Novels2Search
Dance of the Shadow Walkers
Chapter Thirty-Four: The Truth Will Kill us All: Blaine

Chapter Thirty-Four: The Truth Will Kill us All: Blaine

Chapter Thirty-Four

The Truth Will Kill us All

Blaine

The door to the hospital room opened, and Atlas tiredly shuffled in with two trays full of coffee for everyone sitting around us. He passed cups along the row of Gods, who were in various positions throughout the room. Galaxy pressed the cup gratefully to his lips, his eyes darkened by bags as he sighed softly. “This situation has become quite messy…” he whispered.

“Tell me about it. War has been truly ignited following today’s events.” Deveraux replied.

“How is he, Blaine?” Atlas asked, coming over to sit beside me and rub my back warmly.

“He’s finally stable. Had it not been for your wonderful wife he would have been in big trouble,” I sighed, clutching Odysseus’s bandage wrapped hand lovingly.

“It’s nothing, really.” Ashlynn said with a sweet, tired smile. She had used every ounce of her energy to keep Odysseus alive, and everyone in the room knew she was the most exhausted of all, yet she refused to leave our side. She was flopped lifelessly in a chair at his bedside, where even in this state, she kept a stream of gold Life energy consistently flowing into his palm to speed up the healing process. I had told her numerous times that Lysander could cover things at this point, but she was insistent on adding whatever she could, which I secretly was grateful for.

“Well, the Mother of Life surely isn’t going to hand over a soul to me so easily,” Atlas joked, which made everyone giggle softly. He blinked, then stood to crouch beside his wife and smile, “I almost forgot! How cruel of me.”

“Forgot what?” She asked weakly. He procured a beautiful ocean blue orchid, which made her roll her eyes as he giggled like a child. “Oh Atlas, it’s really not a big deal…?”

“To me it is. I haven’t missed a day in two thousand years, and I do not intend to do so now,” he sang as she sighed happily and kissed him once before lovingly taking the flower to tuck into her hair with a blush that crept up her cheeks.

“Get a room!” Elizabeth mocked, which made us laugh again.

“I think it’s incredibly sweet. Shows true dedication, unlike some husbands I know.” Zephyrine sniffed to a blushing Deveraux.

“So I forgot one anniversary...?” He hiccupped.

“One every year!” She snapped as he chuckled and kissed her hair.

“We’ve been married for nineteen hundred and sixty nine years, Zephyrine. Cut me some slack!” He joked as she rolled her eyes playfully.

“Why do you give her a flower every day, Atlas?” Lysander asked as he entered the room, feeling Odysseus’s cheeks with a concentrated side smirk.

Atlas proudly puffed his chest out, which made the rest of the Gods groan in unison and agony, “There’s an old wives tail that was created a thousand years back about Life and Death that’s centered around Ash and I. ‘On the eve of the first moon, Life and Death were walking on opposite sides of the world. When the two met at the equator, Death became entranced by Life’s beauty, and promised to bring to her anything she pleased in exchange for her love. Life would only accept Death’s love if he could prove he was not a being of pure malice, and sent him off to fulfill this request by the time the moon had taken its eighth phase.

While on his journey, Death met the souls of Life’s most precious creations, who were lost without their mother to guide them through their afterlife. Death then realized that this was the only way he could prove he was able to be empathetic and compassionate enough for Life’s standards, and made it his mission to continuously take care of the beautiful souls Life created once they left her loving arms. Life accepted Death’s love immediately upon this revelation, and the two continued to work in perfect balance to ensure all living things knew they had loving parents to watch over them.’ It’s an old Greek poem, written to help explain the balance of Life and Death in the universe.

Ash and I ran with the joke, but it’s become a tradition to us. To prove my end of the bargain, I always bring her a blue orchid at the start of the day, not just because it’s her favorite flower, but because it is the most fragile. I know of all the spots on Earth in which they grew, and by bringing her one alive and well each day, it proves that I care enough about her and her element to keep something so fragile alive.”

“Isn’t that so romantic…!” Elizabeth bawled, though she had heard the tale thousands of times, as she smooshed Galaxy in an unbreakable hug that knocked the wind out of him.

Lysander chuckled and shook his head, “It truly is. If only I can find someone to bring me something like that every day!”

“You’re only eighteen-hundred and seven; you have plenty of time to meet someone?!”

“Thanks for the reminder, Zephyrine.” He laughed, clicking his pen with a playful scowl, “For now I have enough issues, especially with your termites taking up all my hospital beds.”

“Maybe it is time you got out on a few dates. Fourth times a charm?” Atlas tried.

“Yeah, yeah…” he called, shutting the door loudly behind him.

We all chuckled for a moment, but the inevitable silence from before swallowed the room once again. Galaxy stiffly dragged himself from his spot on the floor before coming to sit on the side table nearest me, his eyes serious as he spoke, “Why would she go after him? Surely this wasn’t an impulse attack?” He asked the question on everyone’s mind.

“He has the Victorine Deorum.” I whispered, which made the other Gods gasp.

“That’s impossible; there’s no way he’d be able to find it alone!?” Elizabeth snapped.

I kept my voice low so no one outside the room could hear us, “He found my notes about it a few months back, and used them to pinpoint the location. I'm sure that’s why he picked Siberia, to retrieve it as well as procure an alibi.”

“How can you be so sure?” Ashlynn beckoned.

“I know my son, as much as he thinks I don’t. I raised him to be as sneaky as I am, and he would have done a great job of pulling the wool over my eyes had Atlas not brought the book up at our last meeting. That made me search for my documents once he had left, and when I found them gone, I easily put two and two together.”

“If you knew he had the documents, why let him find it?” Atlas asked as he sat against Ashlynn’s legs and pulled his own up to his chest. He leaned his cheek into her knee so he could begin transferring some energy to her, which made her sigh a little in relief and comb her fingers through his hair aimlessly.

“I didn’t expect Pandora to spring up as quickly as she did, especially after what happened with Nick and Sebby, but I was a fool to think for a moment that any of them were safe on their own.” I clenched my fist tightly, “I guess my barriers aren’t enough to keep her at bay, either. It’s become quite obvious that Pandora sent Delias and Lillian to retrieve it before Odysseus could, and they probably followed him from Valyce as soon as they caught whiff that someone besides us knew where it was.”

“I can’t believe we had traitors so close to the kids…” Ashlynn morosely whispered.

“Do you expect anything less? As soon as Delias challenged Nick to battle I knew something was off. Two orphaned children suddenly are interested in Pandora’s first victim? It all makes too much sense knowing what we do now,” Galaxy added.

“Why would she not try to do the same to Odysseus as she did to Nick and Seb? Is she trying to test the spells against them to attack from afar? You would think she would take the advantage to test him…?”

“Unless she’s found another Original God, or she plans to come for us?”

I gnawed my lip hesitantly, which made Galaxy raise an eyebrow and touch my shoulder, “Is there something wrong, Blaine?” He asked worriedly.

“I believe I know why she was after Odysseus, and the book. If I told you all something, would you promise to not be angry with me?” I whispered.

“Of course; we respect everything you say?” Zephyrine automatically replied.

“It’s about my wife.” I said, which made the room grow incredibly cold.

“Well, we’ll surely stay open minded for you?” Deveraux tried.

I took a slow and deep breath before cupping a hand over my chin to run my fingers through the short bristles of my beard, “I’ve been lying to you, about what truly happened to her.” I began in such a gnarled voice that Deveraux flinched. I cast my eyes away from them, gripping the edge of my chair painfully, “She didn’t die on a mission, as I told you. She died, to sacrifice herself so Odysseus could live.”

“What do you mean…?” Atlas pressed.

“For the first five or so years of his life, he grew up healthy and happy, but by his sixth birthday he took a turn for the worse. He slipped into a coma, and by the day was growing thinner and greyer. Rosalyn and I were petrified of what would become of him…”

“What caused him to be so ill?” Zephyrine continued.

“That, is what I have been lying to you all about. I swore I would never tell the truth, but with all that has happened, it’s only right to be honest.” I took a deep breath, my lips trembling slightly, “Rosalyn was not a normal Water Elemental. Her real name was Halcyon, and she was the Original God of Water.” The moment the words left my lips, I became so dizzy that I almost fell towards the bed. I had to brace myself with the rail, and was panting from fear.

“What…!?” Ashlynn gasped in horror, her voice trembling.

“Blaine, this doesn’t make any sense…?!” Devereaux scoffed.

I still couldn’t bring myself to look at them as I spoke, “She changed her identity so no one would come after her. We met when I had just retired from the Gaelic Wars, and had begun training as an Elemental. She had been living a double life for centuries, hiding from what I can only assume were the other Original Gods, and was one of the instructors at my Elemental institute. We were Particeps Potestatis somehow, and fell in love long before I had met any of you. We parted ways when I began training to become a God, but a few centuries later reconnected, and decided to marry under the condition she would keep her identity secret and we would not have children.

The Original Gods are incapable of having children. It was the number one rule amongst them, as anytime they had tried, the offspring would die within months. Halcyon had never had a husband, so she never tried nor wanted to have kids, and I respected that, but we all know mistakes can happen. The only way we could keep Odysseus alive was for another Elemental to give him their essence, to fill in the void that came whenever the Original’s tried to have kids. Halcyon would not see her child die, and since Odysseus was a Life Elemental, she taught him to disconnect her soul from her body behind my back so he could consume her energy and live.”

“How would he be able to do that!?” Galaxy snapped.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“I, I mean, it is possible for a Life Elemental…? The only reason is because we create souls, which means we are already in tune with the inhibitor. Erasmus has been the only one to ever do it successfully, even though Stark and I had tried thousands of times. It’s something only Erasmus can do, until now I suppose…?” Ashlynn explained.

“How do you know this happened?” Deveraux asked.

I buried my face in my hands as the horrific memories snuck back in, “I… walked in on her dying breaths. What she did… it absolutely destroyed Odysseus. I will never forget the way he begged her to stop making him do it. The pain in his voice… the look on his face when he realized she was dead… it utterly made him snap. It’s the reason why he refused to speak; he was truly traumatized by what he had done. His mother told me nothing of what she had done, and I did not know what had happened until she was gone.”

“Oh Gods… Oh what an awful thing…?” Ashlynn gripped Odysseus’s hand even tighter with tears in her eyes, “No wonder he’s so… The poor thing…?”

“And what of her soul? Did, Odysseus consume it, or…?” Elizabeth pressed.

“No, not her soul, just her life force. I have no clue where her soul is. I have searched for years but came up empty handed every time. I wish I had a better answer than that, but I really just don’t. I can only assume her sacrifice, whatever she did, is what saved his life. I know nothing of the Original Gods beyond what little she had told me.” I answered in utter defeat.

“This is leading to something else, correct?” Devereaux asked.

I pressed my mouth into my hand to try and compose myself as I spoke, “The only way Odysseus would have been able to disconnect a soul would be if he truly was the replacement of Erasmus.” I finally said, which made the air of the room thicken, “It is one of the requirements for the God of Life, one of the breadcrumbs Erasmus left behind. He stated that the Life Elemental would be able to do things such as this over all others.”

“Does that necessarily mean it’s true?” Atlas interjected.

“I'm not sure, but this is the only answer I can procure that makes sense. If Pandora knew Halcyon was his mother, she would use him first to test the Book of Silence on, because he would be the only one she could guarantee was going to be one of their Successors. Between his ability to wield the Holy Sword, summon as many Light Dancers as he does, heal Elementals as efficiently as he can…? It makes too much sense.”

“Not to mention his bond with Nicodemus,” Ashlynn added, “The two feed energy off one another like they have their entire lives. They truly take the Particeps Potestatis thing to a whole new level, a level similar to Endymion and Erasmus. Coming from someone who has a Particeps Potestatis, I can assure you that not even Atlas and I are as closely connected as those two are. Another thing: they aren’t even contracted yet. Can you imagine how close they’ll be when they are? As endearing as they are, on a serious level, they seem utterly created for one another in every sense of the word and meaning.”

“They may be able to perform the ultimate spell…” Galaxy whispered, “That’s the final test, is it not? To bring both souls together and create one ultimate form?”

“If I remember the quote correctly, it says something along the lines of, ‘and when the children reach full potential, they and their Particeps Potestatis will become one being of ultimate power and strength. They will be known as the four great beings of the universe, who can either embrace, or destroy, the world.’” Atlas quoted evenly, though he was as pale as the bed sheets.

“One would assume that Praxis would be the Particeps Potestatis that Griffin is meant to be with, if this all were the case?” Galaxy pressed.

“Two of my children, stolen by a Crawford!” Deveraux sobbed to break the tension a little.

“At this rate, I highly doubt it wouldn’t be Praxis. She and Griffin have been best friends for years, and as they grow older, their platonic friendship is only blossoming. Even if they were to not become romantic partners, they have always been incredibly drawn together, and inseparable for as long as I can remember.” I offered.

“He did take her to prom?” Zephyrine chuckled.

“Great, now I get to have both your children up my ass.” Elizabeth scoffed, which made Zephyrine and Devereaux howl.

“Come now, my little Sebastian is an angel!” Zephyrine joked.

“Sent from Gehenna,” Galaxy sniffed with a giggle they shared, “He spends more time at my house than his own.”

“That’s because he and Soren are suctioned together at all times,” Deveraux pointed out.

Everyone awkwardly laughed before falling silent, letting the gravity of my words sink in. We all processed our thoughts in different ways, and stayed quiet until I slowly sighed and stood, causing them to glance to me. “I have to call Nicodemus.” I said finally.

“Blaine, don’t feel obligated to; he’ll be fine…?” Atlas tried.

“I promised him I would, and I shall. It’s cruel to keep him out the loop more than we have, especially if we’re so insistent on him being Odysseus’s Particeps Potestatis. We all know the pain that is felt when our own were hurt, so I can only imagine what he’s been going through during this.” My words made Atlas drop his head and sigh in defeat, knowing he couldn’t argue that point. “I’ll keep it brief; if Odysseus wakes up, please come get me.” I said, pulling out my phone and heading into the hallway.

The door slowly closed behind me as I dialed Nick’s number, and pressed the phone to my ear. It rang three times before the tone clicked, and the sound of the kid’s laughter erupted. “Would you all shut up! It’s Blaine!” Nick yelled, which made them fall quiet as he sighed, “Hey, Blaine. How’s everything going?”

“It’s going. We found Odysseus, and he is safe at home with us.”

“What happened?” He automatically asked to my discomfort.

“I will tell you, but you must keep a clear head as I do so. Understood?” I demanded, though I did so as sympathetically as I could.

“Yes, sir.” He worriedly replied.

“As we all suspected, Pandora.” He was quiet as he let that sink it, so I continued, “They did a number on him, but we took full revenge this time. Your father and I personally killed Delias and Lillian, and burned her home to the ground. We believe they were Pandora’s adoptive children after our interactions today. Pandora was using them to get close to all of you, so she could utilize your weakest moments and attack.”

“I can’t fucking believe it…but then again, it makes sense with his request to fight me.”

“Neither can I, but what’s done is done. She and Delias are dead, and Pandora will shortly follow suit. She has nowhere to run now, so it’s only a matter of time.”

“What about… Odysseus? Is he, alright?”

I sighed deeply, “I can assure you he’s alive, and will recover, but right now I’m not sure beyond that. I promise that we will do everything we can to help him recover.”

“What can I do to help?” He hiccupped as he began to cry, though he tried to hide it.

I softened my tone as much as I could to reassure him, “Keep the guys calm and stay where you are. We are back on campus, so any threat that may arise is nothing for you to worry about. For the time being be patient, and let us work on fixing Odysseus. As soon as he feels better, I’ll let you know how he’s doing, and try to see if he’ll talk with you.”

“Don’t worry about me, Blaine. Your son comes first, as he should. I will be as patient as an impatient person can be,” he said maturely.

“I appreciate it, Nick. Thank you for worrying for him, and for keeping the other’s safe.”

“Can I ask you to do something for me, something, personal?” He paused for a moment before slowly taking a deep breath, “Please tell him… that I love him.” He said simply, though I know the words were far from simple.

I grinned devilishly with a chuckle I suppressed, “I absolutely will, Nick. Keep your head up, and I will come by to see everyone as soon as I can.”

“Blaine…” He seriously began, catching my attention immediately, “I cannot express my gratitude enough for your update. We are left out of the loop so much, and I understand why sometimes, but this is a situation I cannot stomach being misinformed about. I truly am grateful for your willingness to reach out to us.”

“As long as you act as mature as you are being right now, than I will treat you like the adult you are becoming,” I said in a voice that wanted to crack from pride, “I equally appreciate your help in this entire situation. I know how cloudy things can become when someone you love is in danger, but I respect your bravery greatly. We all know you tend to be the most level-headed of the kids, so it’s nice to know we can rely on you to keep the crowd tame.”

“Heh, well, someone has to be the adult in this group,” he joked, which made his friends bark at him in anger that I laughed at.

I lowered my voice to a whisper that grew very serious as I spoke, “From this point on, Nicodemus, I will do my best to keep you all a part of what is happening. I am tired of the secrets myself, and if the others are not going to loosen up, then I will. It’s time you guys knew what the fuck was going on, especially with threats coming our way as they are.”

“You’re serious?” He prompted.

“As stone, but mark my words... Should you all take advantage of my willingness, then we will be presented with quite the substantial problem. This is no longer a game; we are coming to the precipice of a catastrophic war, and if not taken seriously, it will not only be our lives lost, but the entirety of the academy, and maybe even the universe.” saying these words aloud made my own blood run cold, but I knew they were the truth, and there was no denying it.

“I understand,” he replied nervously.

“Try not to let that thought consume you. I know that idea is, terrifying, to say the least, but we’re all confident we can handle this, together. We’re going to take this step by step. We learned more about Pandora’s intentions today, enough to give us an upper hand and allow for some room to sit back and breath, so we’ll tackle it all together soon enough. Your parents should be coming home some time tonight, so continue entertaining yourselves for a little while. We’ll keep you updated.”

“Thank you…” he hung up as I did. When the call ended my lock screen appeared, showing a picture of Odysseus and Nicodemus from the night of their prom. The two were dressed as handsome as young Gods-to-be could be, and had an arm around one another with huge smiles. It was the happiest I’d seen Odysseus his entire life, and the blinding smile and pure love in his eyes made my heart ache. A tear ran down my cheek before slipping onto my hand, and then pooling on the phone. It made their faces blurry, so I wiped it clean before smiling.

He would be alright; he had to be alright. He had Nicodemus and his friends to make sure he was well taken care of. He was in love, and loved in return. He would marry Nicodemus one day, and start a beautiful family of his own. He would finally be, happy.

Zephyrine peeked out of the room with a smile, and tapped my shoulder to make me turn to her, “Hey, we think he’s about to wake up?” I nodded and followed her back into the room, where sure enough, Odysseus had finally begun to move again. He had just opened his good eye as I sat beside him, and slowly turned his bandaged head to face me. I smiled brightly for him, grateful that a twinkle of happiness flicked in his eye, “Hey there, sunshine; it’s about time you woke up. We were roasting marshmallows waiting on you.” I cooed, bringing my hand up to cup his cheek. He leaned his face into my palm, sighing deeply. He looked as if he wanted to speak, but I worried he had slipped in his old ways and that was why he was silent. “Odysseus?” I whispered worriedly.

“Hmm?” He mumbled, which made us all sigh in relief; the others must have been worrying about the same thing I was.

“How do you feel, honey?” Ashlynn asked as she pulled herself up to lean closer to him.

Odysseus flicked his eye to her, took in the state she was in, and sighed once more before frailly lifting an arm and setting his hand on the one she had on the bed rail, “How much energy did you use to keep me kicking?” He thickly croaked.

She and I giggled as she shook her head, grasping his hand with a purely loving smile, “Would it kill you to be a little selfish?”

“It’s hard to do when I can feel how drained you are.”

“Well I'm back home, so after a good night’s rest and such I’ll be just fine. If anything, I’ll suck some extra energy out of the bozo back there.” She said, gesturing to her husband, who laughed with an eye roll.

“We were all very worried about you, kid.” Galaxy said as he tossed his hair loosely.

“I'm not kicking the can that easily…” Odysseus sighed, stiffly sitting up a little better, “If I'm going out, it’s on my terms, so don’t worry…”

“You’re all of our kid too, dork, so get used to us being worried,” Atlas cackled.

“I can barely handle one parent nagging me; please don’t add more to the equation!” Odysseus croaked, which made the room explode in laughter. He bubbled his own giggle, blushing a little at the reaction he had caused us to have.

“Glad you still have your sense of humor,” Elizabeth snorted.

“Yeah, well, it feels nice to laugh instead of cry…” He groaned, stretching his long arms out, “Those bitches really kicked my ass. I feel like a sack of potatoes.”

“That’s from the energy withdrawals. Delias was using a spell that made your element attack you from the inside out. This is basically what we’ve been talking about in my class; if Elementals don’t properly learn to harness their element, then they can seriously injure themselves and or others. Nicodemus turning into Grim is a prime example.” Ashlynn pointed out.

“Speaking of Nicodemus…” I began, which made Odysseus blush harder, “There’s something he asked me to tell you.”

“Which is?” He squeaked.

I smiled devilishly, knowing damn well that Nick would choke me if he knew what I was about to do, “He said that he loves you.” I simply put. Ashlynn and Atlas both broke into beautiful smiles, and gave one another a proud look as Odysseus’s eyes widened a little.

A small, almost inaudible chuckle escaped his lips, and he pressed his chin to his bandaged covered palm, “That’s the first time he’s ever said it back to me…” he whispered, then began smiling wider. His eye twinkled beautifully, and he shook his head once about whatever he was thinking about.