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“This sounds eerily familiar to our current situation.”
Ere’s brows drew together in thought.
Rain had a point. Andros’ condition after his battle with the usurper centaur mirrored Sorin’s condition now.
Was Sorin’s soul also trapped in some “underworld”? Some in-between realm that wasn’t the present? Was that why he wouldn’t wake while his body still lived?
“We encountered Hades,” Ere recalled.
“Thegod?” Sophia and Eveline asked simultaneously, full of consternation.
“The very same. He wanted…he tried to bargain to keep Sorin’s soul in the Underworld.”
Ere frowned, trying to remember Hades’ exact words. But he couldn’t. It had been years in modern time since that particular adventure. He had only a blurry impression of the conversation.
But he did recall Hades’ distinct interest in Sorin.
“Well, that’s…” Sophia began before trailing off.
“I’m not sure what to make of that.”
Apparently, by the long silence that followed, none of them did.
“And the third quest?” Rain finally prompted.
“We went to a time before the known Viking Age,” Ere replied.
“There were plenty of magical creatures, and an apple tree with apples that was supposed to grant wishes. Kai’s Mate is a reincarnated Valkyrie we met in that time. We didn’t encounter any gods directly, that I know of. But if there were Valkyries, I suppose there must have been other gods and lesser gods at play.”
“Hmm,” Eveline mused, trying to put the pieces together just as Ere was doing.
“And the Jade Emperor himself? Does he have a part in this?”
Ere shook his head. He simply didn’t know.
“Whoever he is, and I assume he’s a powerful god, somehow linked to the Pure Goddess, I have never met him.”
“How do you know he’s connected to the Pure Goddess?” Sophia asked.
“After Lilith and I KO’ed each other, I had the experience that some Pure souls do,” Ere described.
“I felt like I was being led into another realm, that I was leaving my body behind. A bright light had appeared, and a woman spoke to me.”
“Negotiated with me, actually,” he added. “Or rather, I negotiated with her. To bargain for my revival. To cheat death. But in the end, while I believe it was the Pure Goddess who restored me to life, my debt was owed to the Jade Emperor instead. For the condition of a second life…or third or fourth, I’ve lost count…was to fulfill the quests he set out for me.”
“Hmm,” Eveline mused. “It does sound as if the two are connected somehow. But not from the same pantheon, perhaps. I’ve never come across a being called the Jade Emperor before in the histories of the Pure and Dark Ones. Nor in what I’ve read about the animal spirits and Elementals.”
“The Jade Emperor is well known in Asian mythology,” Rain inserted. “He is one of the representations of the first god in Chinese mythology. He is well known in Daoist theology, in Vietnamese folk religion, in the ways of Buddhists, as well as Korean mythology.”
“You only mention this now?” Ere cried, looking at her with wide, bloodshot eyes.
“Ere,” Rain said calmly. “You never mentioned the Jade Emperor or your quests until now. This is the first time we have seen each other in many years.”
True. Rain was not one of Ere’s favorite people. The tiny, white-haired healer intimidated him for some reason. Always had. When he visited the Shield, he never went out of his way to see her. If they ran into each other, it was pure coincidence.
Perhaps it was the fact that herhairhad kept him prisoner in this base once upon a time. She was a freaky one.
Ere shook his head frantically.
