Chapter Thirty-Eight
LUNOS SIMPLY STANDS atop the water, silvery eyes taking in the scene around her.
She lifts her hands with the speed of changing seasons, and the dead body of Lyras rises from the water.
Lunos tilts her head, as if puzzling through a conundrum, before calmly stepping forward reaching the edge of the pool and lays the body on the stone floor beside me.
Seeing her in my dreams is one thing, but here, in the real world, her presence is abyssal.
Simultaneously glorious and elegant, yet terrifying to behold and reaching depths unknown to the human mind.
She stands there, a bastion of power, staring down at me; the tallest pine tree looking down at an ant.
“Itho. It seems you have come to understand, yet you resist.” Her voice is voluminous, filling the dome with intensity. She didn’t ask a question, but she doesn’t have to. I swallow the dryness in my mouth.
“You never told me I had to die. It’s only natural to resist death, as I’m sure you know well.” An assumption, but a good one. If Lunos has all the power I do and more, she must sustain her divine life somehow. Even gods must decay; why else wage war and reach for power?
“You assume much.” I watch her silvery eyes lock onto Helia. I move slightly, putting myself between the creator and created. Lunos quirks an eyebrow at this. “I see. So, that is your reason for resistance. And you, child of mine, blood of my blood. Is Itho your reason?”
Helia pushes up from the stairs with strained effort, groaning as her body tenses. She steps forward, joining my side. I put out an arm to block her, though I know it matters little. Lunos could probably vaporize us all where we stand with little more than a blink.
“Yes, Itho is my reason. You gave me a mission, a mandate. She gave me hope and a desire to live. A desire to be more.” If we weren’t all about to die, I’d throw my arms around her, my heart warming with her light.
Lunos continues to stare, the seconds dragging on uncomfortably.
Eventually, she sighs, a quite human thing to do.
“I am sorry, but it must be this way. The cycle must end, and to do that, I must consume my conduit.” The corners of her eyes crinkle in sadness, as though this isn’t something she actually wants to do.
Lunos flicks her palm up, facing me. An unseen force wraps tightly around my body, lifting me into the air.
Protests erupt from Helia and the others, but Lunos dominates my senses.
“I do apologize Itho. But I need the power in your blood. Lyras did not give me enough; I need it all.”
I look inward and tap into my well of power, disrupting the hold Lunos has over my body. I stagger to the ground, scrambling on my feet from the small fall. Surprise dances across the goddess’s face, quickly descending into an angry pinched brow.
“You dare to defy me?” The hum of power tingles under my skin. This is different than before. I feel, stronger; the toll of my power seeming far away. Maybe it’s the rush of the moment or something else. Regardless, I might have a shot at this.
With a yell, I sweep my hand out, ripping large chunks of the obsidian rock out of the walls and send them hurtling at Lunos.
Each shatters inches from Lunos as if striking some invisible barrier.
She pushes off the edge of the spring and floats mid-air in the middle of the room.
Her face is a mask of anger. How dare an insect defy a god? !
“So be it. All of your lives are now forfeit.” How quickly a god can change.
Silver streaks of energy ripple through the air lancing at me and the others in the room.
I focus quickly, forming my intent to match whatever barrier Lunos has created.
Hands splayed out before me, the deadly tendrils of power slam into my invisible wall, arcing across it.
Several bounce off, carving into the walls of the dome, shaving loose pieces of rock.
If we keep at it, the whole place is going to collapse! Belief. It all comes back to belief.
With increasing strain, I twist my hands, changing the barrier to reflect.
The ribbons of light stopping bouncing off randomly and instead soar back toward Lunos.
She screams at the sudden shift, stopping her attack.
I drop my barrier, arms falling to my sides, breaths coming in gulps.
The dust clears slightly, revealing a wounded Lunos, clutching her side where the reflected attack pierced her defenses.
“You foolish, petulant worm! You resist the inevitable!”
I look around the room at my friends, my family.
Everyone is some combination of awestruck and terrified.
Andra and Bellius ran to find cover behind fallen rocks and at some point, the remaining priests must have fled.
Olena is off hiding in the doorway, waiting for her moment just like we planned, even if everything else has gone to shit.
Helia, my Helia, is standing strong next to me.
Confidence emanates from every muscle. Full utter belief in me.
In that span of a second, Lunos readies herself for another salvo, and I realize what I have to do.
I lean over on my tiptoes and plant a kiss on Helia’s cheek.
“I love you.” Before my heart can waver, I turn and launch upward at Lunos.
I hear Helia screaming behind me. Ignoring the stabbing in my heart, I focus on what I need as I streak through the air.
Lunos’s eyes go wide as I collide with her, bringing us both down crashing into the hot spring.
With a burst of energy, I teleport us far away from the temple; far away from my family.