Endure (34 page)

All the torches went out at once but darkness didn’t consume us. The book lay open in front of me, the letters casting a near-blinding light through the room like the sun breaking through the clouds. Each element churned through my fingers and as they came out, I thought they’d torn me open.

Streams of colorful light radiated from my fingers like flashlights: blue, green, white, red, and yellow. Rayna ducked as the torrents of power flashed over her head and I struggled to turn them away from her. When the magic hit the walls, chunks of rock fell to the ground. All my efforts to pull back the elements were wasted. They were out of my control. I gritted my teeth and held back a scream as heat blistered my skull and blinding words flashed through my mind.

Protector. Fight. Freedom. Gods. Demons. Monsters. Heroes. Sacrifice. Pain. Endure.

Voices screamed in my head. Some determined to stop what was happening, others filled with happiness that it would finally be over, and a few tried to claw their way out of my chest. I couldn’t hold back the scream any longer and my head snapped back to release it, but instead of sound, a blast of light came out. It was a visceral force spilling from my lips. The light flashed in my eyes, burning them from the inside out, and as it all came together in a crescendo of pain and magic, my soul ignited with a godly might.

Everything around me was gone. I had no body, I simply was. I didn’t exist in the world; I was a part of it. I was the air people breathed, I was the fire that warmed their souls, I was the land in which they lived, I was the water that gave them life, and I was the light that showed them the way. Dimension after dimension flashed in front of me, and the monsters that inhabited them awoke to my presence.

A world made entirely of ice. Blue-skinned demons covered in thick white beards and bushy eyebrows stalked through knee-high drifts of snow. Unaffected by the blowing winds and shards of ice that cut across their flesh, they roared as my magic beckoned them. Their black eyes stared at me as though I stood right in front of them, and in that moment, we were one. We had an understanding of what we needed to do, and it would be done.

Feathery petals laced the outer edge of bright flowers. Beautiful songs fluttered from small butterfly-like creatures. They floated on the air effortlessly, their wings beating sporadically. They were a choir but my voice was their song. The Dunopai were gathered around a fire. Grayson stood apart from the rest with Alaric, their caller. He chanted into the flames, calling the Influencers of Yore, but as they came to his call, so did my power. The Dunopai were a neutral people, their job was solely to keep the balance between good and evil. Now they knew in order to do that, they had to fight.

Sand whirled on the air, creating tornadoes of red and brown that churned endlessly over a desert. I became each grain of sand and I made my way into the glass dome of Lavinos. The Queen and her sons were gathered at a table, feasting and drinking in glory. From a tiny grain of sand, my power shook the room and the Queen’s eyes locked on mine. She nodded without a word and her sons rose from the table. The time is now.

When I reached Drakar and saw flashes of demons I didn’t recognize, it filled me with an air of confidence to know they would stand behind me. In each passing moment, I was an image of their god, guiding them on their path.

Chief Sorent sat on a stump, women hovering around him and ready to refill his steel mug. The trolls’ seers burst from the tent, their flawless skin glowing in the moonlight. Their eyes were black, their bellies swollen, and they pawed at Sorent. The seers’ touch filled him with a commanding presence and he jumped from his stump, demanding the attention of his people. Vincent and Tiki were in the background, their eyes wide with surprise. They looked at one another and climbed to their feet before the world faded and I moved on to another.

As I travelled each dimension, the fallen gods spoke to me. Their words filled me with wisdom, power, and knowledge. We could win this. For all the creatures in all the worlds, and to protect the gods from Ithreal’s wrath, we had to.

I cycled through dimension after dimension. Each of the gods who had contributed to the Protector’s power left me a doorway to their world and I walked through them all. In a silent understanding, I formed allies that would fight for their freedom. Creatures of all walks of life were ready to unite against a common enemy to keep their people safe. They would fight for the gods. They would fight for me.

I trembled with exhaustion, the cave walls spinning around me. My mind ached and my body felt scarred with magic. It was too much to comprehend, too much for one man to know, too much power for a human body. But I was no longer human. I was no longer just a man.

Streaks of heat flashed through my body. Voices screamed in my head as their essences were sucked into my soul. Their power syphoned through my veins, strengthening my core and fortifying my abilities. Each element whirled through me, its power amplifying as each soul was stripped down, torn apart, and merged with mine. When the last soul shattered, my soul swallowed the pieces and the magic stopped. The streams of power that spilled from my body ceased, and all the pain faded. Waves of intensity crashed through my soul and as it all came together, I collapsed to my hands and knees.

Water layered the floor, cold and dripping from the ceiling. My skin smoked, wafts of steam floating into the air. The shirt on my back was gone, only charred and curled pieces of fabric lay on the ground. A flare of heat moved up my spine over and over again, starting at my neck and shooting down to my waist. My chest heaved with heavy breaths but the exhaustion was gone. Power flooded my veins, forcing my arms and legs to tremble as though they’d just finished the most severe workout, yet they didn’t feel weak.
 

I stayed as still as possible until my breaths became steady. My fingers curled, breaking the ground beneath my hands and pulling the broken stone into my fist. I squeezed it tight, desperate for the numbing pain to fade. The rock turned to dust and spilled from my hand in a sandy mist. The cave walls were black with soot, the altar had been reduced to ash, and the book lay open in front of me, a smear of blood staining the blank pages. Everything it had contained—the words, the power, the magic—was inside me now. The pages were black and frayed, as though the book had been saved from a devastating fire. The torches were lit, but the room was empty and panic rocked my core. I didn’t remember standing but I was on my feet, stalking the room like a predator.

“Rayna?”

Bright white flames covered both my arms as I channeled the element and moved into the tunnel. Power lit up the corridor like a spotlight and I took turn after turn, calling her name. Finally, I heard her call back.

“Chase?” Her voice was hoarse and crackly.

“Rayna!” I yelled out, trying to follow her voice.

When I found her, she was at the wall of a dead end, curled in a ball with her knees to her chest. Her clothes were wet but her hair was singed and dry, smears of soot coloring her face and a glassy film over her eyes.

“Are you okay?” I dropped to my knees, brushing the hair from her face. Rayna jumped the moment I touched her and her eyes lit up. She looked weathered and exhausted.

“Chase?” she asked.

“It’s me. Rayna, what the hell happened?”

Rayna’s eyes studied my face, and then lowered as she searched the ground. “You happened,” she said. “When you dropped the book, your elements came out in full force. The room shook violently, wind tore rocks and boulders from the wall, flinging them across the room.” Rayna coughed and let me help her to her feet. “Lightning flashed from the ceiling like a storm cloud, and then came the rain. A tornado of flame swallowed your entire body, expanding until it filled the room. I had to run as fast and as far as I could, but I wasn’t fast enough. The flames hit me, threw me down this tunnel, and the water drenched me. And then out of nowhere, they were gone.”

“Are you hurt?”

“I’m sore and a little shaken up, but I think I’m fine. How are you?” she asked, but I could hear the hesitation in her voice.

“I’m…something else,” I whispered. I stared at my hands and they looked normal enough, but inside them coursed new power. I couldn’t explain it. There were no words for how I felt, what’d I seen, what I knew. But I could give her a taste of it. I could show her.

Rayna gasped as my hand touched her face and I called the water element up from my soul. It was a type of magic I should’ve recognized, but it felt entirely different. I didn’t feel it travel through my body. It started in my soul, and then it was in my hand, pulsing into Rayna.

She gasped and her eyes widened. “Wow,” she said. Her raspy tone was gone, and the gloss that covered her eyes had faded. Now she stared back at me, and the look of exhaustion she had just moments ago had dissipated. She looked fresh and energetic. Her knees buckled and I caught her with my hand, holding her up. “That was incredible.”

“That was only the beginning. I get it now. I get all of it. You, me, Ithreal. Completing the rite showed it to me.”

Rayna nodded, leaning back against the wall. Her eyes drifted over my body, her hand touching my chest. “I can
feel
the power. It’s not just the elements…there’s something else.” Her hand slid lower, running over my stomach and dropping to my hip. She pulled me forward, pushing her face into my neck. She took in a deep breath and sighed. “I don’t want to stop touching you. I can’t.”

My eyes closed, reveling in the warmth of her touch. Her hand slid up my back, her nails dug into my shoulder, and she pushed herself against me. Her lips touched my neck, her tongue gliding along my jaw until she found my mouth. Her body pressed into mine, her teeth wrapping around my bottom lip. Rayna’s breath was heavy, her hands trembling as they cupped my face. She kissed me softly at first, then harder. My pulse raced, the magic inside me swirling within my soul. Her tongue rolled over mine and she tried to pull me closer, but closer wasn’t possible.

The kiss was long and deep, and then Rayna pushed me back. Her eyes were wild, a feral green that seemed to glow. She traced her lips with one of her fingers and gasped for air, the other hand gripping the stone wall behind her. The intensity between us was almost corporeal.

“That’s Serephina,” I whispered, trying to catch my breath.

“What?” Rayna seemed on edge at the mention of the goddess’s name.

“It isn’t just the souls you summoned inside me anymore. All the gods who contributed to the Protector’s power are here. The rite fused pieces of their souls with mine. That piece, the one that makes you
need
to be closer, that’s Serephina.”

Rayna started to reach toward me and then pulled her hand back. “I’ve never felt anything like it. It’s like nothing else matters as long as I can keep touching you.”

I remembered that feeling all too well when I’d used the ring. Serephina was a goddess of pure beauty. Her scent made you feel lust, her touch made your body weak, and being in her presence clouded your thoughts. A power like that could be as deadly as any.

“We just…need to stay focused,” I said, regaining my composure.

“Right…focused.” Rayna nodded, but I soon found her eyes drifting back over my body. She licked her lips and pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. “How do we do that again?”

Power drifted effortlessly through my body. It emanated from my skin and poured from my eyes. I reached out with the invisible hand inside me and pulled it all back. There was so much new magic and energy inside me, it took focus to keep it all contained. With a little bit of effort and some time, the desire that drifted around us had lessened.

Rayna cleared her throat and pushed off the wall, adjusting her shirt. “You need to keep that magic in check.”

“Apparently.”

She took a deep breath, running her hands through her hair. “Okay. Focused.” She nodded to herself.

“Good, then we need to get Tiki and Vincent and go home.”

“You can tell me everything on the way.”

“I’ll tell you everything, but there won’t be an ‘on the way.’”

Rayna looked confused and I answered with magic. I reached forward and called one of the newfound powers. An orb of light formed in the middle of the tunnel. It swirled and expanded, growing into a sheet of white that was bright, yet didn’t hurt my eyes. The pressure of the tunnel changed and when the light stopped, a black doorway awaited us—a portal that would take us right where we needed to go.

Chapter 26

The portal closed behind us, and it was nothing like teleporting with Tiki. It felt more like the doorways Grayson was able to open. Fast, painless, and somehow revitalizing.

Cool air nipped at my skin, carrying with it the scent of rain. The storm we’d seen had passed through here, leaving its fingerprint behind. The colorful grass that surrounded us looked black and sleek with moisture, and moon became lost behind a sheet of clouds.

I had envisioned the trolls’ camp next to the river, but the portal had opened near the far end of the market. Some of these abilities were going to take some time to get used to. Rayna and I had a few hours to walk before we would be there and I took the time to explain everything I’d learned.

Most of what Drake had told me was true. Although disappointing, I found it gave me some level of comfort. The Mark symbolized the Protector: a creature not only of strength and will, but one who would be selfless. He would be less than a god, but more than a man. He would walk the line between the Otherworld and the Underworld. He was created to keep peace among all the dimensions and act as a liaison to the gods. Not unlike the Dark Brothers, this demigod would have the powers of both their parents, but in this case, we were dealing with multiples. The Protector had the ability to take all his power and channel it into a single form. One of pure light, designed to defeat darkness.