Chapter 21 What Two Powers Cost
Darius woke before dawn with the taste of copper thick on his tongue. He turned away from the small dying fire and coughed quietly into his sleeve. Blood came up again, warm and dark. He wiped it away carefully, then stood as though nothing had happened, rolling his shoulders like any ordinary morning.
Veth was already awake, sharpening an axe that did not need sharpening. Her sharp eyes caught his movement. "You move like a man carrying extra weight today, husband. Heavy night?"
"Just stiff from sleeping on hard ground," Darius replied, keeping his voice steady and calm. "We should get moving. The road ahead is still contested territory."
Mara emerged from the trees a moment later, her golden eyes sharp and watchful. She studied him for a long second, noticing the faint red stain he had missed on his cuff, but said nothing.
They walked for the first hour in relative silence. Inside Darius, the two powers twisted and fought against each other constantly. Mara's plague demanded precision, control, and clean boundaries. Veth's war energy pushed relentlessly for escalation, violence, and release. The conflict burned deep behind his ribs like two rivers trying to occupy the same narrow channel.
Veth fell into step on his left. "You have been unusually quiet since last night. After ending my sixty-year war I expected more boasting. Most men would be crowing about their victory."
"Not much to boast about," Darius said. "I only showed people a truth they had already begun to suspect deep down."
Veth snorted. "Still. You carry me now. War and Plague inside one fragile body. How does it actually feel?"
"Like carrying two storms that refuse to share the same sky," he admitted. "They do not agree on anything."
Mara moved closer on his right side. "You are managing the strain?"
"Well enough for now," Darius lied smoothly. The pain had settled into a constant, throbbing pressure. Every step made the two powers scrape and clash inside him. He could no longer fully predict when one would surge forward or when the other would suddenly pull back. That uncertainty bothered him far more than the physical pain itself.
By midday they ran into trouble. A band of twenty deserters, men who had not yet accepted that the war was truly over, blocked the narrow road ahead. Their leader, a scarred captain with wild eyes, raised his sword high.
"You! The bastard who ruined everything! We lost our livelihood, our purpose, because of you!"
Veth laughed with dark amusement. "This should be entertaining."
The deserters charged without hesitation.
Darius moved forward to meet them, trying to maintain control. He reached for Mara's plague, intending a precise, targeted effect. Instead, Veth's war energy surged forward at the exact same moment, hungry for escalation and violence. The two powers collided violently inside his chest.
He flicked his hand outward.
What should have been a thin, controlled thread of plague exploded outward mixed with raw battle fury. The front line of deserters dropped instantly. Their bodies convulsed as plague rotted weapons and armor while war energy amplified their own aggression, turning them against each other in sudden frenzy. Some men screamed and attacked their comrades. Others collapsed with skin blackening in precise but erratic patches.
The entire skirmish ended in mere seconds.
Then everything went silent.
Too silent.
No groans. No ragged breathing. No movement at all. The twenty men lay scattered across the road, alive but completely paralyzed, as if the conflicting powers had canceled each other out into perfect, unnatural stillness.
Veth whistled low. "That was not exactly subtle, husband."
Mara stepped forward, her golden eyes fixed on Darius with concern. "You lost control for a moment."
Darius flexed his fingers. His hand trembled slightly. "They reacted badly together. Plague wants clean precision. War wants escalation. They are still fighting inside me."
Veth circled the paralyzed deserters, nudging one with her boot. "Interesting result. You are carrying both of us now. Most men would already be dead. You are still walking and talking."
Darius turned away before either woman could see him cough again. Fresh blood hit the back of his hand. He wiped it quickly on his cloak.
Mara noticed the motion but stayed quiet for now. Veth narrowed her eyes but also chose not to speak.
They continued down the road. The journey felt longer with every mile. Darius kept his pace steady and measured even as the internal conflict between the two powers grew stronger. Plague tried desperately to contain the damage and maintain order. War tried to burn through everything. Neither force succeeded cleanly.
Veth spoke after a long stretch of walking. "You are hiding the cost. I can see it."
Darius did not deny it. "Would you rather I complained constantly?"
"No," Veth said. "But I notice things. Especially when it involves my own power fighting inside someone else's body."
Mara added softly, "He is resistant. Not immune. There is a difference."
Darius kept his eyes fixed on the road ahead. "I knew there would be risks. One was difficult. Two is harder. Three will be worse. But we keep moving forward anyway."
The powers churned violently inside him again. Plague seeking structure and limits. War demanding chaos and release. He clenched his jaw and forced the discomfort down deep. The uncertainty bothered him the most. He had always relied on understanding his own limits clearly. These new limits kept shifting unpredictably.
Veth grinned, though the expression did not fully reach her eyes this time. "You are carrying War and Plague at the same time, little husband. Most men would have died screaming by now. You are still walking. That alone is impressive."
Darius coughed into his fist again, turning his head away. More blood. He hid it carefully.
Mara and Veth exchanged a quiet glance but continued walking without pressing him.
The road stretched onward. Darius remained quiet, still calculating and planning their next steps, while inside his body two divine forces waged their own private, unrelenting war against each other and against the man desperately trying to contain them both.