Page 46 of When Death Called Life Home (When Deities Awaken #1)

Chapter 46

Reunited

ALORA

C olours bloomed everywhere Alora looked, sprouting from flowers and trees. Even the marble within the Elder’s council room sparkled with colour when she’d opened her eyes after Ascian saved her. Little glints just waiting to be brought to life.

Awakening her deity wasn’t at all what Alora expected it to be. She expected power, or another voice in her head to add to the vast array of her own. Instead, she found only comfort and vibrancy. Her energy reserves increased, yes, but she only discovered that when she found using it easier than it had been before. She didn’t need to pull it up from the deepest of depths because there was so much of it there.

There were downsides to the vibrancy, like the fact that everything red shoved her back into the marble council room with all the lifeless bodies. Not that she regretted it. In no other alternate universe did the Elders deserve to live after the things they’d put the Reapers through, but the fall of the adrenaline pumping through her veins brought on the rise of nausea as she realised she had killed people.

Ascian kept an arm wrapped around her as they headed towards the guardians waiting outside. Specifically, the fox where Verena and Maelo waited. Blood dripped from the latter’s leg as she leaned against a tree, obviously refusing to sit down despite Verena’s hardened stare. Upon seeing Ascian and Alora heading towards them, Maelo shot forward with a limp and pulled them both into her arms. Alora hesitated at first, not wishing to cover Maelo in any more blood, but then she remembered she’d almost died and immediately relaxed into the embrace.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t paying enough attention,” Alora whispered.

Maelo’s grip on her tightened, letting go of Ascian to fully grip Alora to her body. “We are all alive because of you and Ascian, okay?” She pulled back to meet Alora’s eyes before continuing, “If I needed to get knocked out for a few minutes, then that was what needed to happen.”

Alora held in a laugh at the comment as she shook her head. “That doesn’t mean I don’t feel bad. Here, let me at least do this for you.” She knelt and pressed her hand over the remaining wound on Maelo’s thigh. A simple thought and she felt the skin close over.

Maelo smiled. “Thank you. I would much prefer to stick to healing others, rather than being the one who needs healed.”

Ascian scoffed. “That isn’t the first time you’ve been wounded, Maelo.”

“The last time was back when I was still training,” she retorted. “Apparently the Vitarce aren’t as skilled as we are, or they’re holding back.”

Ascian frowned, sharing a look with Alora. She pursed her lips. The war was real, wasn’t it? She was sure Ascian was questioning the same thing. Why else would the Vitarce be fighting them? But if they were holding back, perhaps a few on their side had also got inklings of lies from their own Elders.

Alora sucked in a breath and let the thoughts go when she exhaled. “We’ll deal with them later, if we have to. Right now, I want nothing more than a hot shower and to see my beautiful companion again.”

“I’m sure the other’s wouldn’t mind giving us a ride back to the Grotto,” Ascian murmured.

Suoh and Cónán sighed and nodded, offering them each a hand once on the backs of their guardians. Alora grabbed Suoh’s and he pulled her up behind him. Maelo pulled herself up behind Verena this time, with Ascian behind Cónán.

The guardians took off at a steady pace back through the forest and Alora let her mind drift with her body through the trees and shrubs. They’d killed the Elders. They had done it. The Reapers were free of their tyrannical influence. She should feel happy, shouldn’t she? She should be joyful over that fact, and yet, Alora’s gaze shifted to Ascian’s form in front of them.

Being a Commander was all he’d ever known, and that wasn’t to say he couldn’t still be one. They were still needed to release souls and harvest the husks. Not to mention the Vitarce Elders were still very much alive. Could they be reasoned with? Would they end this war with the Reapers if they could come up with a compromise? Thinking about it alone was exhausting, never mind actually going through with it.

Alora’s mind switched gears, her forehead creasing and a headache forming. How many more deities were there to awaken? And were they all hibernating, or were some truly dead?

‘You’re going to cause yourself an aneurysm and kill both of us if you’re not careful.’

Alora startled, her grip slipping from Suoh who reflexively grabbed hold of her arm and pulled her back. He gave her a quick look, raising an eyebrow.

“Sorry,” she said in response, grimacing. “Got distracted.”

Suoh gave her arm a squeeze and then let go when he seemed sure she was holding tight again. Alora immediately shifted her attention to further ahead, narrowing on the back of Ascian’s head.

‘How’d you know?’ He asked, amusement flowing with the question.

‘Because you sound the same even in my head,’ she replied. ‘How are we communicating like this?’

A pause followed, and Alora wondered if she’d just imagined the tiny conversation, but then he answered.

‘When I saved you — the way I saved you — tied our souls together permanently. We are now one and the same, soul-wise. Truly tied together in this lifetime and all others.’

‘So, you’re stuck with me?’

Amusement coated her body until she could taste it. The emotion was so clear it should be her own, but she knew it wasn’t. She experienced a little of it herself, but the majority of it was his.

‘I wouldn’t put it that way. More so, blessed to remain with you.’

‘You’re stuck with me,’ she repeated.

His chuckle caressed her mind. ‘Yes, my beloved amorsa, I’m as stuck with you as you are with me.’

Alora sent a laugh back. ‘A girl could be so lucky.’

‘And a man most definitely is. Now, pay attention, we’re almost there.’

She blinked back in her surroundings to find the stone skull coming into view. The other side of it, the side she’d only exited from. The sky darkened above them, the moon already in view and lighting up the forest around them.

Verena stopped at the front, letting Maelo slide off her guardian. She looked back at the other two, giving them a nod in acknowledgement, and perhaps apology, before she tapped her fox’s shoulder and the creature trotted off into the Grotto. Cónán was next, allowing Ascian off and then saluting as his guardian followed after Verena. Suoh moved his cheetah forward to stand beside Ascian, then offered his arm to Alora and helped her off. She smiled gratefully at him.

“Thank you for your help, Suoh.”

He shrugged. “It was an honour to help the deities of Life and Death.”

Alora opened her mouth to respond when the heavy patter of feet against the ground caught her attention. She turned in time to spot the large feline pouncing towards her, landing against her stomach and knocking her back into the grass. His head pressed into her chest and made it hard to draw in a breath but Alora didn’t want it any other way.

Longer than a week had passed since she last saw Basilius, and it had been absolute torture. To feel his fur between her fingers again, to feel the pressure of his head against the palms of her hands and the vibration of his loud, happy purrs. It washed away the carnage she’d just caused, and the lives she’d taken from Elysia.

With Ascian she could process, with Maelo she could grieve, and with Basilius she could find clarity in who she was becoming.

Basilius stepped off her and allowed her to stand up, earning another tight hug from Alora. Her gaze lifted to find Ascian watching her, his features softened in that way they only were with her. Suoh had disappeared, along with Osiris, likely into the Grotto with the others. Maelo was also nowhere to be seen.

Ascian offered Alora his hand and pulled her to his body when she took it. She buried her face in his chest, breathing in the warmth of him. He pressed a kiss to her head and then rested his chin atop it as his hands brushed soothing touches over her back.

“Well, we did it,” he muttered.

“And yet, it still feels like there’s so much to do,” Alora replied, her voice muffled against his shirt.

“I can think of the first thing we need to do.”

Alora hummed, pulling her head back to send him a questioning look.

“Shower and wash all this blood off.”

“Please,” Alora groaned. She grabbed his hand from behind her and bee-lined it for the Grotto’s entrance. Basilius and Alamea followed closely behind, likely afraid to lose sight of them again.

“Do you know what else we could do while washing all this blood off?” Ascian asked slowly, a tease to his voice.

Alora fought away a smirk. “I can think of a couple things, like … venison jerky.”

Ascian’s head fell back as he let out a loud groan. “You’re fucking perfect, do you know that? ”

“You’re starving, too, right?”

“Yes.”

“I wonder if it’s a side effect of the new deity energy,” Alora hummed.

Ascian lifted their joined hands to his lips and kissed the back of hers. “Maybe. All I know is that I want to feast on some jerky first, and then you second.”

Heat flushed Alora’s cheeks, though she didn’t mind it at all. “And then sleep.”

“Sleep for a week,” Ascian agreed.