Bonded (The Olympus Brotherhood #2)

Sacrifice, Cocoon and Dread

Chapter 53

Freya

I was too weak to open my eyes. Pain seared through my abdomen, eating at my stomach better than a branding iron. My mind conceded to this torment, unable to bring a thought to completion. Without meaning to, my body curled into something fetal, something primeval and all the while the pain burned and radiated. I couldn't tell if a knife was in me or a needle, but something sharp was moving inside of me.

I screamed with my whole body as tears flowed down my face. I smelt my burning skin leaving me immobile, my nails were digging deeply into the ground beneath me. I sounded like a wild animal in panic. My screams of hysteria did nothing for me. Strong hands pinned me down. Someone was reaching inside of me, pulling out my guts with their sharp, hot, bare hands. I was being ripped apart. Sharp pain lanced through my head and colorful spots flashed in front of my eyes, it felt like my whole body had been beaten and every movement caused some muscle or bone to ache.

"Mother would want this," the female voice said unexpectedly. It was low with a trace of huskiness and a hint of power.

What was she doing?

"M-m-m-other?" My pain morphed into the dull ache of a thousand paper cuts laced across my skin. Every time I tried to move away or breathe, the pain increased. A large hand pressed down on my mouth hard. I was breathing, but the air just wouldn't' go in, like my lungs were surrounded by metal bands. A rising panic engulfed my body, in a dizzy feeling. My ribs heaved up and down, but no air came.

And then relief.

I opened my eyes and sat up in a darkened woodland. It was ominously quiet. I looked into the trees. Except for a few shreds of moonlight, the woods were as dark as a shut closet. All I heard were dead leaves moving in the gusting wind. I looked up, transfixed by the myriad of fluttering leaves that danced in the high boughs, making a living roof above me. I was calm, almost hypnotized, but the longer I stared, the more the leaves looked like eyes staring back down at me and the boughs seemed to draw closer, blocking the sunlight as if they were forming a cage around me.

I stood up, dizzy and lightheaded in a pure white dress. It was sheer with nude mesh, creating an enchanting decolletage above a sleeveless, intricately beaded bodice. The top was fitted perfectly to my body and a cascading chiffon maxi skirt hung low down my legs with a sultry side slit.

"What have you done?" A sad worried voice called out echoing around me.

"Gaia?" The plume of my breath billowed out, and quickly dissipated in the cool air.

She appeared a few feet in front of me in a greenish-blue gown made of soft, satiny fabric, long and loose. A semicircular high collar made of silk-like material headed the ankle-length robe. She walked as lightly as an acrobat. A puff of wind swept through her brown gold hair before it slipped into the woods to rustle leaves. She spoke with kindness, "Chaos cannot be saved."

"Yes, he can!" I shouted. I can do this! I can save him!

"From the first moment he met you, the clock was ticking. Chaos was meant to exist outside of the world we know, beyond Earth, Olympus, time and space. Actions have consequences. Sacrifices must be made to create order again." The wind picked up.

"Someone has to help him. Gareth- "

"Is NOT your beloved. You aren't bonded to him, child. He made a decision of his own freewill. Chaos chose to train you even if it meant death." She walked forward and with every step on the dead forest floor, life sprang up with green grass and spring flowers in every shade as her long sweeping dress past over her warming step the life died.