Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 62637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Otherwise, why would I choose to lose?
“Kitsune,” I whisper. “She’s soft.”
Bannik laughs. “You’re stuck here now, you know that, right? She won’t let you go; you have no more favors or sacrifices to make in order to leave. You’re an idiot.”
“And you’re brilliant?” I counter. “You’ve been down here too long.”
“No.” He stumbles to his feet and falls against his throne. “I’m trapped here not because I want to be but you chose this existence, so who’s the idiot?”
“Still you. You tried to bring down the immortals, and what was it? Combine demon, and angelic blood, then imprison all your fallen brothers?”
He growls. “I had reasons.”
“I’m curious…” I’m so blind it’s strange, but I look toward where I think his body is. “What could possibly be the reason for that sort of sacrifice, Bannik?”
He’s quiet for a long time. I see nothing. He finally answers in a low voice. “I wanted to redeem my brother.”
I’m stunned stupid. “Sariel? Your brother? Cassius’s father?”
“You need power to go against Heaven, and Sariel fell like the rest of us, but he never deserved to be punished because of whom he loved. I’ll admit it became a thorn, a sickness in my soul. It became an obsession, and in the end, it was about me about powerful because of being so blind, but you know what’s so satisfying about seeing no light?”
“I’m sure you’ll tell me.”
“You can only see your own darkness. You reflect. You watch over and over again, and you realize that in the darkness, the light isn’t absent, it will always pierce through. The sadness of that reality is that even if it does, a punishment is still a punishment.”
“Misguided love.”
“Such a bitch.” Bannik laughs. “I’ve been very lonely. I’m glad it’s you, Horus.” He breathes deeply. “How is Cassius?”
“Alive. An archangel. A pain in everyone’s ass.”
“As he should be.” He falls quiet. The darkness still carries moans, though, from prisoners. “And Sariel?”
“He shines.” I smile to myself. “You should see him shine, Bannik.”
“ Can you explain it to me?”
“I can.” A tear runs down my cheek. It’s so dark. Shit, it’s so dark in there. It’s so empty. Isolated. I’m without my brother. I’m without Kit. My eye. I am lost, and yet, I know I need to focus on the memories, the light. “If you look up through the darkness, you’ll see a very bright star, the North Star. He watches, he sees all, and right now, he’s even watching us. You may not feel him, but you’ll know your brother is here; he can’t help himself.”
Bannik laughs. “He’s always been very intrusive.”
I nod, hold my hands, and speak to the stars and the creators. I pray for the first time to the heavens in a very long time. I pray not for myself but for the fallen next to me. I’ve already saved the girl I loved. What was once taken from her will be returned now that the goddess of this Abyss has my eye; she’ll have her memories, and she’ll have her identity even if she doesn’t have her star.
She’ll wake up and remember everything. Memories will assault her, and she’ll realize how special she is and will always be to me and the world. She’ll be immortal; she’ll have everything because of my sacrifice. Is that not how this works? An eye for an eye? An eye for what she sacrificed, and now, she will join the Immortal Council. She’ll be able to live and laugh and love.
I hate the last one.
If I can’t get back, she’ll eventually love another. I hate them already.
I have nothing left. I ask. I pray.
“Creator.”
It’s all I have on my lips as darkness descends, and then I smile. I smile because I see her. I see us laughing and kissing.
“I love you more than anything.” I press my mouth against hers. “My little fox.”
“I’m a grown fox!” She shoves me.
I grip her hands and twirl her around and around. “My grown fox, then.”
Her eyes fall. “And if I want foxes?”
“You’ll have everything, am I not a god?” I joke.
She twirls again in my arms and leans her back against my chest. “No matter what, I just want you. Which lifetime is this?”
The heaviness in my chest intensifies. “It’s your second. You make it through one more lifetime as a human, and you can become immortal. You can become mine.”
“Stupid folklore.”
“Accurate folklore.” I chuckle. “Every mythology has its origin, and yours is that you have to make it through three lifetimes as a human after jumping into the Abyss… you’ll make it, though, I know it. We only have one more.”
“And I’ll know you? And visit you?” she asks.
I lie. “Of course. Isn’t that how it works?”
It’s not.
If she doesn’t find me.
If I don’t find her.
There will be no immortality. Or happy ending. Only her alone, isolated in a human world she doesn’t belong in.