{Enki | Torrentus}

Tameka faced a hurricane. It was wet and windy. Especially sixty-five feet into the torrent. She stood in the fleshy palm of Torch’s hand, wondering if the treads of her combat boots were uncomfortable on his pitch-black skin. She hazarded a glance back at the half-Lyrik, half-Gargantuan Tritan to check.

With those narrowed sapphires of his, Torch frowned as he concentrated on the fire barrier engulfing them. A gift from his mother.

Tameka grinned. She couldn’t wait to bring Pehton’s children home, and she hoped Caedes was looking forward to co-opting Pehton. Time spent with the new boyfriend and time spent with the lost children. It sounded complicated, but Tameka had a feeling the Lyriki General would make it work.

With a natural affinity for it, Aria decompressed to her full height and bent to scoop Aya in her hand. With more ease than her brother, the Siren’s gale formed around her.

Wow.

Both Gargantuan Lyriks flared blue gliders, closed their hands around their precious cargo, and flew into the storm. Northeast, specifically. They were headed for the eye of Torrentus. The Siren’s Gale evaporated the stinging rains and shielded against the winds. While they ascended, Tameka prayed to Elden Xelan and Korac had ordered the troops into the Pantheon. That they found Rayne. And mostly, that they killed Celindria and rescued Pax.

Tameka also hoped Lucy and the Medical Bay distracted Enki’s defenses enough to let the armies gather and allowed Lance to free the innocent Tritans from their pods before Enki suffered a major remodel.

“Your thoughts take you far from here,” Torch observed.

Tameka shrugged. “It’s a coping mechanism.”

The Gargantuan Lyrik smiled at her, and she wasn’t even as tall as one sharp tooth.

A thought occurred to her. “Why haven’t you tried to fly through the conduit?”

He shook his massive head. “So high, even our shields cannot shelter against the winds. We faltered.”

Tameka peered at him, curious. “But you said you’ve been to the eye before?”

Torch nodded. “Amber glass and circuitry. Lower altitude than the conduit. You’ll see. We will arrive shortly.”

The strain around his bejeweled eyes told Tameka he was struggling to concentrate against the winds. She settled securely into his palm and abated from asking further questions.

Not long after, the rain stopped, the wind ceased, and an eerie silence settled in Tameka’s ears. She could hear her heartbeat for the first time since falling through the conduit.

The Sirens’ Gale abated, and Torch announced, “Welcome to the eye of the beast.”

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Aria emerged beside him through the bands of rain and peered serenely as she relieved herself of the Siren’s Gale. They all stared at the round wall of cumulus clouds before gazing at the nacre-glass sphere in its center.

Tameka asked, “How long ago did you discover it?”

Aya answered for her gods. “Not long after all the children matured. Aria and Torch discovered it on their own.”

Torch swooped below the sphere, and Aria followed. The segments of the sphere weren’t sealed. They flew inside it, and Tameka could make more sense of the situation.

Black fire was spilling in an infinite cascade in the center.

She swallowed before asking, “You touched it, yes?” The two giants set down their charges.

Torch and Aria nodded. Him, with an amused lilt to his lips, and her, with placid composure.

Tameka wasn’t sure what to think of that. So far, everyone involved with Cascading Light was a villain to some degree. But there were exceptions, such as Andrew, who obviously fought on the side of good. And Pax…

Tameka sighed.

Aya reached out to touch the flames, and Aria stopped her with a touch of her hand. She shook her head, and for the first time, the serenity faded. There was sadness in those sapphire eyes.

The Caprent girl saw it and lowered her hand with a gentle smile for her deity.

This was too much, and Tameka pushed it all aside to focus. She stepped through a hallway and almost walked through the finest filament she’d ever seen. Wires so thin they were sheer, stretched floor to ceiling along the amber-glass corridor. Tameka narrowed her eyes and caught the light glint on the near-invisible material. She almost gasped. “Gold.”

“Arteries.”

Torch had shrunk to seven feet before peering around the corner at Tameka.

Arteries.

Veins.

Tameka called, “Aria, with Aya. Be ready for the Siren’s Gale. Torch, with me.”

He glided up next to her and peered down at her, blinking. “What will you do?”

She bit her lip before saying, “I want to feel its heartbeat.”

Tameka didn’t need a mirror to know her eyes went Atramentous. She felt it when her ability coursed through her. The well opened. Through it, she sought a source. What made Torrentus breathe?

Beside, her Torch lit like a beacon. A source of unspeakable energy, and it nearly blinded her.

Focus.

This was Torrentus’ nacre.

Gently, Tameka reached out and touched one circuit—

The floor beneath them trembled, and the sky cried. Torrentus felt… sick.

Tameka muttered to the creature, “What’s wrong? Tell me. Let me help you.”

Again, the sad wail in the atmosphere.

It was drained. Someone had already emptied the impressive creature of its nacre energy.

Tameka knew what to do. “Torch?”

“Yes, Fury?”

How did he know—

Curse Cascading Light.

Tameka’s voice came out in three pitches. “Tell Aria and Aya to hang on.”

Torch asked with naked curiosity. “What ails the beast?”

“It’s hungry, and I’m about to feed it.”

That got him moving. He went into the main chamber with the others while Tameka reached out and gently gripped the circuits like strings on a harp. This might be an uncharted continent, but they were still inside Enki.

Tameka reached out to a star she knew well and came to love, and siphoned its nearly endless energy. With her eyes closed, she transferred it through her fingers into the golden circuits of Torrentus and opened a channel through her.

After two heartbeats, the sky groaned.

More.

Tameka fed the light of the sun into the eye of the storm.

Torch called through the Cascading Light chamber. “It moves!”

Yes, it did.

The violence of the wind buffeting her hair lessened, and the air smelled different. Less of ozone and rain, more of… fresh air. All around them, the barrier of cumulus clouds thinned. No longer a hurricane, reduced to a summer rain.

There’s the signal, Xelan.

Torrentus was replenished and returned to terraforming the continent, determined to finish its purpose.

Tameka muttered, “Malfunction my ass.”

Aria stepped into the room, followed by her brother and Aya. All of them shared a similar trait in their expressions: hope.

In three pitches, Tameka ordered, “Get your people. I’m taking you home.”

Now it was time to locate the bridge.