Page 29 of When Death Called Life Home (When Deities Awaken #1)

Chapter 29

Play Fight

ALORA

A scian woke Alora the next morning in the most delicious way she could possibly think of, and then he ruined it by forcing her from their bed and to the large windows of the library to meditate. On Tallulah’s orders. Alora wanted to murder both of them.

“Sit. Close your eyes and empty your mind,” Ascian hummed. He took a seat next to her, watching her face as she glared at him. A weak glare that most definitely didn’t affect him one bit. “Come on, just try. You have training with Riven in a couple hours. ”

Alora blanched. “You expect me to meditate for two hours?”

“No. I expect you to try for five minutes, lose focus almost immediately and try to seduce me into letting you return to bed.” Ascian raised an eyebrow at her.

Alora pursed her lips as she studied him. “Would it work?”

“Do you think it will?”

Alora returned her gaze to the dark clouds outside and the water droplets racing down the window glass. “It’s still storming. Storms are bed weather.”

“You weren’t saying that yesterday afternoon,” Ascian chuckled. Alora scowled at him.

No, she hadn’t been, but she hadn’t realised how much she missed Basilius until she’d gotten a moment of quiet amongst the first few hectic days here. Surrounded by life she always thrived. Her mind flowed, creating solution after solution for whatever trouble she’d found herself in. Life held movement to it. Growth. She hated stillness. Hated trying to empty her mind because it meant closing all the books she kept open in case she needed the information she stored there. What if she lost it? What if she forgot ?

“Alora,” Ascian murmured softly. His hand slipped into hers and she curled her fingers around his instantly. “What’s making you reject it?”

Alora dropped her gaze to their hands and let herself word-vomit everything spinning inside her mind. Everything that made her push against meditation, or at least the idea of it. Ascian listened intently, his gaze never leaving her face from what she saw out of the corner of her eye. His thumb brushed over the skin of her hand. His touch, an unrelenting comfort.

When she finished speaking, Ascian remained silent for a moment. Alora wondered whether he was going to speak at all until he moved to sit behind her, letting go of her hand to wrap his arms around her midsection and pull her back against his chest.

“You won’t forget,” he whispered. Nothing but surety coated his voice.

“How do you know?” Alora replied just as quietly.

Ascian pressed a kiss to her head. “Because I won’t let you. You’re stuck with me.”

Alora’s eyes stung even as she let loose a soft laugh. “Creep.”

“Try. I want you to be as strong as you can be if everything goes sideways.”

“If we can’t wake our deities.” Alora sighed and rested her head back against Ascian’s chest, closing her eyes.

“Yeah.” Ascian copied her sigh, and she felt his chin rest atop her head. “Even if things don’t go our way, and we say goodbye to Elysia, I will find you in whatever comes next. In every lifetime, for the rest of eternity.”

Alora allowed Ascian’s smooth voice to lead her deeper into her mind, gently closing each book and shifting them to the side as she passed.

She wouldn’t forget them . She’d be back.

“We are joined, you and I,” he hummed, his voice weaving a grey ribbon throughout her mind with her. Something she clung to, wrapped it around herself and held tightly. She wouldn’t get lost in her fragmented mind. Not if she could help it. If Alora needed to do this to get stronger, to help give them a chance against the Elders and get closer to ending the war, she’d do it. She’d do it for Ascian. For Maelo. For their late sister, Raine , the forgotten name brought a deep sorrow that constricted her chest upon its return. She’d do it so Emilia could experience a whole new world without the threat of violence.

Hell, she’d do it for Osiris.

“Even when separated, a part of me remains with you.” Ascian’s lips pressed to the top of her cheek, his nose brushing over her temple. She relaxed into him more, allowing her instincts to guide her through the tunnels of her mind, finding butterflies and caterpillars alike settled randomly throughout.

Alora didn’t exactly know what she was looking for. She didn’t think she would until she actually saw it.

Some tunnels she headed down ended with locked gates, much like the one blocking off the restricted section in the library. Even for her, they wouldn’t open. They all needed a different shaped key. Shapes that didn’t look like keys. Each time she backtracked and delved further in, listening to the constant stream of affirmations Ascian murmured near her ear, grounding her to her body.

She didn’t know how much time passed when Ascian finally whispered, “Come back, amorsa.”

Alora stopped and turned, grabbing tighter to the ribbon of grey wrapped around her body and letting it pull her back to the surface of her mind. The rest disappeared behind her, back into darkness, save for the butterflies and caterpillars glowing with unusual light.

She cracked her eyes open to the storm clouds parting and rays of sun breaking through to light up the space around them. Over the trees outside a rainbow arched up and disappeared into midair, its colours so much more vibrant than Alora witnessed on Earth. The sun brought forth a burst of vibrant green from the forest, too. Freshly hydrated and now reaching for warmth.

“How long did I go for?” Alora asked, tilting her head back to look up into Ascian’s grey gaze.

“A couple hours,” he answered. “Still remember me?”

Alora nodded. “And the new little trick you did with your tongue this morning.”

A grin broke across Ascian’s face, his eyes lighting up only to sharpen when a throat cleared behind them.

“Were you planning on attending training today, Alora, or would you prefer to continue boosting Ascian’s ego for the rest of the morning?” Alora straightened and looked over both their shoulders to find Riven leaning against a bookshelf a few metres from them.

“I was meditating,” she said, by way of answering.

“Ah huh,” Riven said, then raised his eyebrow in expectation. “You coming?”

“Not currently,” Ascian muttered as Alora stood. She smacked his shoulder lightly, but he caught her hand and pressed a kiss to her palm. He looked up at her as though she was a queen, or some powerful goddess only he knew, “You didn’t forget me.”

Alora’s chest tightened. She shook her head and smiled. “No, I didn’t.”

He kissed her palm again before letting her go. She couldn’t stop herself from brushing her fingers along his jaw as she left, then she put all her focus on Riven. He led her back to their normal room. Alora immediately headed towards the windows, but the forest had lost its vibrancy. White clouds rolled in front of the sun and dimmed its light.

“What are we working on today?” Alora asked, turning away from the window.

“Throats,” Riven answered. He closed the door and turned to her, crossing his arms. “Essentially, the art of persuasion, but with an extra shove from your energy. You’ll need to focus your energy on your throat and your words. They need to have a … pull behind them. Almost an enticement to the person you’re speaking with that they want to do what you’re commanding them to do.”

Alora frowned. “They sound similar to Ascian’s abilities.”

Riven nodded slightly, slowly. “I suppose in a way, yes. Generally, though, a Crown must have mastered their energy to be able to introduce new thoughts into a person's mind. A Throat cannot affect a person's thoughts. They can only convince someone to do or say something.”

“Technicalities,” Alora muttered.

“For now, let’s just say they use the same influence in different ways.”

Alora nodded. That she could wrap her brain around. “One with thoughts, the other with words.”

Riven smiled in approval. “Precisely. Now, go ahead and try to get me to do something.”

“Anything?” Alora’s brows shot up.

“Nothing that would get either of us killed.”

Alora rolled her eyes but drew in a breath and focused on the well of energy within herself. The garden where the majority of the butterflies spent their time. She called for a couple of them, and drew them to her throat. It warmed, green-tinted grey light growing in her periphery vision.

Not exactly a subtle energy .

“Uncross your arms.” It was the only thing she could think of in an empty room, save for making him walk around. A simple movement first, though. If this worked, then she’d make him walk around. Maybe dance, too.

Riven’s lips parted, eyes crinkling as though a laugh would fall from his mouth, but then his arms fell apart and dangled at his side and his eyes widened. “I didn’t expect you to pick that up so quickly.” He stared at his arms, shaking them out after a minute and looking up at Alora. “Alright, first question.”

“Witches.”

Riven hummed.

“What happened to them?”

“They were either killed or banished from Elysia,” he replied.

Alora frowned. “None remained?”

“That’s a second question which requires a second successful energy usage.”

Alora narrowed her eyes at him and drew the warmth back to her vocal chords. “Dance around like a five-year-old.”

The command almost burned her throat, the ferocity to it rising like fire and shooting out across the room at Riven. Alora saw the moment the words hit him. His body stiffened, fighting the command until his face cringed in pain and he moved about the room to invisible music. His movements were erratic, arms flailing around and knees bouncing to whatever beat played in his mind.

Alora smirked when Riven glared at her, clearly waiting for her to bring the energy back. She felt it draining, but watching him dance with no possibility of stopping was far too amusing to end it so quickly.

“Did any remain?” She asked again, crossing her own arms and squaring her feet.

Riven spun, his whole body wiggling and arms lifting above his head. He waited until he faced her again before replying, and the look on his face said enough about her future when he finally stopped dancing.

“Yes. Despite the deities and the Primal’s command to banish all Witches, Life and Death kept a few littered throughout Elysia, near the portals, should they be needed in the future.”

Alora tilted her head. Strange. They disappeared first and yet … Alora flickered her gaze back to Riven, lips parting to ask him another question when she realised his dancing stopped when he reached the wi ndow, and he stared at her as though he wanted to set flames up her pants.

Alora squeaked and ran for the door. Riven’s heavy footsteps fell after her, thumping on the hard ground. She caught her hand off a column, using it to spin around the corner and towards the stairs that led down to the training field. The heavy footsteps behind her quickened, lightened with less sound following. Alora cursed.

“When I catch you, Alora!”

He didn’t need to finish the threat. He’d likely shove her under freezing cold water, or make her assist Zillah in writing notes for the older books that were breaking down. The idea of either pushed her forward faster. The doors to the field caught her eyes as she barrelled down the last staircase and shoved through them. Alora paused for a second. A second , and quickly side stepped as the whoosh of a hand sweeping towards her raised the hairs on the back of her neck. She spun, backing up another step as Riven rolled his shoulders.

“Want to see why I specialised in energy training?” He hummed dangerously.

Electricity tingled at Alora’s fingertips. Heat built in the palms of her hands and on the bottoms of her feet. Her hair swayed, a gust of wind blowing passed them. She grinned at him, baring her teeth. “I could take you.”

His gaze dipped, and he paused, another breadth of a second, then his gaze moved up and over her shoulder. Behind her. Alora almost rolled her eyes, but the grin she barred at Riven shifted into an amused — and perhaps far too cocky — smile.

“Try and touch her with any lick of an element and I’ll send a knife through your throat before the thought shifts into any action.”