THE EVERLAST SERIES: Books 1-4

Chapter 25-1

25

I told Victor and Micah which sign they should step into, then said, “But wait. We have to get in the circle at the same time.”

“In your vision, did you see what would happen?” Micah asked, eyeing the symbol before him. It had sharp lines, each one pointing to a different side.

I halted in front of my sign. It had curly lines. “Nope.”

“Morgan said this is the gateway to the Clarity Castle,” Micah said. “Perhaps it’ll take us there.”

And what would we do then? Declare war on Imha just like that? I hoped that if the gateway took us somewhere, it was to a place far away from her.

“I don’t like this,” Victor argued. I rolled my eyes. At least he was already positioned beside his assigned sign. It was composed of long, rounded lines and circles, similar to the Everlasting Circle symbol.

“Ready?” Both guys nodded. I took a deep breath and braced myself. “All right. Let’s do this.”

We stepped into the signs.

An immense vortex of colors and power wrapped around us.

I saw a fourth figure approaching the circle and heard the guys’ grunts, then everything went gray.

I was surrounded by revolving smoke. It choked me and I gagged, nearly vomiting. Just when I began praying for it to stop, the smoke swirled into the shape of a room. A crystal room. With a crystal bed. Ceris sprawled on the bed, her body in a seductive curve. I looked around. Levi stood by the window, next to me, but obviously unaware of my presence.

“After thousands of years, you’re telling me you don’t love me anymore?” Ceris asked, an amused smile playing over her gorgeous features.

Levi shifted. His jaw went tight before he said, “You’ve changed. For many years now, you’ve been changing. Sometimes, I think I don’t know you anymore.”

Ceris laughed. “Love, you know me well. We’ve been together since the beginning of time.”

“You’ve changed,” he repeated.

“But you saw my changes. You were with me through them.”

“But I don’t like how you’ve changed.” Levi turned to her, his clear eyes filled with disappointment. “You aren’t the sweet, selfless, and caring woman I fell in love with. Now, everything you do is motivated by self-interest. By the Everlast, there are occasions when you’re even cruel.”

Ceris got up from the bed. “Cruel, love? Me?”

Levi grunted. “Don’t pretend you don’t know. I see it in your eyes when you’re pretending.”

“I’ve changed. So what? Everyone does.”

“We are not everyone. Our personalities and the way we live are the main rulers of our properties. You’re the patron of love, family, beauty, and marriage. But you’re not living by love, family, beauty, and marriage anymore.”

“A mother can fight for her family!” Ceris’s melodious voice gave out to a croaked shout.

Shaking his long, golden hair, Levi walked to the door. “A mother guided by love would find less destructive ways to fight for her family.”

The god left the room and Ceris wept.

The walls melted and were replaced by smoke. After a few seconds, the swirls of dark mist formed another image.

This time, I was in the crystal throne room. Ceris screamed. Imha and Omi stood still, as if paralyzed, on the other side of the room. The other gods cowered in the back. Shock crawled up my spine. I knew what I was witnessing. This was the moment right after Levi and Mitrus died.

“You!” Ceris spat out, pointing a finger at Imha. “You killed my love! You will pay for this!” Her eyes glowed red as she lunged at Imha, but she halted when the goddess of chaos pulled out a spike from behind her.

“I wouldn’t move if I were you,” Imha snarled. “Or you suffer the same fate as your lover.”

Ceris’s eyes went from red to blue to dull gray. “By the Everlast, you planned this so they would kill themselves.”

Imha’s hysterical laugh raised the hair on my arms and the back of my neck. “Yes, dear Ceris, I did. And, you might say this was a good plan, wasn’t it?”

Ceris wobbled as if she were about to fall or faint. She reached behind her, but there was nothing to keep her up. Tears streamed down her face. “The Black Thorn. Are you insane?”

Imha tsked. “No, my friend, I’m just greedy, and I’ll go to any lengths to get what I want.”

“What is it you desire so much to kill for?” Ceris wiped away the tears. Her knuckles grew white from grasping her scepter so tight. To me, she seemed to be struggling not to cast a bolt at Imha.

“Power. Chaos. The world has been so calm lately.” Imha’s smile was intimidating. “Are you on my side?”

Gaping, Ceris turned to Omi, who remained standing, stiff and still, beside the delusional goddess. “You agreed to this? Are you on her side?”

Like the few times I had seen him, Omi’s clothes were crumpled and smeared with dirt and blood, and he ambled as if he walked on the deck of a ship being tossed by waves. He turned to Ceris, half of a smile covering his thick lips. “I’m with her.”

Ceris shook her head and retreated a few steps.

“Are you on my side?” Imha repeated her question, her voice resonating through the crystal walls. “I won’t ask again, Ceris, so be smart.”

“I’m smart. I’ll never join you.” With that, she cast a magic wall before her and ran to the exit.

The wall crumbled when multiple purple and red bolts hit it, but she was already gone.

“After her,” Imha shouted.

Dozens of demons appeared from the shadows of the room. With piercing shrieks, they set out after the goddess of love. Giant bats flew out with the demons. One soared over my hiding spot and I looked up, suddenly seeing the creatures as I’d never seen them before. These weren’t bats. Demonic faces were hidden behind a bat disguise.

Before I could see more, the scene changed.

I was inside a dark cave, and I could hear heavy rain falling outside. Ceris was beside me, kneeling before a pink bonfire. Her tears mixed with the dampness of her hair and clothes. Her pain was visible through her eyes and her shaking body.

Poor Ceris. She had lost the man she loved and now was on the run from a powerful and mad goddess. Despite my ghost state, I reached out to her.

Everything turned to clouds again. Seconds later, the fog cleared away, and I was in a dark and noisy bar, filled with several men whose narrowed eyes glanced sideways every few seconds, who laughed and clanked loudly for nothing more than a poorly told joke.

In the corner behind me, Ceris was seated at a table across from the Fates.

“I felt it,” she said, as quietly as she could with the loud sounds around them. “I felt this immense power, like an explosion of pure life.” Her blue eyes were huge and gleaming. I could see a smile ready to burst out of her lips. Her hands moved as if by their own volition. “Please, please tell me.”

“Tell you what, child?” one of the Fates asked.

“I’ve been crying for seven years,” Ceris almost shouted. “Please tell me I can stop crying.”

“Why were you crying, child?” another one asked.

“Stop it,” she hissed, clenching her fists. “Why do you take me for stupid? You know exactly what I’m asking.”

“Please, Ceris, make your question clear so we can decide if we’ll answer it or not.”

Ceris took a deep breath, as if getting ready to step onto a stage. “Is Levi alive?”

The Fates united their right hands and closed their eyes. A few seconds later, one of them answered, “Yes.”

She put her hand over her chest, and she started panting.

Oh God, really? Levi was alive? Ceris had said she had been crying since his death—for seven years. We’d been living under the darkness for thirty. That meant this vision was one of the past. Twenty-three years had passed since this occasion. Where had Levi been this entire time? Why had they not been united?

“Where is he? Where has he been?” Ceris struggled to stay upright. I could feel her need to bolt after Levi. If I’d learned my man still lived after all those years, I would have the same desperation.

“No, child,” one of the Fates said. “He’s been dead for the past seven years.”

“Pardon me?” Ceris asked.

A waiter pushed his way between her and the Fates, and asked if they wanted anything. Ceris shot him an angry glare. When he backed off, she returned her focus to the other women.

“Levi was dead,” another said. “What you experienced was his birth.”

“Birth?” Ceris closed her eyes for a minute. “Please explain.”

One of the Fates leaned closer. “Levi died when the Black Thorn pierced him. However, his soul found its way back. A few days ago, he was born into this world.”

“Born? You mean, as a baby? A mortal baby?” Shock drained Ceris’s face of color when the Fates nodded. “By the Everlast! What should I do now?”

One of the Fates smiled at her. “Now, you wait.”

I had even forgotten I was having a vision when the scene changed. Now, I was in a playground, watching a few children play while their parents stood close by, chatting.

“They cannot see us.” A voice came from behind me. I turned to see the Fates. I froze, thinking the words had been directed at me, but Ceris stood beside them, watching the children play.

“Isn’t he beautiful?” She smiled, her gaze focused on a cute boy, who was yelling he was Superman. “His birthday is coming up. Six years old.”

Then it hit me. Oh God, that was Levi? He looked like a regular boy, a human child.

“You shouldn’t have looked for the boy, Ceris,” a Fate reprimanded the goddess. “It’s too dangerous.”

“I couldn’t stay hidden knowing he was out there unprotected. I had to find him. And, after almost six years of looking, I found him. I’m amazed at how strong his aura is. How he pulled me to him.”

“Be patient, Ceris,” another one said. “I can see you’re anxious to help the boy. He’s too young yet.”

“I know,” the goddess said. “I’ve been thinking,” she started, finally turning to the Fates. “Levi is back. And Mitrus?”

The Fates kept their gazes on Levi. One said, “He will be six the same day as Levi.”

“No,” Ceris muttered, shaking her head. “But he is the one who caused this mess! Tell me where he is, and I’ll kill him right now!”

“You know you can’t. Or shouldn’t. We need to restore the balance. That will only be complete if Levi and Mitrus return to us.”

“And when will this happen?”

“Be patient,” a Fate said.

Ceris puffed. Then her eyes bugged. “His scepter? What happened to his scepter?”

“Lost. It’ll be crucial to find his scepter once he remembers who he is.”

“You see, child,” another Fate said, “his body is human, while his spirit is of a god. His body won’t hold for too long and only the scepter will transform him into a full god again.”

“What will happen to him?” Ceris asked, anxiously observing the boy as he played.

“You will see.”

Something told me I knew what would happen to him, but before I could think it through, the smoke wrapped around me. When it dispersed, I found myself on a sidewalk in a town. I stood in front of a furniture store beside Ceris. It seemed nobody could see her again, since people scuttled past her—and me—without glancing or bumping into either of us.

I followed her attentive eyes. Inside the store, a couple and an old man spoke with a salesman. Then, Ceris glanced to our side toward a tall man. She approached him and whispered something in his ear. His eyes bugged, becoming glazed, as if he’d been hypnotized. He marched to the furniture retailer.

Ceris turned her back to the store. Once more following her gaze, I saw a young boy inside an electronic store across the street. He reached for the door, about to leave, but Ceris wiggled her fingers and the store’s door slammed shut. The boy pushed against the door, but it didn’t move. He called someone to help him. Some adult tried to open the door, but it stayed locked.