Page 8 of Found In Destruction

“What does that word mean?” Desmond asked.

“My kind’s word for soulmate. Or I guess a more direct translation is soul mirror, because two souls meant to be one are mirrors of each other.”

Azazel’s expression fell, but he schooled it with something neutral as he explained the situation in full to his friend. The others chimed in from time to time with more details.

“You need to extract her, immediately. Three and a half months is way too long for someone to be out of their own time period unless they’re a Time Walker. She can do some serious damage if her magic is destabilized.”

He dug through his pocket, and took out an old, worn ring. The metal was so tarnished, I couldn’t even make out what kind it was. He held it in both hands, and blue, ethereal wisps of magic vibrated around it, until they were absorbed into the metal. The ring turned gold, and he gave it to Azazel.

“Put it on,” Tempus instructed him.

Azazel slipped the ring on his middle finger. Nothing brilliant happened—no sparks or magical disturbances.

“I spelled this ring to afford you one trip to wherever your soulbond tells you to go, and one trip to your own time period. The ring is very dependent on energy—you need to command it clearly or it won’t work.” Tempus looked at each man, letting the information sink in.

“Okay…” Azazel ran his hand over the back of his neck in thought.

“To use your soulbond, you need to focus. Bring those who strengthen your magic and lift it up,” Tempus suggested. “If Diana is open to it, I want to see her immediately for training.This gift is so powerful that if it’s used incorrectly, it can devastate the realms… Change the course of time so profoundly that we’ll never recover.”

“Onthatominous, terrifying note, when do we leave?” Bash asked, getting up from his chair.

“Wedon’t. I’m taking Ares and Lucifer,” Azazel corrected him. “Since the day Diana left, you’ve blamed me, and made me feel like shit about it. I can’t be around you right now, because I need my magic at top performance to use my soulbond.”

“You’re seriously bringing Ares over me?” he scoffed.

“Yeah, he is, because instead of saying mean shit and making him feel bad, I’ve been there for him. I’ve tried to lift him up. All five of us have fucked up our relationship with her so far–none of us are perfect. Don’t you dare make him feel bad about making this call.” Ares scowled at Bash, daring him to say something.

Bash’s horns sprouted from his head as his jaw tensed. “Fine. You better bring her home in one piece,” he groused before storming off.

“Okay, gentlemen, let’s make a plan,” I said, before any of them could cause any more drama.

I swear, Shakespeare’s company wasn’t even this dramatic…

4

ARES

The plan seemed simple enough. Lucifer and I would powershare with Azazel, and he’d use his soulbond to find Diana. Once we arrived in whatever time period she was in, we’d camouflage with appropriate outfits and stop at nothing to bring her home.

Basically we were going to play it by ear, and hope for the best. Not my favorite plan, but I’ve accomplished much more with a whole lot less.

Remember that time you razed a whole city to the ground by sneezing?Voice’s manic laughter hit me like a brick.You didn’t need a plan to do that…

That was an epic disaster, and not something I did intentionally,I reminded him.

You fought Heracles without a plan,he said.

Yeah and he and Athena stabbed me… you’re not helping…

Plan or not, this could not go south. We needed to get Diana home, no matter what. There was no room for failure.

“Ares!” my father in law shouted. “Pay attention, Azazel is going to need all the power he can get. We have no clue what time period she’s in or if she cloaked her location in any way.”

I cleared my throat in an effort to push my doubts away.I am Ares, God of War and Personification of Chaos.I didn’t have room in my life to second guess myself, especially when it came to the love of my life. Whether she accepted it or not, she needed me. And I was gonna be there for her.

I don’t doubt, I turn it out.I repeated my mantra to myself on repeat.Fake it until you make itwould be my permanent state of being until I had my woman safely in her own time period, at home where she belonged.

We sat on the floor in Lucifer’s barracks, holding hands in a triangle. Azazel’s eyes were already turning milky white and shiny silver magic weaved around him, like opaque smoke in the air. After a couple of minutes, his entire body started to vibrate, and he inhaled a harsh gasp of air. Images assaulted my mind, like a flipping picture book. My ability to broadcast images meant that Lucifer and I saw whatever Azazel saw.

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