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Chapter 46

Osiris

M agic crackled along my skin, digging in like the jagged rocks below me. I had a breath of confusion before my senses homed in, searching for threats as I lay vulnerable on the ground.

The Sage's magic had warped me here, precious seconds wasted as I recognized I was no longer in the Eternium halls. Seconds that were eaten up by the vicious swing of steel through heated air.

I pulled left, my entire body arching as a blade dug into the ground where I'd been, sinking several inches deep. The body holding it shimmered, a flash of white wings my only warning before the blade was pulled from the rocks, swinging at me again.

" Rex interfectorem. "

I rolled to my feet, face to face with a man that I never thought I'd see again.

The centuries since I'd seen him last had passed in the blink of an eye, and it was ironic that he was here now, standing in my way one last time. A man I'd met at my first Eternium, a man whom I'd helped to overthrow.

A man who gave me my name, as the first king I felled.

"It's been a long time, coward . "

Cael. Angel of Diligence, and the first of the Angel Eternals.

His hair, once golden like the early rays of the sun on mountain peaks, was chopped to pieces, likely by the same dull sword he swung over his shoulder. Angels were large, and Cael was no different, standing at what I could only guess was just over eight feet tall.

It was going to be a fight I'd have to play carefully.

Contempt boiled in his eyes, his teeth exposed as he snarled, his wings snapping wide as he raised the sword again.

I reached for my magic, for Echomancy , or the Flame , and found both still too faded to use. The well that held my magic had run empty under the weight of the Sage's spell, and trying to draw up more was physically painful. Expected but inconvenient as I dodged another blow, my ears ringing at the deafening crack that came from it. The fact that he could swing at me at all meant this part of the Eternium bent rules that others didn't. Which meant that the weak point I'd been searching for all along had been the Pits. The spot where the Eternium was thinnest. Most fragile.

Which also meant it was entirely possible he'd be able to kill me here.

"Cael," I said, swiping my brow as I stood. We circled each other, the crevice we were in much like an arena. I hadn't been listening before, to the way the walls seemed to cheer. I looked up. A quick glance found empty air. "I thought you died."

He scoffed, as the tips of his wings went deep black, and wrath filled his eyes. "Did you really think Adathan would be able to kill me? No, that would be too cruel for an Angel of Kindness . He just locked me up here to fucking rot!"

The white ruins that traced his skin, shimmering like gems under the surface, warped as though filled with fire, bending to the rage that he gave off as he flew at me again.

I didn't manage to dodge as quickly as I had before, crippled by his Holy Aura and my loss of magic. The dull edge bit into my side, ripping flesh as I jerked away. His laugh was bitter as he dragged the bloodied blade across the ground.

"What? No fire without your magic?" he hissed, exposing his throat, where I knew a burn scar to be. One I'd left on him. "No words behind that wicked silver tongue !"

It had been centuries since I'd helped Adathan take the seat of Eternal, a move that was done mostly out of boredom and a desire to see Archon pay for the disrespect he had treated me to at my first Eternium. An Eternal spot taken, what I'd thought had been the death of a powerhouse, and a man trapped in his own lamp thinking the same.

Ironic, that the consequences would come back so viciously, now of all times.

He rushed again, and I continued the defense, hitting the edge of the platform, staring at the Void below it, stretching out as far as I could see. Like an island in an ocean that was the Pits.

One slip and I'd fall to who knew where. I had a feeling it was a direct line to the Void, and I wouldn't have an Imperial to guide me through this time.

"I can kill you, you know? Here, so close to the edge of the abyss. Where the Eternium meets the other side," Cael whispered, wiping the dirt off his face as I flitted away from the edge. "It's why I brought you here after the Sages dropped you off. Figured it was poetic."

"How are you still here? The Pits are for holding," I asked, stalling for time, searching for a way past him.

The path came in the form of my wrist, the one I reached to hide as he scanned me, sneering at what he saw.

The tattoo pulsed under my palm, Darius's brand holding just enough magic in it to call on, to breathe in. It wasn't like mine; it wasn't magic that came from me, but it was magic in me, regardless.

I struggled not to vomit at the thought of using his tools to help me. A normal tracking spell wouldn't work now, not when I was looking for something unknown. Like a needle in a haystack.

No, but I could still search for something that I knew, something that was a part of me. The tattoo on my wrist, the one now partially covered by the mark that Aaliyah had bestowed on me, was glaringly bright at the thought. My key to felling Darius was down here, and the only spell I could think to use to find it now needed a piece of him.

"The Pits decide how long you stay, and when no one comes looking for you? They're happy to keep you forever," Cael said, shaking his head like a voice had called something else in it. He slammed his palm against his ear, gritting his teeth as he turned to snarl at the Void. "They reek of death, flooded with it, so buried in the rot that it oozes from the walls."

I didn't have time for this. "You don't intend to let me get away, do you?"

Cael threw his head back in a laugh before preparing his sword to strike again. It may have looked like steel, but the holy blade he wielded stung, the wound on my stomach still throbbing, struggling to heal.

I gripped the tattoo, preparing for what I had to do. My ring and pinky finger stayed down as the next spell slipped past my lips.

It searched for the distinct pull of unfamiliar magic, and yet nothing came. Frustration was quick to follow as I was forced to dodge another blow.

I set my hand over the ink, the one that Darius had placed himself, winding Mythic energy inside of it. I shivered with disgust at the feeling of raised bumps, uneven ink from how I'd thrashed, trying to get away.

"Now, what would be the fun in that?" he asked, slinking forward as I called the magic again, asked for its help, begging, even as it made my skin crawl, imploring it to search. To pick apart the Pits until it found its other half, found itself in whatever idol Darius had thrown away. "You have centuries of pain to make up for, Vivas."

It came forward, sluggish and lazy, but it was enough. I felt it snap into place, beginning its search through the rubble, and all I could do now was wait.

I shrugged my suit coat off, letting it fall to the floor as I lifted my hands, balling them in a familiar stance that Nero had taught me so long ago. I cracked my neck, breathing in.

"Oh, so you're going to fight me with your hands?" Cael mocked before throwing his sword to the side. It clattered, crashing heavily into the dirt.

He raised his hands in a similar position, stalking around me with his lips pulled back, exposing teeth. "Fine. I'm happy to see the life drain from your eyes up close."

He flew at me, all power in the crack of his wings against the air. The mark on my wrist burned, and I could only hope it found its mark soon.

Until then, I had a fight on my hands.