Chapter Thirty-Four: All Wrapped up

*

When Aiden regained consciousness, a pressure weighed on his chest, though he didn’t find it particularly unpleasant. Blinking the fog from his brain revealed Leyla softly snoring on his chest, Midrath’s colorful sky nowhere in sight.

I have so many questions, but most of all, where the hell are we? he wondered, looking around. The rocky face of the mountain range oriented the wrong way, and the forest wasn’t the same as where they’d just been. He’d know. He’d traveled the damned forest countless times all around Zion. So how did we get here?

If he judged their location right, half an hour of running at top speed would bring them to the Shadowborn’s location where the portal held the incubator before. But now the entire treeline and much of the ground extending from had been covered by sticky, slimy shadows similar to what Leyla used.

The scale was on an entirely different level though, extending in a barely perceivable dome over the trees.

Leyla’s weight on his chest and soft snoring kept him from investigating any further. The moonlight didn’t provide enough visibility for him to make out much more than what he’d already observed, and he doubted any answers would jump up and scream at him even if he did search more.

Only time would tell in regards to that whole mess.

More importantly, what the fuck happened back there?

Just trying to remember what happened boggled his mind and caused his head to pulse in retaliation. However, even though everything should feel off considering the strange teleportation and weird song-dance ritual and appearance of something, everything felt absolutely right.

Maybe even a little more than right.

“Leyla,” he whispered, gently shaking the sleeping Fallen girl.

Mine, his soul called out instinctively, startling him.

“Did she drug me or something? All I remember clearly is her dancing through the woods.” He shook her again, a little more roughly this time. If anybody had the answers to his questions, she did. “Leyla, wake up.”

I’m yours, something called out in his mind peacefully.

“This is getting freaky as all hell,” he muttered, carefully sliding himself out from under her. He prodded Blizzy through the Companion bond and received an answer instantly.

Visualizing the area and transferring the image to her resulted in no small amount of confusion from the blizzard dragon. She asked if he needed her, and he took a second to look around for any threat he couldn’t handle himself, responding in the negative soon after.

Various images of monsters came back from her end, and then she mixed in images of herself eating a giant pile of Essence, Cores, and Pillars.

Go ahead, but stay safe, he sent, not wanting to bother her with his own confusing situation.

Happiness came first, followed by an overwhelming haughtiness that made him aware of his Companion’s unshaking confidence in her abilities. Instinctually, he chided her and repeated himself until she agreed to be careful.

Now that his Companion wouldn’t suddenly come searching for him in a frenzied panic, he rested his hands against his waist as he considered what to do with Leyla. An ability he hadn’t used almost ever since he got it popped into his head, and he grinned as he held out his finger.

A stream of fresh water sprayed out and drenched Leyla’s chest and fast. She gasped and sputtered, sitting up and reaching for her scythe. Her damp silver hair clung to her face and made it impossible for her to find Aiden.

“Why…?” she asked sadly, pouting and dropping her wet arms in her lap. “I had such a good nap. The Rite of Mortal Severance was so fun. I don’t think you can even imagine, Aiden, and you woke me up from my talk with The One of Truth—wait.”

“Wasn’t a dream,” he said, confirming her unspoken thoughts.

She gasped and swiped her clingy hair out of her face, mouth agape as she stared up at him. “Y—you…”

“I feel it,” he said, nodding. “Not sure what it is, but it’s certainly there.”

Holding up her hand, she pricked a nail against her skin until it pierced skin. Rather than blood drops spilling free to the ground below, a deep and lustrous gray. In record speed, Aiden’s brows hit the roof of his forehead.

In a split second, he created a shard that nicked his hand just as she’d done, and a color close to lavender spilled out. “What the fuck happened?”

Seeing her eyes glued to the dripping blood, he waved his hand around and watched as her eyes followed every movement. Resigning himself to not moving from that spot for a while, Aiden knelt behind Leyla and shrugged off his jacket.

Careful not to touch the writhing energy of—

“Uh, Leyla…”

“Aiden?” She tried to look over her shoulder to see what he saw, but no matter how hard she struggled, the stigmata wasn’t visible to her without a mirror or some kind of reflective surface.

Almost smacking himself due to how slow his brain currently processed all the rapidly changing reality around him, he flicked his wrist and condensed two crystals. One he handed her, and the other he used to set up the angle for her to see what he saw.

“Wow…” she whispered.

Each figure eight of the stigmata, in which there were many, used to appear as black lines with violet sparks writhing and worming around as if alive. Now, gray lines constantly rotated while lavender streaks calmly lavished peacefully throughout the stigmata’s entirety.

No trace of the violent sparking violet energy caused her to draw shuddery breaths. When he trailed his finger across the lines, more lavender streaks appeared and calmly entered the infinite rotations with the rest.

Most of all, what once was a central knot of destructive energy wishing to consume Leyla’s existence now softly sang a melody of timeless, infinitely-spanning permanence—a shared bond that transcended time, life and death, and endings.

When he gently touched against the powerful center of the stigmata, his hand went through her skin. Quickly, he pulled his hand out, worrying that he might’ve caused her harm, but when he checked, she tranquilly smiled with closed eyes.

“I’m so lost, Leyla,” he said, equal parts confusion and concern.

“Two Becomes One,” she whispered.

“Two Becomes One,” he repeated, clasping his hands over his mouth. At no point had he willingly opened his mouth to speak those words. When he tried to be mad so he could demand answers, he found any negativity targeted towards Leyla slinking away into tranquility.

Taking a deep breath, or maybe ten, to clear his thoughts allowed him a moment to mentally reset and calm himself. His shaky hands relaxed. Returning to what he’d been doing before he saw the warped stigmata, he stripped her of her wet clothes and wrapped his jacket around her, regretting the harsh treatment he’d subjected her to.

With her soggy clothes removed and his jacket around her, he adjusted his legs around her and guided her so she leaned back into his arms. He wrapped his hands around her.

“I’m sorry for waking you up like that, but I’m freaking out a little. Please, I need to know what just happened,” he whispered calmly next to her ear. She curled closer to his body. “Please, Leyla.”

“Say it,” she muttered quietly.

Without any needed clarification, the words slipped from his lips. “You’re mine.”

“As you are mine,” she said, snuggling closer into him. “It’s that simple. No amount of time can take that from us. Through life or death, Two Becomes One. Our souls have merged inseparably.”

“But how?” he asked, understanding the concept but not the implementation.

“The One of Truth, do you know of him?” she asked, kissing his hands. She took his prolonged lack of silence as him not knowing and nodded. “I told you about the three who have taken interest in me, right?”

“Kinnai, Inheritor of Chaos. Ariveth, Progenitor of Devastation, and Esan’Arul, Champion of the Apocalypse,” he recited from memory. “Those are also the three stages of your Execution Art.”

“Yes, that’s correct. What do you know of The Theory of Beginnings and Ends?” she asked, her voice far quieter this time.

“Nothing at all,” he admitted, stroking her cheek in hopes to cheer her up.

“The Theory is simple.” She licked her lips nervously and snuggled closer, looking up at his chin as she continued talking. “The One of Truth is existence, the Origin. An entity long since forgotten about but ever-present in everything, because all is Origin. The Essence in the air is a diluted version of energy, Enu. To find a balance between internal and external energy is the first step to Ascension and seeking Truth, an ultimate Path that follows the steps of Origin.”

“You lost me. How does a being exist as everything, and why does it care about what we do?” he pondered aloud.

“Loneliness, I suppose. I can’t say for sure. Many have speculated plenty of theories, but aside from The Theory of Beginnings and Ends, none have merit and are easily discredited.” Her warm breath against his neck tickled him, and her intense stare made him squirm internally. “He has Blessed our coupling and witnessed the completion of our Mortal Severance. I—I don’t know what came over me.”

“How did you even know how to do something like that?”

“That’s because of the second part of the theory, the Ends. The only beings to ever come close enough to finding this True Path did so through testing over a period of time I can’t even comprehend. Only by merging all of their consciousnesses in a cohesive effort have they managed to attain even a sliver of Origin’s Path.” She took a deep breath and let it out. “That’s where I come in.”

“You’re a Trinity,” he stated, remembering the word The One of Truth mentioned. “One of their tests.”

“Exactly right.”

“And what of the Primordials mentioned?” he continued, trying to puzzle the pieces of the bigger picture together.

“The Awakening is theorized to be the moment Origin's consciousness waking, and in doing so, Origin manifested the 8 Primordials. The Era of Creation begins,” she said as if any of those words in that order made sense.

“Break it down for me,” he pleaded.

“Okay, hmm.” She sat up and turned to face him, resting her elbows on his shoulders. Her hands idly touched his face and played with his hair.” Okay, then let’s start with the sequence of events from Origin’s Awakening. Origin awoke, thus creating Relevance, master of time and space. Void, or Nothingness, was Origin's second creation.”

“Khione’s mentioned the Void before, and your sword looked like it contained properties of that power,” he interjected.

“Yes, Kinnai is Discord’s spawn, or an incarnation of its consciousness. Ariveth is a split conscience entity formed of Destruction and Death. Esan’Arul is easily the most powerful of the three and inhabits a sliver of Void.”

“So a Trinity is effectively the Beginning of the End?” he asked, seeing how the accumulation of four Primordials might be something worthy of keeping an eye on.

“A successful Trinity might be, but again, this is still all conjecture. If it weren’t, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

“Fair enough. Please continue.”

“Discord, like a rowdy younger sibling, originated as a byproduct of Void's hunger and desire to consume and replace Origin as the will of existence.”

“Woah, what? How does that make sense? Discord is like chaos incarnate, yet it spawned from Void? Why would Discord be a primordial while Kinnai and Esan’Arul are seen as completely different beings?”

The logic wasn’t logicking.

She giggled softly. “Trying to apply any rational logic to anything to do with The Theory of Beginnings and Ends is futile, especially when it comes to the forming of the primordials.”

“Got it. Sorry for interrupting again.”

“Your questions are reasonable, and that’s the issue,” she said, poking his cheek playfully. “Now, Harmony, or Balance, came next, a softer touch created by Origin to pacify Void. Keeping the balance simply didn’t appeal to Origin’s desires, whatever those might be, so Creation and the Life, twin Spawns of Origin's conscious mind, became responsible for all universes in Origin's stead.”

Open, close.

Aiden clamped his jaw shut and made sure to mentally note any questions he had for the end. Leyla had to be growing annoyed by his constant interruptions while trying to explain, and if she weren’t, he grew irritated with himself.

“As countless eons passed, Harmony was subdued as Discord, and Void struck at Life and Creation, bringing about Death and Destruction. The time period before Life and Death is when the Rite of Mortal Severance formed, almost like Origin had prepared in hopes to find a suitable candidate that would rival his own being,” she explained, smacking her lips in annoyance. “How he could ever consider any being capable of ascending to his level of power when everything is him, I’ll never know.”

“So, crazy question for you, if Origin’s desire is to create something equal to him, why doesn’t he just split himself in two?” he asked, idly drawing patterns on her back.

“I mean, who’s to say he hasn’t? On the scale we’re talking about, as I said before, reasonable is unreasonable. What stops him from making an infinite amount of iterations and skipping to a point in time where one exists. How can we even know that he exists at any one point in time at all?”

“Logic is illogical, yup. I’m getting it now,” he grumbled in annoyance. “Okay, so after all the primordials formed, what happened?”

“Your guess is as good as mine. The only reason I know any of that is because a part of The Trifecta accidentally passed on parts of their own memories they received from the ones who created them, once upon a time.”

“There’s a saying back home. The more you know, the less you know.” He sighed deeply. “I feel that so hard right now. I see why you said nothing makes sense, and even thinking that someone understands their reality at all is a pipe dream. Hell, if what you’re saying is true, even the damned creature of all of existence doesn’t know what the hell they want.”

“Pretty much.”

“Damn, that’s… kind of relieving, honestly.”

“As it should be. A being with infinite power is lonely and seeks companionship from someone he considers an equal. Through the Rite of Mortal Severance, we’ve achieved something he dreams of—wait, that’s not right. If he were dreaming, existence would probably stop—you know, existing.” She hummed to herself softly.

“That’s… yeah, wow. When the scale of things looks like, everything else just feels really small.” He turned and looked towards the cave system. “How do you think we got here, by the way?”

“Couldn’t tell you. My best guess is that, one, we were placed here to do something or, two, something in our fates drew us here during the Rite of Mortal Severance. When it comes to explanations for things, I just ride the waves. Easier that way.” She smiled up at her, locking her amethyst eyes with his. “That’s how I met you, and I don’t regret anything.”

“You are mine.” The words came easily, and there was a level of absolute that even transcended the Khione’s Authority, Path of the Absolute. “I still don’t understand—ah, yeah. That’s gonna take some time to get used to.”

“Good luck,” she said, chuckling. Curiously, she raised her hand and snapped her finger. Very little Essence activated within or without, but the gray flame that exploded like a flamethrower on steroids would’ve suggested otherwise. “Oh.”

“Huh.”

“You try something.”

“Hmm.” He tapped his fingers against her back rhythmically as he considered an ability he should try. Pointing a forefinger upward and channeling the least amount of Essence into Hoarspike as possible before activating still resulted in outrageous outcomes. “Oh.”

“Huh,” she echoed.

They both watched the lavender crystal spear disappear straight up without ever showing signs of slowing. Aiden wished he could’ve seen what happened to the skill once it reached whatever outer boundary that kept Midrath centered between the Mortal and Upper Realms.

He didn’t think the entire realm could be anything more than just a small space between, but to think of something like an entire realm of space as something simply limited by basic physical size constraints sounded doomed from the get-go.

“Well, if something dragged us here, let’s take a look around.” He pointed towards the tunnel leading into the mountain. “Something tells me we should go this way.”

“Okay.” She grabbed her scythe and looked at the blade curiously. He could feel Essence traveling up the handle, and within a split second, the black scythe turned gray. “Interesting. I like this far better. I wonder…”

Before Aiden could suggest otherwise, the transformation began.

A swirling vortex of Essence accumulated around the scythe exactly the same as before. The difference between the feeling of the manifesting blade—blades, two now apparently, had everything to do with the aura it let off as it shifted.

In her right hand, the same void blade from before rested in her hand, but instead of light-consuming darkness, it radiated a peaceful force capable of even greater destruction. Of course, the blade had grayed like the scythe.

However, the second blade in her left hand felt all too familiar. Its lavender color spoke volumes of which of the two of them it originated from.

While the gray blade let off a peaceful destructive force, the lavender blade’s potential for destruction sang to the high heavens. With both properties of violet, chaotic destruction and absolute cold, the entire vibe differed.

Not in a bad way though, surprisingly enough.

Now that he thought about it, since his silvery-blue had merged with her black-violet to create two entirely different forces of gray and lavender, it reasoned that… everything, each and every one of his abilities, changed as well.

Pulling silver from his pocket, he clicked the pen’s back and smiled. As expected, a lavender blade of destructive chaotic ice extended outward from the tip. A handle expanded in a perfectly formed grip under his fingers, connecting to his soul.

Huh, that’s new.

When he drew on a little bit of the power, Leyla looked at him curiously. Her eyes widened, and Aiden’s breath caught.

“Did you know?” he asked, not entirely disappointed but very surprised.

“I mean, Two Becomes One is pretty clear,” she replied meekly, looking down at the lavender blade in her hand. “No wonder…”

When about to jump headfirst into another conversation he doubted would provide any useful information, a tapping from the mountain face drew his attention. Three Spiderkin stared back at the pair blankly.

“Hey, wait!” Aiden called, clicking the Silver’s back to dismiss the blade. He wanted to summon an Ice Wall to stop them from returning to the depths of the tunnels, but he didn’t know how the new bond between their souls or the powerful nature of his innate Essence would change the effect of things. “Old fashioned way it is then, I guess.”

He grabbed her hand and nearly dragged her forward into the tunnel. She barely had time to pick up her discarded clothes.

The Spiderkin had evaded him for too long, and now he’d suddenly found three popping out of a tunnel in the side of the mountain?

As he experienced and learned more and more, Aiden started to think coincidences began to look like manufactured incidents rather than luck—or misfortune, depending on who you talked to.

Spiderkin watched as Aiden and Leyla passed by the tunnels, the three in front seemingly leading them towards a specific destination while never allowing them to actually catch up.

For some time, they descended into darkness and deeper into the Spiderkin territory. The tunnels wound steeply round and round and round, and on several occasions, the floor nearly dropped out from under their feet. Aiden got to test both Ice Wall and Ice Shield, and he didn’t have any complaints.

The shield’s lavender color with the application of Crystalline and Versatile allowed him to shape and solidify the defensive property to a level he really wanted to test out, but he didn’t want to be a bad guest before he knew why someone wanted to see him.

And before long, he and Leyla passed a chamber of fuzzies caring for countless eggs carefully. Afterwards, the leapt into a chamber to see two familiar faces.

Aiden couldn’t stop the words from blurting out of his mouth, “What the fuck?”

“Such strong language.”

He rubbed his temples as Trixie stood next to Anna. Rather than ask questions, he pointed a finger towards Trixie. “3… 2… 1…”

“I surrender my Candidacy to Candidate Aiden Pearce,” Trixie calmly said.

Bellatrix Brizia, Candidate of the Spiderkin, surrendered to Candidate Aiden Pearce, or one of the representatives of his Town, Zion, the Mountain City

All ownerships and relations are granted to Candidate Aiden Pearce.

Ownerships: Nine Territories transferred.

Relations: One Faction transferred.

He didn’t need to pull up his Destiny Quest.

Destiny Quest: Gate Hub X, The Final Conquest

Requirements

Control 50% of Midrath

Reward

The Gate Hub

Progress

64%

The Game of Thrones has been completed!

Four Candidates have been removed from the competition!

Remaining Candidates:

1

Return to Zion, the Mountain City, to receive the reward: Gate Hub from Destiny Quest: Gate Hub X, The Final Conquest.

Instead of feeling joy at completing the Destiny Quest, he glared at Trixie and Anna—though he started to suspect this Anna was not the real one, as Trixie continued shooting her looks as if checking to see if she’d done well.

“Ah, Queen of the creepy crawlers.” He pointed his finger towards her, and all the Spiderkin in the chamber tensed. Many had quite a respectable amount of power, but when compared to him and Leyla, they didn’t just look the part of being bugs. “Why shouldn’t I kill you right now?”

“We’re not the enemy,” the not-Anna said, gesturing behind her as she stepped aside. “Come with me quickly. I promise on my name, Onnamixia Calvex, Queen of Natraxia, I mean you no harm. We all just want to see the completion of this charade.”

Glancing towards Leyla, she shrugged and stepped forward. Her confidence made him roll his eyes, though he already identified nothing in the room, even if they all attacked at the same time, could truly pose a threat to either of them, let alone both.

Walking to the back wall revealed a slit covered by silky webs that Omnamixia removed in seconds. She pushed through and entered, gesturing for them to follow.

When they walked past a silky curtain draped from the small tunnel’s ceiling and into another, smaller chamber, Aiden nearly killed the Spiderkin Queen then and there.

A pool of liquid Essence pooled beneath a rippling, swirling portal that showed him a view of the throne.

“How?” he said, once again training his finger on her.

“We knew you’d be coming. Our eyes and ears are everywhere. Of course we wouldn’t oppose you after seeing the destruction you brought to the Valkyr. I wondered how much of a fight the Emb and Dragonborn would put up, but they surrendered far too fast for us to do anything. Naturally, your next destination would be here,” she explained, waving towards the portal. “Go ahead, claim your throne.”

“How does it benefit y—”

“Aiden,” Leyla interrupted, lacing his fingers with his. “Does it really matter? Do you think they’re strong enough to actually try something? I think they just want to go home.”

Shaking his head clear, he squinted at Omnamixia. “How is it that your Candidate and Faction are both Spiderkin?”

“As your wise friend said, does any of that matter now? Your throne awaits,” she said, pushing her hand into the portal and then pulling it out. “I’m not trying to trick you. I have nothing to gain from such foolishness.”

Rather than trying to make sense of things, he didn’t question things further as Leyla dragged him forward and through the portal. They popped out on the other side as if they’d been there the whole time.

Turning around, he could feel that the barrier that once stopped him no longer existed. He intuitively knew he could rest on the throne.

In fact, it even tugged him forward.

“Don’t mind if I do,” he muttered, walking up to the throne he’d been trying to obtain for the last month. His diplomacy had wasted so much time, and that wasted time lingered over his heart.

Leyla squeezed his hand. “It’s okay. We’re here now.”

Nodding, Aiden ran his hand over the smooth and simple throne’s armrest. Grabbing her arms, he dragged Leyla with him as he sat.

An Important Announcement!

*

Congratulations!

Aiden Pearce has claimed the throne, ending the Game of Thrones, and received Midrath’s Gate Hub and Authority!

Considering the length of the other announcements, Aiden found it quite odd how short and direct this one appeared.

“Someone’s unhappy,” he said, grinning.

Your Patron sends you a gift as a reward for claiming the authority of Midrath.

One Soul Capacity Upgrade.

Receive?

Yes.

No.

Mentally prodding affirmative caused the notification to explode outward into a massive torrent of ice-attune Essence that slammed into both his and Leyla’s chest. Their combined soul easily handled the strain and absorbed enough to cause it to bloat and shed layers, expanding as it grew to accommodate the new, increased capacity.

Your Patron has sent you a message.

Receive?

Yes.

No.

No reason not to.

You’ve been busy, it seems.

Not sure how you managed to increase the capacity of your soul to such a limit since we last met, but I’m greatly impressed.

Don’t forget your promise.

Respond?

Yes.

No.

Waving the prompt away, rejecting the response prompt, he looked over and kissed Leyla’s cheek. “How do you feel?”

“Probably the same as you. Everything aches a little. Kind of chilly, too. Otherwise, that didn’t sting as badly as the soul infusions I usually receive,” she said, grinning. “Those bite back.”

“Huh.”

Staring at the notification in front of him, he started to familiarize himself through live-testing the navigation features and menus of the Gate Hub. Already, he saw some pretty interesting options that made him realize just how much power he’d acquired.

In Midrath, his will reigned supreme.

Why would they give me this power? Wouldn’t it be easier to mold a pawn to place on the throne who could just open up the realm to allow the gods freedom of movement from the Upper Realms?

A poke dragged him from his thoughts. “You’re thinking too much. Whatever it is, do you really need to figure it out now?”

“Guess not,” he muttered.

Two prompts later, a swirling vortex of midnight black, crimson red, and dull gray appeared to his side. He made sure to double check that the portal wouldn’t let anything enter into Midrath from Halla.

The thought to go now and enter crossed his mind, but he’d long since heard the shouts coming up from below. The first to ascend to the peak was unsurprisingly James, but then another emo James stood next to not-emo James.

“That’s uncanny,” he muttered.

James eyed Leyla with confusion and hints of aggression but said nothing of her presence. Instead, his eyes flashed with powerful silver streaks.

Turning his attention to emo James, Aiden raised his brows. “Royal?”

“Correct, Ruler Aiden Pearce,” the recently hatched Shadowborn Royal formally responded with a short nod of respect. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I would be pleased if you would call me Arkayan.”

“Fine by me, Arkayan. I’m glad to see you’re not a mindless beast,” Aiden said straightforwardly. “You don’t know how many hours I stressed over how you’d be.”

Arkayan gestured towards James. “It’s all thanks to him, truthfully.”

“That’s a story we’ll have to save for later,” James said, looking away guiltily.

“Sure, but for now—”

“Aiden!” Olvlia’s voice cut through across the mountaintop. His sister kept shouting his name until she caught up to James. “Aide—eh? Who’s sh—a Valkyr?!”

“Olivia, watch what you say,” he warned, his eyes staring into her like daggers. “Leyla is a friend—ah, yeah. I deserved that. I think the easiest way to explain it would be to say she’s my… soulmate?”

“I am yours,” Leyla declared in front of them.

“And I am yours,” he repeated, feeling no sense of shame for speaking those words absolutely. “Things have changed Olivia, and I do hope you’ll forgive me and understand. Even if you don’t, I understand.”

“Rijiiik!” A blue body flew through the air towards Aiden, but Leyla’s gray scythe put all that nonsense to a stop quickly. “Ah, kind ruler, lord, sir. Rijik has missed you greatly.”

“I’m glad to see you’re well, Rijik. Did you have any trouble reaching Zion?”

“No thanks to him,” one of the Valkyr grumbled, eyeing the loud and excited Squelcher dangerously. The same Valkyr waved at his partner in diplomacy and the two Rhexians following behind. “We’d all like to discuss our concerns with you, Lord Aiden.”

“Not now,” he said, dismissing them. “I’ll assign a delegate—Olivia, if you would attend to their needs, I’d appreciate that.”

“B—but you just got back…”

“I won’t be here for long,” he said, gesturing towards the portal to Halla. “Duty calls.”

“Aiden…” she muttered sadly.

“Please, Olivia, go help them.”

“That’s kind of cold, man,” James said, awkwardly avoiding eye contact with Olivia.

Whatever it meant, Aiden didn’t care.

His beloved sister nodded with a steely resolve he hadn’t seen before and descended without another word of complaint. Now that the amount of people had been reduced by five—

“Rijik, go with them,” he ordered.

“Rijik will miss Lord Aiden, the kind sir who helped Rijik’s people.” Seeing Aiden’s dangerous glare, Rijik waved and leapt after the descending group.

“Arkayan, I know why you’re here, but why are you here James?”

James looked between his emo copy and Aiden, his eyes flitting to the Fallen on his lap who was currently in the process of sticking her tongue out at him.

“To fight you of course!” James declared, more excited and lively than Aiden had ever seen him before.

“No!” Josh’s voice boomed as he crested the peak. “Not until I fight him first.”

“Says who?” James asked, raising a questioning brow.

“Says me. I called dibs a long time ago,” he explained, nodding like his justification made sense to anybody but himself.

“That’s true,” Aiden interjected before things got too out of hand. “However, my Patron requires something of me first, so we’ll have to postpone any fights until I get back from that.”

“Yo, who’s the hot bird chick?” Josh asked, dropping Bartholomew to the ground. “I think she digs me, man. You’ve gotta watch out for dimes. They’ll run away from you if you don’t watch out.”

The sound of James and Josh bickering filled the mountaintop. Aiden could see the Arkayan’s interest in the portal to Halla and grinned his delight.

“You four are coming with me,” he stated, quieting them all. “But first, we’ve got some house cleaning to do.”

“Perfect. You might not be doomed then,” a man’s voice called from a distortion in space. A clean shaven, gentleman fellow in a form-fitting tux stepped out of thin air. “Aiden, I think you and I need to talk about some things.”

“Loki,” Aiden growled, “begone.”

“Wai—”

Pop!

After Midrath’s authority removed the lead administrator’s presence from the realm, Aiden made sure to restrict all outward traffic from the upper realms and strip away the false system in place.

Josh and James’ eyes flashed, but neither noticed, causing Aiden to grin internally.

“Now, where were we?” Aiden said, grinning at the wide open, o-shaped mouths his two friends made. He looked over and gestured towards the swirling portal of doom. “Oh yeah, who wants to go with me to hell?”

End of Book 2

Thank you all for reading!