Chapter 257: No eternal doom
Rain
Going into the Sunless Realm was easy. Too easy. We went through a portal that the creepy little girl made for us and then stepped into this weird, cold, and dark realm.
It was beautiful… not.
I was shivering already, wrapping my jacket tighter around myself and wishing I’d worn five more layers. The air felt thin and wrong, like it had been filtered through a grave.
What the fuck were we supposed to be doing here again?
I looked around, eyes darting side to side. The ground was covered in something that looked like frost but moved slightly when I wasn’t watching it. The trees were black and twisted, almost like they were turning inward on themselves. And there was no sky…just a heavy, pulsing void above us that made my chest tighten if I stared too long.
Gemma and Rowan pushed past me, walking ahead with their hands clasped together like they weren’t toddlers in the realm equivalent of a haunted house.
I didn’t want to move from this spot. My boots were glued to the ground in fear, logic, and maybe some sort of actual curse.
But the twins were only three. Three. So naturally, we had to follow them.
What were we going to do? Let them wander off into this void-forsaken landscape on their own? I think not.
“They don’t feel fear, huh?” Rain muttered, falling in beside me.
“Not in the normal sense,” I said. “Or maybe they just have no survival instinct.”
Jesse snorted behind us. “I vote we tether them to someone with a leash. No offense to the chosen children or whatever.”
Gemma glanced back at us without stopping. “We know where we’re going.”
“Oh, cool,” I called out. “That makes one of us.”
The fire-god thing ahead of us was at least two stories tall, made of pure molten terror, and somehow had eyebrows. Literal flaming eyebrows. That felt personal.
“Okay,” I said, clapping my hands once. “So. I vote we go home. Who’s with me?”
Silence.
“No one? Really? Wow. Tough crowd.”
Colby didn’t even glance at me. “Now is not the time.”
“Oh, I know that. Now is the time for standing frozen while Fire Satan over there decides which one of us looks the most flammable.”
“Rain,” Jesse said through gritted teeth, “shut the hell up.”
“You shut up. You’re tall. You go first. Maybe it likes tall people.”
Lia didn’t even look at me. “Rain.”
I raised both hands. “What? I’m processing through humor. It’s either this or peeing myself.”
Matt muttered, “Could you process quieter?”
“Maybe if we had stayed home, Matt. Remember home? Cozy? No fire gods? No eternal doom?”
Lia hissed, “If you don’t stop talking—”
“I will stop,” I whispered. “Right after I say, this is the dumbest plan we’ve ever had.”
“It’s not a plan,” Jesse snapped. “It’s a mission.”
“Oh, cool, cool. I love missions that involve open invitations to fiery death. My favorite genre.”
The fire-god took a step forward. The ground shook like it was trying to flee, too.
“Oh my god,” I said, backing up fast. “It’s moving. It’s coming. I told you. I told you all. And no one listened to Rain, the guy with basic survival instincts!”
Colby reached back, grabbed my shirt, and yanked me forward. “Stop moving. You’re making us look weak.”
“I am weak, Colby! I do Pilates once a week and cry when I do planks. I’m not built for this.”
Matt sighed, deadpan. “We should’ve left you in the car.”
“You should’ve driven me home.”
Jesse snapped, “Rain, if you don’t shut up, I will knock you out and use your unconscious body as a peace offering.”
“Oh my god. Violence in front of the fire deity? Really? We’re already cursed, Jesse. Let’s not double down.”
The fire-god rumbled something in a voice like an earthquake gargling lava.
I blinked. “Okay. No one panicked, but I think it just said my name.”
Lia didn’t even blink. “It said run, Rain.”
“…Did it say ‘Rain, run’ or just ‘run’?”
Matt: “You know what? Let’s all run, just to be safe.”
The fire-god raised one massive, molten arm. A slow arc of flame coiled around its wrist like a lasso made of plasma.
“Yeah, yeah, that’s a spell gesture,” I said, taking a step back. “Classic smite formation. I’ve seen that in books. We’re about to be flambéed.”
“Shields up!” Colby barked.
“I don’t have a shield, Colby!”
“Then shut up and get behind someone who does!”
Lia finally turned to me. “Rain. Focus. Can you distract it?”
“Distract it?! I’m not a magician!”
“You’re annoying,” Jesse muttered. “That’s close.”
Rain narrowed his eyes. “Fine. But if I die doing this, I’m haunting all of you. Especially you, Jesse.”
He stepped forward three feet and cupped his hands to his mouth.
“HEY, FIREFACE! I’VE SEEN HOTTER CANDLESTICKS AT IKEA!”
The creature paused.
Lia blinked. “Oh my god. It worked.”
“I hate that it worked,” Jesse groaned.
Rain grinned without joy. “See? Never doubt the power of bad decisions.”
The fire-god roared.
“Okay, yeah, now we run.”
But then the twins stepped forward, making Lia panic. I looked at her, holding my hands up.
“Let them go ahead and say what they have to. They might know how to calm this thing.”
“What do you have to say to us?” the twins asked in unison.
The creature growled. “You are the gate and the key. Choose your truth.”
It then vanished.
I stood there, staring.
“What the fuck?” I asked. “Was the point of coming here just for that message to be relayed? We could’ve just had a text message!”
The twins turned to me with identical blank stares.
“Papa, Rain, that’s silly,” they said in perfect sync.
I blinked. “Okay, no. Nope. You two don’t get to do the horror-movie twin thing. Not here. Not now.”
They just kept looking at me, totally unfazed, like I was the weird one for being disturbed.
“I hate this realm,” I muttered. “I’ve been here five minutes and I already hate it.”
“Rain,” Lia warned, “keep your voice down.”
“Why? You think the Sunless Realm has ears? Don’t answer that. It probably does.”