Page 38 of Immortal Sun (Dark Olympus)

CHAPTER 38

CLEO

“Trust not him whose father, brother or other kin you have slain no matter how young he be, for often grows the wolf in the child.”– Volsunga Saga, ch.21

I ’m exhausted. Between all the sex and emotional trauma, I don’t know how I’m even able to still stand.

The mood has already shifted. We went from celebrating…to the feeling of mourning.

Cyrus—Ra. Did not stay.

He left me.

I woke up just as he was leaving, as if he couldn’t bear to look at me last night after our last few moments together. His body was sated, his eyes nearly black. It seemed like the more we had sex the more he lost part of his light as if he was doing everything in his power to give it to me.

My eyes burned with tears. “You promise he’ll be safe?”

Cyrus laughed, but it was so fake, as if we weren’t connected anymore. He was doing it for me. Even though I knew he was detaching so it wouldn’t hurt me, it still did. After all, I am no immortal.

I’m only Cleo.

He swallowed, throat moving slowly. “Even now, you worry about him when you should be worried about yourself.” His stare was cold, distant, very purposeful in his way to make me want to hate him for taking parts of me when he knew in that moment I gave them willingly and would do it again and again even if it was him driving that knife through my heart in the end.

I would give.

For always…he’d be mine.

“Wait!” I called after him, then grabbed the parchment and the knife on the table. My hands shook so much that it was hard to even hold both items, I pricked my finger. Silver blood suddenly turned red and ran down my hand. Still shaking, I wrote my name across the final page in giant red letters.

Cleo Apet.

It was final in that moment. The blood. My sacrifice. The same one my mom made before the crash.

But I was saving Jake—and in a way, saving everyone and everything I could—everything Cyrus had worked for along with the immortals. Humans must always be protected and who else could do that? What better god than the sun?

When the blood immediately sank into the page like a tattoo I never wanted to get but had no choice except to power through.

My destiny was set.

And it was without Cyrus.

It was without Ra.

Without Jake.

My destiny—I guess all along, was supposed to be just me.

Me and the rain. The thunder. The lightning. Just me.

Alone.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

I nodded my head several times, then walked over to Ra and handed him the parchment. I no longer shook. I was resolute.

I have me. I have a purpose, a damning purpose, and I will not go down alone with more tears.

The end, after all, as most authors might say, is just one story. That doesn’t mean there can’t be more to follow.

I would love a fantastic epilogue.

A final kiss before my brush with death.

But a savior?

That’s not for me.

It is me, in some aspects.

I take a few deep breaths and blow them out as I hold the parchments out to him.

He stares down at them like he’s afraid to touch them. For a few brief seconds, I have Cyrus back. His haunted eyes flicker down, then slowly meet mine again.

“Your chaos…” He gazes deep into my eyes, and I hold the holy connection. “It rages.”

“Here.” I press the parchments harder against him. “It’s finished.”

We are as well.

I lift my chin, thinking at least I can be brave…and for at least a few minutes, I am brave in front of the only sun that’s ever shined down on my face. He was my beginning—he is my end.

He stares at me for a very long time, his presence looming. Another stupid tear falls from my cheek, he lifts his hand, then stares at it as if he’s trying to figure out how to proceed. He reaches for the parchments and slams them against the ground. They disintegrate into ash. He leaves the cave in silence.

Funny how I was so excited to come to the islands to find Jake and now…here I am.

I started on this journey to find my brother alone.

And now it’s going to end exactly the same way.

Maybe that’s how destiny works. We wonder why we go through things or why we suffer and think if I just do these things, it’s going to end, only to find out that you never really had a choice. Just like me.

My only choice is acceptance.

I can’t decide if it’s a beautiful gift or a terrible, unending curse.

Cyrus never looked back even though I stood tall and strong. I waited until he was out of sight before I collapsed to my knees on the dirt floor, my tears mixed with the dirt on my hands from catching my own fall.

Please turn back, please turn back, I begged in my soul, because maybe he could do something, maybe he could fix it. Isn’t he powerful enough?

My internal scream wasn’t even heard by him, but it was heard by the stupid cow.

And Rat.

Suddenly the cat in her panther form was at my side. I buried my face in her thick fur, only to have Rat appear and crawl up my leg, offering his nut. The cow stood at the entrance and watched, and then a snake appeared, which normally would freak me out, but at this point it just seemed…normal.

The housekeeper, stopped by with food.

The groundskeeper who I’ve only seen once dropped by as well, bringing water.

And one by one, the sacrifice…was given sacrifices.

I don’t know why it makes me cry more to see people of this house, of this world bring me something of comfort, but it does.

“She was special,” Kratos says as he leaves a loaf of bread. “Your mother, she’s the only human in existence who served the immortals until her end, did you know that?”

I frown. “Is that allowed?”

He shrugs. “Every set of twins she had were powerful, just like you. Don’t let them tell you any different.”

I take the bread and continue to sit on the ground. “I’m no more special than the thousands of names before me.” I suddenly wonder about the brothers and sisters or half brothers and sisters I’ve never met. How many times did my mom subject herself to this? And how many times did she wonder if it would be her turn?

“That’s the funny thing.” He wrings his hands in front of him and peers over his shoulder, then looks at the sea. “About what your mom named you.”

“What’s funny about it?”

I know he’s trying to comfort me, but he finally turns fully around and gives me a small smile. “Your name. It’s Cleopatra .”

“So?”

“Sometimes we have to die…in order to survive, to live. Your mom, as the last sacrifice. She named you Glory .” He leaves me with those cryptic words while the dumb cow just stands by the entrance. Rat is sitting with me against Bast.

Rat offers up his nut again and for whatever reason, even though I have all the food in front of me, his gift feels like the most precious.

I take it and nod to him. “You want me to eat it?”

He nods excitedly.

I laugh. “You know, for being grumpy, you’re actually quite sweet.”

I swear the animal rolls his eyes then just scampers off. Cow slowly follows.

“Life is hard, Bast,” I whisper against her fur. “I know you know that after what you went through. I don’t know how you survived it.”

She turns her head and nudges my own hands toward me, including the nut, then goes back to sleep like she’s bored, like I’m not dying. Even though she doesn’t respond I pop the nut in my mouth and start chew.

An hour later Dag makes his way toward the front of the cave with Tyrell, Kratos, Enki, and Inti.

They don’t look away from my nakedness, instead they walk in and slowly begin to dress me, not caring that I smell of sex, sweat, panther, and dirt.

I don’t get a wedding dress.

I don’t get makeup or a fancy hair style.

I don’t even get ChapStick as they wrap me up in a white tunic that falls to the ground. The clasps are black serpents at my shoulders with a cape that runs down the back, and to add insult to injury…

They give me a veil.

“Ah, a wedding and a funeral,” I say in a lame attempt at a joke that I know isn’t funny because if I don’t speak I think I may start actually screaming. Words are easier to hear than screams even to my own ears.

Daggon’s hands shake as he steps away from me and folds them in front of his golden armor.

“Do you still have the amulet?” Enki asks in a hushed whisper. He’s wearing his full armor again. The others are all dressed like the gods they are. Why do they need to look so intimidating? They’re every inch the immortals they claim to be.

I drag in a deep breath; I suck in my tears. “I have the bracelet I share with my brother and the amulet, and the bell on the anklet is still on.”

“Good. Good.” He nods. “Remember to use it if you need to when you can’t see in the darkness. Anubis will make the journey safe and Inti will light the way.” He hesitates and then leans in. “Life is sometimes just like death, death like life, you never know what you might face in the underworld.”

“What could I possibly face in the next hour before my death?” I smile sadly. “Other than what I’ve already faced?”

Tears form in his eyes, he reaches for me then pulls his hand back, his fingers trembling. “You have no idea, Cleo. None, of how darkness works.”

“Even if I did, would it help me?”

“Not at all.” His smile is back. “You’d just be terrified. But I prefer you brave.”

“At least one of you does.”

“We all do,” Dag says under his breath. “Keep both bracelets on. He’s right, you never know in our worlds, tons of possibilities, no answers until it happens.”

With my veil covering my face, I slowly walk out of the cave and up the stairs for the last time with immortals flanking me.

I don’t know what to think except… Is this real? Can this be real?

Then, the song starts.

Teardrops, they fall back into the Nile as they ascend to the gods, we are broken waiting for your sacrifice, the final power of Apep.

Sacrifice and live.

Live.

We honor you.

I gasp when I hear my mom’s voice. “There is a sacrifice that must always be made to the gods.” She smiled and handed me the piece of bread to offer to the gods, tears in her eyes. “You might not understand it, but it’s necessary.”

I shrugged. “Mom, they’re just stories.”

“And the wars are fake?” Her laugh was sad. “Hold your head high, my girl, always hold your head high even when faced with people who wish you dead.”

At the time I thought it was advice against the bullies at school about my eyes, but now I know.

She meant it for this moment.

My mom—she knew.

Because she, too, was sacrificed at this very gate into the underworld after helping Chaos, maybe she fell in love with him and she never told us. Now I know why she was angry about the bracelets, why she didn’t want us finding our father, she knew this would be our future one day.

I hope she’s happy still searching for him, for us.

I hope I remember her face. Jake’s face. And despite how horrible this has been. I hope he remembers me and I hope one day he keeps his promise and when I feel the sun on my face—I remember him.

I get to the final old rock stair and inhale deeply.

Rat is at the bottom of The Tree of Life and Death, Cow is next to it, and in an instant exhale from Cyrus, they turn into their true forms.

Rat looks like a small petulant boy; he has a black loincloth around him and a small crown of flowers covering his head.

Cow looks similar. Her eyes are sad. She’s wearing a gold dress that has flowers running down the sides, they’re white and so pretty, just like her. Her hair is jet-black, her eyes blue, her skin a golden brown.

I can feel Bast the cat behind me. He or She doesn’t transform, just stays next to me like they know I need their strength.

Are these some of the people I’m saving?

Several other people in golden half sun masks and black tunics are gathered around the tree bowing to it, candles in their hands flickering in the breeze.

Cyrus has his back to me.

He’s wearing his sun mask and nothing but a black tunic and his small golden armor around his waist with pure gold sandals that wrap up past his knees.

His hand is on his spear. I wonder if it’s difficult for him, or if he’s just that ready to kill me.

Enki lightly grabs my arm and pushes me forward, when I turn to him, he can’t meet my eyes, not that I can see his very well but it’s almost like he’s ashamed for the first time in his life.

Dag stares straight ahead along with Tyrell. Apep looks down at the ground, the wind whips my hair around me.

It’s hallowed ground. I know that now.

I draw a shaky breath and hold my hands out at my sides. I’ll walk this path alone. The sea starts to splash against the cliff, I can taste the salt in the air.

Destiny does not always mean happy, does it?

I turn to all the gods by my side and finally shake my head. My bare feet dig into the grass as I walk toward the tree, toward my end.

Cyrus, or I suppose Ra, stands there keeping his back to me, almost like a groom waiting to see his bride for the first time.

But here I walk.

Dirty.

Broken.

I don’t even have shoes on.

I smell like sweat, like the earth I was created from—I smell like him, and I walk on the holy ground toward his back.

I imagine flowers getting thrown onto the ground in celebration, that the people around me are cheering rather than bowing their heads. A hum rises up around the crowd, they lift their arms toward Ra, toward a stupid tree. The rest of the immortals walk behind me.

My wedding.

My funeral.

My final steps.

I hold my dirty head high.

A sudden vision, one I’d had earlier appears in my mind’s eye. Cyrus smiling at me while Apep stands to officiate what should be the greatest wedding of all, a joining, a ceremony.

In my vision, Cyrus is wearing nothing but a gold loin cloth hanging down his full hips, skulls and flowers are intertwined around his neck, his half-life/half-death skull mask is in place, but I see his smile.

It’s only for me.

“Cleo.”

“Live. Die.”

A dark voice whispers, “Die.”

I ignore it. I keep walking. Even if it means I die, and I fall for the memory or maybe just the dream of walking toward my groom.

I imagine he thinks I’m beautiful, special even, that he’s holding back tears.

Moans and singing rise from the crowd around us. Arms are still raised toward him, and I refuse to look at anything but his back.

Once I’m right behind Cyrus, his hand leaves his spear, he very slowly looks over his shoulder, eyes blazing white. “Are you here as the last daughter of Chaos to sacrifice?”

“I am,” I say without hesitation. Do I really have a choice? If it isn’t him, I have nothing. My brother’s life hangs in the balance, but I so wish I could choose…him.

The singing around us intensifies as water from the sea splashes onto the tree and the rest of us. Thunder rolls like the earth is moaning, lightning suddenly strikes the tree, nearly half the leaves fall to the ground and die.

Cyrus finally turns fully toward me and tilts my chin with his gold covered glass taloned gloves, his nails sharp like he could cut me in half if he wanted to. He angles his head and whispers, “See? Nothing special.”

He’s trying to help me. I jerk away anyway. I see through his lies, through the burn of his tears.

I finally fully look into his eyes, eyes of fire themselves, flames lick down his arms.

I think I’m finally found. I step up on my tiptoes and kiss his lips softly. “Yes. Yes, I think I am.” I kiss him again. “Very special indeed.”

His eyes start to bleed. Silver blood stream down his cheeks, breath escapes from between his lips. In a hushed silence as everything disappears but us, his hand grips the side of my face, his talons gripping my dirty skin. “Why you?”

He sounds pained.

I answer. “It couldn’t have been anyone else, right?”

His hand drops at his side.

“It’s time,” Apep says from behind me. “Grab the rope.”