Page 320 of Blood and Ruin: The Complete Series

“Apart from descendants and Guardians, there are the Lords of the Underworld. They’re powerful beings and the closest thing we have to Gods.”

“What happens if something were to happen to these powerful beings?”

Soren smiles at me. “You don’t have to worry. There’s nothing but the Gods themselves that can destroy the Lords.”

I pull back to the guys. They slow their pace while Soren moves ahead, not noticing we’re lagging behind.

“What if Soren’s wrong?”

Kai gives me a look. “You’re thinking that King might be down here to kill them?”

I nod. “King always wanted to rule. Maybe his plan is a lot bigger than we think it is.”

The guys share a worried look.

“Is that even possible? Someone making themselves a God?”

Soren glances back, finally noticing we’re not right behind him. We catch up to him just to see the annoyed look on his face. “And here I thought we were in a hurry. We need to get to the Infernal Kingdom as quickly as possible.”

“How do you even become a God?” I ask him.

He gives me a strange look. “Some beings are born powerful, while others amass it over time. If you gather enough power and are able to sustain it, you can make yourself all-powerful. Others will fear you and through that fear you can control them.”

Jax scoffs. “Sounds like a simple plan. Gain enough power and then knock out the competition, then make everyone fear you.”

Luka frowns. “Would any of this… competition happen to be from the Underworld?”

Soren stays silent while listening to us, his eyes widening as if something clicks. He moves quickly, not looking to see if we’re following him. “Once we get to the gates, I’ll need to look into a couple of things.”

“The gates? What gates?” I glance around, seeing nothing but the dark fiery pits and creepy soulless.

Soren is lost in his own thoughts, his head down as we move through the realm, avoiding the rest of the soulless. A few minutes pass in tense silence before the realm shifts and changes before our eyes.

“Your plan might need a slight adjustment,” Luka tells Soren.

“What? Why?” Soren glances at Luka before looking ahead, stopping dead in his tracks.

Two large black gates stand in the middle of nowhere with a very large and very mean-looking demon in front of it. Hundreds of demons swarm around it like its minions. They gather in groups, trying to get past the enormous gates.

“They are not supposed to be there,” Soren tells us, stating the obvious.

“No shit.” Axel scoffs at him while eyeing up the demon and its horde.

Soren curses. “Not only are they not supposed to be there, but Orthis is missing.”

“Who’s Orthis?”

Soren’s eyes flicker to Kai and then over to the horde of demons crawling all around the gate. “It doesn’t matter right now. All you need to know is that our only way in is through those gates.”

CHAPTER 7

KIARRA

“Looks like it’s morphin’ time, boys.” Jax rubs his hands together, a crazy smile on his face as he eyes up the large demon.

Axel looks at him like he’s lost his damn mind. I guess their bonding only went so far.

“We’re not the fucking Power Rangers.”

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