Chapter 142 Vows Beneath A God

Chapter 142 Vows Beneath A God

"Zuri...is that really you?"
Zuri didn't move. His breath came slow, but heavy, the glow in his eyes dimming by degrees.

Below him stood Oma and Makena, frozen in place, unsure whether they were even allowed to move. His aura pinned them where they stood, and both fought to keep from trembling.

"Odin's beard... Makena? Oma?" Zuri's composure cracked, just slightly, and came back changed.

That was all the invitation they needed.

Both bolted uphill at once, screaming his name like the world tearing itself apart around them didn't matter at all.

Makena reached him first, throwing her full weight into him, muscle and all, wrapping him in the same crushing hug she always had, hard enough to punch a whimper out of him.

He barely shifted his footing to take it. She kissed his face over and over, laughing through tears.

"You're alive! Bless the Allfathers!" She ruffled his hair the way she always had, poked his nose the way she always had.

"Hello, sister. It's good to..."

Oma didn't let him finish.

She collided into him next, wrapping herself fully around him, and the two of them nearly went down together. Her kiss was long, silent, and wet with tears she didn't bother restraining.

Mother Keziah reached the mouth of the archive and stopped there, letting them have the moment before she crossed it.

Oma pulled back first, breath ragged, eyes still bright and wet, staring at him like she still didn't quite believe it. "My love. I've missed you like the heavens miss the sun."

"Oma..."

"Gods, what happened to your hair?" She didn't let him answer, running her fingers through the new silver of it, marveling at the texture. "I love it. It's beautiful. You look like a god now." Her eyes found his. "Even your eyes."

"I am one, now." He set her back on her feet, a small smile ghosting over his mouth. "Not just me, Oma. It's we — I, the Primal, Khonshu, the very essence of the Darkmoon, all in one. I'm a god of the old world now."

"You're still my Zuri." She booped his nose, laughing despite herself. "Gods, I missed you. Can't believe I'm even saying that again."

"How did you find me?"

"Owen." Makena answered. "He told us where you'd gone the second we reached her father's shrine. Collapsed right after he said it."

"He's earned the rest. He's worked himself down to the bone for me." Zuri huffed a laugh. "Heth and Asah, are they well? I'd like to see them before I leave."

"They're fine." Makena's face lit with relief. "Asah took a nasty hit, but he'll live. They've been holding the line against the Draugr with the Selkaharins since you left."

"Of course he has." A short laugh. "Asah collects wounds like trophies."

"You're leaving?" Oma's voice cracked, sadness pouring into it fast.

"Yes, Oma. The world is coming apart at the seams, you know this already. I have to go. I have to save it. Save all of you."

"But..." Her voice caught. "You just got here."

"Oma." Makena's tone carried a warning.

"It's alright, sis." Zuri turned back to Oma. "Look at the horizon." He nodded toward the fading afterimage of the light beam still bleeding into the sky. "That's the Darkmoon goddess, manifesting. It's war now, Oma. Trivia of the lunar coven is calling for me, and I have to answer it. We march together to the heart of the Darkness and end it. Only then can I come back to all of you, fully."

"The Darkmoon goddess?" Oma blinked.

"Yes, Oma. My Fated one." He said it without a flicker of guilt.

Something in Oma broke, quietly, at the word Fated.

"Your... Fated one, Zuri?" Her voice shook.

Makena caught his eye, shaking her head once, a silent "don't", but he wasn't looking at her. He wasn't feeling any of what was about to happen.

"Oma, I am Fated to the Darkmoon Priestess. The only one who can reach inside me and pull out whatever's best left in me." He said it plainly. "The Darkmoon depends on it. Reality depends on it."

"What..." Her voice was close to breaking now. "What about me?"

"Please, Oma. Don't do this." Makena moved to hold her.

"What about our vows? Our promises? Zuri, you promised you'd..."

"I'm sorry, Oma." His eyes held hers, steady, no trace of the warmth she was looking for, just composure, flat and unmoved. "I don't know what promises the old Zuri made you. But I don't love you."

"Zuri, that's enough!" Makena rounded on him now, no longer caring whether he wore a godhead's face or his own. "Why are you doing this to her? She's still your Oma. How is this fair to her?"

"I wish I could give you what you want, Oma. I can't. I feel nothing for you." His voice never rose. "The Zuri who loved you had no responsibility sitting on his shoulders, a frightened boy hiding behind clan law and a betrothal he didn't choose. I'm not him anymore. Your laws don't sit above me now. No oath, no vow, entitles you to me. If I ever offer you love again, it will be because I choose to, not because a contract says I must. My path runs elsewhere. You have no place in it. I'm sorry. That's all there is."

Oma broke down fully, shaking where she stood.

Makena shot him a look of pure disgust before turning to gather her.

"We should go, Zuri." Mother Keziah stepped in, putting herself between him and the wreckage he'd just left, before he could do any more damage.

She crossed to where Oma wept and laid a gentle hand across her shaking back.

"Take heart, child. He didn't mean it the way it sounded. It's simply how things stand now."

She looked at Makena as she spoke, voice low and steady. "His path runs to our salvation now, to the Darkmoon. That isn't a force any of us can hold onto. He isn't only Zuri anymore, however ordinary he looks standing there. He's become the very thing our people have spent their whole lives in service to. He's an essence now."

She paused, unsure if any of it was landing, and pressed on anyway.

"Trivia console you. Odin console you. It is a hard thing, to have the one you love most break your heart."

She turned to Makena. "Take good care of her. I know exactly how this feels."

She walked away, the ache of it following her too. He'd been too hard on the girl.

Perhaps it wasn't cruelty, perhaps it was only the Darkmoon in him now, deaf to anything but the single duty of saving the world.

"Zuri. Let's go." She started down the stone steps.

He hadn't moved, eyes still fixed on the horizon.

She stopped, turning back to him. "You said it yourself, there's no more time to spare. We need to reach the Olive Peaks, get you what you came for."

"It isn't only that, Mother." His gaze didn't shift. "It's reality itself." He looked at her now. "Mother, it should be dawn by now. Shouldn't it?"

"It should." She frowned. "Why?"

"But dawn isn't coming." His eyes had gone very still. "Not today. Not ever again."