Soul Under the Mountain (Legend of Reason Series) (21 page)

"Good. I need all the help I can get. Every time I get close to killing that man, he somehow avoids it. And he wears that armor often enough that any attack on him is futile."

The twins will destroy Rommus even if he is wearing the armor. It is important not to get in their way, for they will destroy anyone in their path, and their power will be much stronger once they arrive here. You must make them aware that you are on their side, or else they may destroy Taburdum, Brinn, and every other city in Medora once they arrive.

"They are that dangerous? Is there a way to stop them if necessary?"

They are some of the most dangerous being
s
from any
of the
realm
s
. They are unaware of their full potential, but even with their capacities limited they are extraordinarily dangerous. They are, after all, the warriors of Maeris. If there is any way to stop them, I do not know it.

"They are immortals then?
"

In a sense, yes. They have not been granted immortality like the Dirujen. The Dirujen are connected to my own bloodline in this world, and I made them immortal so that no one could ever use the robes of Inshae against them to kill them and therefore kill me.

But the twins are not offered the same sort of immortality. The jealous Maeris could not grant these minions eternal life, so he offered them lives that were so long that they were essentially immortal.
Death can still come to them, but not easily.
Any wound they suffer will heal far too quickly to ever kill them.

But they are far from the being they once were. The twins were once a single being with a single soul. The process to lengthen the life of that soul ended up severing the soul itself. This makes them simpler than humans in some ways—more like fierce beasts
than men. But do not be fooled by their appearance or their mannerisms. They are cunning and treacherous. They are dangerous beyond description, and they bring a power with them that can bring nations to the ground.

Chapter 24

"Pay attention, young Tirinius, but do not wake."

Rommus blinked a few times in confusion. He had heard the gentle words, but no one was near him. His surroundings were unexpected, and he was unsure how he had arrived at the place at all. He searched his mind for answers, but it was clouded with a thick haze.

He found himself reclining in an unfamiliar grove. Birds chirped merrily on the trees as a calm breeze rustled the foliage around them.
Pink and purple flowers bobbed up and down on the gentle wind.
Bright rays of warm sunlight pierced the thick canopy overhead and luminous patches meandered across the forest floor. Tiny specks of dust or
drifting seeds caught the sunlight where they hung in the air on their slow journey to the ground. The unmistakable smell of summer flooded his nostrils.

But something was wrong. As peaceful as the place was, there was a danger hiding there. It wasn't a direct threat; more like an unwanted consequence. His mind was not clear enough to understand what was happening, but he knew that something strange was happening to him. He began to worry.

Again the voice called out. "Be at ease, god of war. Do not allow your mind to be weighed down with confusion. Listen to the words, and do not wake."

Rommus searched the
trees around him as he stood, but
saw no hint of anyone who could be speaking to him
. He calmly reached to his hip, but found no sword at his side. When he discovered his knife was also missing, he started to panic.

"No, god of war, ease your fears. No harm can come to you here. You need no weapon."

"Who are you? Show yourself."

A faint light began to shine between the trees off to the right. It moved slowly through the trees, growing in intensity as it came closer to him. When it finally reached the clearing, it appeared to be the figure of a man, although his identity was masked by the radiance. Even though the light was bright, it did not hurt his eyes. Suddenly Rommus remembered a time when that had happened before. It was at the golden temple in Morendiir, the great city of the dead in the Land of the Gods.

The light faded and the figure began to take form. It was indeed one of the gods who stood before him. He appeared no different than an ordinary man in fine robes, but the odd nature of the
slow movement of those robes drew Rommus's attention.

"Terinopus," Rommus said.

"Yes, god of war. I have come to you because you require my help. You are asleep at this time, and you must not wake, for this is the only way I can reach you, and I do not know
if
I will
ever
have this chance again.
Oderion is watching and forbids me to communicate with you.

"There is a great danger among the gods. Tachion and I believe that the gods of darkness intend to destroy one of
the gods of light
in order to gain total control. If the gods of darkness manage to slay one of us, then the balance of light and darkness will be eliminated. With three gods of darkness overpowering the two remaining gods of light, it will be easy to eliminate us or at least nullify our influence over the worlds in which we reside.

"I am the balance, young Tirinius. I am the keeper of peace and life in all of the realms. Without my power, your world as you know it would almost certainly be destroyed. It is not my theory that Inshae, Maeris
and Aedensor will attempt to strike me down or eliminate me. My existence is simply too important in their eyes. They may not desire to kill me, but they certainly desire to rule me.

"
It is
instead
my belief that they will make an attempt on your life. You have already been weakened and had your powers removed by the stone of Etheotis. You are, regardless of your status as a living god, a mortal man and therefore susceptible to death. You are quite simply the easiest target of the three gods of light and therefore in the greatest danger.
"

Rommus could feel
something in
the waking world pulling on him, trying to wake him and return him to the cold winter world of the living. "It's not news
to me that gods want me dead. Many h
umans want me dead as well. Why would you bother going to all this trouble to tell me something I already know?"

"I did not come here to tell you that you are in danger. I have come to
help you
renew your powers as a god. You should be afforded the protections you are entitled to, and those protections will serve to defend the gods of light as well. For if you should fall, god of war, we all shall fall. It would disrupt the balance in all the realms, and bring an end to existence as we are familiar with it."

"I don't really care about having the powers of a god. I am a man, and I refuse to play the role of a god. I did not ask for that curse and I do not ask mankind to worship me."

"Young Tirinius, I see the virtue in your words. I do not consider
your resistance
blasphemous, I assure you. However, you must understand the greater implications. While you may not have asked for this responsibility, it is no less yours. It is your duty to uphold the
balance of the gods."

"Balance is
your
duty,
Terinopus,
not
mine."

"Young Tirinius, you must understand that all worlds are at stake. Your role as a god is far too important to simply be cast aside. If you fail to meet this duty, you will not only lose your life, but the world you know may cease to exist. The people you know and love will be lost; their positions in the afterlife unknown at best, eliminated at worst. You must step forward and at least attempt to save the realms."

"What realms? My world and yours?"

"Your co
nnection is grander than that. But f
or now, I speak of your world, my world, and the void. Nothing else is relevant. I am not asking that you do anything more than survive. Attacks are certainly coming, and it is my wish that you have the protections require
d to resist them. That is all."

"Well I have no desire to die. I can't
protect my people if I am dead. But
we are already searching for ways to get my powers back. M
y companions Vohl and Alana are already searching for the
book that should tell us how
."

"No, you are mistaken. The book you speak of does not hold the key to restoring your power. There is only one way to do so, and it is a secret no mortal could have ever written because no mortal could ever know it."

Rommus ran a hand through his hair.
"Then w
hat must I do to regain my powers? Can you grant them to me?"

"No, I cannot. Not even Oderion could do such a thing. You see, your powers are not lost, they have been misplaced. More exactly, the part of your soul that holds your powers is gone. It was that stone
, that vile gem called Etheotis that
captured that part of your soul and locked it away. Even the power of all gods combined cannot return that sliver of soul to you. You must retrieve it yourself
, for it is yours and yours alone to retrieve
."

Again, something from the waking world beyond his dream called him closer to consciousness.
"Where? Where is it? How can I get there?"

"You must go find the oldest of beings still
residing
in your world; the soul under the mountain. He is the keeper of the gate, and the guardian o
f the void. His name is Demeos
."

"And he can grant me these powers?"

"No, he cannot and would not
even
if he were able. He can only grant you entrance into the underworld
known as the void
."

"How do I know he will even allow me in? How do I get back out? Where is this sliver of my soul inside the void?"

"I do not know the answers to those questions, young Tirinius. I can only assist you in getting to the gateway."

"Where is it then? How do I find this D
emeos
?"

"I do not know the location, as it has been kept secret from the gods of light. Of the gods, only Inshae knows the locati
on. But there is a man who
is a stranger to the gods who
can tell you
the location.
"

"Who is
this stranger
? Where can I find him?"

A
crashing sound
woke Rommus
before
the god could answer.

Chapter
25

It took a moment to figure out what had happened. A haze still filled his mind and made it difficult to gather information from his surroundings. He had apparently been in a very deep sleep, which was not very common for him. Usually the slightest noise would wake him—unless the sound was thunder. For some reason he could usually sleep through storms.

But the noise he heard wasn't thunder. The moon was not blocked by even a single wispy cloud, and cool blue moonlight fell across the floor. A rock and shards of glass lay on the wooden floorboards, and a cold wind howled and whistled through the new and unwanted hole in the window.

His first instinct was to run to the window and get a look at whoever had thrown the rock, but he stopped himself. He first slid his bare feet into the boots next to his bed before stomping through the sharp bits of glass.

When he got to the window, he could see small clusters of people running and throwing things. The buildings hid most of them from the light of the moon, so it was difficult to see how many there were or what they were doing. Obviously they were
out
vandalizing
the streets of Brinn, but such things were extremely uncommon in Medora. Generally people-even very young people—were respectful enough not to damage the property of others.

The vandals scampered down the street and out of sight as candles started to light in the houses of the victims. They would never
be able to see the culprits in time, and lighting a candle would do nothing but blind them to the goings-on out in the streets. Rommus shook his head.

He looked down to the rock and noticed something odd. The moonlight reveale
d some markings that were carved
onto the surface. It was crudely drawn, but it appeared to be a
circle with the Medoran seal; a four pointed star surrounded by olive branches. The symbol had been crossed out with a large X, and beneath that was the
word "equality". Rommus thought that the circle and the seal were meant to represent a gold Medoran coin, but given the crude nature of the depiction, he was unsure.

But no matter what the symbol was meant to say, it made no sense for these hoodlums to be throwing rocks through windows in the middle of the night. Surely whatever the message they were trying to send would be lost in a sea of anger flowing from the property owners they vandalized. For a moment he thought that the Vindyri or the Bhoors from Taburdum had ventured into Brinn to cause trouble, but he soon abandoned that thought. Soldiers would not draw attention to themselve
s with such trivial nuisances. Instead of rocks t
hey would bring swords and spears, and put them through torsos—not windows.