She wiped the tears from her eyes as a figure appeared in the distance.
Ures, dressed in the golden armor she had seen him wear in countless paintings.
“I see you found what you were looking for.” He let his almighty axe rest on his shoulder as he spoke.
Helaina stood, holding her fingertips before her face, letting glittering shadows spark to the surface. They twirled playfully in her palm as she regarded them with fondness.
“I did... but I thought you said there were rules between the dead and the living. How did my brother and sister get here?”
Ures sauntered forward, a kind of arrogance there she hadn’t witnessed when they first met.
“My dear Helaina, you stabbed an ancient knife through your beating heart. You did not arrive here alive. The dead can always visit the dead, if they are willing.”
Helaina swallowed her remaining tears, remembering her purpose, remembering who was waiting for her back in Lynor.
“You better get back.” He placed a hand upon her heart. “Your power is restored. I can’t take his curse, your shadow, but I did give it a small bit of light, a gift my bonded used to treasure.” Helaina started to glow and tingle as she had when she’d come to this realm.
“Wait.” She reached out a hand. “My mortal scars... Can I have them back?” A question she’d thought she would never ask.
“Do you not wish them gone? Do they not bring you great pain?” He narrowed his thick brows in question as she continued to shimmer and fade.
She never wanted to forget. Never wanted to bury a single part of herself ever again.
“Not anymore,” she said. “I earned them.”
The god smiled upon her. The skin above her heart grew warmer where his hand remained. “There are many types of soldiers, warriors. I have always valued bravery and rewarded courage.”
Her skin was nearly translucent now.
“My pride is greater, knowing I share blood with such a champion.”
And then she was gone.
CHAPTERSIXTY-FIVE
Sweat and dirt and blood painted Theo’s brow. The sea of undead syren hounds was never-ending as they continued to hurtle over that distant peak. Bodily fluids were washed away in the savage rain just to be replaced with more carnage as he slaughtered another scaled body. Every lightning strike that erupted from the sky exposed a sea of blue sheen blanketing the mountain.
They were outnumbered by thousands. Theo kept searching for an opportunity to go after Dolion—each and every time he got close, the hounds would overwhelm Callum, bringing him back into the fray.
Callum was leaping frantically through space, disappearing as he jumped to reappear above another snarling opponent, driving his long sword through their skulls, slicing into their rough hides, severing as many heads as he could. Over and over he shifted, too nimble for any of them to touch. The second their jaws tried to connect with flesh, he was gone. By the time one would notice him and attempt to strike out with its claws, he would be atop its back with a feral growl of his own, slicing deep and deadly.
His captain came from the sky, guiding his hands toward the remaining torchlights and aiming the fire at the carcasses, burning their decapitated bodies.
Theo knew they couldn’t outlast the onslaught of demon dogs much longer. A few were already nearly slipping past their defenses. They needed a barrier—a wall—to protect the hypnotized soldiers behind them.
He called to his power as he reached for the tree line in the distance. A guttural roar resonated from his throat as he strained to bring down the gargantuan trees. Boom after deafening boom, colossal redwoods fell to the forest floor, submitting to his will. The thick trunks slid as if being dragged, stacking into place. Soon a wall of branches and bark encircled the Divine, safely harboring them in the canyon.
Theo called upon every torchlight within reach, manipulating their embers, and set that entire wall ablaze. Even the heavy storm couldn’t put out the thrashing flames.
Theo’s wings carried him through the skies as he turned his focus and raw energy on groups of hounds. Dozens at a time stopped dead in their tracks, hacking and gasping for air. With a single look and a clench of his fist, Theo narrowed their throats until no air could pass, crushed their spines until they broke apart. He squeezed so hard their heads separated, shredding bone and tissue like it was paper. On a phantom wind, he willed the corpses into the burning trees.
Howls fell silent as his dark magic brought them down. He swooped closer to the ground. The feral beasts tried to leap and catch him by his wings as he passed, their snapping jaws competing with the sound of thunderclaps above.
“your left!” Callum shouted from below while driving his blade through a beast’s eye, then moving for its throat.
Theo didn’t even look, just slashed his sword in the direction Callum had indicated. Many met the end of Theo’s blade, detaching those menacing wolf heads from their long torsos. Blood sprayed and intestines rained down. The bodies piled up outside the barrier. The dark blood and rain collected below, creating a slurry of muck on the battlefield.
Callum and Theo maintained the defenses for hours, delivering killing blow after killing blow, two versus an entire army. They worked in tandem, protecting their own.
