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“Yes.”
I made a show of looking impressed. “Where are they?”
“Locked up like the beasts that they are,” the woman hissed. “Cowering in fear because they know the end is near.”
“The end?”
“Solarian, the great god, will soon return to pass his final judgment on them.”
What a flowery way to word an execution. Nice to know that the new gods were just as melodramatic as the old ones.
“This final judgement,” Nero said. “When will it happen?”
“Tomorrow morning, at first light,” the man replied.
Which meant Nero and I had to get Faris’s soldiers out of here tonight.
I’d long suspected that the universe had a deep love of irony, and this mission only proved my theory. The locals were holding Faris’s soldiers prisoner in the gold temple, the former symbol of the god’s supremacy over this world.
We waited until after dark, then made our move.
“How’s it coming with that door?” I whispered to Nero from the shadows.
“Badly.” He punched the door, but his fist didn’t even make a dent.
“Is this a temple or a fortress?” I grumbled, frowning at the door.
Nero had already tried freezing it, bombarding it with telekinetic blasts, and throwing corrosive acid at it. Nothing had helped.
“Your father is the God of Heaven’s Army. He builds everything strong enough to withstand a heavy beating.” Nero pulled some magic explosives out of his pack.
“Wait,” I said. “I doubt those will do more than shower us with dirt and grass. The building is obviously magic-resistant.”
“Faris would never have his minions build him a temple where magic doesn’t work.”
“No, he wouldn’t,” I agreed. “I think the anti-magic wards are a new feature, probably set up by this crazy new god and the people who worship him. Think about it: what better place to keep godly soldiers locked up than in a prison where magic doesn’t work?”
This reeked of the Guardians. They had a talent for nullifying magic.
“Ok.” Nero returned the explosives to his pack. “So if we can’t use magic, how do we get inside? We are magic.”
“Not each and every part of us. I learned a few skills before I joined the Legion and unlocked my magic.” I retrieved my lock-picking kit from my bag.
Nero watched me, his face guarded. “You really think you can pick a god’s lock?”
“Of course,” I laughed. “Gods’ locks are the easiest to pick. They’re so busy worrying about supernatural threats that they never stop to even consider the mundane ones.” The lock clicked open, and I threw a triumphant look over my shoulder at Nero. “See? Easy as pie.”
“Don’t celebrate too soon. We still have to rescue Faris’s soldiers without getting captured. I doubt we want to be subjected to this mysterious Solarian’s ‘final judgment’.”
“Yeah, let’s not explore that path,” I agreed, nudging the door open.
A long hallway lay before us, brightly lit and sparkling with gem-studded walls. It was like standing inside a gigantic jewelry box.
“Subtle.” I snorted, moving inside. “No wonder Solarian wanted to ‘free’ these people. He wanted all the loot for himself.”
“I’m not so sure.” Nero’s attentive eyes swept the hall, searching for threats. “To a mortal, this might look like treasure, but to a deity, these are just trinkets and baubles. Gods have more sparkly things than they could ever want.”
He was right. Though I was the daughter of a god and a demon, I’d been raised human. I’d spent so many years thinking like a human that I often forgot to see the world through a deity’s eyes.
