Holy fucking shit. This was my shot. My chance to take him down.
I sprinted forward, stepping my way around burning animals, the fire eerily still. I was running as fast as my legs could move, eyes locked on the prize, chains clinking in my hands. I had no idea how long my freezing power would last. Probably not long enough, but this was my only shot. All of the gods would be on guard against this sort of attack if they had even a moment to recover. If I’d learned anything from those bitches who could change their appearance, it was that you might fool a god once or twice, but the moment they caught on to what you could do, there was no way to fool them again.
From the corner of my right eye, I caught movement—it was already wearing off. I cried out in pain, pushing my body faster and harder than I had ever thought possible, reaching Rau just as his eyes snapped to me. I took one of the cuffs and slammed it around his right wrist. As I went to click the left into place, his arm shot out, the movement blurred with speed. Before I could do anything, the second cuff clicked into place.
On my wrist.
“Activate,” he said, the maniacal hint of a laugh underlying the word.
Sixteen
Having my soul torn from my body and catapulted through time and space into a banishment realm was far less painful than I’d anticipated—but it didn’t seem to be the same for Rau, whose high-pitched screams kept me company until my eyes opened again.
There was some disorientation, and it took me some time to understand why everything was muted, the colours dull and washed out. The landscape also left something to be desired, taking its inspiration from the outer rings of Minatsol. Barren of life.
Maybe this was another dimension of Minastol? Like a plane of existence that sols and dwellers couldn’t see, but that existed side by side with ours? The way Topia and Minatsol did?
The rambling of my thoughts appeared to be getting worse.
“How dare you use Crowe’s chains on me.” Those hard words snapped me out of my delirium. My reality rushed in, slamming into me with the force of an enraged bullsen.
Rau. Banishment realm. Fuck.
I spun around to face him, moving much faster than I would have been able to in Minatsol. My hands were up in front of me in the same instant, as I prepared myself for a fight.
I felt solid and alive but looking down at my skin and clothes, which were almost grey in colour, I realised I was just as washed out as the rest of this land. And I was back in the shirt, because apparently Trickery clothing did not travel across realms.
Rau stalked closer, looking the same, only a little blurred around the edges. “I don’t care if you are my Beta,” he declared as he got closer. “I’m ending this now. Gods might not be able to die in the other realm, but they can here.”
He lunged for me, and I let out a shriek, throwing my hands into the air. My powers weren’t swirling inside like they normally did, but my instincts were to try and use them.
Rau slammed into me, and when I got thrown off-balance by his weight, my body jerked backwards, my head slamming into his, knocking him off me.
I groaned, holding my hand against my forehead as I peeled myself up off the ground. I spun to where Rau had been, only to find that he was no longer there. Movement from my left had me spinning again, but the sad face staring back at me was not the god of Chaos.
I stilled. “Hello,” I greeted hesitantly. The male was smaller than me, fragile looking, with an innocence in his features. He looked no older than four. A child.
A god child.
My heart immediately clenched and I wanted to vomit. The panteras told me that the Abcurses were not the only children to be born of gods. They were just the only ones that Staviti didn’t kill, for whatever reason.
“Hello,” I tried again. “What’s your name?”
I was trying to keep an eye on my surroundings, to figure out what had happened to Rau, but I couldn’t seem to tear my gaze from the young god.
“I … don’t have a name,” he finally stuttered out, sounding even younger than he looked.
Another shadow presence stepped in then. Female, looking like she was no more than four as well. “I don’t know my name either.”
“None of them know their names.” The deep voice was so instantly different that I jerked myself toward him, hands up again, forehead ready for more headbutting.
It was a man. Tall and imposing. Well, as imposing as one could be when they looked like water had washed away all of their colour. “Who are you?” I asked, cautious, moving closer to the two children. My instinct was to protect the young, no matter their undead state.
“Are these … the god children?” I asked, choking on the words.
He nodded, face solemn. “Yes, Staviti had them all banished. God children are not babies for long. Their parents managed to hide most of them until they were seven or more sun-cycles old. But their powers grew too strong after that.”
I wondered if one could cry in this realm, because I sure as hell felt like I was about to. My throat and chest and eyeballs hurt. My body burned, and if I had been capable of fire right then, I would have been nothing short of a volcano.
“Are you telling me,” I said, when I could finally speak, “that Staviti has a room or cave or dungeon filled with chained god babies. All of them stuck between two worlds?”
The man nodded, his hair bouncing across his shoulders. I would guess the colour was blond, but it was next to impossible to tell.
He was handsome and clean-cut. He looked like a sol: rich and assured. It wasn’t possible, though. He had to be a god, if he was in the imprisonment realm.
“Who are you?” I asked.
He looked like he was about to answer, but in that moment, Rau made his second appearance. He must have disappeared to find a weapon, because he was charging me with a long spear in his hand.
The god children turned slowly, their eyes listless as they stared at the crazy screaming god. I, on the other hand, did not just stand there. I started to run, because I might have a tough head, but it was no match for the sharp point of a spear.
“Do powers work in here?” I shouted at the man as I ran in his direction.
He shook his head. “No, we are stripped of godhood in this realm.”
Well, that was just great. I was going to have to run for it and hope that I was faster.
Before I made it past the man though, he reached out and latched onto me, almost toppling both of us over.
“You cannot run from him,” he warned me as we straightened. “He will never sleep or stop, there’s nothing else for him to do in this realm other than hunt you down.”
“Do you have a better idea?” I screamed. I was getting sick of being handled by all of these men. I needed my powers back, it was nice to be able to kick ass on my own.
Something heavy dropped into my hand then, and I focused long enough to see a glint of silver. A dagger, just like the one Rau had tried to kill me with.
“You should get out of the way,” I told the man, keeping my body half-turned to hide the knife.
Rau was almost upon us, and the man backed away, leaving me to twist to the side as the spear neared my torso. The sharp tip followed me, Rau anticipating my movement, but my foot snagged on a rock and I lurched suddenly forward, the spear bouncing across my back, missing its true mark.
I didn’t pause to think through my actions, only shoved the dagger upward as Rau collided with me, sending us both to the ground. His weight landed heavily over me, the hilt wrenched from my hands. I kicked him off, scrambling away, but he wasn’t trying to fight me anymore. He was slumped over the rock I had tripped on, his hands trembling around the hilt of the knife, which protruded from his chest. His fall must have pushed it all the way in, because he was staring at it as though he had somehow stabbed himself.
He let out a horrible gurgling sound, his eyes travelling up to mine.