Page 76
Story: Gods' Battleground
“Sorry, I haven’t had time to place an order at the Deity Superstore,” I quipped.
“Go.” He waved me off. “Get some rest, Leda. Your jokes are even more terrible than usual when you’re tired.”
“Snacks?” Sierra asked hopefully.
Damiel’s gaze panned across the shabby kitchen, drinking in its paltry offerings. “I’ll figure out something.” He sighed, then turned to the girls. “Who wants pancakes?”
“Me!” Sierra and Eira both screamed.
CHAPTER 25
A NEW, OLD WORLD
Nero was right. A few hours of sleep did me a world of good. I had so much energy now, in fact, that after my nap, I decided I’d check out one of the Bubble worlds myself. And I convinced Nero to come along with me.
It was just like the old days, the two of us going off on a mission. Sure, Damiel teased me terribly for putting Nero on my team, but this wasn’t just about wanting to spend time with Nero—though, yeah, who would say no to that? This was about how we worked as a team. We’d accomplished a lot together over the years, and we were going to accomplish this. We were going to find an Immortal gravesite, and with it, a new source of Nectar and Venom.
“This place looks familiar, don’t you think?” I asked Nero.
The magic mirror had brought us to a large forest of snow-kissed evergreens. It smelled of pine needles and something distinctly nutty.
Nero looked around. “We have never been here before,” he declared.
“Are you sure?” I picked up a pinecone. “It kind of looks like Canada.”
“You are kidding,” he said, his voice flat.
“Yes. And no.” I brushed my hand down a fir shoot. Heavy, wet snow slid off the tip and hit the white ground with a muted thump. “Ok, so I know we’ve never actually been here before, but after a while, a lot of these worlds really do start to look the same.”
“The universe, even with its seemingly endless diversity, prefers to fall into patterns,” Nero replied.
“In other words, the universe prefers order to chaos.”
Nero touched my face gently. “There’s room for both order and chaos in the universe, Pandora.”
I smirked at him. “Stop flirting with me, General. We have work to do.”
I looked at the forest around us, sighing. All the trees really did look the same. I’d have to depend on my other senses to find the gravesite. I closed my eyes and reached out with my magic, trying to sense the Nectar and Venom that the map claimed was here. I was drawn to their magic, so if they were here, I should be able to feel them.
And, sure enough, I felt a tiny tug on my magic senses.
I opened my eyes. “This way.” I pointed. “The air tastes sweeter over there.”
Nero didn’t question my conviction or comment on my weird statement. He just trusted me. That was one of the things I loved about him.
“You look nice,” I told him as we trudged through the forest. “Is that a new uniform?”
“No.”
I snorted. Of course not. Nero’s uniforms all looked the same. But they sure looked good on him.
His gaze swept over me. “Is that a new t-shirt?”
“It is, actually.” I pointed at the text printed across the front. It read:Deity of Disorder. “Do you like it?”
His eyes dipped to my chest. “Yes.”
“It looks good on me, don’t you think?”
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76 (Reading here)
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125