Page 31 of When Death Called Life Home (When Deities Awaken #1)

Chapter 31

Two Kinds of Loss

ALORA

A scian still slept when Alora slipped out of their room and down the stairs in the early hours of the morning. The sun's rays were only peeking up from behind the horizon, casting a deep red glow over everything.

Birds sang as Alora left the Academy building and headed towards her regular spot for meditating. Even with struggling to quiet her mind, she found simply sitting in the peace of the forest helped her recharge before the day ahead. Today felt no different. If meditating were to awaken her deity, then today had as high of a chance as any of the previous days to do so. If anything, surely the chance of it happening would increase the more she tried.

‘Don’t think of it as trying to awaken your deity. It’s amazing how meditation can calm your mind and make you more lethal in battle.’

Tallulah’s words repeated in her mind every time Alora folded her legs beneath her on the fallen tree, closed her eyes, and turned her face into the sun. Sunlight lifted further and further with each minute that ticked back. The birdsong grew louder until it morphed into Alora’s own, endless thoughts.

What would the deity’s power feel like?

What happened when it woke up?

Would she have another voice in her mind? Hell, her own was enough.

Would she change?

Would she still love Ascian?

Alora tensed at the last thought, her mind quieting.

Love? She loved him? When did that happen?

She knew she cared about him. Their relationship had only strengthened over the week they’d been at the Scholars Academy, but to admit she loved him? The thought alone brought nausea to the back of her throat.

Alora tried to clear her mind again, tried to rid herself of the feeling and instead focused on the birdsong again. Only, the forest was silent. Darkness replaced the light on her face, a solid form blocking the warmth.

Alora sighed, tipping her head back. “Ascian, I’m safe-.” Her words cut off as she opened her eyes and straightened her head. It wasn’t Ascian who stood before her.

Osiris’ mouth parted in a toothy grin surrounded by a thick beard and long hair not currently tied back like the times she’d previously seen him. Pure delight and fury swirled within his gaze. He’d found himself a prize, one she’d basically handed straight over to him. No guardian, her energy not yet fluttering at her fingertips. No weapon. Even if she could conjure up enough energy to defend against him, it wouldn’t last long, and she had a feeling he’d already mastered his own.

“Well, what do we have here,” he purred. “A little flower just waiting to be crushed.”

Alora glared at him, shifting her feet beneath her and jumping backwards off the tree trunk. Even with only two days of training, her balance had improved impeccably, but she didn’t miss the fur that brushed the nape of her neck, or the hot, fishy breath that blew over the top of her head. A glance down and Alora found massive bear paws with sharp claws protruding from what would be each digit.

She drew in a slow breath, trying to keep it steady, and whispered, “Please.” A futile attempt, and she knew it, but if there was any chance she had an effect over guardians as well as the forest creatures, she would take it.

The bear shifted and dropped to all fours, gently nuzzling its nose into her back and pushing her forward, towards Osiris.

Yeah, she wouldn’t be trying that again .

Osiris chuckled darkly, closing the distance between them. “Nice try, but even Sacral’s can’t influence another Elysian’s guardian.” His large hands grabbed her wrists and attached stone cuffs around them with ancient looking symbols carved into them. The moment they clicked shut, green light filled the carvings in a wave.

Osiris huffed, almost as though he was surprised, and dragged her onto the back of the bear. He climbed on behind her, wrapping a strong arm tightly around her midsection, and then the bear ran. Every thump of its paws against the ground sent Alora’s heart racing faster and faster, until her breaths grew uneven and her vision shuttered before her.

It was nothing like riding Ascian’s guardian, with her smooth gait and softer steps. Riding the bear was like rocking a broken chair, each pass had her head knocking and her brain revolting against it. She hated it. Even Osiris’ arm holding her firmly against his chest didn’t help.

Darkness raced towards her, visiting her for what had to be a brief moment and then she blinked the world into view again with barely any change around them. Alora didn’t recognise the path for a start. Couldn’t figure out where he was taking her other than to the Elders. She tried to reach for her energy, to wake it, but now she felt nothing, like the tether that attached her to it had been cut. She couldn’t feel her butterflies within her mind.

A rushing river caught her attention. Full from the recent thunderstorm that passed over them. The bear beneath her slowed, the river growing louder until it appeared before them. The same one with the Golden Grotto on the other side of it.

The bear didn’t think twice before sinking into the water and making its way across. Alora pulled her legs up and away from the cold. If she wasn’t about to be given access to her energy back, she couldn’t afford to get wet and cold with no way to warm herself up afterwards.

“Ascian will find me,” she murmured as they reached the other side.

“It’s almost like that’s the entire plan,” Osiris replied sarcastically.

Alora couldn’t help the surprised laugh that left her. “Gods above, he knows how to be sarcastic.”

His grip on her tightened. “Unless you want me to knock you out, shut up.”

Alora considered listening, but then remembered they’d been friends once, before something happened. “We used to be friends once.”

Osiris grunted.

“What happened?”

The brute’s body tensed slightly, freezing for a mere moment. “Are you joking? You don’t remember?”

“Nope. Kinda happens when you’re shoved through a portal and hit your head.”

Silence followed. Not entirely the bad kind, but a thoughtful type filled with consideration. They stopped a few metres back from the entrance to the Grotto and Osiris dismounted.

“Think yourself lucky, then,” he finally grunted and pulled her from the bear's back.

“Lucky?” Alora growled, yanking herself away in a futile attempt. “I should think myself lucky for losing all the memories I had of my family? My love? ”

Osiris yanked her back closer to him, gripping her chin with painful strength. He barely lessened it upon her cringe. “ Yes , because at least you didn’t lose them . You may have lost your memories of them, but they are still breathing.”

Alora narrowed her eyes at him, pinning him back under the weight of her stare. “Unless those memories return, it’s the same loss.”

“But not the same pain,” he snapped. It hit harder than Alora realised. Not simply because of the words themselves, but because of the said pain he spoke about lacing through each syllable. That’s what changed him. He’d lost someone, actually lost them through death, and it’d changed him for the worst.

Alora caught herself as Osiris pushed her forward towards the entrance of the Golden Grotto. What could she say to that? She didn’t think pushing him about it would work, but maybe…

“Who’d you lose?”

Osiris shoved a piece of balled up material into her mouth. They passed through the hallways quickly, barely passing anyone until they were almost to a doorway with nothing but darkness past it.

A female, tall and lithe with long sharp nails, rounded the corner and paused at the sight of them. She looked to Osiris first, raising an eyebrow, and then she took Alora in.

“Where’d you find this one?”

“Wondering about the forest. Where the fuck else do you think I’d find her?”

The female rolled her red eyes and gave Alora one last look before she carried on, tossing over her shoulder, “Suoh caught a stag.”

Osiris immediately moved Alora towards the doorway, his movements more restless than before. If Alora could work the damn fabric from her mouth, she could quip to the brute about having had enough of pigs.

Alora barely kept her footing on the stairs with the quick steps from Osiris, her eyes adjusting to the dim light slowly. A dungeon slowly pieced itself together before her. The floor was cold, damp clay, and the walls built from the same clay with the addition of hard stones. Chains lined the walls with large spaces between, to prevent prisoners from touching, or killing each other. Luckily, there was no one else down there.

Rusted metal filled her nostrils and mouth, coating her tongue. Rusted metal from the chains that Osiris locked to the cuffs around her wrists. He pulled another pair from the bag slung over his shoulder and crouched down in front of her, locking that pair around her ankles and to another chain attached to the floor. One she hadn’t noticed because it was the same orange-red as the clay of the floor.

Osiris straightened and stared at her, his jaw working. Alora hated the hesitation she saw in his gaze. This was the same man who brutalised Xylia. Had he hesitated then? She didn’t think so. He couldn’t grow a conscience now. He couldn’t make her believe he didn’t want any part of the pain he’d likely cause her later.

Instead of anything Alora was expecting, Osiris reached forward and pulled the fabric from her mouth.

“Don’t do anything stupid,” he muttered, then left, taking the stairs two at a time.

She was alone. In a dungeon. With no access to her energy, and no way of getting a message to Ascian to not come looking for her.

Now would be a really good time for that deity power to awaken.