Page 41 of When Death Called Life Home (When Deities Awaken #1)
Chapter 41
Trojan Bear
ASCIAN
“ Y ou want me to put a blade through Alora’s heart so that you can restore my ‘Commander’ title and use my ‘skills,’ again?” Ascian asked the elder slowly. Surely the man would see the issues with this arrangement.
“That, or I do it myself. Either way, she’s dying and you’re returning to your duties.”
Ascian chuckled darkly. “You’re either killing both of us, or we kill you.”
He paused and then laughed . “You? Killing us? Do you not remember how old we are, boy? I’d like to see you try.”
Steel wrung out, and a gurgling sounded from the end marble throne. Ascian looked to find a broad sword shoved through the Third elder’s throat, his fingers clawing at it with no success. Osiris jolted the sword back and then pulled it forward in a sweeping motion that sent the elder’s head flying to the floor at Ascian feet.
“I didn’t have to try very hard,” Osiris hummed casually. He rested the tip of his sword against the marble floor, blood sliding down the sharpened edges and pooling in front of him.
Only silence and calmness filled the area as the severed head rolled around in a circle, slowing gradually. Every elder’s eyes were on it. On the (supposed) most powerful Third in Elysia, decapitated right before their very eyes.
The head finally stopped, the elder’s blank, lifeless eyes staring up at Ascian. His nose wrinkled and he looked up at the remaining elders, a brow cocked. “Looks like your millennia of life doesn’t equal invincibility to a simple blade.”
Two things happened at once; Suoh and Cónán shoved past Verena to hand Ascian and Maelo their weapons while Osiris shot forward to hand Alora hers. As they moved, the other five reapers Ascian didn’t recognise shifted into a smooth formation, surrounding the six of them, plus Verena. Her eyes leached into red, sharp teeth flashing.
They moved towards them, pushing them into the middle of the room, removing space for them to use their weapons effectively. Ascian wouldn’t allow it. Chaos broke out around him as he arched his scythe towards the reaper closest to him. It drowned him in war cries and quick movements. His opponent met his advances blow for blow. Metal clanged and deafened him to the other’s voices should they wish to speak to each other, the sound echoing off the marble walls.
Ascian lunged forward, gaze darting from the reaper before him to the Elders watching with ruthless smirks. He needed to get to them and rip their souls from their bodies, wipe the damned smirks from their lips. A swing of his scythe and it connected with the reaper's longsword. Vibrations raced down the handle, though Ascian’s body. He gripped his weapon tighter, pushing forward more until he felt the pressure on the reaper's sword falter. Ascian yanked his scythe back and then spun it in his hands and swiped upwards, cutting a single line from the reaper's groin to their throat. He turned as the body fell to the ground, sword clattering on the marble .
Wind rushed towards him. Ascian side stepped and lifted his arms to protect his face and try to get a quick visual of the incoming reaper. She fought Suoh with a metal staff and her Solar abilities, but upon witnessing who Ascian guessed to be a close friend or lover die at his hand, turned her attention towards him.
“Shield, Suoh!” Ascian yelled, his voice booming over the racket.
Flames sparked at the woman’s fingertips. Ascian gritted his teeth as he flickered his gaze towards Suoh trying to conjure up a second shield with little success.
“Suoh!” Ascian growled.
The flames grew, curling in on each other again and again until a ball formed and pulsed. Each pulse strengthened the flame’s power, creating a larger fireball that filled the room with charring heat. Ascian cursed under his breath and braced himself.
Movement darted from his right, towards Suoh and the tiny shield he’d managed to form. Short, blonde hair flicking wildly in the wind the fire created. Alora slid to a stop, grabbing Suoh’s arm, and the shield exploded from him.
“Around her!” Alora yelled over the roaring.
Suoh didn’t need to be told twice. He cast the shield out, wrapping around the fireball and the female reaper as she moved to send it towards Ascian. The fireball hit the wall of the shield and exploded back towards its maker. Her mouth opened but no scream could be heard as the fire engulfed her and burned her down to ash.
Ascian let out the breath he’d sucked in, in preparation, wide eyes shifting to lock with Alora’s. Gods, if they weren’t fighting for their lives right now… She sent him a wink and he grinned.
One soul, indeed .
The shield fell once the embers winked out and Suoh turned to stab his sword into another reaper who aimed for Alora. He shoved her towards Ascian, blocking the path to her and planting his feet firmly as the second female reaper brought her axe down.
A whimper weaved through the noise and lodged itself in Ascian’s ear. He turned, scanning the fighting bodies until he found Maelo, a dagger stabbed deep into her thigh. His feet moved before he could tell them to, but Alora grabbed his arm and nodded back towards Suoh.
“Help him. I’ll help Maelo.”
His forehead creased as his gaze flickered between his sister and Alora. The two most important people to him fighting side-by-side? At high risk of being harmed? That scholar position was starting to look more desirable.
Ascian sighed and nodded. “Keep your eyes up, amorsa.”
Alora reached up and wiped blood from his face, her hand coming away red. “Show ‘em what hell’s like.”
“Gods, I love you,” he muttered, and the brightness that beamed on her face bounced off the walls of the room. And while she had never been too bright for him, Ascian wouldn’t have been surprised if it blinded the others. She backed away from him, blowing him a kiss before spinning and sprinting for Maelo. All that running through the gardens paid off in a single afternoon.
Ascian spun his scythe around his hands before he shook out his shoulders and arms, and moved to Suoh’s side. Their footsteps moved together like a pack of lions hunting their prey, each calculated and purposeful. Suoh blocked each strike as Ascian jabbed with the blunt end of his scythe handle until the woman’s breaths grew laboured and her arms shook with the effort of lifting her sword. Only then, when she took too long, focused too much on lifting her weapon and not enough of protecting herself, did Ascian slash his scythe’s blade across her chest. Another slice of his scythe and the reaper fell to her knees before them, hands grabbing at her abdomen as lengths of her guts tumbled through the new wound and onto the ground.
Suoh’s chest heaved with heavy pants as he slapped a hand to Ascian’s shoulder in thanks.
They looked back to the others to find Osiris slicing the second male reaper’s body clean in half, blood spraying over his body in a thick layer. He lifted the bottom of his shirt and wiped it from his eyes then turned to Ascian as though awaiting orders.
One left. They had one reaper guard left.
“Suoh, go help Cónán and Verena with the last guard so Alora can heal Maelo. Osiris,” Ascian paused, staring at the man. Perhaps he’d finally started healing. Maybe that’s what caused his loyalties to shift back. Right now, Ascian couldn’t second guess it. “Come with me.”
Osiris grinned at him, and they both turned to find the Elders stepping down from the raised platform, weapons in hand. Ascian hummed a sweet melody that repeated in his mind even after he stopped his humming. One his sister had soothed him to sleep with, and soothed his anger with, and focused his rage with.
“I’ll take the Root,” Osiris muttered, adjusting his grip on his sword.
“I’ll take the rest if I need to,” Ascian replied.
“For Raine.”
“For Raine.”
Ascian’s footsteps were light yet anchored against the hard ground as he moved for them. The distance between the Elders and himself shortened quickly. He’d end this. Once and for all — on the Reaper side, at least — he would end this. No more demands from Elders who sat and encouraged unnecessary death amongst their own kind. No more fear of penalties if they couldn’t bring themselves to go through with the demands.
No more.
Ascian would make sure of it. He’d create a new order, a new way of living for the Reapers. For Elysian’s as a whole.
There were only four left. Four hearts still beating with poisoned blood. Blood they wanted to infect whoever followed them with. Ascian would cover the marble floors of their mountain palace with it and then let the predators in to eat their corpses.
He stopped a metre from three of them as Osiris’ sword smashed into the Root’s hands and was deflected with ease. Ascian barely saw Osiris slide his sword back into his sheath before he returned his attention to the three in front of him.
“You’re outnumbered, Ascian,” the lead elder murmured carefully. The Throat, if Ascian remembered correctly. The Crown and Solar flanked him, Osiris battling the Root a couple metres back. Their names had been lost to their subjects for years now. Ascian wouldn’t be surprised if even they had forgotten them.
“I’ve always been outnumbered, and it’s never stopped me from winning before.” Ascian threw him a wicked grin, blood or sweat sliding over the skin on his face. The coppery tang that exploded on his tongue confirmed it as the former.
He readjusted his grip on his scythe, the blood that slid down the handle making it hard to hold firmer. Ascian needed to wipe it. He couldn’t make a single mistake, not if he wanted to end all three of their lives.
“Ascian!”
He ignored the call, gaze locked on the elder who’d threatened his amorsa. His family. Ascian would destroy him. He’d destroy everything the man loved, keep his soul with him just so he could feel the terror of his own family as their lives were ended. He’d rid Elysia of this evil. The other two would follow, whether with help from the others or not, he’d die killing them.
Ascian grabbed the corner of his cloak without looking away from the remaining Elders and used it to wipe the entire length of the scythe’s handle. “Are you ready to face Death? Hear His judgement?”
The elder diverted his attention from Ascian, to whatever carnage happened behind him. “You’re too late.”
Ascian’s steps faltered, brows twitching to form a frown at the man's words. “Excuse me?”
“Not even Life can save her from Death,” the elder sneered.
“Ascian!”
Ascian gritted his teeth, the corners of his eye twitching at the grating voice calling his name. Maybe he should’ve put his scythe through Suoh’s throat.
“What?” He snapped back, spinning his head to look and his entire body froze. Like a Solar blew an ice storm over his body and made it rock hard in its precise position. His breath left him and did not return, not until a scream ripped from his chest as one of the Elder’s reaper guards sliced a blade across Alora’s throat and blood spilled from her rose tinted lips.