Page 74 of Crimson Skies

A scream of denial rent the air to his right. “Stop!”

Theo swooped toward Cassius, his face a mask of agony, his eyes blazing green and sapphire. Rohengar’s voice tore from his lips next.

“BROTHER!”

Fear widened Loki’s crimson eyes, understanding dawning on his face. “Cassius!”

He darted after the South Star with Victor.

The landscape blurred around Morgan as he closed the gap that separated him from his soulmate, ozone stinging his eyes. The terror swallowing him was so deep and fierce he feared it would render him mad.

He knew what Cassius intended to do.

Dread leached the color from Atropos’s face. “Icarus?”

The world trembled, rocking them all.

A thin, dark line split the crack above Elios.

Fractures ripped through San Francisco, bringing down high rises like they were made of paper and glue. The Golden Gate Bridge groaned and toppled into the bay.

Theo’s shield protected Earth from the worst of the devastation.

The tear expanded, bringing with it the endless void that was the Abyss. A manic light brightened Elios’s eyes as he gazed upon it, his expression triumphant.

“Come, God of Creation!” The dark God’s gleeful shout rose above the sounds of destruction rising from the city. “End this world and all others that have defied you!”

Deathly stillness filled the realm of man.

Everyone froze, their breath expectant.

Something shifted within the Eater of Souls.

A presence looked upon them curiously from across an infinite space, its existence so unfathomable Morgan could barely comprehend it. He ground his teeth and resumed his desperate climb.

Brightness detonated around Cassius a heartbeat before he reached him. Morgan’s hand closed on empty air as the demigod ascended in all his divine glory, the radiance pulsing from his Awakener form so powerful it cleared the shadows shrouding the Earth on a single wave of dizzying light.

Fire thumped inside Morgan. He clutched his midriff and bent over on a grunt. It took a moment for him to grasp what he was sensing.

An echo of power was coming from Cassius across their scattering bond. A power he’d never felt before. He fisted his hands, ignored the agonizing blaze inside him, and soared toward the rising demigod.

“Like hell I’m letting you do this alone!” he snarled.

Cassius faltered and looked at him with a frown. “Stand down, Ivmir.”

His voice rattled Morgan’s bones and made the sea tremble.

“No!” he retorted defiantly.

Cassius narrowed his eyes.

“Come back,Icarus!” Atropos shouted. “This is not what I foresaw!”

The Moira was converging furiously on Cassius with her sisters, Loki, Theo, and Victor on their tail.

Cassius met her grim gaze steadily. “I know.Hyperion said you could never have divined this.”

Atropos’s eyes flared, her wings quivering as she faltered for an instant. “Wait. What do you mean by—?!”