look, and then he and Adio were gone from my sight. I could feel Nick approaching with lightning speed, but I turned my back and approached the crystal chamber that had held the dying goddess.
“Stop!” Nick commanded as soon as I laid my left hand on the edge of the opening to the crystal. “What lunacy do you have cooked up now, my little daughter?” There was a desperation to his voice I had never heard before, causing his usual calm to splinter. I glanced over my shoulder to find him standing just a few feet away. He was back to the appearance I had briefly seen upon our first meeting, with his wild red hair and lavender eyes. It was as close to human that this god of chaos could come, and it only succeeded in solidifying my link to this creature in my mind.
“The goddess that inhabited this world is dying because of her lack of contact with the earth and her mate. If this world falls, then so will the cage that hold the bori,” I argued. “The world has been shaken enough by the presence of the naturi. They cannot survive the arrival of the bori as well.”
The bori were the natural enemy of the naturi. Creatures that drew their powers from the souls of living creatures, they had no bodies of their own, but succeeded in tricking humans into becoming hosts for them. They shapeshifted into various creatures, tempting the weak and the vulnerable with promises and desperate pleas. Where the naturi wanted to destroy mankind and save the world, the bori were determined to enslave mankind and destroy the Earth.
“What could you possibly hope to accomplish by entering this world and taking out the goddess?” Nick demanded, smoothing out his voice in an attempt to sound reasonable.
“She was dying. Someone needs to replace her,” I said, grasping the other side of the crystal case before placing my foot on one of the vines closest to the entrance.
“Mira, my dear, you’re not a goddess. You can’t replace her. You’re simply not strong enough.”
“I can try.”
“I don’t think so,” Nick hissed. A heavy blast of energy slammed into my chest, ripping the crystal out of my grasp as I was thrown several yards across the field. I hit the ground with my back and rolled several feet before finally hitting the side of a tree. Gritting my teeth, I pushed off the tree and regained my feet so I was once again facing my father. He immediately wrapped his energy around me again, and I had a feeling he intended to drag us both out of the naturi world, but I wouldn’t allow it. Summoning up my own powers, which he had taught me to use, I pushed off his grasp, shoving the energy back at him with enough force that he stumbled a step backward.
“I’m not allowing this place to falter any further,” I bit out as I wrapped more energy around my hands.
“The naturi and the bori are no longer your concern. Your only thought should be pleasing me,” Nick said with an evil grin.
“You’ve been accommodated enough, I believe.” With the energy spiraling around me, I commanded one of the vines to wrap around Nick, but the bastard suddenly disappeared from sight. I shifted my focus to grab him back, but he reappeared before I could grasp him. His fist slammed into my jaw, snapping my head around as I slammed into the ground again. His punishment didn’t stop there. He kicked me several times in the ribs, breaking more than one before he reached down to wrap his fist in a length of my hair.
“You’re coming home, child,” he snarled, his foul breath dancing under my nose.
“I think the lady prefers to stay,” announced an unexpected voice seconds before Nick was pulled away from me. I twisted around to see the god of chaos hurtling through the air until he slammed into the side of the vines still wrapped around the crystal chamber. Adio knelt beside me, gingerly helping me back to my feet.
“You shouldn’t be here,” I grumbled as I pulled my arm free of his assistance.
“I can help.”
“Where’s Danaus?”
“Where he promised to be.”
A weak smile lifted one corner of my lips. “I can’t keep the door open much longer. I have to focus on Nick.”
“We understand. Danaus told me to tell you that ‘he will be your Rowe,’ whatever that means.”
Tears welled up in my eyes as I quickly looked away from Our Liege and turned my attention back to my father. I knew what it meant. Danaus intended to spend the rest of his life fighting to find a way to open the doors to the naturi world again to set me free, just as Rowe had in an effort to free his queen, Aurora. I could ask for no greater gift.
“Son of the dawn?” Nick said as he stood, brushing himself off. “I don’t know what you think you’re doing here, but this is a family affair.”
“As head of the nightwalkers, this is now a nightwalker affair. If Mira wishes to enter the chamber and hold this world together, there is nothing I can do but help her,” Adio said in an easygoing manner that was more than a little frightening to hear. For a moment I was convinced that Adio would have been content to have either or both of us trapped in this world, he only lacked the ability to close the doors again.
To prove his point, Adio waved one of his hands toward me and I floated off my feet toward the crystal chamber. My stomach twisted into a knot as I approached the tiny prison, but I didn’t hesitate to grab the sides and try to pull myself in. At the same moment, Nick screamed in frustration and used his own powers to pull me away, once again slamming me to the ground. However, this time Adio was there to soften the blow.
Rolling to my feet, I grabbed as much energy as my body would hold and threw it at Nick. I could only guess that Adio felt what I was doing because he mimicked my move, succeeding in shoving the god back until he was pinned against the vines. With my left hand, I tore a limb off a nearby tree and bashed Nick in the face with it, hoping to disorient him.
The god crumpled to his knees, shaking his bleeding head. I seized the opportunity and ran for the crystal chamber once again. “Get ready to close it!” I screamed at Adio.
Getting my hands on the edges of the chamber, I pulled myself in and was immediately encased in the feeling of something draining away my energy like a great suction pump. My eyelids flickered for a moment as I tried to focus over the disorienting feeling. Nick bellowed and lunged at me, his foot stepping onto the edge of the chamber at the same time his hand grabbed my arm to pull me out.
Clenching my teeth against my growing lethargy, I grabbed both of Nick’s arms and pulled him into the chamber while I slid around to the opening. He screamed, but the sound was cut off as I released one of his arms long enough to smash my fist into his nose. Nick released me to cover his broken nose, allowing me the chance to fall out of the opening. My legs scraped against large chunks of crystal as they rushed back into place to cover the opening. If I had hesitated a second longer, Adio would have closed us both in the chamber together.
I lay on my back for a second, trying to get my head to stop spinning while energy seeped back into my frame. I could feel the door to this world starting to close as I weakened. We needed to get out of there.
“Mira, help me!” Adio cried, drawing my attention back to him and the crystal chamber. I looked up to find Nick pounding against the crystal with both of his fists, screaming at me, while Adio used his own powers to mend the broken bits. I added my own energy, sealing my father away.
After a couple seconds I noticed that the chamber seemed to grow stronger and thicker as it absorbed his powers. I looked around the world to find that the leaves on trees were quickly growing black and falling off, while the ground split open and spouts of fire shot up. While the great creator goddess had created a second earth with her powers, the god of chaos was creating a world much more akin to the human idea of Hell.
“I think it would be a good time to beat a hasty retreat,” Adio said, grabbing my elbow. While I gathered up all the energy I had to focus on keeping the door open, Adio teleported us from the crystal chamber to the doorway, which was quickly closing. I pushed Adio through the opening and then dove through myself, landing in a heap on top of him. I summoned up enough energy to roll over Our Liege and lie on my back in the grass, letting the energy from the earth seep back into the frame as I closed my eyes.
“You seemed a little eager to close up that chamber,” I criticized, opening my eyes to find him sitting next to me, staring down at my scratched and bloody face. A smirk twisted his full lips.
“While the thought of locking you both away and out of my hair was tempting, I feared that if you were locked away, I would not be able to escape that world myself,” he admitted.
“Oh, yeah, I would have definitely kept you trapped if I was to be locked for eternity in a crystal chamber with Nick,” I said with a soft chuckle.
Adio smiled down at me. “The great trickster god tricked by his own daughter. It seems fitting.”
“I just hope it holds for a few millennia,” I grumbled. With muscles protesting, I pushed into a seated position and looked around the empty plaza. The stars still twinkled above and a steady wind swept across the silent ruins.
