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Other: Two hundred and twenty years old. Smells citrusy and fresh. Tastes woodsy and smoky—like whiskey. Blood tastes like honey but smokier. Had kardia removed, so is incapable of love. Also called: The Asher. The One Who is Blessed. The Guardian of Souls. The Primal God of Common Men and Endings.

Background: Was forced to kill his friend Lathan—something that haunts him still. Made a deal with Veses many years before meeting Sera to keep her safe. Mother was killed while Nyktos was still in her womb. Initially rejected Sera because of what he felt from her on that day—determination, anguish, and hopelessness. Had just finished his Culling when the deal was made with the Mierel family. All of Eythos’s power and responsibilities transferred to Nyktos upon his father’s death. Was once forced to feed until he killed. Knows what it’s like to be a prisoner. (See below for additional background information.)

Family: Mother = Mycella †. Father = Eythos †. Uncle = Kolis. Second Cousin = Aios.

NYKTOS’S JOURNEY TO DATE:

My, oh my. What do I say about dear Nyktos? Beautifully tortured. Unbelievably caring. Dealt a bad hand literally from birth yet prevailed and even persevered. What I know of the Primal of Death is only what I was able to cobble together from research and my sparse visions. I wish I had seen him and Sera as clearly as I have Casteel and Poppy, but alas that was not to be. Still, what I have learned and seen of Nyktos has made me fall quite in love with him—generally speaking, of course. Seraphena is one lucky Primal.

To start with, some history…

In a vengeful rage, determined to punish his twin for causing him to lose his love (Sotoria), Kolis murders his sister-in-law, Mycella, while she’s pregnant with Nyktos. Somehow, Nyktos survives. It is unknown how, exactly, but it earned him the “One Who is Blessed” part of his title. Nyktos grew up seeing constant sadness on his father’s face at the loss of his Consort. Later, after seeing that and realizing that love could become a weapon and was a dangerous and unnecessary risk, he asks the goddess Maia to remove his kardia, thus making it impossible for him to love.

We find out later that that later was right before Sera came to the Shadowlands, and it’s because of a vision he had of what would happen if he fell in love with Sera and then lost her.

Nyktos had barely finished his Culling when his father made the deal that affected the Mierel bloodline—which Eythos told Nyktos about before he died, though he never explained why he did it. It didn’t impact Nyktos then because he was not yet the Primal of Death. But when Kolis murdered Eythos after switching roles with him, all his father’s power and responsibilities transferred to Nyktos.

When Phanos, the Primal of the Sky, Sea, Earth, and Wind destroys Phythe over a perceived snub, Saion and Rhahar flee the Triton Isles. Unfortunately, defection from one’s Court is considered an offense often punishable by death. Nyktos intervenes on their behalf, meeting with them while in captivity and touching each of their shoulders. The next day during court, he informs Phanos that the Primal cannot punish gods who no longer belong to him and tells Phanos they belong to him now. You see, he took possession of their souls when he touched them, making them his and no longer a part of the Triton Isles, thus allowing them to leave as they both wished. After, they become incredibly loyal to Nyktos and part of his inner circle.

Acting as the Primal of Death and knowing that he is now responsible for the deal made with Roderick Mierel, Nyktos checks on Seraphena occasionally, curious about her. He witnesses her at her lake and finds it soothing.

He actually started checking on her as a child. He saw her collecting rocks, swimming in her lake, doing other things. And all of that started because of a dream he had on the day she was born, showing him what could happen in the future.

During his earlier days as the Primal of Death, Kolis used to make him come to him in Dalos, whereupon Nyktos would have to pretend that he didn’t hate his uncle with every fiber of his being and convince Kolis that he was loyal to him. In reality, Nyktos never accepted his way of life and had been looking for a way to destroy his uncle or entomb him since he Ascended. Seeing how Kolis treated his favorites only reinforced the loathing Nyktos felt for his kin. And being forced to do things like rip out a godling’s heart for daring not to bow properly to Kolis, or feed until he killed, only increased his hatred.

Before the mortals started losing faith, he used to be summoned to the mortal realm often. He would sometimes grant the petitioner’s request to take the life of another if they were evil and deserved it. Other times, he killed the summoner if the request was for profit or a petty slight. As time went on, he visited the mortal realm less and less.

Until he was summoned to accept Sera as his Consort.

He’d already had Ector and Lathan watching her once she turned seventeen—before he was forced to take Lathan’s life. But when the Priests summon him to Lasania to claim Seraphena and honor the deal her ancestor made, he arrives at the castle with a rumble, extinguishing all candles before sending the flames surging toward the ceiling. As the air splits, eather pours out, and he appears, surrounded by churning shadows. He senses Seraphena’s feelings and whispers to her that he has no need of a Consort before extinguishing the candles again with a whoosh and disappearing with another rumble. When the candles flame anew, he’s gone. He says he was never summoned again, even though Sera was led to believe he had been.

The next time Nyktos sees Sera in person, she’s older, and he is in the mortal realm—something he still doesn’t do often. Posing as Ash, he sees her trailing the same gods he has been keeping an eye on and grabs her before she rushes in. She fights and rails at him, which does little but greatly amuse him. He questions her about what she was planning and tells her that him jumping in to save her interfered with his plans. He also makes her aware that he doesn’t have a single decent bone in his body.

Sera attacks him, and he pins her between him and the wall, realizing who she is in the process. He promises her that the three gods will pay for what they’ve done. When he senses Taric, Madis, and Cressa returning, he tells Sera to wrap her legs around him and kiss him as a way to hide in plain sight. She gets feisty and bites him. He kisses the hell out of her and bites her back, sucking blood from her finger. After, he clarifies that he wasn’t pretending to enjoy the kiss and admits that maybe he has one decent bone in his body.

If you ask me, Nyktos is made of good. While no Primal can be good per se, Nyktos is the best of the best. And while he may not like to admit it, I am sure I’m not the only one who sees it.

Taking stock, Ash doesn’t believe the other gods sensed him and tells Sera to go home. When she challenges him and asks if he’s leaving, he informs her that he’s not.

Later, he startles her outside the Kazin home they’re both investigating and confirms he was following the gods, too. Once again amused by her spunk, he suggests they look around together since they seem to have common goals. He informs her that the gods have done this before and confesses that he planned to try to capture one of them and chat. While he has every intention of getting to the bottom of things, he warns her that she should let it go.

Sera, not afraid of much—apparently even a god, as she thinks Ash is—brings her shadowstone dagger to his throat. He questions her about the weapon given shadowstone is rare in the mortal realm. After they discuss it, she tells him she stole it from her stepbrother—a lie. When he asks her if she knows what would happen to her if she tried to use it on him, and she says she does, he confesses that knowing she’d still try makes him think of their kiss earlier and her tongue in his mouth.

Cheeky devil.

Ash disarms her and tells her she’s too brave, calling her liessa for the first time. He asks her what drowns out her fear and pushes her so eagerly toward death. She says she doesn’t know. After a little more discourse, she tells him to get on with it: killing her. He’s both surprised and amused that she thinks he would. He tells her to be careful but warns that he’ll be watching.

Following the gods later, Ash enters Joanis Designs. Acting on instinct, Sera stabs him in the chest. He chastises her for being reckless, pulls out the dagger, and destroys it. Not having learned her lesson about self-preservation, she threatens him and seems utterly unimpressed by his show of force and energy. It only makes him laugh.

He asks her what scares her and calls her liessa again, realizing she’s only scared on a superficial level. Unable to stop himself from touching her, he caresses her cheek and tells her that while she may feel terror, she’s not terrified. She snarkily asks him if he’s the God of Thoughts and Emotions, making him laugh again.

She’s clearly trouble, but he can’t keep away.

Ash confesses to Sera that he was alerted to the gods entering the mortal realm. He tells her that he’s kept an eye on her to keep her from getting into any more mischief. When she tells him it isn’t necessary, he replies that he wanted to—something that surprises even him. They share information, and he says he hasn’t discovered anything about the Kazin family murders nor found any evidence explaining why Madis did what he did, though he insinuates the god was lazy this last time.

He explains that the gods’ victims’ souls just cease to exist, which is a fate crueler than being sent to the Abyss, where you’re at least something. When she asks, he confirms that he’s indeed from the Shadowlands and tells her what happens to a soul after someone passes.

As they talk more, Andreia Joanis—who they thought quite dead when they arrived—begins to stir, then rises and attacks them. He kills the seamstress with his shadowstone sword and tells Sera that he’s never seen or heard of anything like what they just witnessed. He knows that Madis didn’t just kill her. He did something else to her—something disturbing.