Toby had to focus on battling a wave of dark mist that Nyx relaunched at me. Above him, magic brightened the sky with streaks of bright white, pale peach, acid green, and neon blue, but that Darkness blocked out the colors completely. Odin bellowed and lowered his shoulders as he transformed; he's a talented shifter and can become anything. This time, Odin chose the form of a massive rhinoceros and went barreling straight into the oncoming army. Gods were knocked aside like bowling pins.
Thor was doing nearly as much damage with his hammer; swinging it in a graceful and continuous pendulous motion. Nayenezgani blasted gods with condensed streams of sunlight, along with his father, while Estsanatlehi did something similar with water. Pan looked more savage than I'd ever seen him; lashing out with waves of Panic. Brahma had a scepter in his hand that emitted different kinds of waves; sound waves. The sound was strong enough to knock gods on their asses. Horus had both hands lifted; beams of silver coming from one while gold shot from the other. The only one who wasn't launching an attack was Teharon; who ran among the army; healing injured gods.
I saw all of this from the sky because as soon as Azrael had taken off with the hourglass, I launched myself after him. Az was only a few feet ahead of me, but he was also much faster than I. The distance between us grew, and he reached the castle within seconds. Azrael hovered above Aion and held out the hourglass; ready to crack it open.
“Aion!” Nyx shouted as she drew a curved sword from her belt and flung it at Azrael.
The blade gleamed; catching the colors of the magical attacks around it as it spun through the air. It moved so quickly that Azrael barely had time to look up before it hit him; slicing clean through his neck. Everything seemed to slow as Azrael's head separated from his body and blood began to gush from his neck. I screamed as Azrael fell onto the crenelations; his back cracking over the stone before he tumbled over the wall. The hourglass dropped to the ground beside Azrael's body and smashed into pieces; just like my heart.
The images seemed superimposed over another moment; a time when I had watched Azrael fall before. Our gazes had met; his looking serene as he simply closed his wings and let himself fall. But that wasn't now; this time, Azrael was dead. He hadn't caught my gaze to send me his love one last time, and there was no other flying god to save him. I should have saved him, but I had been too late. I had failed Azrael, and now he was dead.
I faltered; falling through the air as I sobbed brokenheartedly. Wind whistled past me as I lost control of my wings, but by the time I realized the danger I was in, I was falling too fast to recover. My muscles weren't strong enough to force my wings out, and I simply didn't have the experience to know how to counteract the wind. I heard Odin and Toby shouting and glanced down to see a naked Odin shift into a griffin. He leapt into the air right beneath me; catching me and stopping my fall just moments before I hit the ground
“Vervain,” Odin screeched out of his eagle beak. “We must kill Aion!”
“Do something!” Nyx shouted to Aion simultaneously.
He's accessing his magic! Alaric roared. Hurry, V, every time Aion changes history, it gets harder for your memories to return!
Aion had his eyes closed and a look of intense focus settled over his face. I reacted out of grief and fury; screaming the word that filled my mind.
“Die!”
A sword manifested above Aion and fell like the blade in a guillotine. But as it dropped, a new darkness enveloped me. It wasn't Nyx's magic; this was cold and consuming. The last thing I saw before I lost consciousness was Aion; staring at me with vicious triumph.
Chapter Twenty-Six
It had been a strange day. I woke up late and felt groggy even though I had gone to bed at my usual time the night before. Nick had been waiting at the foot of my Chinese wedding bed; giving me his I'm disappointed in you kitty look. I fed him in a haze that even coffee couldn't alleviate. It felt almost like a hangover except without the vomiting. Which was a plus; I'd rather be in pain than nauseous. But still; what the hell was wrong with me?
I tried casting a circle and grounding myself; that seemed to help a little. I felt clear-headed enough to get some work done. I had a gallery show in Chinatown that night, and one of my paintings still had to be framed.
I set the painting into its gilded frame and tightened it into place before I turned it around to admire it. The Norse God, Ull, stared up at me serenely. I'd done a lot of research for this collection, but it had all been for naught. I knew that Ull, also known as Ullr or Ullinn, was the God of Justice, but he was also a hunter, an archer, and a skier. He was the son of a grain goddess named Sif who was married to Thor, but his biological father was the hunter, Orvandil. As the God of Justice, Ull was the overseer of oaths, and the Norse Gods swore their vows on Ull's ring. This had given me a lot of inspiration that I could have used to paint him. But when I lifted my brush, my original concept had disappeared,
