Page 1 of Immortal Sun (Dark Olympus)

CHAPTER 1

CYRUS

“It is not death that a man should fear but he should fear never beginning to live.”— Marcus Aurelius

I n the end, she whispered it, the one name, the secret name, she wielded the power of Ra—but it fell on deaf ears. It did not bear fruit; it was too late, blood had already spilled. And they mourned the loss of the sun as darkness descended across the earth. Chaos manifests in so many different ways. I should have known that in the end, he wasn’t just watching, no, my enemy, he was waiting for the one thing immortals have in spades---the right time.

The Great Gathering

In the beginning…what a strange sentence. I should laugh but I can’t even remember the beginning. I do know, however, that the end is near, for all of us. Twelve of us remain, gods of our own realms, gods of our own territories.

I have no throne.

Humans worship us but even so, they confuse our names.

In order to save what was left of our power we decided in favor of a human trial. If you can prove that you deserve your godhood by surviving with humanity, then you’ll ascend to Mount Olympus, never to be tested again. If you fail…

You’ll roam the earth with whatever remaining power you’ve been given—tasked with one job: to serve humanity as penance for your failures.

We started with many gods. Now we have few. What god fails in living as a human? What god could be so weak?

It is that time again.

I check my watch.

After ten thousand years—my name has been called.

I am Ra. I am the morning sun. I do not blink when darkness comes. This will be nothing but a blip before I ascend to the skies where I belong.

I sit at the marble table and smile.

They’re all present. Mars, Aphrodite, Venus, Gaia, Gilgamesh, Osiris, Lugh, Marduk, Ogen, Huw. They wait for my failure. I assure them, with my smile, of my success.

“You have a thousand years.” Gilgamesh rubs his hand down his black jeweled beard. “Annihilate them all, every last child of Chaos, have them write their names in The Book of the Dead with the blood of our enemy. In the end, you will ascend where you belong. Good luck brother, may the Creator be with you.”

“May they be with us all.” I incline my head and smile.

Easy.

The children of Chaos? Only a few thousand still exist. I’ll get it done in one night and make sure they fear the light. Forget the dark, only the truly terrifying things are bold enough to walk under the sun.

Under me.

Present Day

Seattle, Washington

Club Styx

“It’s taken you a while,” Anubis whispers from a very dark and sinister looking corner in my office. He just has to always pick that seat. I’ve moved the chair for years; he moves it back. I’ve changed the lighting; he snaps his fingers and changes it back. Some gods like the darkness better than the light, and the God of the Underworld is no different, though his wife might argue that point.

Some might say their marriage was the beginning of the end for the immortal realms—they were part of the group that started finding their mates. It started with a vampire, or was it a werewolf? There has to be a joke in there somewhere, fallen angels became involved, a siren, a Katsun—there really isn’t anything they didn’t cover or are still covering, and I’ve somehow gotten thrown into the mix since the clock keeps ticking, and I’ve yet to find the last of Apep’s bloodline that actually matters, thankful I can be very convincing.

Just one left.

And it’s taken what feels like an eternity.

“What? No snarky comeback? Has humanity stolen the joy from your soul? You aren’t shining as bright anymore, maybe you have the opposite of a fever? What’s that?”

“A pulse?” I snap. “Could you focus for one second and tell me if her brother convinced her it would be in her best interest to take the management position? I looked into her financials, they aren’t great and with her brother's constant wandering on behalf of my research, it’s a shock to me she’s even been able to get him on the phone.” Idiot with stars in his eyes and I couldn’t constantly ask a new hire about his family member without looking suspicious.

Anubis’s sigh is long like I’m the annoying one. “There is this thing called the internet.”

“There’s also these things called words,” I point out wryly. “You use them to form sentences, oh and favors, which you owe me about a million of at this point.”

Anubis stands to his full height and walks over to me. He pauses in front of the fireplace. It’s one of the things I always keep within reach—heat. The flames cast a glow across his chiseled features, and bright blond hair.

I roll my eyes. “Lose the ponytail.”

He sighs and eyes me up and down. “Pick a style, what is it now? Grumpy millionaire with deep dark secrets and a fetish for spanking?”

“The fact that you know that’s a kink is only mildly alarming.”

“I know everything, and I have to say it’s even more alarming when you live with werewolves who do, in fact, mate; only to walk by humans who dream of being slammed against a wall by one. Do they have no common sense of how many bones would shatter in their bodies? Humans don’t just magically heal from a good lick.”

I snort out a laugh. “I mean some don’t.”

“Would you even know?”

“I’m not dead.” I shift nervously on my feet and look away; that’s a low blow. “You know I’ve always had rules when it comes to humans.”

His eyes narrow. “I bet you would shut down Tinder if you created a profile.”

I snap my fingers on instinct as a small blue flame erupts from my hand. “Tell any of the rest of the immortals, and I’ll singe you alive, you know I can.”

He shrugs. “I can’t die.”

“Yes, but I could make you wish for death over and over again while your body tries to heal from my burn.”

Anubis crosses his arms. “She’s here. I already have Cassius on it.”

Son of a bitch. The last thing I need is a fallen angel on the job to add to actual chaos. “You told him?”

“Listen, everyone knows, like everyone who chose to stay with the humans knows, everyone?—”

“Please stop saying everyone,” I implore through gritted teeth. There was a reason I was trying to be so careful about this. No attachments. I’m leaving them and this godforsaken world behind. The immortals that stayed have done something dangerous—they’ve gained humanity and forgotten Olympus.

He’s quiet for a minute, and then his very cold hand touches my shoulder and squeezes. “Are you truly sure this is what you want? It could get boring up on Olympus; you know how immortals like to toy with humans. It’s not really your scene.”

“I’m tired,” I snap hearing the loud music from the bar makes me even more annoyed. It was never supposed to be this difficult or this long. “I know I belong up, not below.” Frustration has me shaking away from him. “I want peace, I want the screams of humanity, the bitterness of their cries to stop, and most of all, I want to end Chaos for good. The only way to do that is to take the last bit of power he thinks he has and catch him at his weakest. If I let her live, what does that make me?”

Anubis pats me on the shoulder and drops his hand. “Human, it makes you human.”

“What?” I shrug away from him “You know how insulting this entire argument is.”

“Ever wonder?” He turns and walks toward the window. “Why the stars sing so loudly and watch from above?”

I roll my eyes. “I know you serve the Creator and that they’re very lovely, but I’ve long ago lost interest in your heavens. I want to rule. I want my power. And I want to go where I belong.”

He ignores me as if I don’t know the stories or the way the skies tell them. “They choose to fall and sacrifice to save one human each lifespan. Why would something ever choose to crash down to earth? Why would it be an honor to sacrifice for something so … small?”

I hate his riddles. I hate his stories. He always tries to convince me to stay, and I always try to convince him why I can’t. “Since you won’t leave until you tell me—why?”

“Because we’re nothing special, Cyrus.” He uses my human name, one I hate because it reminds me of my own weakness. “It is an honor to humble yourself and die for the weak—even if they are undeserving.”

“Let me know when she’s on her way,” I snarl, ignoring the tightness in my chest and the way it once again reminds me that I won’t just be ascending to the Mountain but I’ll be leaving friends I’ve no choice but to count as family. It’s not my journey though, it’s not my test, it never has been.

He bites out a curse. “Fine, I’ll text you when she’s on the way. Who do you want to do the training?

“It’s bar tending, not rocket science.” I sigh. “And I need to keep her close so it’s going to be me. I don’t want her having a lot of contact with the others…Besides, they’re all pretending like the world isn’t burning, having kids, giving up on the trials. And don’t think I know exactly what you have planned. I’m not going to end up married off or worse have one of you scare her shitless with your stories of fallen angels only to drop her off at my doorstep and say survive. She’s mine.”

Anubis’s eyebrows arch. “Oh?”

“You know what I mean. She’s the last. She means nothing.”

“The more you speak the more it seems like you’re trying to convince yourself, then again what’s one small insignificant human life, hmm?”

“Exactly.” I look away.

“I’ll send her in once she gets here for training tomorrow. Cyrus, I hope you find what you’re looking for. And in the end, I hope it is worth it.”

I give him my back and listen to his solid footsteps as he leaves my office and opens the door to the raging noise from the bar. I don’t even hear it shut. It’s loud, it's always been chaotic.

It’s good. This is good.

I’m almost done.

It’s almost finished.

Balance will always outweigh Chaos.

And power will always overcome death.

I look in the direction of Olympus knowing it’s there, waiting for me. History will always repeat itself even when I’m gone.

By the time I make it outside to the street for a much-needed break, the weather’s gone from sunny to chaotic, like it can sense what’s about to happen or maybe it’s pissed about what’s been happening, what needs to continue to happen in order to keep those waves where they belong. The trial must continue. I must finish it. The Puget Sound feels different tonight. Many of the islands are no longer living beings, simply rocks scattered across the ocean, all except one so full of anger it refuses to let time take it.

“Settle down, Ken,” I whisper under my breath, knowing he can hear the vibrations of my voice through the wind, even if he doesn’t want to. A giant crack sounds in the distance as a tree snaps in half on the small island, hurling itself into the water. Nature’s throwing a small tantrum as per usual.

I snort out a laugh of amusement. So testy. “Yeah, well stop eating only fish, bread won’t kill you.”

I turn my back from the direction of his home, close my eyes, and breathe in the salty breeze mixed with the smell of cigarettes and booze.

“It wasn’t always like this, was it?” I say mostly to myself. “It’s almost like I can’t remember anymore what it was like to fly.”

The wind abruptly dies down, and I go back into the noisy bar to tell my staff we are about to prepare Styx for its final guest.