Page 17 of The Gods We Defy (All Gods Must Die #2)

CHAPTER 17

A soft warmth brushes against my head before moving to the side of my stomach. I wake with a groan and as soon as I move, a sharp, stabbing pain slices across my head and eyes, making me wince.

“Take it easy,” a deep voice says, putting my body on alert.

My eyes flash open and I scramble back from the figure in front of of me. It’s too dark to make out who it is.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” a deep, gritty voice promises, and I pause, recognizing the voice.

“Hunter?” I ask.

He clears his throat. “It's me.”

“Where are we?” I glance around as my blurry vision clears, but it’s still so dark all I can make out are the rocks around us and the cave wall.

“The cave collapsed. I think it’s still collapsing in different parts. We ended up here.” There’s something about his voice that feels familiar, but I can’t put my finger on when or how I might have heard him.

“Have you seen the others?” I ask, hoping all are unharmed and on their way out of the cave.

Hunter looks at me silently for a moment before sighing. “They were all alive with the crystals in hand the last time I saw them.”

I nod. “Good. What about you? Did you get a crystal?”

He nods, frowning. “But you?—”

“I have one,” I tell him, and his eyes jump to mine.

“I went back. I… found one.” I avoid looking him in the eye, unable to explain exactly how and why the Olliphéist gave it to me.

“Good. Let’s figure a way out. We don’t have long left.”

“How long was I out?” I ask, hoping I didn’t waste too much time.

“A few hours. We have about half a day left before the trial ends.” He glances around the dark cave. “I think we got pulled further down into the cave system.” He turns back to me and hands me a small container. “Here.”

“What is it?” I glance down at it and open the small lid to find a white powder inside.

“A healing powder. Place it on any wounds you have, and it’ll help heal them much quicker.” He stands up and walks over to the other side of the small space we’re in.

I test my body for injuries, finding the worst ones on my thigh and the side of my head. I reach up to feel it when my fingers brush against the wound, finding the powder substance. It’s already started to knit back together, the pain slowly easing.

Hunter. I glance over at him as he moves around the walls searching for something.

Dabbing the powder on any other cuts and bruises I find, I wait a moment for the powder to kick in before moving to my feet.

A hand appears in front of me as Hunter reaches out to help me up. Taken aback, a moment of awkwardness passes between us before I grab his hand and murmur a thanks. He turns around as soon as I’m up and glances around the small cave once more.

“The wall to your left looks like it’s a blocked passage. I can almost see past it once I’m close enough. If we work together, we should be able to move some stones to make a path through,” he says while still inspecting the wall. But even from here, I can see how long it will take to move them all. And that’s without the energy it’s going to take to complete.

Reaching down inside me, I pull up my Sidus light. It takes a little longer than usual as a deep exhaustion settles into every inch of my body.

Focusing on what I want, my strings of light rush out, heading straight for the wall of rocks.

“What—” Hunter steps back the minute he sees them.

My light circles rock after rock and drags them away, pulling them to the other side of the cave. I keep moving them until light filters in and a path is cleared. The minute it does, I pull my Sidus light back and the strings quickly disperse.

“Well…” Hunter starts, but stops. I glance over at him to find a warm light in his brown eyes. But something niggles at the back of my mind the longer I stare at him. Something about him is almost… too familiar . Maybe he just reminds me of someone. Someone who’s been avoiding me.

He blinks and glances away. “We should get moving,” he says with that deep voice before moving through the path I created.

The passageway opens into a long tunnel. It’s not as dark as the small cave we were in, but it’s still not light enough to see if we’re walking into something dangerous.

I weave a small light around my hand and hold it up as we move forward.

Hunter frowns down at the light as if it now offends him. “You should conserve your energy.”

“This place is a never-ending labyrinth. I’d rather be safe and exhausted than fall into some crack in the ground or tumble off a ledge again.” I switch my light to my other hand, farther away from him, and look at him. “But if you’d rather test your own ability to see in the dark, be my guest.”

He chuckles and that light returns to his eyes. “Fine. Share your light with me and I’ll catch you if you fall from exhaustion. Deal?”

“I won’t fall. I’m too stubborn,” I tell him, making that light in his eyes glimmer.

We keep moving down the passageway, navigating the drops and sharp curves in the tunnels, hoping we are moving up and out of this place.

“What—” The ground shifts beneath our feet, crumbling like sand and cutting off whatever Hunter was about to ask. An arm comes around me as he pulls me tight towards his body.

“Hold on,” he grits out as we slide along the cave wall. Dust and rock fly around us but I don’t feel most of it with Hunter shielding my body with his.

The fall stops a minute later with Hunter’s arms still around me. My heart is still thundering in my ears as the last of the rock and debris falls.

My eyes find Hunter’s and I see worry in them.

“Are you okay?” he asks, taking a step back to scan me from head to toe.

“Are you?” I reply, slightly shocked that he’s worried about me when he was the one who took the brunt of the fall. I barely felt anything but his arms around me; a thought I do not want to linger on.

My eyes fall on his black clothing. There’re small holes in his cloak and he is completely covered in dust.

“I’m fine.” He turns away and starts looking around at where we’ve landed. It’s dark. Too dark to assess our surroundings. But my mind wanders back to how he protected me without hesitation.

Why did he do that? Why is he here with me now? He said he has a crystal. He could easily leave me here and go find his own way out.

“Why are you helping me?” I ask, wondering if how we ended up together wasn’t a coincidence after all.

He glances over at me and must see the suspicion in my eyes. Shaking his head, he turns back to the wall and sighs. “Not all of us are in the trials with the goal to kill or play games. You’ve already seen that in the rest of your group. In Indira, Yasmin, and the others. Why can’t you trust me like you do them?”

“I don’t,” I tell him truthfully, making him freeze. “I don’t trust them. Not fully. I barely know them. To give them my complete trust would be na?ve,” I admit.

He turns to me with a look of shock and a hint of anger in his eyes. “But you’ve helped them. You risked your life for them.”

I shrug. “Being a decent person and helping someone doesn’t mean I trust them.”

He blinks a couple of times as if stunned by my answer. “So, you save others without a second thought for your own safety, and yet you can’t believe others would to the same for you?”

“If someone was struggling, fighting to survive, would you be able to leave them to their suffering, knowing they would most likely die?” I ask him, trying to make him understand.

He narrows his eyes on me. “No. But I also wouldn’t place their life above my own.”

“That’s not what I’m doing.” I shake my head and glance around in the dark as if I can see past it.

“No?” he pushes.

“I’m not a martyr,” I tell him, trying to focus on my Sidus powers for some light. But his words tumble around in my brain, making my focus stray.

I don’t actively seek out trouble. Although it seems to find me often enough. I just want to help when I can.

He scoffs. “I think you’re the definition of a martyr.”

A rush of anger floods my chest, and I whip around to glare at him. “Says the very person who just acted like a shield and took the brunt of that falling rock,” I point out.

His eyes widen as if just realizing that, revealing that he did it almost instinctually. He opens his mouth but quickly closes it and sighs, as if no longer knowing what to say. But I spot the truth in his eyes. There’s no deceit or manipulation there. He truly just wanted to help, and it’s that truth that makes me what to reveal some of my own to help him understand a little more about my choices.

“I grew up in a divided kingdom,” I tell him, and his hesitant eyes find mine. “A line that was deftly drawn between light and dark. It was the Sidus who were viewed as villains, and I’ve spent most of my life trying to prove those who think so wrong. I’ve seen too much pain and suffering. I’ve lived it. I’ve grieved those that have placed their trust in the wrong people and paid dearly for it. I can no longer watch on when I know I can help.”

Unknown pain full of guilt seeps from his eyes as he watches and listens silently, but I continue, hoping he understands where I’m coming from.

“So, I fight because I can. I help because I can. I do not do it for some glory or title. I do it because it is the right thing to do.”

He swallows hard. “Even if those people don’t deserve it?”

I nod. “Even then. We are not their judge, jury, and executioner. We do not get to choose who lives or dies.” I’m not sure why I’m telling him this, but something about the genuine emotion in his eyes makes me want to continue.

“Help will always be needed,” I tell him. “But trust… Trust is earned.”

He grows silent for a moment as he continues to watch me. “Then… I hope one day to be worthy of your trust.”

I look away from the intense look of hope he gives me to focus on the darkness surrounding us. “Where are we?”

“I think it’s a pit.”

I finally weave my Sidus light out in front of us. It flickers on and off, I’m too drained. But it’s enough to light up the space around us, revealing exactly what Hunter guessed. A pit. The walls at least thrice our height and no other way out.

“From the looks of your Sidus light, I doubt you can get us out of here with it. Any ideas?” he asks, and I turn to look at him, spotting a glint of something at his sides.

Two daggers.

“I might…” I smile at him before taking a step toward him.

“What are you…” He tenses up, clearing his throat. I hear his breath quicken as I reach down and take the daggers at his sides before stepping away and spinning them in my hands.

Before he gets the chance to figure out what I’m doing, I turn around and move over to the wall, slamming one dagger into it above my head.

Using my feet as leverage, I make sure my hold is strong before moving upward and doing the same with the other dagger.

I hear a chuckle behind me as I scurry up the wall and over the ledge before standing and turning to look at him.

“That was my next plan,” he says with a laugh.

I roll my eyes at him, but smile, nonetheless. “I’m sure it was.” I throw the daggers back down to the pit, aiming a little too close to his feet. He picks them up and immediately starts climbing up the pit wall, his movements a little steadier than mine.

After climbing the ledge, he sheathes one of the daggers and hands the other to me.

I glance up at him.

“I didn’t realize you were weaponless. Take it. You never know when you might need it.” He places it in my hand when I make no move to take it. Passing me, he glances back with a glimmer of light in his eyes. “Come on. Let’s get out of this place.”

Sliding the dagger into a strap at my side, I follow him with a smile.

For the next few hours, we navigate the endless caves. Trudging through small pools of water and climbing steep walls.

Once we reach the top of another ledge, I bend over, trying to catch my breath, my lungs feeling like they’re on fire.

“Let’s rest for a minute. Here.” Hunter hands me something and I take it, realizing happily that it’s food.

“Healing powder and food?” I bite off a chunk and try to chew slowly.

“Unlike some people, I come prepared.”

I laugh. “Next trial,” I tell him, tapping his chest as I move past him. “Next time I’ll remember to bring food and water.”

Up and down, in and out, we move until finally the next cavern we walk into is bright. I glance up and spot a beam of light from the sun outside.

Hunter shares a hopeful look with me. The cave ceiling is far too high to reach, but we’re close to the end now.

I glance over at the other side of the cavern. There’s a small, open passageway that looks like it leads up. It’s filled with light, making me think that it’s our only option. Everything else looks blocked or closed off.

My eyes trail across the cavern and through the vast pit in the center. I bend over and look down, but don’t see a thing. It’s dark. So dark I feel blind looking into it.

A small pebble rolls on the ground in front of me and falls in.

Twenty-six seconds. That’s how long it takes to reach the bottom. Meaning if Hunter or I were to fall, it would most definitely be to our death.

“That’s one hell of a drop,” Hunter says, voicing my concern.

“But we need to get around this.” I glance over at the right side of the pit and find a small ledge running alongside it. It’s not wide, but it’s enough to fit one person at a time.

Hunter groans when he looks in the direction I am. “I have a feeling you’re going to suggest we walk along that slip of a path to get to the other side.”

“If you’re that afraid, I’ll go first.” I don’t wait for his reply and move over to it. Turning sideways, I focus on each step, moving as steadily as possible while also trying to keep my balance evenly distributed.

A string of curses follows me as Hunter moves to the ledge and quickly catches up with me, becoming a shadow of each of my steps.

Halfway over, I make the mistake of peering down and I lose my footing, quickly losing my balance.

Falling backward, my heart drops, thinking I’m about to fall to my death. But a hand grabs me, stopping my descent.

My wide eyes find Hunter’s panicked ones as he pulls me closer to him and back to the wall.

I murmur a, “thank you,” while I try to steady myself and my racing heart once again. Hunter waits until I get my footing and am steady before releasing me.

“Nearly there,” he reminds me, and I quickly reinforce myself.

Locking down the jolt of fear I just felt, I swallow hard, my heart still beating wildly in my chest, but I get moving once again. This time, a little slower.

It takes longer to get to the other side, but all I feel is relief when I do.

I share a grateful look with Hunter before moving toward the passageway. Once I enter it, a rush of relief floods my system, instantly easing the fear and worry I felt a moment ago.

The passage is a long tunnel, but the small spears of light I spot at the very end of it are most definitely sunlight.

“I think this is it. We’re nearly out,” I tell him, hoping I’m not seeing things thanks to the exhaustion. Though where we now are is another thing completely. This is most definitely not the entrance we came in. But at this stage, it doesn’t matter. Once it gets us out of here, that’s all we need.

A few steps in and a low growl sounds from the tunnel, making me freeze. I turn to my right as small nails scrape along the cave floor, revealing a horrifying creature. Its head is similar to a wolf but elongated with two long curling horns protruding from either side of it. It's a deep brown with a mane of coarse black hair around its head and horns. Barbed spikes line its back, matching its razor-sharp claws.

Slowly, I move a hand toward my dagger. From the corner of my eye, I spot Hunter doing the same. But the beast seems to realize it too, and rushes forward.

Hunter spins me out of the way and stabs his dagger into the side of it before kicking it away from us. But it just gets back to its feet and spins around, watching us, waiting.

I share a look with Hunter but quickly figure out what it’s waiting on.

The stab wound Hunter gave it quickly heals over and disappears as if nothing was ever there.

If it can heal, how are we supposed to kill it?

The thought crosses my mind when I get an idea. It might not be able to heal if the dagger stays inside it.

Armed with my plan, I step around Hunter, but he tries to block me. Giving him a warning look, reminding him that I don’t always need his protection, he moves back a step, letting me take the lead this time.

The horned beast doesn’t move, instead its barbed spikes rise from its back, and it turns its body, and they shoot toward us.

We twist out of the way, avoiding most of them. Some slam into the wall and ground around me, missing us by inches. I avoid another to the face when Hunter spins and faces me just as the last spike hits. My eyes widen when he gasps in pain as it slams into his back.

“I’m okay,” he breathes. “Do what you have planned.”

I nod to him before moving around him, heading straight for the beast before it gets the chance to attack again. I slam my dagger into its side, pressing it in, hoping to cause some damage before returning to Hunter’s side.

Realizing it’s not healing, the beast stumbles to the side and slams its body along the wall, trying to knock it out. But all it does is dig in deeper.

A painful howl rings out before it turns and runs down the passage, quickly disappearing.

I turn to Hunter, now slumped on the ground, and inspect the wound with the spike still sticking out of it. He winces with every movement.

“I’m fine,” he says, out of breath.

“This might hurt,” I tell him before grabbing hold of the spike and yanking it out.

He bends forward with a groan and low chuckle. “No warning?”

“Man up,” I tell him, making him laugh louder. I take out the powder he gave me and pour it on the wound, forcing a hiss from his lips.

A rumble vibrates under my feet, and I realize the cave is shaking again, and before I know it, the tunnel is collapsing in on itself.

I help Hunter to his feet and pull him along as we make a run for it. We barely make it to the end of the passage where the cave opens before most of the tunnel is dust.

I look at Hunter as I catch my breath, noting how red and tired his eyes are. He’s also breathing heavily, his every breath labored.

Worry nips at the edge of my senses as I move to help him, taking his arm and directing him to the mouth of the cave. But as soon as we reach it, something stops Hunter from leaving.

Raising my hand, I swipe it through the air but feel nothing, my hand passing right through it. I raise Hunter’s and do the same, but an invisible force stops him.

“What’s happening?” I ask him. “Why can’t you move any further?” It’s like there is a barrier blocking him from moving any farther.

“I lied,” he rasps, a guilty look in his eyes. “I don’t have a crystal. And without one, I can’t leave.”

My stomach drops. No… We’re so close. The exit is right in front of us.

He stumbles a step back from me. “But you can,” he pants as he slides down the wall.

He knew I had a crystal and didn’t try to take it for himself. He knew… He knew all this time, and he still helped me, knowing he would not be leaving this place.

“Go,” he whispers, looking at me with those sad eyes as if I’m actually going to leave him here.

Foolish male.

“Seren…”

Reaching into my hidden pocket beside my chest, I take out the crystal and glance down at it. It’s about the size of my palm, not too large, but it should work.

Glancing around the cave, I look for something sharp and find a thick, jagged rock across from me. I move quickly and dig deep down inside me, dragging up my Sidus light, but… nothing happens.

I try again and again, but still my Sidus powers won’t appear. I don’t give up. I can’t. Hunter has helped me all this time. He was willing to help me make it out of the cave, all while knowing he would have to stay here.

The thought sends a rush of energy through me.

I dig deep inside myself, letting my stubborn nature and unyielding will find the power I know is somewhere deep within.

A glimmer draws to me in the dark and I reach for it, grasping it with two hands before pulling it into me. But when I do, I feel my power grow and shift into something else. Something more .

My Sidus light flares to life and I move, using it to line across the sharpest point of the rock.

“What are you?—”

I slam the crystal down on top of it, pushing my Sidus light through it as it meets the rock. The crystal instantly cracks open, cutting it in two.

Grabbing the two crystals, I move back to Hunter and place it in his pocket before helping him to his feet.

“Seren…”

“You have my trust, Hunter. So let me help you. Help you like you have helped me.”

In stunned silence, he allows me to direct him, helping himself as much as he can.

Once we pass the barrier, we both breathe a sigh of relief. I glance around at the small hill we’re on and look up, spotting nothing but green grass on the top of the mountain.

“Let’s move up just in case that beast comes back,” I tell him.

Hunter nods and follows without question, leaning on me until we make it to the top. Once we’re there, we drop to the grass and lie down, staring up at the blue sky and clouds.

“We made it,” I tell him.

“We made it,” he whispers, a small, pained smile in his eyes, staring at me like he’s seeing something he doesn’t understand.

Closing his eyes, he grows silent. Too silent. I move to check him and feel the steady pulse in his neck, releasing a harsh breath when I realize he’s just passed out.

I glance around us, wondering what I should do now, when a purple and black portal opens a few feet away from us.

I move in front of Hunter as a large unmasked fae with a shaved head and sharp moss green eyes heads straight for us.

“Congratulations. You’ve passed the first trial.” He moves around me and picks up Hunter like he weighs nothing and throws him over his shoulder.

“Move it if you want to make it to the next one,” he warns before turning and walking through the portal.

I quickly follow him. A rush of cold floods my body and before I know it, I’m on the other side and in my room. Alone.