Emblazed (27 page)

Kimber was the first one to me, and she pulled the upper half of my body into her
lap as she cried, “Oh my Gods, Brie, are you okay? Please be okay!”

“Jace,” I croaked, my voice faltering as I fought to stay awake.

Kimber’s eyes blurred as she replied, “He passed out. Zane’s trying to wake him up.”

I needed to touch him, to try to heal him and bring him back to me. I weakly attempted
to get out of Kimber’s lap as I said, “I need to be with him. Help me up.”

Kimber struggled to lift me, but Kiera came to our aid when she couldn’t. Each of
them draped one of my arms around their shoulders and helped me walk to Jace, where
Zane was lightly smacking him in the face.

They sat me down next to Jace, and I pulled him into my lap, just as Kimber did with
me moments before. I traced the lines of his face with my fingers as I pressed my
lips to his, whispering against them, “Baby, please wake up. Don’t leave me.”

Jace still didn’t respond, and a sob burst from me as tears dripped from my face onto
his. I should’ve listened to him when he had asked to leave, should’ve listened to
my gut.
Now he’s unconscious and it’s all my fucking fault
.

“Uh, Brie, we have a problem,” Zane stated.

“I’m busy, Zane,” I snapped.

“Brie, they’re getting up! You have to do something!” Kimber squeaked in fear.

I turned my head to look at where the demons had fallen, and sure enough, they were
slowly struggling to get up.
Fuck me.

I pressed another kiss to Jace’s lips as I gently placed him back on the floor before
standing up and turning around. I might have been losing it, but I had an idea that
just might work. It was dangerous, and most likely stupid, but I was running out of
options, so crazy was going to have to work.

“Look, what I’m about to say is going to sound insane, but I’m almost completely drained
and I don’t have Jace to help restore my aura. I need you all to touch me at the same
time and push your power into me.”

“You’re right, Brie, that is insane! Taking in that kind of energy could kill you.
And who knows what could happen to us in the process,” Kimber said.

“I can’t protect us otherwise, Kimber. You’re going to have to trust me.”

Kimber sighed as she looked at Zane, who nodded. Kiera silently nodded her agreement,
as well. I turned to face Morpheus and his brothers, who had all stood. I felt Kimber,
Zane, and Kiera each place both of their hands on different parts of my back and begin
pushing their power into my body.

Their power swarmed within me, continuing to build as Kimber, Zane, and Kiera pumped
more through my body. I felt like some type of wild live wire, brimming with raw,
dangerous electricity as I channeled it through me and into the Akasha building in
my hands.

The orb grew in size and magnitude as it pulsated with the intense energy being pushed
into it. My body shook, and blood trickled down my nose as I struggled to maintain
control over the immense force within me. Stars danced in my sight as I felt the power
reach a peak, and then I let go. The last thing I saw before I drowned in darkness
was a dazzling blast of light.

“
Mi amante
, please wake up. Please come back to me,” a voice choked.

That sounded familiar. Hadn’t I been saying something like that to someone earlier?
Fuck, my head hurts.

My skull was pounding and my whole body ached. Seriously, even my pinky toes hurt.
I just wanted to go back to the darkness, where there was no pain, no suffering.

“Brie, wake up! I can’t lose you. I need you too much,” someone sobbed.

Where am I? Who is trying to wake me up? Why am I in so much pain? What the fuck is
going on!

Lips softly pressing against mine sent a flood of images through my mind: the Underworld,
Morpheus, demons, Kimber, Zane, Kiera, and Jace.
Jace!
My eyes sprang open to Jace’s, which glistened with tears.

“Oh, thank Gods,” he sighed as he pulled me tightly against him.

Our lips found each other in our embrace, perfectly molding together as we desperately
consumed one another. Jace’s tongue laced with mine as his hands cupped my face. He
stole my breath away with the passion he emanated through our bond. He murmured against
my lips, “I thought I lost you, Brie. I was so scared.”

I quickly pressed another kiss before joking, “We say that to each other a lot.”

“Well, stop getting us in these situations,” he teased as he ran his fingers through
my hair.

Remembering the events that had happened before I blacked out, I questioned, “Where
are the others? Are they okay?”

Jace laughed softly. “They’re fine, see,” he said as he leaned to the side, giving
me a view of the rest of our group.

Kimber sat in Zane’s lap as they chatted with Kiera. They looked drained, but perfectly
fine other than that.
Thank the Gods
.

“Morpheus?” I inquired hesitantly. I wasn’t exactly sure what I had done, but if he
wasn’t attacking us, that had to be a good sign.

Jace wordlessly stood and helped me up before leading me to three, smoking piles of
ash. I looked at him curiously. “I did that?”

“You did,” Jace confirmed with a proud smile on his face.

I looked around the room, which was barren, except for the circular space we had just
came from. Nothing but dirt lay under our feet, and the walls and ceiling were missing.
I could see all the way up to the bruised sky.

“What exactly did I do?”

“Well, you incinerated practically everything, except us. You protected us with your
shield. Your Akasha, if that’s even what it was, went through the walls and decimated
the surrounding rooms. And you can see that you blasted straight through the roof.”

“Wow,” I whispered in shock.

“Wow is right. I think you finally unlocked the power to kill a God,” Jace remarked.

Had I?
I still wasn’t entirely sure that was what had happened. Something in my gut told
me that I had barely scratched the surface of the power I would need to stop Uranus.

“I don’t know. I want to ask the Oracle just to be sure.”

Jace chuckled, “Always doubting yourself.”

“Well, we thought that Akasha was the power I needed to destroy a God, but it wasn’t.
I don’t want to get my hopes up this time.”

“True. But whatever that was, it was extremely powerful. If you’re capable of more
than that …” Jace trailed off, deep in contemplation.

“What?” I questioned, eager to hear his thoughts.

“If you’re capable of more than what you just displayed, then you’re more powerful
than we ever thought possible. I’m not sure if your body could handle it, and that
scares me.”

“Hopefully, we’ll have time to practice with it before the time comes,” I stated,
but that was probably wishful thinking.

Jace snorted in response to my thoughts.
Be positive, mi amante.

Movement to my left interrupted our conversation. Leuce ran from one of the destroyed
hallways towards us. She was out of breath when she finally reached us, her face and
hair were smudged with dirt, and tears streaked through her grimy cheeks.

“Leuce, what’s wrong? What is it?” I inquired.

“Hades … is … taking … your … mom … to … the … Pit,” she replied, gasping between
each word.

“What? When?” I exclaimed.

“Now,” she gulped.

I looked to Jace, “We have to stop him, Jace!”

Our conversation grabbed the attention of Kimber, Kiera, and Zane, who jogged over
to us.

“What’s going on?” Kiera asked.

“Hades has taken Mom to Tartarus already,” I informed.

“What?” they all expressed in unison.

“Well, let’s go!” Kimber spoke with urgency.

I hesitated before explaining, “Look, you guys, we really appreciate your help, but
we need to do this alone. We’ve already asked too much of you.”

“No, we are coming with you, Brie.” Kimber argued.

Zane reasoned, “Baby, she’s right. Our powers are drained. We’d probably do more harm
than good.”

“No way, we are in this together. We can’t run away when we face Uranus,” Kimber retorted.

“Babe, that is dif—”

Kimber cut off Zane’s words by stubbornly declaring, “No, Zane. We’re going with them,
and that’s final.”

Zane sighed in resignation as we all chuckled at his and Kimber’s exchange.

“Are you sure? I can’t guarantee that we’ll all make it out safely,” I somberly stated.

“I can’t believe you are asking us that,” Kiera scoffed before rolling her eyes and
continuing, “Of course we’re coming with you. We’re a team. More than that, we’re
family”

Looking at Jace, I smiled. We were so lucky to have them supporting us. I turned my
attention to Leuce as I asked, “How do we get to Tartarus?”

“Go out the way you came, and then turn right. You can’t miss it. There are huge guard
towers with magic-infused titanium fences, similar to the type your earthly prisons
use, but stronger. The sky is completely black overhead, no stars or anything lighting
the sky” Leuce replied.

“Thank you, Leuce,” I said before turning back to the others.

“Ready?” Jace asked.

“Yeah. Are you sure you want to do this, guys? Last chance to back out,” I offered.

“We’re going with you, Brie,” Kimber answered irritably.

“Alright then, let’s go.”

We exited Hades’ castle and made our way to the right, as per Leuce’s instructions.
I could see a few guard towers that almost seemed to graze the bottom of the onyx
sky she had described.

We walked for about a mile before we finally came up to the towering enclosure that
housed Tartarus. As I craned my neck to look up to the top of the walls, I wondered
aloud what kind of magic was embedded within them.

“I think the magic is more to keep the prisoners of Tartarus in, not to keep others
out,” Zane speculated.

“I hope so, for our sakes,” I remarked.

There was a gate about half of a mile to our left, so we continued towards it. Once
we reached it, I used my Akasha to blast it open. It only sizzled and wobbled at first,
but after a few more bolts, it languidly creaked open.

“No going back now,” I stated as we stepped over the threshold separating us from
Tartarus.

The ground inside the walls was black, and the air was thick with fog. The main river
winding through the landscape looked like it flowed with lava, not water.

Zane noticed my focus on the river. “That is the Phlegethon, the River of Fire. It
leads directly to, and then surrounds the Pit of Tartarus.”

“So, we just follow it until we reach the Pit?”

“Yep, simple as that,” Zane answered.

“Nothing is ever simple when it comes to me,” I quipped.

“True that.”

Jace snorted from Zane’s remark as we walked along the banks of the Phlegethon, careful
not to get too close. Steam rose from the lava as it bubbled, displaying the intensity
of the river’s heat.

We walked for another mile before we took a short break. Once again, I was covered
in blood, sweat, and grime from being down in the Underworld. My eyes stung from whatever
tainted the atmosphere, which also caused me to hack and cough.

“You okay, baby?” Jace asked.

I coughed again before answering, “I think whatever is in the air is affecting me.”

“Yeah, I think it’s affecting us all—my throat and eyes burn like hell. Hopefully,
we can be out of here soon.”

“Yeah, I hope so,” I softly agreed.

“We better get moving,” Jace urged before tugging me back onto our path. Everyone
else reluctantly followed, and I knew they were exhausted; we all were. I couldn’t
wait for the whole ordeal with Hades to be over, so that we could all rest for awhile.

A gaping chasm rimmed by the bright, orange lava of the Phlegethon came into view.
My pace quickened, and my anxiety to reach my mom rose vigorously as we neared closer
and closer to our destination.

Fear iced my veins as we reached where the river forked and surrounded Tartarus. There
was only about a thirty-foot distance between the bank of the river and the edge of
the Pit, which Hades was holding my mother’s soul over. A handful of demons flew overhead,
while dozens encircled Hades and my mother.

I searched for a way to get over the river, but didn’t see any type of bridge or covering
that would help us cross it. After several seconds of silent brainstorming, an idea
snapped in my head. “Kimber, come help me.”

Kimber jogged over before asking, “What’s up? What do you need?”

“I think we can harden the lava by pouring water on top of it. Remember when we saw
that video in one of our science classes?”

“Not really, but let’s try it,” she replied.

We streamed our Water onto the lava, which caused large amounts of hot steam to billow
up from the river. Through the dense vapor, I could see the lava darkening and solidifying.
“It’s working! Keep going!”

We continued for a few more minutes before stopping. Just to be safe, I iced over
the rock bridge to ensure it was cool before we stepped on it. I tapped it with my
foot before putting weight on it to test the strength, which seemed to be fairly sturdy.