Chapter 4: Ascension

Adriana woke up in a low level of agony, she was surprised and grateful. For several long, painful seconds, she just lay there in the dim cavern, not trapped underneath rocks so much as blanketed by them. When she tried to move, her body did as she asked, though not without complaint. She shoved the rocks to the side and struggled to her feet.

The next step Adriana took, her left leg buckled. She caught herself before she fell, and pain screamed up her right arm as well. Neither felt broken, but her body was not happy with her. Well, that was too bad, she had to get out of here and to safety. For a second Adriana hesitated, thinking of the way Hessius fell and how the Maw brought the mountain crashing down on them.

She was alive, for now. A battle between a God and a titan landed on her and still Adriana limped her way on. A lifetime of being kicked around and tormented had left her all but indestructible. She even smiled as she trudged out of the nook she’d been in, looking around.

Caves were caves, she decided, and she didn’t have much experience with them. It was rocky and humid, with moss and mushrooms growing all around her. The dim light came from around a rocky corner, flickering. With no other clues, Adriana limped towards that light, bright bursts of pain blooming with every step.

The cavern could have been more open, possibly even the den of a monster or a gang once upon a time. Now fallen rocks and collapsed walls scraped against her abused body. Her head felt light, and like she wanted to lay down. She rested against a wall and huffed a little bit. The glow was bright now.

She looked down at herself.

Her arms and legs were bruised and scraped up all to hell. That painful left foot had a swollen ankle and was a darkening purple. A tear in the tunic revealed even more scapes and dried blood underneath. A huge purple bruise covered her stomach and half her chest. Maybe she was in worse shape than she thought. Adriana continued on, fear slinking in the back of her mind.

Faster now, more of a scramble despite the pain, despite the way the voice in the back of her head told her it would only speed up the inevitable. Adriana was trapped under a mountain, hurt worse than she thought, and even if she did find her way out the army of monsters would descend upon her and devour her.

That’s how it was going to end, the voice whispered. She’d either collapse and fall asleep and never wake up or she’d find her way out and a chimera would eat her. Fear gripped her, but Adriana wasn’t the kind of person to be cowed by fear.

Fear pissed her off.

Faster and faster, closer to the bright light on the other side of those rocks she limped. Firelight flickered in short, dull pulses behind the next rock. Adriana’s heart beat oddly, fast but uneven. She pushed forward with one final burst of strength and collapsed next to a familiar figure.

Hessius was no longer a hundred feet tall or glowing bright. He looked small there, a painfully beautiful dying God. His glow still illuminated the cave, but it faded by the second. His armor had been torn asunder and he freely bled golden ichor from his chest, flecks of gold coming from his lips as well.

Dazed, golden brown eyes focused upon seeing her. Hessius opened his mouth to speak and coughed up more ichor. When he spoke, it was little better than a whisper. “The Maw…must be stopped.”

Adriana raised herself up as best as she could. She lay on her side right next to the Sun God. They would have almost looked like lovers, if it wasn’t for the wounds covering them both. Her eyes scraped over his body, numbly noting all of the damage and knowing they would share their last moments together. She wasn’t the sentimental type, but Hessius was a God of the people.

“How? If she can do this to you, how could anyone beat her?” Adriana demanded.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Fight,” whispered Hessius. Ichor dripped from his lips, losing its luster as it hit the ground. “Resist. She won’t stop until civilization is no more. Until the world is wild and all humans and Gods are gone.”

Something like fear hit Adriana then. Not of humans and Gods being wiped out, but a terrible sense of responsibility and duty she didn’t want. Who wanted to be tied down to an obligation to a dead God? But although his voice was weak, it still had power behind it, a weight that pressed on Adriana and made her want to squirm.

“I’m just one woman. What do you expect me to do against the Mother of Monsters?” she whispered. “I don’t have any power. I don’t know if I’m going to make it out of here.”

Hessius’ lips curled into a humorless smile. “You will soon. More th an most mortals ever get.”

His words made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and a shudder wracked her entire body. There was nothing in the world Adriana wanted more than Divinity, but she couldn’t shake the sense of dread, like she was walking into a trap.

“You’re going to give me your power?” Adriana asked, vision going blurry for a second. She shook herself out of it.

“Yes,” he said, with a weak, resigned sigh. The glow in the room had dimmed to a ten foot bubble around them. “What I have left. Freely given, instead of ripped from my corpse and weakened. Are you ready?”

Was she ready for what? To watch one of the most beloved of the Gods die? To be damned into a quest doomed to failure? No, she wasn’t ready for any of that and never would be. The dread in the pit of her stomach eased when she thought about obtaining that power. The power of a God.

“Yes,” she said, forcing her aching, protesting body to a sitting position. “I’ll do it. I’ll take your power and fight. I would’ve done it anyway,” she said, face heating up. “I’m going to kill every monster I can and become the world’s greatest Hero.”

The dying sun God let out a chuckle. “You’ll be more than a Hero with this power. Just promise me something, mortal.”

“Adriana,” she said.

“Adriana,” Hessius nodded. He closed his eyes and his breathing slowed. For a second she thought it was time, but then he spoke. “Promise me, Adriana. That you’ll go to my temple, and tell them of my fate. Tell them to fight on, and to aid you. We’ll need all the Children of Stephanos working together now.”

Hessiopolis was a long trip, a couple of weeks at least. One of the last remaining relatively safe places in the world, it was the major city and the seat of the sun God’s power. It was a place where heroes and Demigods lived and worked together to hold back the Maw’s legions of monsters.

At least neither Adriana nor Davos had been there. They always promised each other they would when they gathered enough power and acclaim that they’d be welcomed as equals. That day had been a distant dream. Maybe not so distant anymore.

“I will,” said Adriana. Her heart hammered in her ribcage, so loud she thought even Hessius could hear it. This was it.

Hessius opened his eyes again and smiled at her. It was the sad, gentle smile of a sun smothered by the clouds in winter, once warm but now fading and distant. The rest of the cave was bathed in darkness now. He reached out for her. Adriana took his hand, still almost scalding hot.

She expected something big, something grand. Anything that might properly represent the death of a God and the passing of a torch. Instead, all Hessius said was, “My power is yours.”

It started as a tingle where their hands touched. Warmth trailed up her arm, filling her chest and stomach, filling her entire being as the power flowed from the God to her. Strength, endurance, the will to fight. Adriana thought she’d had all that before, but she’d been wrong.

Going from an average, if strong, human to this was like going from being a toddler to a full grown adult in mere seconds. As the heat bloomed brighter and hotter, the glow came back with a vengeance. It felt good at first, but quickly became more than she could handle.

Warmth became pain and then agony. Adriana tried to let go but he held firm with everything he had. She opened her mouth to scream when it became too much but no sound came out. It was like being set on fire, and then oil tossed on when she was already good and charred. Still it didn’t end.

Adriana looked into Hessius’ eyes. The light was all but gone. He smiled one last time before closing them for good. And then he disappeared, and Adriana took the last of the Sun God’s power into herself.