56. ACHERON
Ash panted heavily as he crash-landed into the grassy clearing. They were much closer to Mount Gehenna now. Only two trials left to go.
He’d swum the stretch of the Forgotten Sea with ease, dodging the Charybdis as best as he could. A few of the giant squid’s suckers had crushed his feathers, but he was mostly fine. Baba’s Forest was something else though. He knew it was all because of that damned letter. The letter that currently burned a hole in his pocket. It was most likely destroyed from all the water, but Ash could still feel its heaviness resting against his thigh.
The wailing witches had probably smelled his hurt from a distance, and they tried everything. The screams of Sofreya in pain, the scream of her pleasures, her desire for him as well as her disgust for him. Every sound of her stung his skin, but he managed to push through the run with minor scratches.
Eros’s head slowly poked into Ash’s view of the grey evening sky. At least he thought it was evening. Time didn’t really exist on Tartarus. The place just . . . existed.
“What?” Ash growled, heaving himself up from the ground to look at Eros.
As he reached the shores of the Forgotten Sea, Ash found Eros sunbathing. He looked as unbothered as a damned sea turtle, on the shores of Tartarus. Not to mention the fact that there was barely any sun.
“I just wanted to check in on how you were feeling. I know you haven’t necessarily told me the exact contents of the letter or the wording she used. And it must hurt having your heart chewed up and spat out but—”
“Eros. Please shut up.” Ash let out an exasperated breath. Not that he blamed his older brother for it. He was just the messenger, but it was becoming increasingly difficult not to shoot the messenger when the messenger was devoid of the ability to shut up.
“Ash, maybe if you just tell him, he’ll hopefully start talking about something else,” Nyx chimed in. Their brow was slick with sweat and a few whisps of their white hair had come free of their battle braid.
Eros hadn’t stopped asking about Sophie and her letter. Not even when the freakish wailing witches chased them through Baba’s Forest.
Eros sat down on the grass next to Ash looking like someone had kicked his dog. His lips pouting and his eyes, watery.
By the Fates. Ash closed his eyes. He was starting to feel bad for his love-obsessed brother.
Ash could feel the presence of Nyx to his left. Together, they faced Baba’s Forest, their backs turned against the beacon of light they had been following.
Two beacons were currently lit up, shooting a thick ray of light into the sky above. One just behind them, and there would be another on the other side of Mount Gehenna, drawing in the other half of the Tienthan.
Ash sighed. “Fine.”
Eros’s eyes were brimming with tears and Ash knew he was holding back a squeal. Eros made a motion to zip his lips together before throwing away the imaginary key.
And so, Ash told Eros and Nyx of the letter that had decimated his heart. They both listened carefully, with no judgement or ill-intent. They simply listened.
“That must be very difficult, Ash.” Nyx rested a soft hand on his forearm.
Ash gave them a wry smile. It was all he could muster.
“Hmmm . . .” Eros stroked his chin and narrowed his eyes. “Interesting.”
“Ash is heartbroken, Eros. What could possibly be so interesting about that?” Nyx asked, placing a worried glance over Ash.
“Well, she mentioned the word ‘friend’, and its variations a total of five times. Altogether . . .” Eros paused to conjure a small whiteboard.
“Did you seriously bring a whiteboard with you?” Ash gaped.
“Yes. I thought it would come in handy if we needed to draw up a game plan or something, but back to what I was saying. Sophie wrote the word ‘friend’ including its variations five times.” Eros wrote the number down. “And altogether, she wrote nine sentences.” He scrawled the number nine circling it over and over until it was bold. He added a colon between the two numbers. “That’s a five to nine ratio, little brother!” Eros exclaimed with a hopeful smile.
“Yes . . . thank you for pointing out how much she adores our friendship to the point where she’ll mention it in more than half the sentences she’s written.” Ash crossed his arms and grumbled.
“No, no, no. IF she really thought you both were better off just friends, if that was how she truly feels then at a maximum she would have mentioned friendship twice.”
“Eros, there is no science or sense behind what you’re saying.”
“But there is, Ash. I’ve read thousands of love letters in my lifetime. Heralded them even. I can spot a fake letter, one written by means of protecting one’s own heart, when I see it. She’s trying to bombard you with the foul word of friendship to hide. Parts of her letter are true. She is deeply hurt, and she is scared, but she loves you. I’ve seen it with my very own eyes.” Eros now had a far-off look in his eyes. The look he often had when he was thinking about love.
Fates, please get me out of this nightmare.
“He does have a point . . .” Nyx said thoughtfully.
“By the Fates, not you too.” Ash facepalmed himself. “How about we focus on the trials? I think I’d much prefer that.” Ash stood, taking a few paces to stretch out his legs.
Eros’s words ate away at him. Maybe she had written the letter to protect her own heart. The parts of Ash that agonised over Sophie groaned awake, a little more hopeful than they were before.
He needed to focus on the Hrabrost Trials first and as soon as it was all done, he’d go running to her. Sweeping her into his arms. And with every waking minute he spent alive, he’d prove to her that he was capable of protecting her heart.
“Help!” Deymos’s deep voice sliced through the edge of the forest.
Ash whipped his head toward his brother’s voice.
Between Deymos and Pallas was Erebus, the primordial god of darkness. His wavy red hair and white wings sagged. His normally tanned skin had a grey pallor to it.
Shit.
Ash bolted across the clearing to assist. Both Eros and Nyx followed suit.
Quickly, Ash replaced Deymos, carefully pulling Erebus to the ground. Deymos collapsed to the side, regaining his breath as Pallas did the same. Eros took his place in assisting Erebus to the ground too.
“What happened?” Ash asked as he quickly raked Erebus for any catastrophic haemorrhages. Erebus was barely lucid.
“He collapsed halfway,” Deymos breathed heavily.
“He got pierced through the side by the Charybdis in trial one. He said he healed it, but maybe there’s still some ink trapped in him,” Pallas explained as he lay on the grass.
Ash pushed Erebus onto his side as Eros took the god’s pulse and checked his breathing.
“His pulse is weak,” Eros stated.
Ash pressed his fingers into the shiny scar on Erebus’s side. Newly healed. He shot out his mana to assess the wound. He wasn’t able to feel anything, but he pushed harder, almost barrelling into Erebus’s magic. A tangy darkness bit back. It felt slippery and oily against his own mana.
“He’s got ink stuck in him,” Ash confirmed.
“Shit,” Pallas swore underneath his breath.
“When did he collapse?” Eros asked.
“About an hour ago. We were chased the entire time. We couldn’t even stop.” Deymos started to get worked up.
“It’s alright. Pallas, Deymos, head up the hill with Nyx. Recon a camp for tonight and stay hydrated. Eros, you’re with me.”
All the angels moved at their best pace, leaving room for Eros and Ash to work on Erebus.
“Okay, Ere, stay with us.” Ash said it more to himself than poor Erebus.
Eros moved to kneel beside Erebus’s head, cradling the red-headed angel’s head and neck so that his airway remained clear. “Ready.”
Without a word, Ash pulled out a knife he had carved from a shell on their first night in Tartarus. He pulled at his lightning and zapped it. The knife came out sizzling with heat, making it easier to slice through skin.
“Sorry, Ere,” Ash took in a deep breath as he pinned down Erebus’s arm and wing with a knee and sliced into his side, where the shiny scar was. He pushed more of his power through the blade to hold Erebus’s skin open for long enough to fish out the obstruction.
Erebus’s other arm came flying right for Ash’s face, but Eros was quick enough to pull it back down.
Ash continued to slice through his skin. It wasn’t an easy job.
Erebus murmured and thrashed in pain, but it was clear the poison ink had seeped into his blood. Blood poured out from his wound, much darker than usual.
Ash counted to ten, letting the infected blood run for a moment.
Erebus’s movements calmed and his skin turned a touch warmer.
Good.Ash then pulled at his mana, casting a hand over the wound and began to draw out the ink. Like little leeches, the black ink rushed out of the wound. Ash continued until he could no longer feel the oiliness of the Charybdis’ ink and slowly, he began to patch up the god’s skin.
“How are his vitals?” Ash asked.
“Stable and within standard range,” Eros said. He let Erebus rest his head on his lap as he pushed calming magic into Erebus’s mind. The faint white glow on his fingers shone in the night.
Erebus stirred awake. “What . . .”
“Hey, Ere, welcome back. Heard you had a bit of a run-in with the Charybdis,” Ash teased.
Erebus groaned, raking his hands through his red hair and over his tanned face. “What happened?” He propped onto his elbows, surveying the blood that covered himself and Ash.
“You’re alive is what.” Ash didn’t know what he would have done if Erebus died. He had been so close to it too. Ash had felt the unmistakable ragged edges of death on the tips of his fingers.