Thea

I had never actually met Orrid before, which wasn’t exactly surprising since there were a lot of gods, and I hadn’t met most of them. The only thing that made Orrid different was that he was the ruler of the nine hells, and considering we were in the nine hells, that made him kind of a big deal.

With that being said, outside of the obvious power he was radiating, Orrid didn’t seem all that intimidating. He was definitely taller than average, but not like monstrously tall, and he wasn’t particularly muscly either. Instead, he just looked like a well proportioned human with dark hair and dark eyes wearing a nice business suit. Okay, that part was a bit strange since he was super overdressed for five in the morning.

“I’m sorry Lilith, it’s always good to see you,” Orrid, prince of the nine hells and lord of demons, actually managed to look bashful as he apologized. “I’ve been dealing with a mortal rebellion in Feasjura, and the last thing I need right now is more unrest amongst the nobility.”

“I think your opinion may change as to what the ‘last thing you need right now’ actually is when you hear why Chorus summoned us.” Lilith replied with an apologetic smile, she turned towards Chorus for an explanation. Meanwhile, I inched closer to Bryce and sent her a request to move up to thirty-five percent of her mana. The request seemed to knock her out of whatever daze she was in, which was good because I needed her to stay present.

Lilith and Chorus were pretty obviously on our side, but Orrid was a bit of a wildcard. He wasn’t known for being particularly cruel, but learning your daughter had just been kidnapped would put anybody into a bad mood. So, I wasn’t sure how he would react.

Chorus cleared his throat as he started into an explanation. “I’ve just received a report from these two that Persephone was kidnapped from Lilith’s household last night.”

That was the absolute worst way he could have described our involvement. Orrid frowned at me and Bryce, and his eyes didn’t leave us as he spoke. “Are you certain? Lilith, can you confirm?”

“I can, and whoever orchestrated the attack knew my true name. They went so far as to give it to a gangster with a grudge against me as a distraction.” Lilith shifted her stance and switched to a glare after confirming our story. “Orrid, they’re members of my household. You’re not allowed to kill them.”

“The mortal is unmarked, and Chorus shouldn’t know to call on me to deal with a problem related to Persephone.”

Chorus’s expression flinched, and I mentally prepared to defend Bryce, but the attack never came. Instead, Lilith turned to Bryce and placed a hand on her forehead. “As a founding lord of Hel, I invoke my power to claim you as a member of my household and extend all the rights and protections it entails, daughter of Yggdrasil.”

There was a moment of awkward silence, so I nudged Bryce and whispered into her ear. “Babe, you’re supposed to accept.”

“I accept?” She ask-answered, and I couldn’t help but snicker at the bewildered expression on her face. Which admittedly kind of undermined how big a deal what Lilith had just done actually was. Not only did she just add Bryce to our household, which meant vouching for her in a major way, she did it in direct defiance of Orrid right in front of his face.

“And what of Chorus?” The recently defied prince asked with a raised eyebrow. “He summoned me unprompted with knowledge he shouldn’t have. Are you going to induct him into your household as well?”

“He never officially left my household, so there’s no need. Besides, are you so cruel a ruler that you’d kill a man simply for trying to help you?”

“One of these days, Lilith, you’ll step too far, and I won’t be able to protect you anymore.”

“But not today. Now, shall we talk about our stolen daughter, or did you want to continue making threats you have no intention of carrying out?”

“Alright, fine.” Orrid turned back to Chorus. “What do we know about the kidnappers?”

“Oh, don’t look at me. I’m simply facilitating. Those two were the ones who brought it to my attention.” The traitor pointed towards me and Bryce, and I made a mental note to sell him out to Esme the first chance I got.

“A little over three months ago, Esme heard rumors Malvoch was on a winning streak at Vurdex’s casino and he was betting an elixir of lesser immortality.” Bryce started her explanation a little hesitantly before seeming to gain momentum. “So, she formulated a plan to have Thea win it from him in hopes of using it to help Persephone. The plan worked, but Thea was caught cheating, and before Vurdex was able to do anything about it, she was summoned to the mortal plane.”

“Esme? I don’t recognize that name,” Orrid interrupted.

“She’s my daughter, a biological one I had with Kai.”

“Shall I continue?” Bryce asked, more than a little teacherly.

Orrid nodded, so she did. “Every attempt Esme made to contact Thea was prevented, and Thea resorted to using a soul stone to send a message. That caused a misunderstanding that resulted in Esme being killed and eventually resurrected. After which, we contacted Chorus and, by extension, Kai. She explained that she’d been searching for the one responsible for Esme’s death, but was being thwarted by somebody who she suspected was Malvoch. Even going so far as to threaten to fight you over the right to kill him.”

Orrid chuckled. “That would be an interesting battle.”

“You’d die,” Lilith commented with a sly smile. “And so would half of whatever plane you were fighting on.”

“Which is exactly what makes it so interesting. Please, continue the story. What happened next?”

Bryce nodded. “Esme, Thea, and I traveled to Hel in order to explain the situation to Lilith and, hopefully, resolve everything. But when we arrived, Lilith had gone missing, and we discovered that Raith had somehow learned her true name. Esme and Rose went to fetch her, and while they were gone, Thea and I defended against an attack by a group of Raith’s goons. At some point during the attack, Persephone was taken. After we discovered her missing, Thea and I rushed to Hades while Lilith made plans to meet us later tonight. Chorus circumvented those plans after learning the stakes.”

“How long ago was that?” Orrid asked, and Lilith answered this time.

“Around six hours ago.”

The room went silent while Orrid took time to process everything. I used that opportunity to send Bryce a message through our implants.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Welcome to the household! You know, since I’m your senior, that means you have to do everything I say, right?

Bryce shot me a sly look before replying. Good luck with that. Although, if you wanted to start taking charge, it could make for a fun change of pace. On a more serious note, what does joining Lilith’s household actually mean for me?

I was about to reply with the perfect comeback, along with a very concise explanation, when Orrid finally decided to speak. “I don’t believe Malvoch is behind the kidnapping, although I doubt he’s completely innocent in this. Regardless, it should be a simple matter to discover the truth.”

Bryce seemed like she was about to say something, but Orrid interrupted her by holding his hand out, and another magic circle appeared on the ground. I just prepared myself for another impromptu demon summoning. Except nothing happened.

Chorus raised an eyebrow, Lilith crossed her arms with a smirk, and Orrid frowned. I was about to make a super witty remark about the difficulty of performing under pressure, but I held my tongue since I was pretty sure even Lilith wouldn’t be able to protect me if my joke landed poorly.

“Refusing a summon feels somewhat incriminating,” Lilith pointed out. “Are you certain he’s not involved?”

Orrid didn’t answer. Instead, he held his hand out again and the magic circle morphed into a larger and much more complicated version of itself. This one even included Malvoch’s true name. But again, nothing happened.

“He shouldn’t have been able to refuse that one,” Lilith mused. “Not unless he was dead, or something more powerful was preventing him from being summoned.”

“Something like the wards around Tartarus?” Chorus asked while sizing up Bryce. The implication that Bryce’s prediction was right made me swell up with pride until I realized exactly what that meant. Aris was involved.

“It’s possible. Malvoch’s work does lead him to Tartarus on occasion.” Orrid sounded like he didn’t even believe his own explanation.

“Chorus, what made you think of Tartarus?” Lilith asked. “There are any number of wards or relics that could prevent a summoning. Many of them would be far more likely and much less concerning.”

“Of those, how many would be able to overpower a god’s magic?” Chorus’s explanation made Lilith frown, and he continued. “And Orrid, are you aware of Malvoch being in possession of a ward or a relic like that? Surely, you would know if he had something so valuable.”

“As far as I’m aware, he doesn’t, but there’s an easy way to find out if Malvoch actually is in Tartarus and not just using a relic.” Orrid smirked at the series of confused looks he got in return before reaching his arm out again towards the magic circle. “The wards in Tartarus have built-in defenses if you push against them too hard. We just need to trigger those.”

Chorus’s eyes went wide and moments later, he was holding Bryce and me against his chest with his back towards a brilliant explosion. “Are you two alright?”

I was a bit dazed and my ears were ringing, but otherwise I was fine, so I nodded before looking towards Bryce when I didn’t hear her response.

“Bryce!” I pushed my way out of the god’s arms and helped him slowly lower her to the ground. Her ears were bleeding, and she was unconscious. But it looked like she was still breathing.

“Sorry, Lilith, I forgot we still had a mortal in the room.” Orrid was looking smug while he stood near the circle that was still glowing with his magic.

“Chorus, restrain her!” Lilith shouted from where she was recovering across the room. But it was too late. Chorus was too slow, and Orrid didn’t make any move to defend himself, which made it all too easy for me to slide my sword up to the hilt into his stomach.

The prince didn’t take too kindly to being stabbed by a soul-destroying blade, no matter how much he deserved it, and he expressed that displeasure by kicking me in the chest and through a stone pillar.

“Get Bryce to a healer, now!” Lilith ordered, before pulling herself to her feet. “I’ll try to resolve this.”

Chorus disappeared with Bryce, and since I no longer had to worry about her getting in the way of my attacks, I readied myself to go all out.

“Save your breath, Lilith. I have no intention of letting her live.” Orrid pulled the sword out and tossed it aside, which left a gaping wound in his stomach with a dangerous amount of black mist escaping from it. He took a step towards me but had to catch himself as he stumbled forward.

I took advantage of his misstep by charging forward and trying to knee him in the chest. Which turned out to be a really bad idea, because he simply reached out and caught me by the throat before slamming me into the ground. The air was forced out of my lungs, and Orrid’s crushing grip stopped me from refilling them.

But thankfully, I didn’t need to breathe in order to adjust the amount of mana coming from my pact with Bryce. I sent a request for sixty percent of Bryce’s maximum mana and overrode the acceptance requirement.

Something broke inside me and caused a stabbing pain in my stomach. I didn’t know what it was, but it was definitely near my core. It hurt like all the hells, but there was no nausea or bloating this time, so I took that as a win.

I did my best to ignore the sinking feeling in the back of my mind as I created six clones. Orrid cursed as my duplicates pulled him off of me, and Lilith was saying something, but I was busy trying to catch my breath. It took a moment for me to push past the pain and disorientation enough that I could find my sword lying on the ground across the room. I limped towards it, but a firm grip on my shoulder stopped me before I could pick it up.

“Thea, please, you have no chance of winning here.”

“You’re lying.” I brushed Lilith’s hand off my shoulder and lifted my sword to turn back towards the fighting. Orrid was clearly playing with my clones despite the life threatening wound in his stomach. He was going to regret not taking me seriously.

I darted forward while four of my clones came in for an attack and managed a long slash along Orrid’s left arm. The surprise threw him off guard, and one of me managed a punch to the prince’s stomach. He cursed in pain, and I landed another gash along his right leg while he was distracted.

That last hit seemed to clue him in that this wasn’t a joke, because he finally started using his magic. The ground where he was standing darkened and flaked off into the air right before he reached out to grab one of my clones by her neck. The illusion fell to the ground in a pile of ash, and the mana that created it just disappeared. It didn’t evaporate; it didn’t dissipate, and it wasn’t absorbed by anything. It was just gone.

I recognized the danger immediately and pulled the mana back from my clones to defend myself. Which was, of course, a mistake, and I fell to my knees as the mana flooded into me.

“You’re a child, wielding weapons and powers that are not your own.” Orrid shook his head as he limped towards me. “It’s too bad you’ll never learn to use them. You could have become formidable.”

I lifted my hand and spewed mana-empowered flames towards the prince. The fire stopped half a meter from reaching him as it lost all momentum and drifted harmlessly to the ground as ash just to disappear into nothingness. I poured more mana into the flames, way more than I ever thought possible.

My meridians were burning, and I could feel my core continuing to tear itself apart even as I drained it. And yet, nothing changed. The flames didn’t get any closer, and Orrid didn’t even seem like he was struggling to fend them off.

I needed to switch tactics, and I knew I wouldn’t last much longer. So, I did the only thing I could think to do, and I aimed for the prince’s heart as I charged him one last time. I made it nearly halfway there when I felt a strong hand grab me by the ankle and throw me to the ground.

“That’s enough! Both of you!” Lilith shouted as she stood between the two of us. “Orrid, you’re clearly in the wrong here. Your little stunt nearly killed Thea’s girlfriend, and you hurt both Chorus and myself. Any one of us could rightfully demand reparations. Leave. We’ll handle finding Persephone, and I’ll contact you when she’s safe.”

I got up from where I had landed and glared at the lord of demons. “I’m not done with him.”

“Well, Lilith, you heard her.” Orrid was smirking, which only made me that much more angry. “Surely you wouldn’t deny the devil a chance for her revenge?”

“Thea, listen to me, killing a god has consequences. Even if you somehow kill Orrid, then your life will never be the same, and if you do it using Bryce’s mana, then you’ll be forcing it on her as well. You won’t be able to protect her anymore, and whatever happens will be entirely your fault.” I paused to process what she was saying, which must’ve seemed promising, because she continued. “You’ve made your point. Now go take care of your girlfriend.”

I slowly nodded as I stored my sword back in my ring. “Fine, but this isn’t over.”

“Yes, it is.” Orrid disappeared. I heard Lilith shout something as I sent Bryce back her mana and the room faded to black.