Page 66 of Crimson Skies

Ladon got drunk on mead and entertained them with fiery displays that more than matched Pyri’s efforts.

Myrdin made the park and lakes bloom with lotuses and wild flowers.

The giggling Nymphs, Potamois, Nereids, and Naiads led many a human into the woods for an unforgettable night of passion under the stars.

Menippe regaled them with tales of her adventures through the realms until things got hot and heavy and Dione and Thetis fairly gagged her, much to Eden and the Reaper God’s chagrin.

Izaran shyly showed them the sculpture he’d made of Phebei out of driftwood he’d found on the beach.

Loki groaned when King Rizen started recounting his various misadventures in the Nine Hells.

Daphne and the Hesperides performed a breathtakingly beautiful dance in the sky, their wings tracing dazzling patterns across the firmament.

And throughout it all, Cassius held Morgan’s hand and leaned against him, his heart brimming with love and regret.

I hope everyone will be able to smile like this again one day, after all this is over.

More fracture lines appeared across the Earth throughout that night.

At daybreak, when the chilly mist that shrouded the bay and the ocean finally lifted, rifts opened in the sky above San Francisco and Elios descended upon the Earth with his ungodly army.

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Finally!

A maniacal wave of elation set Elios’s heart ablaze as he surveyed the silent troops watching him from the ground, the sea, and the air.

We more than outnumber them. This will be over in a matter of hours!

The darkness around him thickened, matching the thrill coursing through his veins. He could almost taste his victory.

It dawned on him briefly that he’d thought the same at the beginning of the War in the Nether.

Elios squashed that stray notion as soon as it was born.

I won that battle.His eyes shrank to slits.I shall be triumphant here too.

Growls and snarls rose behind him. The grisly sounds made some of the Dryads’ eagles and the Nereids’ seahorses skittish. Elios’s mouth curved in a wicked smile.

Over half his army was made up of ghouls, hellbeasts, and monsters. It was a veritable legion of the most hideous creatures the Nine Hells had ever birthed, a force he’d been at pains to nurture these past centuries.

There were also the Gods and spirits of the Underworld who had stood by his side during the War in the Nether. The rest of his ranks was filled with the sorcerers, warlocks, and alchemists who had pledged their alliance to him in exchange for an eternal life in darkness, as well as the regiments of war demons, Nephilim, and Cyclops he’d commanded since even before the Fall.

Scores of war demons clicked their tongues and rustled their wings at the sight of their enemy. Only the Nephilim and Cyclops remained silent, their stone maces and clubs still at their sides and their faces impassive, waiting for his order to attack.

Elios’s gaze found Icarus. It was hard to miss him where he hovered in his full demigod form at the forefront of Earth’s last line of defense. His figure glowed brightly, Heaven’s Light anointing him with a radiance that made Elios’s stomach curdle.

It was the Nether all over again.

Except this time, it wasn’t just Ivmir who stood beside Icarus. Coraos framed him too, as did their Goddess sisters and a host of other deities.

Elios tilted his chin with a contemptuous smile. “You look pretty confident for someone who’s about to die, Awakener.”

Icarus looked unfazed by his threat. “I don’t know about that.”He scanned the masses behind Elios before calmly meeting his stare.“It seems to me our forces are rather well-balanced, don’t you think?”

Elios’s smile faded. He lowered his brows.What is this fool talking about?

“Is this asshole ignoring us?” someone said in an irate voice.