Book 3: Chapter 15
The ground split.
The walls screamed.
And the gods stepped through.
They didn’t walk. They didn’t move like anything mortal. They unfolded vast shapes of 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.
The tunnel wasn’t a tunnel anymore. It was a throat of fire, a wound in the earth bleeding light and darkness in equal measure. The runes etched into the walls flared, then shattered, their glow bleeding out in jagged pulses that carved the air into shards of brilliance. Every flicker was a heartbeat, every tremor a warning.
And then the voices came.
“You were never the prey,” they said, their words slicing through the chaos like a blade. “You were the promise.”
I couldn’t breathe.
The air was thick, heavy, charged with power so raw it made my skin crawl. Every breath tasted of ash and iron. My body was a ruin, splintered ribs, shattered leg, blood everywhere. I was surprised I even had any blood left at this rate. I am pretty sure that all of my blood was spread from the first tunnel all the way to this one.
The whispers of my name kept coming. Kept asking me to go to them. It was becoming irritating. These gods and supers were nagging little shits. But every time they called me, it was like chains within my bones pulling me in their direction.
Jasper stood in front of me, his body a storm of light and shadow, his blade burning like a star. His eyes were molten gold; his skin glowed as the crawling runes moved over his body like living fire. But it was the power rippling off him in waves that was making the air around us hard to breathe. The warping light pressed against my chest until every breath felt like suffocation.
The gods tilted their heads, their forms shifting like shadows caught in flame. “Protector,” one hissed, its voice curling with venom and distaste.
“I knew there was something off about this one. A protector was not allowed here.” The god hissed to the others.
“I find this interesting.”
“I don’t.”
“This is a complication.”
“Everything can be solved.” The gods discussed among themselves.
Jasper’s lips curled into a snarl, his voice a blade of fury. “Neither should you. But here we are.”
The gods didn’t hesitate; they struck as one, their forms blurring into shadows that lashed out like storms.
Jasper roared, his blade flashing in arcs of silver fire, his body a wall between me and the darkness. Sparks rained like meteors, the air thick with the stench of burning magic. The tunnel shook, dust raining from the ceiling as power clashed against power.
I crawled back, fighting against the agony that was ripping through my body. But I didn’t want to be caught in the crossfire. I struggled for every breath, my heartbeat thundered in my ears, a savage drumbeat that drowned out most of the fighting noise that was going on behind me. The air was thick with smoke and blood, choking me, burning my throat, but I kept moving.
Crawl, crawl. Just keep crawling, I whispered within my head like a mantra.
As I reached the next entrance of the tunnel, I turned back to see Jasper and the gods fighting hard. The gods struck, their claws curling into spears of flame, but Jasper met them with a roar, his blade carving through shadow and fire like storm given flesh.
“You cannot hold it,” One hissed
“Your power will consume you.” Another laughs
“You will fail,” the others laughed.
Jasper and the gods clashed again, and they trembled, the runes pulsing like a dying heartbeat. Outside, the howls rose higher, sharper, almost laughing. The supers were restless, clawing at the walls, their rage a living thing. The god's laughter rolled through the darkness, beautiful and terrible.
I watched as Jasper took a nasty hit, one, two, three. Jasper falls to the ground, and with it, the power rippled through me, bending the air, warping the light, pressing against my skin until every breath felt like drowning.
I shouted, and with it, a blast of sound and light ripped through the tunnels. With the wall as my support, I forced myself to stand. I expected agony, but there was no pain; there was just fire roaring through my veins, curling around my bones like chains.
The gods hissed, their voices slicing through the chaos like whips. “It's awake.”
Jasper turned his eyes, burning, his voice a whisper of awe.
“Miley….”
The light wasn’t just light now.
It was alive.
It crawled across the walls, devouring the darkness, searing the shadows into smoke. The gods recoiled their forms, rippling like storms torn by wind. For the first time, they looked uncertain. Afraid.
“The pact will not break,” they said, their voices echoing like thunder. “Not even for this.”
The ground split, jagged cracks tearing through the concrete like veins of fire. The walls screamed, runes bleeding light as the tunnel warped, folding in on itself like paper in a storm. The air was a furnace now, thick and choking, filled with screams and howls and the thunder of claws against steel.
The supers were coming.
The gods were here.
And I
I was something else.
Jasper moved to me, his blade flashing, his body a wall of light and fury. “Miley!” his voice ripped through the chaos, raw and desperate. “Stay with me!”
“I….” The word tore from my throat, broken and useless. My body was a ruin, my mind a whirlpool of fire and fear. “Japer, what’s happening?”
His eyes locked on mine, fierce and unyielding. “You’re waking up.”
The gods surged forward, their voices curling through the air like silk and steel. “The promise must be kept,” they said, their words slicing through the storm like blades. “The blood must bind.”
Jasper roared, his blade flashing, his movements faster, sharper, inhuman. “Over my dead body!”
The gods laughed a sound like shattering glass, beautiful and cruel. “That,” they said, their voices curling like fire around my bones,
“Can be arranged.”
“Gladly”
The light exploded, blinding, searing, casting the tunnel in a storm of brilliance. For a heartbeat, the darkness recoiled the shadows shrinking back. And in the light, I saw it.
Not Jasper
Not the gods
Something else
Something older
Something wrong.
It stepped through the fire like a wound in the world, its form towering, its eyes burning with a light that wasn’t hunger, it was judgment, its voice curled through the chaos like smoke and steel, soft and terrible all at once.
“The pact is broken,” it said
And then the world shattered.