Twilight of the Gods

Daeva didn’t know whether to reach for her pistol or her daggers. While both were lethal, she wasn’t sure which would kill Sabine the fastest. After all, she was clearly no ordinary mortal if she could see through Haydn’s glamour.

Speaking of the God, he emerged from the shadows, eyes darkening as he met Sabine’s gaze.

“What do you want from us?” It’s Haydn who speaks first, not bothering to waste time with pleasantries.

“You should be thankful that I haven’t called my worshippers,” she said. “What would the rest of my brethren think if they found you sneaking about?”

“I’m not sure,” Daeva said. “But I bet they wouldn’t be too happy to find out that you’re creating superpowered warriors and hoarding weapons.”

Considering all that Sabine was capable of and the weakening effect of the Binding Chains, Daeva had no reason to be so bold. Still, she relishes the expression of fear that briefly flickers across the Elysian’s face before she quickly composes herself.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said. “If you’re having problems with your head, I’ll be glad to fix it. Just like the old days.”

An involuntary shiver runs through her body. “Does your better half know about this?” Daeva ignores Sabine’s remark, choosing instead to launch a mock interrogation against her.

“It’s none of your business,” the Elysian spat. “You shouldn’t even be here.”

And yet for some reason you’re choosing to let us stay, Daeva thought. “Then summon your devotees,” she retorted. “Have them drag us away.”

“I have a better idea,” Sabine said. “How about you guys join me?”

Surely she was joking. Daeva makes eye contact with Haydn and sees that he’s thinking the same thing. But Sabine’s smile is unwavering.

She’s serious. Daeva frowned. “So there is something going on.”

“There may or may not be,” Sabine said, gesturing vaguely into the air. “But if there was, it would greatly benefit you.”

“Ok,” Haydn said, humoring her. “Let’s say that hypothetically, you were involved in this conspiracy that would allegedly benefit us. What would that conspiracy be?”

Sabine smiles an infuriating red-lipped smile. “I couldn’t tell you. It would ruin the conspiracy. Hypothetically, of course.”

“But you would want our help,” Daeva said. “Hypothetically, that is.”

“Want is a strong word but —“

She doesn’t let Sabine finish speaking, cutting her off mid-sentence with a dagger. The blade soars through the air, leaving a small cut on the Elysian’s cheek before embedding itself into the wood of the door. Red blood beads on the cut, resembling intricately carved rubies.

“Let’s cut straight to the point,” Daeva said. “You need our help and you’re plotting something against someone. Tell me what’s going on or I might be tempted to leave another cut on your pretty face.”

Sabine looks at her, aghast. “You wouldn’t dare.” She cradles her sliced cheek.

A harsh, barking laugh escapes from Daeva’s mouth. She knew a million ways to kill a man and several more ways how to torture a person to madness thanks to the Elysians. There was nothing she wouldn’t do to make her suffer as she did.

And Sabine sensed this. Her pale porcelain skin grew even paler as another dagger appeared in Daeva’s hand.

“Would you bet your life on that?”

They maintain eye contact for a few seconds, neither daring to look away. “Swear yourself to me,” Sabine said. “Say that you will help me no matter what and I will let you know my plans.”

The Elysian was in no place to make demands. She was unarmed and without the support of her devotees. But Daeva recognized that she was making a tactical move, proposing an exchange to regain leverage.

“I’ll swear it,” Daeva said. Sabine’s face briefly lights up. “But not before you give me something first,” Daeva finished. She holds up the dagger for emphasis, silencing any objections that the Elysian may have.

Sabine raises her hands in mock surrender. “Name your price.”

“Break your part of the Binding Chains,” Daeva said, pointing to her own neck. “I can’t help you if I’m a prisoner.”

The Elysian draws closer to her, resting her long, icy fingers on Daeva’s neck. Her hand passes through the God’s skin, closing around a metal link before she shatters it with her fist.

Three down, four to go. She takes a deep breath, reveling at the weight that had been lifted off her chest.

“Satisfied?” Sabine’s smirk wipes away any joy that she might have felt.

“I’ll swear myself to you,” Daeva answered, voice devoid of enthusiasm. “So speak. What are your plans?”

“It involves your favorite person,” she said.

Ezra. Ice runs through Daeva’s veins. Of all her tormentors, it was no secret that she despised him the most. Beside her, Haydn stiffened.

“You are aware that the Elysians are organized in a council,” Sabine continued. “Ezra is at the head of that council. His words have the most weight, but I fear that his decision-making skills have been lacking lately.”

“And you think you can strong-arm him out of leadership with a few powerful warriors,” Daeva said.

“No,” Sabine said as if the very idea insulted her. “I’m planning a tactical coup with an army of powerful warriors. It will persuade my brethren to take my side.”

Persuade. What a funny word for something that clearly meant a violent takeover. Sabine’s scheming was not uncharacteristic behavior. Daeva was only surprised that it didn’t happen sooner.

“Your brethren won’t surrender easily,” Haydn said. “You can’t just expect them to kneel to you.”

“Ah,” Sabine said, smiling her notorious red-lipped smile. “That’s where you’re wrong. My warriors are a different breed. They can bring a bloodbath that will stain the seas red. Realistically, they can even take every life in Otherworld and the Mortal Realm alike.”

“Let’s say they can,” Haydn said. “But what’s to say that they will want to?”

An eerie expression crossed Sabine’s face, a perverse mix of smug satisfaction and hollow ambition. There was a crazy look in her eyes, one that Daeva was all too familiar with. She had only seen that expression on Sabine’s face once and it had been the day after the Council forced her to take a different direction with her experiments.

“They want what I want,” she said. “They wouldn’t be my worshippers otherwise.”

It was a calculated response, fit for a politician. But Daeva wouldn’t let her slip by so easily. She decided to try a more direct approach. “Is that why they call you the Beloved One? Because your devotees are eager to soak their hands in blood?”

“You don’t have the right to address me by that title,” Sabine seethed. Then, her tone softened. “Besides, all of the Elysians exercise a degree of control over their worshippers. It’s hardly anything unethical, especially compared to Ezra.”

“I have trouble believing that you’re any better than him,” Daeva goaded. “But we all lie to ourselves. I bet that helps you sleep at night.”

“It’s not a lie,” Sabine retorted. “I am better than him. But I don’t expect you to understand the mercy that I show my devotees.” She paused. “I was unusually cruel to you after all.”

Hours spent on the operating table return to her. It had been more than cruel. It was traumatizing, humiliating, and a complete violation of her body. But Daeva’s mouth clamps down on those protests.

“Try me,” she said instead. “I understand mercy more than you think.” The dagger in her hand reflects the light, drawing Sabine’s attention to the weapon. The Elysian gulped. She looked at Haydn, pleading with him through her eyes. He could only shrug as Daeva continued to twirl her blade.

“I take away the guilt,” Sabine said at last. “Without the ability to feel, I’ve given my followers the ability to do as they please. After I lesion their anterior insular cortices and give them their Conductors, the rest comes easily.”

At least that explained the gruesome surgeries. But Daeva doubted that her devotees consented to it. No one in their right mind asked to lose themselves in that way. No one begged for their souls to be robbed.

“I can do the same for you,” Sabine offered. “You must feel a lot of guilt for all the lives you’ve taken.”

An image of the seven dead children flashes in her mind. Without Anhel’s voice to soothe her, all of the repressed emotions rush in. There was the guilt, of course, the knowledge that she was a monster with the blood of innocents on her hands. But what was worse was the clinging shame. She should have known better than to resort to murder for every problem she faced. None of her victims deserved to die. But maybe the Elysians they served did.

Red pools of mortal blood fill her vision. An indescribable bloodlust takes over her senses, so intoxicating that her heart speeds up in excitement. She can hardly help herself as she reaches for another dagger.

“I take that back,” Sabine said. “You don’t have to go through any procedure.” The Elysian backs away, slowly edging toward the weapons on the wall.

Daeva throws the dagger in that direction, forcing Sabine away from the wall. “Is that so? I like to think that I don’t have to do anything.”

Haydn grabs her shoulder, stopping her from advancing further. “Daeva, that’s enough.”

She wrenches away from his grasp. “It’s never enough. There’s nothing that I can do that will ever equal the amount of suffering I’ve endured under them.” Her shame had morphed into anger, which rose in her chest like a vengeful tidal wave over a small seaside village. She needed to lash out at someone, to see pain wrought from her hands.

Sabine stays still, no longer running away. “I’m sorry you had to suffer. I know that apology isn’t enough, but know that none of us wanted to do this to you.”

A pungent smell emanates from the Elysian. “You’re lying,” Daeva sneered. “There were so many ways that you could have spared me. You wanted to be cruel.”

“Because Ezra said so! He told us to test your limits.” She draws closer to Daeva, grabbing her arm desperately.

“None of you disagreed with him,” she replied. “Not a single one of you vouched for me.”

“You were unbreakable,” Sabine said, tightening her grip on Daeva’s arm. “There was nothing we could have done. But now, things are different. I have more power. We have more power. He can finally pay for what he did to you.”

Her heartbeat slows and the blood in her vision retreats to the periphery. Maybe Sabine was right. Things were different. She was no longer a helpless prisoner but a guest, someone who the Elysians had to treat as an equal thanks to Nyx.

“You believe me,” Sabine said. She reaches for Daeva’s hand, clasping it between her palms. “I won’t let you down.”

Before Daeva could register what was happening, Sabine slips a Conductor onto her hand, letting her magic course through Daeva’s body. Daeva falls to the ground, twitching as the fingers of the Elysian’s influence creep into her head. She could feel Sabine trying to impose her will through the Conductor, chanting for her to obey.

“What did you do to her?” Haydn was at her side, trying to prop her up.

Ordinarily, Sabine’s magic would’ve had no influence on her. But with the power of the Binding Chains still in effect, her magic was stronger than Daeva anticipated. She should’ve expected this from Sabine. Yet, for that brief second, she trusted the Elysian to bring her justice.

“I’m correcting her behavior,” Sabine said. “You saw the way she was waving her daggers around. That sort of rashness is the exact thing that I can’t have in my plans.”

“You didn’t have to do this,” Haydn said, slinging Daeva’s arm over his shoulder. “She was going to help you.”

Daeva lifts her head, meeting Sabine’s eyes with great struggle. Sabine looks back coldly, intensifying the influence of her magic through the Conductors. A piercing headache shoots through her cranium. She groans, dropping her head again.

Screw you, Sabine, she thought. I always knew you were a traitorous snake.

“She wanted to hurt me,” Sabine said, matter-of-factly. “I merely acted in self-defense. You can hand her over to me. She’ll feel much better in my care.”

“No,” Haydn said. “You’ll let us leave in peace or I’ll tell the other Elysians your plans.”

“They won’t believe you,” Sabine said. She grabs Daeva’s shoulders and attempts to yank her away from him. Haydn keeps his grip, his fingers digging into Daeva’s arm.

“You will only hurt her more,” Haydn said. “It doesn’t matter whether they believe me. But it seems very clear to me that you will tear her mind to shreds.”

“I’m not cruel–”

“But you were,” he interjected. “You traumatized her. I can’t trust you with her. Let go. I know you understand.”

Somewhere in the painful, cloudy depths of her mind, Daeva allows herself a small smile. It was refreshing to see someone stand up for her, even if that someone was squeezing her arms too hard.

“The war was eons ago,” Sabine reasoned. “I won’t hurt her.” She draws Daeva’s body closer to her.

“You seek to control her for your own personal gain. You may not hurt her directly, but she’ll be a casualty in your petty squabbles with your brethren,” Haydn said, yanking her back.

Being caught in this senseless tug of war was beginning to annoy Daeva. Despite being paralyzed by the Conductors, she manages to wiggle her fingers. From there, she slowly regained control of her body as the pair fought. Struggling against the fog of Sabine’s influence, she stands up, grabbing the two of them.

“Stop,” she said, squeezing the word out between her lips. They freeze, stunned by her conscious state. Before either of them could speak, she grabbed Haydn’s hand. The metal of her Conductor connects with his flesh and his magic pours into her body.

Steal from Sabine what she took from others.

At that moment, Daeva knew exactly what to do to fulfill the Board’s task. Still pulsating with Haydn’s magic, she reaches into Sabine’s chest and pulls out her soul. The Elysian collapses, her head thudding against the ground. Long strands of black hair cover her face, hiding her expression of shock.

Haydn pulls away, taking his magic with him. He looks at Daeva, horrified.

“What? I didn’t kill her,” she said. She turns Sabine’s soul over in her hands, fascinated by the inscriptions.

It was an ordinary mortal soul, a Mage’s soul to be exact. That was the most confusing part. Mages belonged in the Mortal Realm, doing the bidding of Gods or Elysians. That was how they got their magic, by signing a contract with a higher being.

So what was a Mage doing in Otherworld, masquerading as an Elysian?

Daeva shook her head. Between this and the discovery that Iris was actually a God, she was starting to wonder if there were any real Elysians in Otherworld after all.