Chapter 41 Thayla #2
“I just lost a nine-year-old, Thayla. I’m not losing another one,” Creed shouts.
His arms tremble at his sides and sweat beads on his forehead. My chest is about to crack open from the pressure his soul is under. I’m not sure exactly what he has to do to relieve this.
Save them from death or grant them a more merciful one.
All I know is each one that dies and he doesn’t answer their call, it pains him greatly.
“Okay. Let’s go. We’ll call for backup if we need it.”
He exhales sharply and gives me a nod.
“Straight to the barrier. They aren’t far past the stronghold. Sevryn.”
“I’m ready.”
I give Yemi a nod as she wipes away the tears on her cheeks. She fixes her face and returns the gesture.
“Let’s go.”
My power wraps around me at Kyzen’s command. My eyes drift shut and when they open again, I’m feet from the glimmering barrier. We don’t waste a second as we cross it.
Our feet pound against the ground and the heightening of my men’s powers crawls across my skin. I allow mine, all seven, to come to the surface. However I can use them, I will.
My feet slow as we approach the stronghold, but Kyzen grips me by the bicep and pulls me along.
“Don’t look. Tell V to tell Yemi we definitely need that backup.”
My bottom lip trembles as both rage and grief pound at my chest.
“V. We need back up. The stronghold has fallen.”
I swallow the lump that forms in my throat.
I don’t know any of those gods, but a body should never be twisted and mangled like that.
It didn’t even look like they put up a fight. There are no Oblirians or Dark Gods here. If they had already crossed into Godsden, we’d know. We’d have gotten a call that we were needed.
We continue to race down the ashy and gravel-torn path. I’ve never ventured this far this way, and the dilapidated structures take me by surprise. It shouldn’t, though. Godsden looks pretty rough right before the barrier as well.
A few feet ahead of me, Sevryn slams to a stop. Creed halts at his side and grips his shoulder. Riven, Amick, Kyzen, and I slow our pace and line up beside them.
My hand covers my mouth and I mindlessly step forward, only to be jerked back.
“Don’t,” Riven orders as his swirling eyes scan the crowd.
There are so many bodies scattered across the ground. There’s nothing we can do for them. The countless beings crying and on their knees behind them are a different story, though.
There are no Oblirians or Dark Gods here either, but pure terror is keeping them kneeling there and trembling.
Their sobs and petrified pleas pierce my heart.
My Chaos swirls in my belly. I keep a tight grip on it for now. The rage pouring through me wouldn’t help this situation until we know what the fuck is happening.
There’s also a tremor in my hands and I can’t tell if it’s because of the emotions bleeding throughout me or my Creation is in a frenzy over the unnecessary death staring back at us.
“Sevryn! Sevryn!”
The small voice blares through the crowd and my gaze snaps to the movement on my left. A teenager—a child—no more than maybe sixteen, jumps to his feet.
Tears stream down his cheeks as he races toward us.
“Teagan,” Sevryn shouts as he charges toward the boy.
My tongue hums and everything within my mouth buzzes. Words want to come out, but I have no fucking clue what words. All I sense is the wrongness.
“He shouldn’t have moved,” I whisper.
“What?” Kyzen asks.
“He shouldn’t have moved,” I say more frantically as my feet pound against the dirt. “No.”
The second the word burst from my chest, the boy spasms.
Sevryn barely catches him as he himself hits his knees. His back arches much farther than it should. The bellow that rips from his throat has a shiver racing down my spine.
Creed reaches them first, screaming for Riven to do something.
The Harmony that blasts from Riven’s body has me halting my pace a few feet from them and taking a deep breath. Kyzen positions himself in front of me, with time slowed and swords drawn, ready to wield as my gaze scours the crowd.
A dark, forbidding laugh pierces my ears and my glare snaps to the carbon copy of Sevryn that appears behind the kneeling innocents.
It’s unnerving how much they look alike.
The only difference truly between them is that the God of Pain has black eyes. They’re stark and boundless.
“My son. Welcome home.”
He stretches his arm out, and another agonizing scream roars from Sevryn’s mouth. My breathing labors as fear pushes me and my power forward.
My hand stretches out to match the piece of shit father currently torturing his only son with power they share.
A ripple blasts through the air.
I grit my teeth, grunting as the God of Pain’s power pumps against my barrier with unrelenting force. Some still slips through, hitting Sevryn straight in his chest, but it’s mellowed enough that he can get words out. He doesn’t even spare his father a glance. He begs Riven to help Teagan.
My glowing gaze collides with the God of Pain’s as my shaking arm holds my barrier strong in front of us.
For now.
“Well. You must be Miss Thayla Godrun. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
I don’t say a word, but I let my disgust and hatred show through every feature on my face.
The bright flash of white that beams beside him has my barrier flickering. I shove my attention and power back out with as much force as I can.
“You’d be right, Seveous. This is the young Miss Godrun. Isn’t she spectacular?”
I sneer at Kirabaddon.
I should’ve cut his fucking head off the last time we were here.
“Nifty little trap, asshole.”
“Oh, this,” he says, motioning his hand from the start of the line of beings to the end. “This isn’t a trap. Seveous just wanted to remind Sevryn what happens to people who betray the Abandon.”
The God of Pain waves his hand in the air.
Bile races up my throat from the overwhelming echo of cries and cracks that ring through the air. The blood drains from my face and I stumble back as body after body hits the ground.
Creed’s and Sevryn’s bellows create a haunting melody that I’ll never forget. The pain and devastation splitting across my soul have my knees shaking uncontrollably.
Kyzen jumps to Riven’s and Amick’s aid, holding Creed back as he charges toward their father. The tears streaming down his cheeks don’t splash against the rubble at his feet.
They sink into it.
The gravel slumps into sand, then dust, then nothing but a stain on the path.
Everything inside of me runs cold as I peer at Sevryn, rocking back and forth as he cradles the body of that boy.
The two gods’ laughter across from us sends a bone-deep sensation through me. I don’t know if I’m full of fury or fear.
Maybe both.
Whatever it is, it’s nearly uncontainable.
“Little troublling? What’s wrong?”
I can’t get my mind to work as Kirabaddon stops laughing and smiles at me with a sickly sweet grin.
“Imagine the things you could do with that rage, Thayla. Your Obliteration would be unmatched.”
“One day, Kirabaddon, you will experience my Obliteration, firsthand.”
My voice is bitter and low, a whisper on the wind that makes his smile grow.
“I sure hope so. I can’t wait to see how powerful you become.”
The breath is knocked from my lungs as something stabs right through my stomach.
My head slowly tilts down as I gasp for air.
My hands shake and pass through the stream of dark power pouring into my body. The ground beneath me vibrates as I sink to my knees.
“No!”
My men bellow as they surround me, doing everything but nothing at the same time to stop the flow of the power seeping into me from Kirabaddon’s Binding.
A blast of white light blinds us all for a fleeting second, severing the connection to me, and I fall to all fours.
“V!”
His hoots cut through the air like lightning striking the ground and a blaze of wind from his wings sends Kirabaddon and Seveous soaring through the air.
Black wings burst from the God of Obliteration’s back, and a battle cry tears through his lips.
That’s the last thing I see before I’m snatched through a starshoot and dropped into searing hot water.
I breach the surface, struggling to catch my breath and screaming as the very wrong, very dark power travels through every drop of blood and cell in my body.
“Do not get in the hot spring with her,” V commands.
I whip around, only calming enough to realize that my men are on their knees at the edge and V stands before them, wings spread and power keeping them from reaching me. Alive and okay.
“Where’s Sevryn?” I shriek, both from worry and this unrelenting pain.
“Get out of the hot spring, Thayla,” Riven shouts.
“Do not get out of the hot spring. I starshot Sevryn to his Valtrue. Everything is okay. This, I swear on my life.”
“No, the fuck it’s not. Get the hell out of the water, Thayla. Now.”
The bubbles around me intensify, and only now do I realize that’s why Riven’s losing his absolute shit.
Something is very, very wrong with the water.
Panic clamps around my chest as the power in this sacred pool swells, stronger—heavier—by the second. I’m going to suffocate, even though my head’s above the surface.
Pressure builds inside me. A scream lodges in my throat, and I clench my fists, then slam my eyes shut. I brace for my body to combust.
The seconds stretch, grueling. The guys’ shouts turn desperate. V’s hoots stay steady and grounding.
Then…it all stops.
Silence crashes over me, broken only by the ringing in my ears and the harsh pull of air into my lungs.
The tremors don’t fade as my power wars with the new, unwelcome boost burning through my blood.
“V, I need—”
The words die when I open my eyes.
That isn’t V or my men.
The stranger in the hot spring meets my gaze and gives me a small, tender smile.
“Hello, Thayla. My name is Willow Vito. I’m here to help you.”
To Be Continued…