Two Hundred Years in Slavery is all the people of Xathania have known. Toiling and dying for a kingdom that has only snarled at them. Not until hope surfaces as a story in the wind and the flames of a spirit long forgotten resurfaces to face the g...
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PART V: THE WAR OF GODS AND MORTALS
The wards of the Pit called her mistress. Freya became accustomed to the cold feminine voices. She said nothing to those whispers she only listened to their words. Over and over seeking her next order. She had to be cautious, careful but she had to be fast. For all she knew, war was already being waged on Milkarea. Her friends needed her. Her children needed her. She had failed them before. She would not again.
'Where is the god of lust?' Freya asked.
'On Midres, My Lady,' an oddly excited voice answered. A gravelly female voice.
'Undo yourself,' she ordered.
The voice seemed to mask shock. 'You relieve me of my duty?'
'As Queen of Orcus and Helias' daughter, I relieve you and your companions of your work.
There was a crack and Freya's chains fell. The fog in the Pit cleared and Freya rose to her feet. That was before an invisible force slammed into her. She caught herself on a wall and steadied her breathing. She could hear, see and feel everything. Every being in what was once the Pit.
Every being on Orcus, Midres and Gloriam.
Every being on Fatos and the Peak.
Four women knelt before her. Dark sleek hair and pale bodies. None moved to rise until she asked them to. The women faced her, devastatingly beautiful.
'My Queen,' they said in unison, in greeting.
Queen of Orcus.
'Zebel's war has not kicked off yet but he waits in Goxa with an immortal army at his back. Go to Fatos and tell them to wait for me in Opir with the armies there,' she ordered.
The four women bowed and vanished.
Freya had sat in the dark for long. The beast that taunted and tortured the souls in the Pit did not do the same to her but Zebel had already done his worst before he left for Goxa. She had time to stretch out her mind to her father's only to find him in a prison worse than hers.
A prison she could not access. So she asked the very air and soil of the Peak to tell her what she was.
The wind had ignored her but the land told her that she was forged from Helias' blood, Nix's power and Drasel's soul. But it was Helias who knew her, who loved her until she was stolen and hid on Welkamia.
The spirit had caused conflict over it. Nearly, started a war but Nix and Drasel combined were more powerful than even the almighty Helias. He caved into himself and Zebel knew it was his time to put his plan into motion, to start his conquest. He did it in a petty way but what else was expected of a weak usurper than pettiness.
She was the goddess of war the land declared. Queen of Orcus. Helias, Nix and Drasel's heir by blood and by right. She was the commander of her armies. The armies that now waited with Zebel on Midres. But nothing came easy. She could not just step onto Midres. She needed to go to Gloriam first and find a place to return to Midres. It was tasking but she would do it.
'Freya?' A familiar voice asked and she looked in its direction. Samael stared right back at her. At his back stood others. They were gods as well. Yenai, goddess of mischief, Remos, the god of music and the arts and Hero, the god of death and time.
'Where is she?' Freya asked ignoring the others behind him.
'He took her,' Samael answered and Freya scanned the carcass of the Pit. At her subjects who now returned to Orcus proper. 'Reid and Grey are on Gloriam but he took my wife.'
'To Midres?' She asked already walking.
'Yes,' Samael grunted, she heard rustling and when she glanced back, they had wings. All four of them.
'We have to go to Opir first,' she informed Samael and whoever wanted to follow.
'She is not there,' Samael said.
Orcus came into view and so did its grand palace. The way to the Road. Where they'd find a link to Gloriam. A link to Midres.
'She can take care of herself but we must go to Opir now.' She looked to the other gods. Remos and Yenai stood awfully close. Lovers. Hero stared right back at her. 'Are you coming?'
'We are not to interfere in human affairs,' Remos said, meaning no disrespect.
'But Zebel is waging war on them and we will not watch him rip them to ribbons,' Yenai added and Hero grunted in agreement.
'The longer we argue here,' she looked at Samael again. 'The longer she will be with that wretch.'
Samael said nothing else as he picked her up and flew. The others followed. They flew through clouds of blue to a gate and then the Road. It was all a blur but she had eternity to fix what Zebel had torn down and restore it to its true beauty.
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Zuris was dressed in full armor and so were the other men and women who had arrived with him. She and Callahan had stayed in the council room contemplating how she would navigate the flames of Midres to Celina when Eleonor felt something. She threw Callahan behind her while her husband drew his sword. The gods were amused by their display but said nothing.
They seemed to be waiting. Eleonor did not ask them what they wanted. She also did not know how to tell the Warden of Opir that the gods were in his home.
She would not have met them had Freya's children not gone to Goxa under the cover of darkness. She had been furious, seething, causing every fire in the castle to burn bright and high. She burnt the Warden's dinner and her friend's father had a talk about keeping her emotions in check. Apparently, Cora's mother was the same. One argument and all of Goxa would be incredibly hot.
She counted eleven gods.
The one that she guessed was Sulas, the father. Golden hair, golden skin, golden eyes that swirled was the angriest of the group.
'Would you like to sit?' Callahan offered after the silence got uncomfortable.
'We'll manage,' Lona answered before Sulas could get a word out. Equals like she had been told throughout her life.
The silence returned but it was short lived. The doors to the council room were opened and Eleonor nearly fell to her knees.
Freya walked in with Samael three others and without hesitation, Lona and Sulas bowed to her. Then, the others followed. Her friend looked around her and she was different. A Crown as dark as a starless night sat on her head, a sword bright as a cloudless day hung across her back and her eyes blazed like fire lived in her.
Helias, Drasel and Nix.
The spirits in one.
Eleonor followed the gods and bent the knee to Freya, her husband did the same.
