22. Thayla
Thayla
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
The sensation that brushes across my senses has a mound of unease spreading through my veins. The familiar feeling of being stuck presses in around me and I loathe this reminder.
The entire group of us whirl back around and face the doors, waiting and watching for something or someone to show up.
Nothing happens for a solid minute.
My power stirs beneath my skin, and that has a calm breath pouring from my lips.
That means I still have everyone covered.
“This is just like in Hell. The strange barrier around the Judgment Rings. We can access our power but not starshoot,” I say, glancing at Creed for confirmation.
He grunts.
“It’s not a barrier like what you can create with your power.
It’s more like infusing the space with your essence and giving it permission to do something.
Like you can give your permission for us to enter your door, our father has embedded this place so you can’t use your power to leave.
There’s an entire barrier around Hellveilious preventing anyone from starshooting out, but I also embedded another one around the lower level of Hell so they can’t starshoot to any of the other levels. ”
Damn it.
“So just a slight change in plans. We get the Binding, exit the room, then starshoot out,” I say.
“Not going to be that easy,” Prath says. He steps back and forth through the threshold countless times. “I’m not sure what we triggered, but it’s stretched into the hall as well.”
Of course it did.
“Well, then we get the damn Binding, run back down the hall, then starshoot out. If we still can’t starshoot out after we leave the hall, I call V,” I say, running my hand through my hair.
“I mean, I’m not complaining, but it makes no damn sense why he only blocked the ability to starshoot out rather than all power that comes through the door. ”
“It makes perfect sense,” Amick says low.
The astonishment in his voice has me spinning toward him. He isn’t looking at us, though.
He’s staring beyond the center of the room.
Holy shit.
While the rest of us fixated on the inability to leave this room, he was doing what he always does. Observing, cataloging, and understanding what’s going on around us.
The God of Obliteration’s Binding rests atop a polished marble pedestal near the center of the chamber. The essence trapped within the globe churns as black as a moonless sky. But that isn’t what steals the breath from my lungs. It’s what stands behind it.
“No…” Kyzen breathes.
The word sends a chill racing down my spine.
The Gods Veil.
Obliteration’s Veil.
Silence blankets the room.
The first time I’d stood before the original within the Godsdawn, its brilliant white essence called to me. Warmth radiated from it, wrapping around my soul with an invitation I didn’t understand.
This…
This thing feels like its opposite.
A towering wall of charcoal turns in slow, sluggish circles. The essence is so thick it resembles ash suspended in water. With every pulse of corrupt power that rolls from it, the room seems to grow colder.
My skin prickles. Every instinct I possess screams to put as much distance between myself and that thing as possible.
“He doesn’t strip the ability to starshoot out of here to protect the Binding or the Veil,” Amick says, tearing his gaze away from the wall first. “He does it so you can’t leave before he’s seen what his blessing has done for you once you step out of it.”
My eyes flick to him.
“If he likes what he sees…”
“You’re free to keep that power and go.”
“If he doesn’t?” I ask.
“You go back in or”—he glances back over his shoulder for a fleeting second—“you don’t leave this room.”
You don’t leave this room. If he catches us here…
“Did he ever bring you here?” Kyzen asks, staring at Sevryn.
He shakes his head, glaring at the Veil with pure hatred.
“No. My father would bring me to him, and he’d release power to me from his Binding.”
A slow breath flows through my nose as I spare the Veil one last lingering look.
The Beginning Gods created the original to release power and dissolve corruption. Obliteration has twisted this creation into doing things the opposite way.
A muscle jumps in my jaw.
It doesn’t matter right now. This doesn’t change why we’re here.
“We need to get the Binding and go,” I declare.
No one objects as I stomp toward the pedestal.
Every step closer makes the Veil feel…aware. As if it’s watching and waiting.
My fingers close around the cool globe and for the briefest heartbeat, I lose the ability to breathe. The absolute power that pulses off this thing is wrong on so many levels. It slithers down my skin, and I want more than anything to drop the damn thing.
Fuck, this thing is going to be a bitch to cleanse.
“Let’s—”
A wave of power rolls through the room and my hand reaches out, gripping the pedestal for balance. My wide gaze scans over everyone and how they right themselves. Then an ear-splitting alarm erupts through the chamber.
“Shit,” I whisper.
I frantically set the Binding back on the pedestal, but that doesn’t do a damn thing. The piercing shrill continues to blare. My heart rate spikes as shouts echo down the corridor and boots thunder against stone.
Fuck.
“Get to the hall and try to starshoot out,” I bark.
Prath crosses the threshold first, and every stride farther he takes without disappearing crushes any hope I had.
“Not working,” he bellows as he sprints back into the room with the rest of us.
My eyes widen as wave after wave of Dark Gods and Oblirians round that corner and race our way.
Everyone falls into motion.
“Thayla, Yemi, get to the back of the room and hold your power tight. If they can’t hear or see us, we can pick them off one by one until we can get through,” Creed says, unsheathing his second sword from his back.
Yemi catches my wrist before I can argue, dragging me behind the pedestal as the others fan out across the chamber.
Steel slides free around me.
“Riven, put a fake Binding back in place. Thayla…” Amick calls over his shoulder as he too gets himself into position. He waits until Riven’s power flows across the room before he continues. “V isn’t answering me.”
Shit.
“V?”
I wait for the hoot, the hum, anything. Nothing but silence answers me.
“V!”
Nothing.
That makes no damn sense. He could communicate with me once I stood in the Judgment Rings in Hell. Cold unease settles in my chest.
This shouldn’t be possible.
My gaze flicks over everyone and the small army of guards inching closer to us by the second as the alarm continues screaming.
Their footsteps slow.
The first Dark Gods flood into the doorway with weapons drawn, then…hesitate. Confusion ripples through their ranks as their gazes sweep over the chamber.
My breathing slows as we all map their every movement.
One lowers his weapon.
“No one’s here.”
“Someone was,” another says as he steps to his side.
“They couldn’t have made it—”
“Move!”
The command cuts through the uncertainty. The Dark Gods and Oblirians part immediately.
A very familiar face strides between them with a grim frown set on his lips. My body grows hot as I glare at him. Every time something happens that involves the God of Obliteration…this fucker shows up.
“Kelshin,” Kyzen whispers.
He’s the Dark God who escorted us to the God of Obliteration’s temple the day I found out he was the guys’ father. The one who stood beside Sabe as she dragged Riven across the barrier. He oversaw the other minions as they tore our fucking house apart on Kira’s and Harriseen’s orders.
I hate this motherfucker.
His suspicious gaze studies every inch of the room. Every corner and crevice gets equal attention.
Yemi and I take a cautious step back as he approaches the pedestal. His hands hover over the Binding, and I hold my breath as he observes it so intently. Riven’s power continues to flow across my senses, so I know he’s holding his Chaos in place.
Kelshin’s brows furrow as black seeps across his eyes and flows from his hands. He grips the pedestal and the sudden silencing of that blasted alarm causes my head to jerk.
“Something isn’t right,” he murmurs, then spins around, pointing a finger at the Dark God who entered the room first. “Fetch Seveous. He needs to come here. The God of Obliteration needs to come home.”
The soldier spins to obey and my blood turns to ice.
Home. Fuck. We can’t let that happen.
Creed’s eyes meet mine across the room.
One look is all it takes.
If the God of Pain arrives…
If Kira returns…
This mission ends here. We stay trapped here.
Creed gives the smallest nod.
My grip on the real Binding tightens in one hand while the other rightens my hold on my weapon.
My lungs empty and…
I shove my sword through Kelshin’s back at an angle and twist.
Gurgles come from the back of his throat and numbness spreads through my veins. I snatch my weapon free, watching his blood spray across the stone floor. It should be stark red.
It’s pitch-black.
As he hits his knees, my gaze lands over his head. Creed withdraws his sword from the heart of the god Kelshin ordered to get Seveous. For a breathtaking, terrifying second, silence reigns through the chamber.
Kelshin’s body slumps sideways. His lifeless eyes stare across the room as thick black blood pools beneath him.
No one moves. No one breathes. The Dark Gods simply stare. Their gazes dart from Kelshin’s corpse to the other fallen god, then sweep wildly across the empty room.
“What…”
The whispered word barely reaches my ears.
“Where did they—”
“Someone’s still here!”
An Oblirian lunges toward the place the Dark God had fallen, swinging his blade through empty air.
“No one is here,” another shouts.
“They are.” A massive Dark God shoves his way through the crowd. There isn’t a trace of uncertainty or fear on his face or in his voice. “Find them.”
Find us. As if it were that easy.
Slowly but surely, everyone has been moving into position.