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Chapter One
“Ouch! Motherfucker!”
The big, dumb bastard knocked me halfway across the clearing and into one of the huge godly trees.
The bark shattered off and crumbled into my hair as I slid down to the ground, landing hard on my ass. My eyes narrowed, and I huffed, standing back up and shaking out my shoulders.
Baring my teeth in a silent snarl, I pushed my sleeves up and slapped my hands down, bringing the magic into my fingertips.
The enormous monster stood in front of me in the clearing, huffing as it pawed at the ground. It was bright purple, with the body of a rhinoceros and the head of a big-ass bull. It snorted, blowing steam and snot all over the leaves beneath its feet.
Ew. That’s gross as fuck.
I put my hands up and flicked my fingers back and forth, letting magic dance between my hands. “Come on, you big behemoth of a shit stain. You wanna fucking fight? Fine! This could have been simple. We could’ve each minded our own business. But nooo, you had to charge me as soon as I appeared here, get in my damn way, and then attack me. For all you know, we could’ve been best friends. But it’s too late now, dickhead.”
The beast reared its head back and wailed loudly, the sound reminiscent of a dying caribou. Much as I would’ve liked to believe it was mourning the loss of my friendship, I was pretty sure it was just gearing up to attack again.
Damn.
I hadn’t been in the ring in a while. Maybe I needed to work on my smack talk.
“Alright, motherfucker. We’ll do this your way,” I muttered, then threw myself forward, my feet digging into the soft earth.
The beast charged toward me as I charged toward it, each racing as fast as we could. The magic spread over me, a trail of purple haze coming off my back. As we collided, a wave of energy blasted outward, bending the trees back and then forward again. I grabbed the beast by the horns and twisted its head as it attempted to gore me, its heavy feet shaking the ground.
The thing was so big that it should’ve been able to shake me off like a rag doll, but the power burning through my veins gave me strength to match the monster. Pushing my head down and my forehead against its leathery side, I flipped the rhino-bull over onto its back. It wriggled and wailed, and I struggled to keep it down.
Come on, Aria. If you’re really a damn god, you should be able to take down one lousy magical beast.
As if sensing my internal doubts, the creature bucked under my hold, swiping at me with its large horns.
“Hold still,” I grunted, pinning it down again. “You know I don’t want to kill you.”
I managed to get my hand up, pulling a ball of energy into my palm. It swirled around like a purple mist, gently seeping down over the beast’s face. The monster snorted and huffed, but slowly, its eyes began to close. The tension faded from its body until it finally went completely limp.
Whew.
I fell back onto my ass, holding the beast’s head in my lap as it snored gently. “See?” I whispered. “You could’ve just taken a nap in the first place, and everything would’ve been fine. Now you’ll have to lay here for a couple days before the spell breaks. That’s what you get for messing with shit you don’t understand.”
And that I don’t understand.
I didn’t bother saying that part out loud to the rhino-bull. The thing was passed out cold anyway, and besides, it wouldn’t have been the most sympathetic confidant even if it were awake.
Grunting, I pushed the beast off of me and stood up, brushing the dirt and leaves off my pants.
The snap of a twig in the distance made my head snap up, and I looked around quickly, my breath freezing in my lungs. Using my magic to magnify the noises from the distance, I picked up the faint sound of guards shouting as they charged toward my location.
Ah, fuck. I’d made too much noise.
From the little snippets of words I could pick up, they didn’t seem to know what they were looking for, but they knew there was an intruder outside the city of the gods. The godly realm had been on high alert recently, but I wasn’t sure whether it was because of me or not.
