Page 39 of Immortal Sun (Dark Olympus)

CHAPTER 39

CYRUS

“It is their lot who stand with the great that they enjoy high honors, and are more respected than others, but stand often in danger of their lives.”– The Saga of Olaf Haraldsson, ch.67

I grip the blue and gold rope in my hand. It has droplets of blood all over it, from thousands of sacrifices, and they all glow in the sunlight. It represents, life, death, new beginnings.

I want to tell her she’s beautiful.

A goddess.

I’m not worthy and as the eclipse begins, the last before Chaos is destroyed. I hesitate.

I still taste her on my tongue, I feel her softness against my skin. Soon the light will leave her eyes and I will be left with an empty house. I’ll leave for Olympus and another trial will start. It all suddenly feels so meaningless.

She’s the last daughter of Chaos. The end to my trial—and the breaking of my heart.

My hands shake as I hand the rope to Inti and Enki. Slowly they escort her to the base of the tree and start to wrap the rope around her body.

What happens next isn’t just death. It’s pure torture, every breath causes the rope to tighten as it steals every inch of air from your body until your eyes beg for it to end. She’s wearing the bell, her bracelet that has the amulet which offers as much protection as we can, for both the pain and guidance into the underworld.

I blame Apep.

Had he not created an army of his own bloodline I would never have been in this position, but then I wouldn’t have her, I would have never had her precious moments. So do I blame him or do I thank him?

To let her live would be failure, and Chaos would continue to do what Chaos has been doing. I shouldn’t be selfish and think of my own heart, I should think about a final peace in the world.

I think I hate her in this moment the most, because the love is so strong, the need so powerful, that the hate can’t help but rise up.

The final circle of rope is tied around her; the edges drop and touch the earth digging into it to join the roots of the tree.

There is no escape for her now. She will become part of the underworld unless I use my spear to cut the rope down.

Tears well in my eyes, I lower my head and scream in her face, I’ve never done this before, I have no explanation, no reason.

I have nothing but pain.

Hers.

Mine.

The world’s.

“WHY!” I roar.

She doesn’t yell back. I wish she would. Instead, she smiles as one small tear falls from her face. It sparkles with my essence, with the stars I painted on her the day before, then crashes to the ground where her blood will soon join.

“Don’t be sad.” She holds her head high. “Bury me like a queen…Immortal Sun. Lord of the Sky, Ra.”

Enki, Tyrell, Inti, Apep, Daggon, and finally Kratos all watch. Apep knows he can do nothing; he has no power during the eclipse and stopping me before would be impossible since he chose to stay with humanity, this is his final moment, this is mine, this is hers.

It’s up to the heavens now to accept the final name and her down to the Nile.

A loud rumbling sounds around us as the rope of Hestia tightens around her body, the rope of truth, testing her blood, her mind. It’s impossible to break once it’s on. Even if I wanted to take it off it would take all the power I had. It must finish the trial; the rope has tested every single one. I only hope now that the last thing she sees is the love in my eyes mixed with pain while she does what she was born to do.

Die.

I will not come back from this.

I can’t save her. I can’t save anyone.

What good am I as an immortal if I can do nothing.

A voice sounds next to me as Cassius and Anubis appear. Cassius in his full archangel form, his feathers are purple and dripping with silver blood like he just got out of battle, hair black, eyes white, he watches. “You always have a choice.”

“You come when it’s too late.” I rasp.

“There is always a choice, immortal.” Anubis says from his spot next to him. “The Creator can break the rope, they watch even now, make your choice, do you save her? Or yourself?”

“And Chaos?” I rasp. “What of Chaos?”

“You will be punished to battle it for the rest of your nights, so you may rise during the day, you will never be free of it, you will toil, you will burn—but you will have her.” Cassius finishes. “You don’t have much time.”

Her breaths are shorter, more panicked.

Cleo’s eyes don’t leave mine. She is no longer lost to my fire—she gives me a slight nod.

She doesn’t want me to choose her. I can feel it in her gaze. She wants me to choose everyone else. She doesn’t want me to choose myself either.

And in the end, is that what we will say? That Chaos was destroyed because the final daughter chose pain over power?

She’s never been more beautiful.

I fall to my knees and roar. The earth shakes, the tree right along with it, like the three eternities, the strongest realms are in mourning as the skies go dark.

I know I’m causing it.

I’m also prolonging so much.

The balance must always take place.

The sacrifice must always be made.

My eyes meet hers.

I tug the last remaining part of her tunic exposing her heart. I’ll burn myself onto her. I’ve made my choice—by honoring hers.

A scream erupts from her lips. “It burns!”

“Fire always does,” I whisper, eyes filled with tears. “The beginning hurts just like the end.”

Blood drips down her body into the ground, her body convulses and shakes, a beautiful chaos of life and death.

I look down at the amulet in her hand, then at the anklet with the bell. I will find her in the underworld, I will hear her heartbeat even if that means we live there together. Her rapid heartbeat matches the pulsing of the tree.

It’s like birthing something to life; the tree grows taller, the leaves become full, while she empties her blood.

Apep picks up the knife and goes to do the final sacrifice, one that will be the most painful for all of us, like cutting the chord between destiny, life and death. He has no choice now, it’s almost finished. Cutting Chaos from this earth for good—maybe he had a trial after all.

She will know us no more once this takes place, we will just be the monsters that took her life, and then she’ll sleep until she’s reborn.

I feel her pain like it’s my own. Her eyes don’t close though, they keep trained on mine like she wants my warmth.

Her breaths become shallow.

She’s afraid.

She doesn’t realize how brave she really is. I’m shocked when she begins to sing our ancient song of the dead. Maybe she’s trying to comfort herself, but I imagine she’s seeing her mother’s spirit. She’s ready to cross over, and it’s making me feel like death, not the Creator of Life.

Tears stream down her face. The rest of the gods join in until it’s a chorus of holy singing.

It’s a moment that will go down in our history. They will of course think it’s just a myth, the girl who bravely sang at her own funeral.

But we will know.

We will tell the stories.

I will never be the same.

I press her remaining blood against my chest, marking my armor, and then I wipe it across my face like a handprint.

Next to me, Inti does the same.

One by one, the immortals, all except Apep, spread her blood against their holy armor in honor of the sacrifice. The only time this was ever done was when Zeus was born.

It’s more than a moment.

It is eternity within a moment.

“This dagger…” Apep shoves past me, he has no choice but to spread the blood on himself. “…will separate you from us until you’re reborn, and even then, it will only be destiny that we find each other again…” He hesitates, and then something flickers in his eyes. “You know, out of all the children I’ve sired, you must be the bravest, you even sing when you die. How…poetic.”

I grip him by the shoulder flinging him aside. “APEP!” I yell. “You’re out of place! Finish the sacrifice so I can kill you!”

Betrayal flashes in her eyes as she looks between me and Apep. “You’re…truly Chaos then.”

“I bleed for it, and now so will you.” His nostrils flair.

“I’ll kill you!” Enki screams. “Finish the sacrifice, Apep, you’ve done it thousands of times, this is the end for you!”

“Kill me and you kill him…” Apep tilts his head. “Or at least, it used to be the way of things, right Ra? Joined in the thread of time for our fighting, but no more.”

I can’t breathe.

I stare him down. “What the hell are you talking about?”

A dark chuckle erupts from the tree as power floods it.

Apep holds out his hands. “Did you really want this to go on forever?” He grips the dagger and holds it high. “We’re fucking gods!”

“APEP"!” I scream. “STOP THIS INSTANT! AS LORD OF THE SKIES I FORBID?—”

“I AM APEP!” he yells back. “All powerful!! And I am giving her—and us—mercy!” He drives the dagger directly into her heart as a golden explosion fills the air around us. “And now, you know what it is like to lose! We are no longer connected. She stole that connection the minute you slept with her, and now, you will never see her again.”

I grab him but not before the dagger runs down her leg swiping the bells from her ankle sending it sinking into the ground. I lunge for it, manage to grab it.

The ropes release her, and the ground accepts her.

“No, no!” Enki screams. “This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. She should ascend! Not descend! She sacrificed.”

Apep stares down as the last parts of her disappear beneath the dirt. “Not this time. This time, we didn’t just sacrifice my final creation, we sacrificed a link between immortals because Ra did the one thing he should have never done. He slept with the enemy, and he embraced Chaos. He embraced me! Good luck finding her.”

In an instant, Apep disappears in front of my eyes.

I grip the bell anklet in my hands and stare at it.

Enki was instantly by my side. “The wine, I didn’t know, I didn’t…”

“If she doesn’t ascend,” I state in a harsh rasp, “she won’t be reincarnated.”

“She’ll descend into the underworld,” Enki whispers. “For an eternity.”

I roar up at the sky.

I am broken.

I am nothing.

“And now,” Tyrell murmurs. “Chaos will be at odds with the immortals.”

“No,” I whisper, clutching the anklet. “Now, we are at war.”

I stand and turn, eyes blazing. “Pick your sides wisely, immortals, nobody will go unpunished.” I look to Enki. “Even a friend.”

He closes his eyes, then he turns and disappears into a black mist.

Inti follows.

“So…” Daggon puts his hand on my shoulder. “It begins.”

“Will you find her?” Tyrell asks.

“Get her brother,” I snap. “Reason with the dragon. Bring him here, we’re going to need his help.”

“You didn’t answer,” Tyrell says. “Will you search for her?”

“Clean up.” I walk and I walk some more. I walk until I’m in her bedroom. Bast sits on the corner of the bed, back to his usual form.

The fireplace roars, and the snake slowly emerges from the mantle slithering toward me until it rests on my lap.

“You too, huh?”

It makes no noise, just stares up at me. I know what it’s saying, I know what everyone in this damn house wants.

They want her back just as I do.

But doing so would mean possibly losing. The end.

Apep will be out for blood.

The power between us will be matched for at least a year, because I spent myself in her. I shared my blood, my essence. I gave her my fire, which means Apep was taking it all along, wasn’t he? As if she was a vessel to store more and more. How could I be so stupid? How could I fail so gloriously?

He was planning this all along, wasn’t he? Warm her up, allow us to get caught up with each other, watch me fall in love.

I hang my head in my hands. What’s the use being an immortal when you can’t even save the one you love?

“Indeed,” a voice sounds from the fire.

“Go away.”

“You’re no fun.” The feminine voice giggles. “You know, brother, I expected more of you.”

“Not now.”

“She’s here, in my realm. The punishment of the underworld has been so very pathetically lonely.”

“You saw her?”

“Somewhere, I’m sure.”

“You’re just as bad as Apep.” I look away and flick my fingers toward the fireplace. It instantly cools. “Leave me.”

Her dark chuckle isn’t helpful. It’s the same one that haunts me whenever I’m weak or tempted. That’s what she does, pounces on the dark moments to relieve her own pain, or maybe cause more.

I edge the snake away and walk out the door and down to the kitchen.

Everyone’s sitting around the table, still in full armor.

“I can go,” Tyrell pipes up. “I’ve been a few times, not my favorite trip.”

“Can’t even fly first class.” Dag tries to joke.

Tyrell sighs. “I’m the weakest, I’ll go.”

“No.” I shove my chair back and stand. “I’ll go.”

Tyrell jumps to his feet. “You have no way of finding her!”

I ignore him. “But first, we’re going to Apep.”

“Are you insane!” Dag yells. “He’s on a power trip, and you really aren’t in the right mindset.”

“You all have five minutes. Prepare yourselves for the first phase of this war. Don’t lose, or I’ll kill you myself.”