Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Van
Around me a cold mist curls and a mystical forest with impossibly large trees and glowing flowers surrounds the field I stand in. The earth feels soft beneath my feet, and everything here seems to belong…except for me.
From somewhere in the mist I sense a disturbance. It makes the hairs on every inch of my body stand on end. A shape draws closer, and I take a step back. The shape belongs to something powerful and dangerous.
And then he emerges.
Easily seven feet tall, the man wears armor from head to toe.
A dark fur cloak wraps across his massive shoulders, and I can’t see much beneath the helmet except two piercing blue eyes and a long, dark beard.
In his hand, the monstrous man carries a huge sword--the same sword that now belongs to me.
He lumbers toward me like a dinosaur. The earth shakes beneath his feet. But his power isn’t just in his size and strength; this man is a god. There’s no denying it.
When he draws closer to me, he stops. The urge to fall to my knees sweeps through my body, and I struggle to stay on my feet until my legs finally collapse under me. His gaze seem to burn into me.
“Son of man,” he says, and his dark voice seems to echo in the air; it holds me in its spell. “You have been chosen.”
Fear and awe rush through me, but at least my voice sounds steady when I speak. “Chosen for what?”
He tilts his head, studying me. “To bring us back to life. To break us from our prisons and rule the world once more.”
“Rule?” I ask, before I can question the wisdom of that question.
It isn’t like we haven’t heard this spiel a million times since we showed up here: the gods want to rule, they can’t be trusted, and everyone thinks we’re too weak to hold the gods in check. But maybe the gods have their own perspective.
“Yes, a god can only rule. He cannot be a part of society. It’s impossible.”
And they say that now I’m a god. What does that mean for my future?
“But I don’t want to rule,” I tell him. It’s bad enough I’m supposed to take over my father’s company; I don’t want to take over the world.
His mouth draws into a grim line. “And they don’t want you to rule either. The creatures who dared attack gods don’t understand their place in this world. They don’t realize that they should be on their knees before you. But with time, they will learn, or they will be destroyed.”
This time when I open my mouth, his gaze flickers to my face, his blue eyes blazing with heat. I try to speak, but no words come out.
“We are Tyr, the god of war, glory, justice, and oaths. And when I am fully reborn within you, we will begin again to change this corrupt world. Any who do not fulfill their oaths, any who are cowardly in the face of war and danger, will taste the justice of my sword.”
Quite the monologue. His eyes blaze with power, and suddenly, I understand why the students here fear us so much. Tyr will stop at nothing to remake the world as he wishes to see it. Damn what anyone wants...including myself.
Fear and defiance intermingle within me until I don’t know what I’m going to say next until I hear my own words. “But you aren’t Tyr now. I am. And I don’t want to kill and punish.”
Something dangerous flashes in his eyes. “No, of course you do not, for you are not worthy. But soon you’ll have the honor of being my vessel. Your flawed thoughts and ideas will be pushed aside for mine, and the old ways will return.”
My heart races. “No. I won’t let that happen.”
This time, the massive god smiles. “You won’t have a choice.”
My alarm rings, and I shoot awake. I’m drenched in sweat and shaking. My dream, no, my nightmare, felt so real. And yet, it couldn’t be.
Could it?
Without letting myself dwell on it longer, I rise and get ready for my day, even though I don’t feel like myself.
In the corner of my room, my sword sits like a reminder that not everything I fear is just a figment of my imagination.
A short time later, I’ve showered, my hair is combed and neat, and I’ve dressed in the uniform I found hanging in my closet. But as I stare at my reflection in the mirror, I can’t help but feel even more like a fake than usual.
Adopting a persona is something I learned from an early age. Wellingtons are expected to be perfect, in appearance and in all ways. Even as a child I remember being told, “Wellingtons don’t cry,” “Wellingstons don’t shout,” “Wellingtons don’t run.”
Somewhere over the years I’ve mastered the persona of “Van Wellington,” and the ability to pretend to be someone else has been invaluable.
In a way, it’s protected me from every hard moment in life, because I just distance myself.
I could pretend bad things were happening to Van Wellington, but not me. Not just Van.
But now?
I can’t escape this the way I’ve escaped other things in the past. Inside of me is a god. A god I’m not sure I can control. And from our limited time here, I’m pretty sure everyone plans to kill me and my friends.
Life has changed. It’s no longer about pretending to be the man my parents want me to be. Instead, it’s about surviving to see tomorrow, protecting those I love, and mastering my worst impulses. The god within me wants to drag me down into the pits of my own mind and take over my body.
Well, fuck him. I won’t let him take anything away from me. I’ll fight for myself and my friends, and anyone who crosses me--from the god within or the idiot students at this school--will find themselves regretting it.
I just have to figure out how.
A light tapping startles me from my thoughts, and I turn to the door. “Come in.”
Izzy enters my room, and for a minute all I can do is stare.
She’s wearing the female version of the uniform I wear.
While mine is a white shirt with the school logo on it, a tie, and dark pants, hers is a similar white shirt and tie, but paired with a little skirt that draws attention to her mouthwateringly sexy legs.
“Uh,” she says, shifting uncomfortably. “If you don’t come out for breakfast now, you’ll miss it.”
I keep my tone steady, trying not to betray my attraction to her. “Sounds good.”
Turning to scan my room to see if there’s anything I should take with me, my gaze lands on my sword. Take it or don’t? Then, beside it, I spot a leather sheath I hadn’t seen the night before. It’s appearance makes me uneasy, but it would make carrying the damn thing easier.
Going to the sword and sheath, I put the sheath on my back and slide the sword in. I’m surprised by how lightweight it feels. In fact, it’s almost as if I’m carrying nothing at all. It feels like an extension of my arm. Not like when I first got it.
A shudder moves through my body. No, it’s more than that. Better than that. It feels right to carry the sword.
“Are you taking your sword?” Izzy asks, frowning.
I don’t want to tell her that there’s no way in hell I’m walking around this campus completely weaponless, but I don’t want to scare her. “Why not?”
“Shouldn’t we at least try to look like we plan to get along with the students here?”
I raise an eyebrow. “Do you think that will stop them from attacking us?”
Her mouth draws into a thin line. “Well, no.”
“Then the sword stays,” I say, and plaster on a smile. “Now, you said something about breakfast?”
As I follow her from my room, I glance back once, my gaze sliding over the golden crown by my bed, and then see my own reflection. Is it just me or do my eyes look like a paler shade of blue? Like the god, Tyr?
A shiver runs down my spine, but I close my door on my reflection.
I have enough to worry about right now.