Page 6 of When Death Called Life Home (When Deities Awaken #1)
Chapter 6
Point Taken
ALORA
A storm marred Kallias’ face when he stepped through the brush separating the two clearings. His steps heavy over the ground. Xylia followed a few feet after him, not willingly by the shadows in her gaze.
“You cannot run off like that,” Kallias chided as though Alora were a child. Some defenceless little baby who’d be killed the moment she went without supervision. Considering she’d already encountered two other beings and survived both of them gave her enough confidence in her ability to survive wherever the portal had taken her. She didn’t need a man, let alone him .
“And why not?” She countered, eyes narrowed.
“Other than the fact you’re no longer on Earth and we have far more dangerous creatures here?”
“Well I just met a cute little serpent and survived to tell you about it, so I think I will be just fine, thank you very much.” She didn’t mention the strange man. A part of her rejected even the idea of telling Kallias about him, not that she understood why. Neither of them should mean anything to her.
Kallias closed the distance between them, his lips pulling back in an unattractive snarl. “Then how about the fact people are being murdered every day for nothing other than what they believe in?”
Alora couldn’t help her pause at his words. “That is ridiculous.”
“And yet, it’s happening.”
“Well, it’s not quite as simple as that, Kallias,” Xylia piped in. Her comment caused the muscle in Kallias’ jaw to flicker, his stare never wavering from Alora.
“For the sake of this argument, it is.”
Alora rolled her eyes, wrapping her arms around her middle as chills raced over her body.
“We need to get you some clothes before you freeze to death,” Kallias grumbled.
Alora shook her head. “Not until you tell me where I am.”
The heavy pause weighed her down along with the exhaustion setting in from almost drowning. She could lie down right where she stood and fall asleep within seconds if she truly wanted to. She’d likely be dead by morning, but the idea still tempted her.
Kallias sighed, his annoyance dissipating some. “You’re in Elysia.”
“Which is…?” Alora pushed.
Kallias finally tore his gaze away from her to peer at Xylia who only nodded the slightest amount. He looked back to Alora with pursed lips before answering, “Originally, it was the Kingdom of Deities, but they haven’t been seen in millennia.”
Alora’s eyes widened. “And there are portals to Earth just laying around waiting for random people to fall through? That doesn’t sound like the brightest idea.”
The look the two strangers shared before her put Alora on edge. A light sparked in Xylia’s eyes, but the brightness deepened shadows that were previously hidden. She knew something Alora didn’t. They both did .
“It’s too complicated for us to truly understand, but it’s only connected to Earth in a few specific spots, and only specific people can make it through the portals alive,” Kallias said.
“Alive?” Alora exclaimed.
Kallias turned his full body towards Xylia now, and while Alora couldn’t see his face, Xylia’s expression told her enough.
“Can you not just quickly open the portal again?”
Xylia threw him an incredulous look, the leaves of her hair folding in and falling sleek against her head. “Absolutely not.”
“I’m not going back through the portal,” Alora stated at the same time. Would she be considered mad for that decision? Probably, but nothing called for her on Earth. She didn’t feel alive while minimising herself for the lords and dukes, in hopes that one of them would think her the perfect bride and future incubator for spoiled children. She’d only experienced true happiness and freedom while strolling through the large garden, greeting each wild animal and plant she passed by. When her fingertips brushed over flowers and grew covered in the sweetness of their pollen.
It drove Rosalie mad whenever she returned, the pollen brushing off on the handle of the teapot and in turn being transferred to the others’ fingers, too. Alora didn’t think it’d be all that bad if Rosalie didn’t have allergies that caused her to fall into a sneezing fit.
So she knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that she wanted to stay here. With a wild forest surrounding her and offering its protection, despite not having a single plan on where she would live or what she would do here, she needed to stay. For the first time since she woke up at the Lexington’s manor with no memory, Alora didn’t feel trapped. She’d miss her and Rosalie’s escapades into the garden, taking turns at caging the other against a tree and tasting whatever sweetness they’d just consumed at the tea party…
Alora blinked away the memory and swallowed the lump that’d grown in her throat. Nothing could have ever happened between them even if she had stayed. She shoved that pain back, behind the towering gates within her mind and closed them tightly. Nothing could ever happen now after Rosalie’s words.
Xylia rolled her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Whether I want to shove her back onto Earth or not has no business in my decision. It was dangerous enough opening it the first time. Now, the others will have been alerted and will no doubt be searching for who’s responsible.”
“Others?” Alora tried her hardest to act confused. With how quickly the stranger had disappeared before, she assumed he was an ‘other’.
Xylia said, with an even more exasperated tone than before, “Humans would call them Reapers.”
“What do you call yourselves, then?” Alora muttered with real confusion this time. And how did Elysia go from housing deities to two species fighting each other over their beliefs?
“She can’t stay here, Xylia.” A growl wove throughout Kallias’ words, commanding and vicious like an avalanche. There was no mistaking it, and an overwhelming instinct kicked in to start running and get as far away as Alora possibly could.
“I don’t care,” Xylia responded, lips parting to add more but Alora silenced them both.
“Excuse me!” The moment both their heads turned in her direction she continued. “ I do not care what either of you think or decide. I am choosing to stay here, and it’s neither of your responsibilities to make sure I remain safe. If that’s what you are so worried about.”
Something blossomed the tiniest amount on Xylia’s face, and it wasn’t the little flower buds she could see lining the female’s forehead. It was almost like Alora had just confirmed some suspicion of the nymph’s. She wasn’t so lucky when it came to Kallias.
“You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into, Alora.”
Alora raised an eyebrow, letting loose a scoff. “I’m far more resilient than most people expect. You have no idea what I’m capable of.”
“Yes, because you did dive head first into a pond after a stranger with every single piece of clothing on and survived, by some miracle,” Xylia chimed in. She glanced at Kallias and released a breath. “How about he takes you to one of the Vitarce camps and provides you with some Elysian clothing? You can make a plan from there, if you so wish.”
“Vitarce?” Alora asked, lifting a hand and pushing her hair back from her face. “How about each time you mention a new creature or being, you then describe it?”
A little smile, one filled with a feline’s mischief, expanded across Xylia’s lips. “The simplest way to describe them, they’re the opposite to Reapers. Just as dangerous, though.”
Alora once again looked to Kallias, her eyebrows slowly lifting. “So that is the answer to my question from before that you both ignored?”
Xylia nodded, her feline smile growing wider.
“He does not seem very dangerous.” Alora’s words brought a redness to Kallias’ face which was followed by narrowed eyes. He moved towards her, wrapping a hand around her forearm and dragging her behind him towards the cover of the forest.
“That’s enough information for one conversation,” he muttered. “I’ll meet you back at the camp, Xylia.”
Alora glanced at her, the nymph watching them leave with a tilted head. The plants around her leaned in, brushing against her legs and bare feet. She stretched an arm down, fingertips delicately touching a couple of the leaves before they all returned to stretching towards the sun instead. Xylia drew her attention away from Alora, and walked towards the trees in another direction, disappearing from view.
Alora turned her head forward and quickly side stepped a smaller tree trunk that Kallias had already moved away from. She pulled her arm from his grasp, only receiving a quick glimpse back from him, likely to ensure she still followed. He didn’t speak, not that Alora truthfully wanted him to. The forest around them whispered things in a language she wished she could understand. Alive with beauty and intelligence. Something she guessed was because the Nymphs existed among them. The garden at the Lexington manor sometimes felt alive, but not in the sense that this forest did.
There, the insects and plants held life, and provided Alora with a calming energy. It soothed her and provided relief from the daily anxieties that threatened to unravel her mind. It calmed her.
Here in Elysia, within this forest filled with creatures and beings she’d never seen before and only heard stories of, she could breathe . Yes it soothed her, but it filled her with a new-found energy. She didn’t just want to escape here, she wished to explore every inch of it. She wanted to discover every single species she could, talk to the ones who spoke English, learn the body language of those that couldn’t and what it was telling those around it.
The garden at the Lexington manor allowed her to survive, but here, Alora felt she could thrive. She could live and experience .
“If you were paying this much attention in the gardens, I’m surprised you didn’t fall in the pond sooner.”
Alora’s gaze drifted to Kallias, his own eyes still focused ahead of them and the wild path beneath their feet.
“I did not fall into the pond,” she argued.
“Yes, right. You dove in after me to save me from drowning.” He laced every syllable with sarcasm and still didn’t look back at her. His steps over the ground were graceful, like his body knew exactly where every speck of dirt and mineral was. Like there was absolutely no risk of him tripping due to a slight rise because he already knew it would be there.
“Is that so hard to believe?” Alora asked, grasping a fistful of her petticoat and taking a couple quick steps to walk by his side instead of behind him.
Kallias finally looked at her, his gaze trailing up and down her body before he replied. “Yes.”
Alora grabbed his shoulder as she stopped. “Why?”
He frowned at her, studying her again for a moment before he crossed his arms across his chest. “You’re short, not carrying an immense amount of muscle, and were wearing layers upon layers of clothing. I’m six feet tall and my body is composed of more muscle than fat. All of that combined, should I actually have needed saving, you would’ve drowned before even succeeding an inch at pulling me towards the surface.”
A rush of heat rolled through Alora’s body like a wave, her jaw clenching. She felt herself move before registering what action her mind told her body to do, pressure slamming against her braced knuckles as they flew into the man’s stomach. Kallias’ arms immediately fell away from his chest as he cradled his abdomen, his top half folding down. Alora stepped out of the way of his head, mimicking his previous stance and crossing her own arms across her chest.
It took longer than she expected for him to gain his breath back, and longer still before he straightened his body and glared at her. “Point taken.”
“Are you going to stop underestimating me now?” She asked in return, and grew close to punching him again when he actually considered how to answer her.
“Are you going to punch me again if I say no?” Alora’s fist clenched again, in clear view of Kallias, his gaze flickered towards it before he quickly muttered, “Yes. For now.”
Alora nodded with satisfaction at his answer, relaxing her hand. He shook his head as he turned in the same direction as before, one hand still cradling his abdomen while he walked. Alora followed, gathering her petticoat again into a tight grip to make for easier steps.