinities rule, the heavens and Pegasi won’t burn. They’ll collapse.’
The burden of divine consequences lingered in the silence that followed.
They all exhaled, tainted with the realization that a righteous battle war was coming.
‘A storm is forming, but now, at least, we know which deities are in its eye,’ Issa whispered.
Ki’REMI
After a whispered hasty conference between Issa and Zenas, the demi-god military leader shimmered from view.
His essence glimmered away on the terrace, melding into the shadows, leaving a heavy stillness behind.
‘What did you discuss?’ the Rider asked his woman, sliding his arms around her waist as she stared into the distance.
‘I gave him a few tips on how to rouse up more recruits to his rebel army from the netherworld I once came from.’
‘The daemons?’
The same. They’re all just normal demi gods and humans condemned to hell by unfeeling, narcissistic deities. It sickens me that all the deception, suffering, and manipulation of my family and those who defy the High Ascended was written into the stars before I was ever born. I hate the inevitability of it all.’
The Rider wasn’t having any of it.
He turned Issa by the shoulders to face him.
‘Tis not over, so tis not inevitable, yet. We have to try and stop this, kidaya .’
His growl was rough, a tempest gathering strength.
She exhaled through her nose. ‘It’s fate; the Ascended are more potent than I.’
His head snapped up. ‘ Fokk karma and all that shit. Also, have you considered that your power might be just as powerful as theirs, given the souls you consumed?’
Her lips parted in slight shock.
She tilted her head, reading the rage in his obsidian eyes.
‘You should be pissed as hell,’ he bit out. ‘Your family was ruined because of them. Your father was cursed because of them. You were hunted because of them. That wrath, your Ssignakht, and my abilities might be enough to prevail.’
‘You’re just going to let them use you?’ His voice was quieter now, but it carried a dangerous edge. ‘No vengeance? No fury? Nada ?’
Issa’s expression was torn.
‘I cannot avenge the gods,’ she murmured. ‘For they are gods. I was taught to protect them, not slay them.’
He ran a hand over his head, exhaling. ‘What if you tried?’ He tilted his head, growl biting. ‘Would they smite you?’
A shadow of a smile crossed her lips. ‘They’d eviscerate me in milliseconds unless, as Zenas intimated, we can devise a plan to beat them at their own game,’ she admitted. ‘However, that’s not the point.’
Ki’Remi folded his arms, his massive frame still thrumming with restrained power. ‘Then what is?’
She sighed, stepping into him. ‘Despite everything, the manipulations, the war, the curses, the divine are not beings of pure malice. They are pure potency. They are creation and destruction, light and dark.’
His mouth pressed into a hard line. ‘That’s a real poetic way of saying they’re arrogant bastards who play with people’s lives.’
She shook her head. ‘They are worshiped, Remi, because they bring balance. The average Sacran mortal does not live in fear of them, nor do they believe every action is to appease them. The gods, for all their faults, give.’
He said nothing, just stared at her, waiting.
She lifted her chin. ‘They are the architects of civilization. They brought mortals the plow and the bridle. They instructed us to cultivate fields, tame beasts, and forge metal. They gave us blacksmithing, prophecy, art, and medicine. They taught us how to heal, to dream, to build.’
Her voice softened. ‘They are not only divinities of punishment, Ki’Remi. They are the originators of invention, inspiration, and guidance. They bring gifts to us, blessings, kharis .’
She took a breath. ‘The wrath of gods makes for a good story, but it is not the whole truth. Their cruelty is often the explanation for the randomness of life itself—but so is their kindness. Still, when they turn to evil, they must pay. Therein lies my dilemma.’
She paused, letting the weight of her words settle between them.
The Sableman was still staring at her, his expression unreadable.
Then he gave a long, heavy, reluctant sigh because this was her world.
This was what she had known, what she had grown up believing, what she had built her faith upon.
He didn’t have to understand it, but he did have to accept her and allow her to reach her own conclusions.
His broad shoulders lowered. His hands relaxed, reaching for her.
She folded into his arms, and he murmured into her hair.
‘From now on,’ he said, stroking down her spine, ‘you can expect I will embrace all that you are, and while I may not always grasp your reasons, I will respect them. However, if and when it comes to it, I will end them if I can, on your behalf. Will that be acceptable?’
She lifted her chin. ‘ Naam . Although I think I’m already warming up to the idea of flaming out Somayeh and Zavei for what they did to my family and me.’
His gaze locked onto hers, unwavering.
‘Shall we plan anyway, in case we have half a chance of getting out of here?’
She glanced up at him as their lips met in a melding kiss.
‘ Naam, lover, let’s plot how we can kick some serious deific ass.’
‘Hell yeah,’ Ki’Remi murmured against her mouth. ‘Whatever it takes, I’ll always have you six.’