Page 91 of Immortal Sun

Tyrell’s armor matches mine, golden to the core with the inscription of the dragon in the middle, etched in red. He wears a mask covering his face to match his armor, nobody asks why it changes every time, but part of me wonders if it’s to mimic the different gods he’s killed before he lost his own trials.

Inti heaves a deep sigh, and his eyes illuminate gold. His head-to-toe red armor covers him completely; his helmet matches his father’s. Lightning streaks across the sky, hitting Kratos’s fingertips and forming his daggers. The smell of smoke fills the air around us as we wait.

The walls of water moan around us, fighting to break free from the separation I created.

Daggon is last, as always.

The sound of his heavy sword dragging across the stone is like thunder before he walks in front of us and turns. His armor is silver, and he wears a white cape that stretches down to the ground from his massive shoulders. His eyes are blood red. He has no helmet, he has no need for one, he has many names, many jobs, and now he feels the weight of the people of the Euphrates on his shoulders yet again.

His golden bow and arrow shine from their place on his back, each spear dipped in poison. “I’ll escort you.”

He bows in front of us and presses a finger below his right eye in honor before he gets up and gives us his back.

And we walk.

The stones moan beneath our weight.

The earth carries the screams of the fallen humans trapped in purgatory, while the deafening songs of the remaining gods fill the skies.

I ignore the screams, I ignore the songs and I ignore the souls I suddenly see in the water floating toward us, begging us to save them, offering us coin that we can no longer use to cross the river Styx, I ignore the people still trapped in the water waiting to be free because to look at them would shove them further into its depths.

We continue to walk until we’re on the island. The minute my feet touch the rocky soil, I feel like I can breathe a sigh of relief.

We all walk through the trees. And to the ancient stone chairs, each of them from the worlds we used to rule. Mesopotamia, Egypt, Sumeria, Inca, and the list goes on.

Enki speaks first. “The trial for Ra ends in one week, who’s participating?”

Nobody raises a hand.

Inti kicks the ground in front of him. “I can do at least two or three tops, but it’s draining.”

Tyrell nods his head and starts to pace. “I’ll take two.”

Dag mutters a curse. “I did three last time.”

Apep actually laughs. “You all act like it’s a burden.”

Pain slices across my chest, I look away, jaw clenched. “It’s a burden knowing why they’re doing it, and you know that.”

Apep shrugs like it’s not a big deal while I want to pummel him against his stupid rune, with it’s annoying A etched in the stone.

“Father.” Enki’s grin widens as he tosses his hammer in the air over and over. “It’s been a while for you, what? A hundred years? Two?”

Apep looks away, his smile cruel. “And I bear that burden to this day, including the night I sired you.”

Inti starts clapping.

“Fight, fight.” Daggon laughs.

They’re all idiots. I’m stuck with idiots.

Tyrell shares a look with me, his long black hair blows in the wind.

Apep clears his throat. “The only one, who hasn’t participated is Cyrus, isn’t that right?”

He always pushes. One day, I’ll remove his head from his body. Worst creation I’ve ever dealt with. “That’s because I’m the one who gets to kill your final creation, look forward to your death once I leave Apep, I know I will.”

Apep takes a step toward me only to be stopped by Tyrell and held back.

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