Chapter thirty-three
The next day, Aris assembles his followers. Many have been transformed at this point, some so large and dripping acid and magma that we decide prudently to gather outdoors. When he announced this choice of venue, the cultists scrambled to move his throne and prepare a proper stage, but Aris has foregone formalities.
We stand on the same level as his followers. They bow before their god on the lawn, the lines of people so closely drawn together in their dark cowls that it looks like one black ocean. Even the giant monsters have robes fashioned on them.
I stand by Aris’ side in one of the lace dresses tailored for me, a red petticoat overtop, while Aris adorns a classic black suit. When passing others in the hall, some looks were shot my way. Though no one said anything outright, I think that they know I have my wits about me again. Maybe it’s obvious, revealed simply in how I hold myself, or perhaps Aris informed them. Either way, I’ve been receiving stares.
I don’t care what they think of me anymore. By Aris’ side, his consort and partner, created by a goddess of life, I don’t fear them—even the ones who glow with otherworldly power and strength, even the ones with an intense hatred in their eyes. Just as I’ve influenced Aris, he has influenced me, too, and it’s hard to reconcile the idea that any of them truly matter.
Last night, after coming to an understanding, Aris and I talked for a long time. About what we would do with Jaegen, and what he would do with his followers. About how we would tie up our stay on Earth and begin somewhere new.
“What makes you think that Sem wants Jaegen gone?” I’d asked.
“All he has ever done is stirred trouble, and not even the good kind. He offers nothing to the balance and cannot be reformed. What else could she want with him but his elimination?”
“And how are we supposed to do that?” My tone went wry when asking, “Take his memory, too?”
He shot me a look that told me exactly what he thought of my comment. “No,” he said, eyes flitting to my amulet. “Something different.”
I hold the necklace now, the octagonal, silver pendant that started this all. My fingers brush over the sharp edges as I have brushed over them thousands of times before. I’ve touched the edges to center me to this world, a zip of pain anchoring me to a current moment. I’ve brushed it lightly, for comfort. Now, I’m doing a mix of the two.
Aris’ plan makes sense, but I don’t know how I feel about seeing Henry again. Or Simon. Or Sem. But mostly Henry. I’ve shut that humiliating, pathetic chapter of my life; at this point, I don’t need, or want, closure. I don’t want to give him the chance to hurt me again, even as thick-skinned as I’ve become. Even sincerely doubting that he even could hurt me, why risk it?
Aris takes a step forward, pulling my attention. This single step is all it takes for his followers to shiver. Even with their eyes shut or fixed on the ground, they feel the air pulse as their master moves. I feel it, too—like diving into a deep pool, ears popping and straining from the pressure.
Ryan, the size of an SUV on his knees, plants his head against the soil. Eyes shut in serenity. Sometimes, I wish I could be as certain about anything as Ryan is about Aris.
Beside Ryan is my goth maid, Elizabeth, who dressed me this morning. Instead of black or white, as my outfits tend to switch between, I awoke this morning alone in the bedroom I shared with Aris. After talking late into the night, I don’t remember falling asleep, and it pained me to note that he hadn’t stayed.
In bed, where Aris should’ve been, was a long, dark red dress. No note, nothing along with it but a pair of crimson slippers. The message was clear: I was to wear this. Elizabeth helped me into it, as the back is a confusing mess of ribbons and buttons, and put some makeup on me this morning.
The color of the dress reminds me of the Grand Mage’s old ceremonial garb: his hat, his jewels, his wand. Sometimes, the fact that he’s really dead strikes me like a hunger pain, but there’s no food to eat to escape the ache. Strange, that feeling, since I never even liked him, but perhaps I admired him, and it is fitting that he did not suffer for nothing; his forging of the amulet, his aging, his death, these were not tragedies. Because he made something strong enough to contain a god.
Any god.
I put my hands behind my back, watching Aris, wondering how he will phrase his message. I wonder what he will do with the ones who disagree or will not help him. I prepare myself to witness someone die.
“My people,” says Aris. He need not yell or shout; the yard is completely silent. Even the birds don’t dare chirp. “My time on this planet has come to an end. I have decided to exit and leave this world as it stands. You all have served me nobly and without question, and I therefore offer you the chance to come with me, or to remain here with the promise that you will do no harm to other human beings.”
Ryan is the only one to look up, a strange look twisting his face. Confusion.
I know what destruction means to these people, if they even are people any longer. Aris being the harbinger of doom is why they worship him. For him to deny them their paradise…
The lawn is still silent, but the atmosphere has tensed; Ryan is not the only one who is surprised.
The giant turns his gaze from Aris onto me, neck clicking from the movement. I see that he blames me—oh, is that hate, even?
“This world is too primitive,” Aris continues. “Killing it excites me no longer, and so I will move to destroy other galaxies.”
Ryan blinks and ducks his head back down, reverent once more. Appeased by this mention of destruction.
There is a long pause as his followers wait for him to continue, but Aris is finished. Silva realizes this first.
A few meters off, the older man glances between the two of us, and slowly, hesitantly, stands. “Dark One,” he says, and I almost roll my eyes. Alone, the man admittedly terrifies me—there’s just something about his bizarre silver eyes—but he is the definition of simpering in front of Aris.
“Great One,” continues Silva.
The epithets, to me, are a bit much. I still don’t know if it’s Silva or the Following who came up with all of them: Harbinger of Uncreation, the Forewarned, the Chaos, Great Chaos, Dark One, Great One, Dark Lord.
To me, he’s just Aris.
“Where you lead, we are eternally grateful to follow,” Silva says. He sounds stunned, and I’ll admit to feeling the same. I’m not sure why Aris offered them the chance to come along. Either he’s gotten attached, or he doubts they’d stick to being peaceful on Earth without his supervision.
“You all feel this way?” asks Aris, and his congregation nods once in chorus, cowls dipping. I hate it when they do that—it’s like a hive mind. “As I knew you would. Now, prepare yourselves. We leave in two days.”
The followers stand, the ground rumbling, the sound of shuffling limbs deafening. Normally, after an assembly, his cultists like to approach Aris to express their admiration. Now, however, Aris turns from them. It’s clear that he is not welcome to conversation.
A few drag their feet at this, disappointed, but the lawn eventually clears. At that point, a flash of purple appears beside Aris, in front of me.
“Oh, what a sight!” croons Sem.
Today, she is wearing a gown so long that it trails behind her like a bride’s veil, only slightly longer than her hair. It’s rather simple compared to what she had on last time—no trinkets interwoven in this one—but the dress shines like a star. For all I know, it’s actually made of starlight.
Awe runs through me, and I am made simple by her presence. If I thought my stunned appreciation toward Sem could be blamed on my scrambled brain, I was wrong. Like her brothers, there is a magnetism to her that affects the very atmosphere, but it isn’t oppressive. It’s like a pie cooling in a windowsill—a scent that drives you closer, until the steam of the fresh treat brushes your face.
I take a step forward but halt abruptly when Aris says, “Don’t.”
Right. Sem is the “good guy,” but she isn’t exactly good . None of them are. She manipulated my entire life. Yet, her beauty and grace make me forget that so easily. I feel a rush of security around her, like a flailing fish finding water. I want to trust her, just as I instantly distrusted Jaegen.
Sem clicks her tongue. "Come now, I won't hurt her."
“Stay where you are while we speak,” he says, then he jerks his head to the side. “Why have you come?”
But, he knew she would appear.
“Sem will be keeping a close watch on us,” Aris told me last night. “She will understand the assembly tomorrow as something of an olive branch and a sign that we will execute her plan.”
“You know why,” she says. “You have accepted my interference.”
“Yes, this interference. I assume you already know how to deal with Jaegen?”
Sem dips her head in a nod, her long hair concealing half of her face even when she straightens again. I desperately want to clip it back but refrain from moving, not wanting another reprimand from Aris.
Aris regards her for a moment. “Have you consulted Maker?”
“No.” Sem’s tone turns sad. “He would not have helped regardless. You remember how he is.”
“Yes.” Even Aris sounds wistful.
“Were you thinking of putting Jaegen back in your, uh… Maker?” I speak up. The three of them were initially all part of one being, after all. One God, who divided himself over conflicting morals.
Sem shakes her head. “No. I was thinking, more simply, of a trap. I have funneled enough magic to Jaegen so that he believes that he is using my power, that he has consumed me. However, the moment I rescind this magic, he will be as vulnerable to it as Aris is.” Aris crosses his arms and says nothing.
“Once I rescind it, if we startle Jaegen and act quickly, we can incapacitate him.”
“I like the sound of that,” remarks Aris.
“Yes.” Sem’s purple lips twisted into a smile. "Now, let's get that off of you."
I don't know what she means at first, until I follow her eyes to my necklace. Off ? This amulet that caged Aris and me both? Aris implied that we might use it to hold Jaegen, and I’d been prepared for that. But… off ?
I tried so many times to remove it, even knowing that the bind was unbreakable. Oh, how the back of my neck would sting, how the tips of my fingers turned red and white as the cord squeezed them.
“You plan to trap him inside of it,” remarks Aris. “How… ironic.”
“It isn’t to mock him. The mages worked so hard to craft this. Why put it to waste?”
Aris rolls his eyes, but nods. Again, he knew this would happen. It seemed that discovering the web he’d been trapped in opened his eyes completely, and, now, he’s back to being ten steps ahead. “This is an acceptable plan. I assumed you would be using magic, and that we would use the mages.”
“Yes,” says Sem. “They should take part. It’s too bad you’ve killed almost all of them.”
“There are some.”
“Wait,” I speak up, “Why bring Henry—or the mages, I mean—if Sem can cast the spell? She’s the master of magic and all of that.”
Sem turns to me. “The mages won’t trust our word; they must see Jaegen’s capture for themselves. This is necessary for your world to begin to heal; the humans and mages must believe that there will be no further interference on our parts.”
I nod, and Sem smiles in encouragement, raising a hand. “Now, if I may…?”
The amulet.
I glance at Aris, who nods once, stiffly, before walking toward the shining, purple goddess. Once I’m close enough, her long fingers close around the pendant, and her eyes shut. She smiles, and a tear leaks down her face. I almost ask if she’s all right, but the moment feels private.
Finally, her eyes open, and she lets out a soft breath. “Such a beautiful creation,” Sem murmurs, her hands traveling up the black cord and resting at the nape of my neck.
And then, she simply… unclasps it.
It never weighed much, but removing it feels like a bolder lifting off my chest. Tears come to my eyes. It’s just a necklace—a magical necklace, sure—but it’s a symbol of a horrible time in my life, when I was monitored and degraded. No visitors, no sunlight, no future, Aris and I trapped in an underground cage. It’s a symbol of Aris possessing and taking control of me. Owning me. I’ve sometimes thought of it as a collar, and seeing it off of me, it hits that this time of my life really is over. I’m moving on.
Sem puts the necklace in a hidden pocket of her gown, shooting Aris and me a winning smile. “Wonderful. All we need now is the time, the place, the god, and the bait.”
“Bait?” I say.
Her smile turns into more of a grimace. “Well, Jaegen won’t appear just for anything, and certainly not if he knows either Aris or I are there.” “It’s true,” acquiesces Aris. “He is a coward.”
Well, if it won’t be Aris, and it won’t be Sem, that only leaves…
“You guys want me to confront Jaegen on my own?” I say, gawking.
Sem shakes her head. “Not for long,” she says.
I glance at Aris to see what he thinks of this, noting his feathering jaw. His body is tenser, too, the way it is when he resigns himself.
With a sigh, I turn back to Sem. “Right, then. Bait it is.”