Page 21 of When Death Called Life Home (When Deities Awaken #1)

Chapter 21

Old Connections

ASCIAN

T he Golden Grotto held silence throughout it. A tension hung suspended in the air, waiting. Ascian sensed something approaching them, something other than the war with the Vitarce. The entirety of Elysia appeared to sense it. Alora returning was simply another catalyst for something bigger. Something Ascian knew the Elders were likely already aware of, and perhaps it was the reason behind their lies.

Soft, hurried footsteps echoed down the corridor towards him, rounding into his path. Maelo stopped short, her wide-eyed gaze scanning over him .

“Why aren’t you on your way to the Elders?” She asked in a hushed voice.

Ascian headed towards her, sliding his arm through hers and heading back the way she’d come. He didn’t speak until they were behind her closed bedroom door.

“Has Osiris left with Xylia and Kallias?”

Maelo nodded, sliding her arm from his. “He left early this morning when you didn’t show.”

Ascian allowed his body to relax. Not that it complied. Pain still radiated up his spine, echoes of it spreading wide over every muscle. He allowed himself to show it on his face and in the twitches of his limbs, not that Maelo needed much to pick up on it. She cringed away from him for a start. The overwhelming sensation would be hitting her like an arrow. But then she shook it off and pushed herself towards him.

“What happened?” Sorrow flooded her voice as she circled him and lifted his clothing. The slightest brush of her fingertips and a tiny groan left Ascian, the pain like lightning to his nerves.

“Punishment,” he ground out. “For the murders in the camp.”

Maelo’s movement behind him paused. “ Vitarce?”

“Nymphs.”

A soft breath from Maelo, and Ascian sucked one in before she pressed her entire palm to his back. He arched away from her, a louder groan leaving him.

“Sorry,” Maelo whispered, her other arm wrapping around his torso and pulling him back into her hand.

He hated her. He loved her, but right then he loathed her for the pain she caused. He could barely think, let alone speak to tell her just how much he loathed her. Words trying to leave his lips only to break on another pain filled groan.

Ascian didn’t know how long they stood there, the pain slowly ebbing away as Maelo healed the remaining wounds. A soft hand slipped into his at some point during healing. At the same time he felt the pressure ease the slightest amount. He lifted his gaze and there stood Alora, her attention on Maelo working while her hand gripped his tightly.

How she’d found him, how she’d even known he’d needed her, he had no clue and nor did he care. She was here. She offered her support silently while watching Maelo with a critical stare. Something like recognition flashed within her blue irises, only there for a split second before she focused on something else .

When Ascian felt Maelo pull away, Alora paralleled her, sliding her hand from Ascian’s, despite his tight grip back, and guiding Maelo’s hands to the wall of the room. He rolled his shoulders, relishing in relief as the tension fell away.

“I don’t know if it will work,” Alora murmured quietly. “But push the energy you just took into the rock.”

Maelo stared at her with wonder in her eyes, standing frozen for a mere second before she complied and the colour of the wall leeched to white. Skull white. Maelo yanked her hand back and gripped it to her chest.

“What did I just do?”

Alora cleared her throat as she wrapped her arms around her body. “A forest spirit showed me. It prevents you from taking on the injuries you just healed, I believe.”

“It doesn’t, however, stop the fatigue that comes with using your energy,” Ascian added. He closed his eyes and rolled his shoulders slowly, testing the newly healed skin and flesh. He opened his eyes again and found Alora’s already locked on him. “How’d you find me?”

The corners of her lips twitched, brows pulling together. “I’m not entirely sure I can explain it. It was almost like someone pulled on my arm.”

Maelo flicked her attention between the two of us before she settled on Alora, pulling her lip in between her teeth. Alora must’ve felt her stare for she turned her head to look back at Maelo and offered a warm smile, no matter the guards she witnessed over the reapers eyes.

“You have no idea how happy I am to see you back here,” Maelo said as though they would be her last words. She didn’t wait and ask if it was okay before throwing her arms around a now wide-eyed Alora and embracing her tightly. After a couple seconds Alora slowly returned the hug, her grip loose to start and then tightening the longer they remained, until she finally closed her eyes and her body shuddered.

Home . She was his home , and he’d completely forgotten what that looked like until seeing the sight before him.

“Okay, you two, separate please.”

Alora pulled away from Maelo who pointed to a chair by the desk in her room. Alora nodded and headed over to it, sinking into the cushions and blankets that draped on and over it. Ascian couldn’t stop himself from following her, standing behind the chair and leaning against the desk.

“How’d the clean up of the treehouses go?”

Maelo shrugged. “We released all their souls to reincarnate should they choose. Only a couple disappeared quickly into the forest.”

Ascian nodded. “A couple of new babies born, then.”

“How touching,” Maelo muttered. “So lucky to have a screaming Elysian around at all times.” She then added, “Osiris is pissed. And I mean, ready to have you by the balls, pissed.”

Alora tensed in the chair, her gaze shifting from Maelo to Ascian. Ascian sent her a tight smile before replying, “I warned him I would send the Forest Nymphs his way if he took it too far with Xylia, but did he listen? He never thinks.”

“Well he’s thinking now,” Maelo hummed. She walked to her bed and sat on the end of it. “He has a plan, Az, I can feel it in my gut.”

“Something’s coming,” Alora murmured in agreement, drawing Ascian’s undivided attention. Alora stared him straight in the eye before doing the same to Maelo. “I’ve seen men like him on Earth. I’ve seen the things they do for revenge. They have started wars for less.”

The room fell silent as Ascian pondered her words, though he knew them to be true. Men did start wars for less, but Osiris was no man, and he’d been through more than enough to trigger a genocide.

“The Elders have already been twitchy, Az. Osiris being the one to bring Xylia and Kallias to them instead of you? I wouldn’t be surprised if they named him Commander despite his temper.” Maelo ran her fingers through her long strands of dark hair. “And with how they were the other day…”

Ascian nodded slowly. “Someone with a temper is exactly who they need.”

Something crossed Maelo’s face. “We’re not staying, are we?”

“No, we’re not.” Ascian answered instantly. He pushed off the desk and took a step forward to stand beside where Alora sat. “I’ve already been tasked with having Emilia’s memory warped at the Scholars Academy, and it’s the one place we might be safe from the Elders and Osiris.”

Alora’s head snapped up to look at Ascian. “Emilia? Emilia Lexington?”

He raised an eyebrow down at her with a chuckle. “If you mean Emilia from Earth, then yes.”

“How? ”

“She fell through a portal crack while it was open,” Maelo answered for Ascian.

Alora glanced between them. “Kallias told me no humans can survive going through the portals?”

Ascian nodded. “We believed the same thing, but according to the Elders, it’s possible. So, once we’ve gotten a couple hours of rest, we’ll set out for the Academy. Perhaps get the correct answers there about our mysterious visitor.”

Alora’s forehead wrinkled with a deep frown as she stared a hole through the floor.

Maelo, however, asked, “You don’t trust the Elders' words?”

“Right now, they’ve lied to me too many times for me to trust anything they do,” Ascian replied.

He slid his hand down Alora’s shoulder, nodding towards the door. “Come on, you need sleep and so does Maelo.”

Alora’s forehead smoothed out as she stood, receiving another tight hug from his sister before they exited the room. Ascian paused as he closed the door and said to Maelo, “I’ll come get you in a few hours. Sleep while you can. We may not get any again until we reach the Scholars Academy.”

Maelo nodded and Ascian shut the door the rest of the way. He led Alora back to his room, the blankets and sheets on his bed half thrown across the mattress as though she’d gotten up in a hurry. Had she even slept a wink? He doubted it.

Alora made her way back to the bed, sliding under the blankets. Ascian pulled them over her and moved to leave when he felt her fingers curl around his arm. She watched him, albeit a tad cautiously, and said quietly, “Stay.”

It didn’t sound like a question, but her eyes portrayed it that way. As though her heart spoke for her while her brain still raced to catch up. As though it thought he would say no to her. That he’d have the strength to walk out of his room after that singular word almost brought him to his knees.

Ascian lifted her hand to his lips, kissing her palm as he nodded. He reluctantly let go, but only to change into clean clothing and lean his scythe against the wall by the bed. Then, he slid in beside her. She rolled to face him, gingerly reaching over and brushing longer strands of his hair off his face. Ascian offered Alora a smile, one that she returned as her eyelids fluttered like butterfly wings before closing completely.

“Sweet dreams, amorsa.”

Her smile grew, even as the rest of her face and body relaxed into the warmth of his bed.