He turns toward me, smile sad. “What better destiny? To die for those you created. Love, after all, exists even in agony, my friend. Go. We have been stagnant for too long.”
“I’ve been hesitant. I’ve lost the warmth of the sun.” I shake my head. “I’m not worthy?—”
“Stop stalling,” Mars snaps. “And find her.”
I get up slowly and start to walk away when he continues. “Love, Ra, her love was her sacrifice.”
The last thing I see when I look over my shoulder is Mars tossing a sword into the sky, and a thousand arrows falling across the island.
And so, the great battle between immortals and Chaos, the final battle between good and evil, power and control…
Begins.
CHAPTER 41
CYRUS
“A sword age, a wind age, a wolf age. No longer is there mercy among men.” – Snorri Sturluson
Itold her she wasn’t special.
She was the most special.
And I lied to her over and over again. It’s all I can think about as I walk toward The Tree of Life and Death.
Maybe her gift as a demigod was seeing my true likeness, maybe her gift was finding my humanity when I’d given up on myself.
I don’t look back.
Immortals await me at the tree.
Anubis inclines his head. “Did you need me to walk with you?”
“I know the way,” I rasp. “All too well.”
“It gets dark.”
“I am the light,” I snap back.
Anubis nods and snaps his fingers as The Tree of Life and Death lights on fire, singeing from the ground up but not dying and just like that angels land in front of the tree, surrounding it. They wear gold armor and carry golden swords. Anubis just summoned The Watchers, the most ancient guardians of the different corners of the earth. I’ve never had the honor of seeing them in full armor. I swallow back the lump in my throat. They’re protecting my journey.
Anubis pats me on the back. “I know you tolerate me at best, but I called in a favor. Want to know something funny, though?”
“What?” I can barely speak.
She’s lost in the underworld. She won’t reincarnate, and we’re at war.
“They were already sending them.”
“Wh-what?” I stammer.
A man appears in front of me, his hair is black except for one stripe of red in the very front. He inclines his head. “A gift, for your journey into the darkness, Lord of the Sky—Immortal Sun.”
“Why do you look familiar?” I ask.
He smiles wide. “Because when The Watchers fell, I tried to create a demon army, destroy the world and all around rebel against the Creator and yet, a star still chose to fall for me, Anubis chose to fight for me, and in the end, an archangel offered to die for me, so you see, there is always a way. I have finally found mine, and in that, I would like to give you something.” He holds out his hand and flips it over. “Let her guide you. Aurora, you may now fall.”
Nothing happens at first, and then all at once a light as bright as the sun appears. The woman has silver hair and blue eyes, she’s wearing a black dress that pools at her feet and falls down her shoulders. She couldn’t be more than eighteen.