38. Thayla
Thayla
My soul slams back into my healed body with enough force to steal every ounce of breath from my lungs.
For one suspended heartbeat, my gaze scans beyond the barrier surrounding us.
Beyond it…everything is about to change.
Gravity remembers me, snatching my body from the air, and Creed’s hand slips from my ankle as I fall. My boots strike the earth and the ground explodes beneath me. Cracks race outward in every direction, throwing everyone backward across the safe space my father and Yemi created.
A millisecond passes as everyone scrambles to their feet.
Every pair of eyes locks onto me, but no one speaks.
No one has the chance.
The realm responds.
Power tears through every corner of my body like a river finally breaking free of the dam that held it back. Light races beneath my skin before spilling from my fingertips.
Boundaries, Consequence, Seduction, Obliteration, Creation, Accord, and Chaos. All seven powers within me touch.
They become one.
Another pulse rips through the space surrounding me just as fast and intense. I watch it happen.
Yemi and Mara gasp. Sevryn, Iric, Nero, and Havar all inhale sharply. They each clutch at their chests as power blooms beneath their skin.
Every member of my soul family standing within the barrier who was still missing some of their power receives the rest.
Right now. In this moment.
My eyes drift over every face. Over the disbelief, the hope, the relief. It all settles into my heart.
Then my gaze flies to my men and roams over them.
Riven. Creed. Amick. Kyzen.
They stand shoulder to shoulder, all breathing hard as their powers blaze across their bodies. Even across the distance separating us, I feel their essence.
Whole. Complete. Fucking powerful.
The pulse of what now lives inside each of them crashes against my senses, deeper and stronger than it’s ever been.
Everything they should have had from the beginning.
Everything the realm always intended for them.
“The choice is yours, God of Order.”
A shuddering breath pours from my lungs as the ancient, indescribable voice fills my mind. My eyes never leave my men’s.
“I know.”
A small, watery smile finds my lips as my men all whisper my name.
I wish I could embrace them, hug them, kiss them, hold them, tell them it’s going to be okay. I can’t do that, though. Not yet.
I offer my father the same smile, but I hold my hand up to stop him from crossing the few feet to me.
“You and Meridamus have to go,” I say.
His head jerks.
“Go? No, I’m not leaving you.”
“You must.”
The argument sits on his tongue, but my attention shifts to the new formation that’s risen in the distance.
My head shakes in disappointment when I spot the two beings standing on top of the small mountain, watching this war as though it’s entertainment.
“Neither of you can fight in this battle. I need you both to go over there with Calista and Rellannaver.”
His brow furrows.
“Thayla—”
“Dad, please listen to me. You can’t interfere.”
Gods, he desperately wants to argue with me. I understand why. I can’t imagine what it was like for him to hold me while I died—well, almost died. Now I’m telling him to go.
“Please trust me.”
His chest expands with his sharp inhale, and I hold my arms out, layering my power of Boundaries with Yemi’s.
“Okay, my shooting star.”
Meridamus’s eyes narrow as they meet mine. Not in a dangerous or negative way, but in the way that only the God of Consequence can look when he’s trying to figure something out.
There’s nothing he can change about what’s to come.
I spare my father one more smile before he grips Meridamus’s shoulder and forces him to come with him.
“Seismet, Verlet.”
“Thayla.” They both sigh.
“I need you both to follow them. Take Havar with you, please. They, under no circumstances, can reenter this battlefield.”
Powerful neighs burst from them as they rear up on their hind legs, then shoot into the sky. I watch their beautiful departure until they reach the mountaintop.
“What do you plan to do with me, little troublling?” Derivius asks, and I smirk at him despite the emotion flooding me.
“You stay by our side. Just as you always have.”
He bows low with a mischievous grin on his lips.
“Thayla…”
My watery gaze meets Kyzen’s whisper.
Understanding stares back at me as his power of Time flares to life.
Once more, I meet the astonished, happy, confused stares of everyone else. Then focus back on my men.
“It’s time we right the wrongs,” I say.
I tilt my head back and stare at the top of my barrier.
Slowly, I let it dissolve. Yemi follows suit, no questions asked.
In three strides, I find myself positioned between my men and stare across the battlefield.
The glares on Kirabaddon’s, Sabelline’s, Mellcom’s, and Seveous’s faces have a low laugh pouring from me.
“Mellcom is mine to decide what to do with. Everyone else and I will continue to clear the battlefield. You four—”
I take a breath, returning the strokes that are caressing my soul frantically.
I’m afraid they don’t think this is real.
“Kill the others.”
“Come again, little burden?”
I meet Riven’s swirling, mismatched eyes.
“Kill them.”
Kyzen
My gaze remains fixed on Thayla as power pours through her.
Seven powers.
Seven ancient forces woven together inside one goddess.
Boundaries stretch outward, reshaping the space around us.
Consequence settles over the battlefield like an unseen hand, and every choice suddenly feels heavier.
Accord follows, and for one impossible second, everything feels as though it belongs exactly where it’s meant to be.
Seduction brushes over us, not with temptation, but with connection. Every person beside me feels like family.
Obliteration hums against my skin, eager to erase everything standing against us.
Creation breathes through the devastation, reminding the realm that life has always fought beside death.
Then, her Chaos.
I brace for the familiar storm. It never rains down.
Determination crashes into me. Hope. Love. Resolve so unwavering it steals the air from my lungs.
She isn’t losing control anymore. She’s choosing.
A smile tugs at the corner of my mouth, while yards across from us, the amusement fades from Kirabaddon’s. His hand snaps outward, and he says something to his minions that I can’t hear over the roar of battle.
I don’t need or care to hear, but it’s obvious he gave a command.
Mellcom disappears into the fray to our left.
Seveous tears away to the right. Sabelline stays where she stands.
I set my power free.
The battlefield before me disappears as Time reveals what could come.
Threads burst from every living soul. Thousands of them. Too many to count. They weave through one another in an endless web of possibilities.
One thread ends with Riven falling at Sabelline’s feet.
Another with Creed watching Sevryn die.
Another with Amick arriving one heartbeat too late.
My pulse remains steady as I maneuver through time, watching these futures unfold. They aren’t set in stone. They simply wait for someone to choose that path.
I’ll make sure they don’t.
I step forward, and the threads move with me.
An Oblirian lunges, and I sidestep without looking. His blade passes harmlessly through the space my throat occupied in another future.
I drive my sword through his chest. He falls and another charges. My blade meets his, and steel screams as it clashes. Out of the corner of my eye, another thread splinters.
Riven. Wrong step.
I release a pulse of Time toward him.
Barely anything. Half of a heartbeat.
Across the battlefield, his stride lengthens just enough to carry him in the right direction toward Sabelline.
The future of him getting there too late vanishes.
Amick’s steps are sure, focused. He analyzes the path he needs to take. His eyes map out the best possible route. There isn’t much that gets in his way of where he’s heading. Except for the spear hurtling his way.
My power wraps around the weapon.
His steps slow as he approaches the spear floating in the air, frozen in time, and his gaze immediately finds mine. A smile crosses his lips as he grabs it and spins it at his side. He carries on.
Another future disappears.
Another appears.
A jagged axe arcs toward Creed’s back. In one future, it pierces his spine. In another, it clips his shoulder, damn near taking off his arm.
Neither will do.
I reach into Time and steal a single heartbeat from the soldier throwing it. His arm lags right before he releases. The weapon sails harmlessly behind Creed as he charges on, never realizing death had attempted to touch him.
I exhale slowly.
My gaze scans the remaining futures in front of me, and my attention snags on a special someone attempting to sneak through the throng of bodies.
Not this time, you motherfucker.
My power shoots from my hand, freezing Mellcom in his steps.
I send the smallest nudge in Thayla’s direction, just enough that she shifts her attention to the left a breath before she was going to.
Her eyes find him.
I stroke my soul, and she whirls around. The glow in her gaze is breathtaking, but what captivates me even more is the smile she offers me.
The moment lasts a second, then she spins back around.
Chains slither around Mellcom’s body from his neck to his ankles and her palms shift from the yellow of Creation to the white of Boundaries. I’m not sure what she whispers in his ear, but I know it isn’t the promise of a happy future.
My attention shifts back to everything happening around me.
More futures, more possibilities.
I follow the path that calls for the least number of lives lost and time wasted, yet it has to be the one that leads us where we need to go.
This confrontation has been building for years.
Thiry-five years, technically, between our father and us. But millennia longer between my father, his corruption, and the realm.
It’s time for it to come to an end.
I don’t have to question Thayla’s command. I don’t have to question what she went through in the moments her body floated in the air.
I feel it in my power. Something changed. A direction, a path…