Book 3 - Chapter 12
“Oh SHIT!”
“What the hell are you doing?” Dr. Kellan yells at the same time that I did.
The shattered runes lay like broken bones across the floor, their glow bleeding out in weak pulses that barely held back the tide of darkness pressing against the walls. The air was thick, heavy, charged with power so raw it made my skin crawl. Every breath tasted of ash and iron. Outside, the supers howled a chorus of hunger and rage, but inside the gods were silent.
Watching
Waiting
And then they moved.
Figures carved from shadow and flame, their forms rippling like smoke caught in a storm. Eyes burned like suns, searing through the gloom, and their voices curled through the air like silk and steel, soft, beautiful, and terrible all at once.
Jasper stood in front of me, his body a wall of flesh and fury, his blade raised through it, looking pitiful against their vastness. His breath came in ragged gasps, his muscles taut as steel cables, but his eyes…. his eyes burned like fire.
“You’re not taking her,” he snarled, his voice raw and feral. “Not now. Not ever”
The gods laughed a sound like shattering glass, “You think you can stop this?” one asked its voice curling like smoke around my mind. “You think steel and mortal blood can defy eternity?”
Jasper didn’t flinch. “Try me.”
The attack came like a storm.
The gods struck as one, their forms blurring into shadows that lashed out like lightning. Jasper roared, his blade flashing in arcs of silver light, his body a wall between me and the darkness. The first God lunged, and Jasper met it head-on, his sword carving through its form with a hiss of burning shadow. The thing shrieked, a sound that clawed at my ears, and recoiled, but it didn’t fall.
Another god struck, its hand curling into claws of flame. Jasper spun, his blade catching the blow, sparks raining like fire. The impact sent him staggering, blood spraying from a gash across his arm. He didn’t stop. Couldn’t stop. His breath was ragged, his muscles trembling, but his eyes burned with feral resolve.
“Stay down!” he roared, his voice raw, desperate. “Don’t move!”
I clung to the cot, my fingers digging into the thin mattress, every nerve screaming. The air was a furnace of fear, thick and choking, and every heartbeat was a drum pounding against my ribs. The gods moved like shadows given flesh, their laughter curling through the chaos like smoke.
“You cannot win,” they said, their voices echoing like thunder. “You cannot fight eternity.”
Jasper bared his teeth, his blade flashing in the harsh light. “Watch me.”
And then it happened.
The runes flared bright, blinding, casting the chamber in a harsh glow. For a heartbeat, the darkness recoiled, the shadows shirking back. And in that light, I saw it.
Jasper wasn’t just fighting.
He was changing.
“Jasper…. Wh..?” I stammered as I watched the brother who had annoyed me my whole life change. He was changing right in front of me. Into what I don’t know, but he was certainly evolving into something that the gods were worried about.
His eyes burned brighter, molten gold searing through the black. His muscles swelled, taut as steel cables, his movements faster, sharper, inhuman. The blade in his hand pulsed with light. Runes crawling across its surface like living fire. The god froze, their laughter dying in their throats.
“What are you?” one whispered, its voice curling like smoke.
Jasper’s lips curled into a snarl, his voice a blade of fury.
“Her protector”
A loud laugh echoes around the vault as one of the gods laughs at Jasper's words. But the laughter dies as his eyes grow serious, and as one, they form a tight group.
The gods struck again, but Jasper moved like a storm given flesh. His blade carved through shadow and flame; each strike was
a roar of defiance. Sparks rained like meteors, the air thick with the stench of burning magic.
The vault shook, walls cracking as power clashed against power. Guards screamed, their weapons useless, their bodies crumpling under the weight of the god's wrath.
Dr. Kellan stumbled back, his face a mask of horror. “This isn’t possible,” He whispered, “No human can…”
“He’s not human,” one God hissed, its voice curling like venom. “He’s ours.”
The words froze my blood. Ours? What did that mean?
Jasper roared, his blade flashing in arcs of silver fire. The gods recoiled, their forms rippling like smoke torn by wind. For the first time, they looked uncertain. Afraid.
“You cannot hold it,” one said, its voice sharp with fury. “The power will consume you.”
Jasper bared his teeth, his eyes burning like suns. “Then let it.”
The runes shattered, not dimmed, not flickered, shattered, their light bleeding out in a scream of magic. The vault plunged into darkness so complete it felt like drowning.
The lights flared, blinding, searing, and for a heartbeat, I saw him.
Jasper, standing in the wreckage, his body a storm of light and shadow, his blade burning like a star. The supers outside were finally quiet, as if they sensed something bigger, scarier, and more superior to them.
The gods hissed as their shadows seemed to blend all together. Their teeth snapped, and their voices sliced through the darkness like a whip. The vault walls shook, and the floor trembled as the gods rushed forward.
I screamed for Jasper, but he didn’t hear me as he faced off with the gods. They clashed, and it sounded like a bomb had gone off. I ducked and covered my head and ears. There was a bright flash. The echoes of my scream died down as the light finally faded. I look around, calling for “JASPER! Where are you?”
But he was gone.
There was no Jasper, no gods, “Where? Where are you?” But he didn’t answer, because he wasn’t here. There was no Jasper, no gods, and no supers. I was alone… in the dark.
Jasper was gone….
Swallowed by the gods.