{Enki | Medical Bay}

With their new Rayne chains, Chris and Jack descended the stairs after communicating a better understanding of each other. At the bottom, they found Karter, Para, and Ross waiting with T.a.o. Gratitude filled the veteran soldier, melting the ice Celindria had left behind. He loved this family of theirs.

Dressed in Valkyrie combat gear, Karter embraced him, and Chris found everything he needed in her arms. She purred against him, and the sensation overwhelmed him. It thickened his voice with the effort to put his feelings into words. “Thank you.”

Para scoffed. “As if we’d go to war without you.”

Chris widened his arms to include her, and the smallest Valkyrie joined the throuple snuggle. Jack pulled Ross against his side for a hug, and their team basked. It was a good moment.

So when T.a.o. spoke into her earpiece, their nosy asses took notice because it wasn’t on the Pantheon team frequency, and Chris presumed it was on her private line.

T.a.o. sounded happy to hear from her caller. “Your voice reminds me of home.” She paused, listening, fidgeting with her Rayne chain. “Yes, there is one additional star in Enki, and she will burn through the cosmos.” Another pause. “I see it. Yes.” With the call evidently over, she faced Chris and team once more. “Last chance for abandon. Your post will belong to another.”

Karter shook her head, assuring, “No one is abandoning their post today. Please take us to the Pantheon.”

They linked hands and followed T.a.o. into—

A head trip.

Was Chris hallucinating the armies poised on the brink of fighting, frozen?

All the soldiers on the front line were posed mid-punch, kick, stab—In the air. On the ground. Everywhere Chris looked. Lamias, Luks, Dwarves, Mon3 Drones, humans, Icari, Caprents, Lyriks, and Tritans. Scattered among them were the haunting edifices of Rayne and her greatest adversary, Nox, with their skeletons made of nacre glass and powered by Aegis blood.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

They sure would give the Terminator a run for its money.

All the Shadow hung back in awe, grouped near the conduit to Torrentus. Ross found Bethany hanging out with Matt, Lucy, and Puk—All wearing chains. She checked on her sister, who pointed to their left. Kyle, Bones, Caedes, and Lamassau all stood beside Andrew, distress had contorted his entire body under the strain of his ability. Every single one of them were staring up at the sky.

Chris had never met Silence, but the woman hovering up there with Lucas and Smith could only be her. Her blue wings matched the stripe of blue at the front of her hair and the Atramentous of her eyes. An azure light pulsed under her skin twice during the time Chris examined her. She was gorgeous, and a little similar to Karter in complexion and facial features. Although, Silence kinda looked similar to a lot of Icari, if Chris stared long enough. Only one flaw diminished her ethereal effect.

The woman above them looked lost. Lost in what she wanted and lost in what brought her here. Her foundation was rocked and shaken. Silence directed this existential crisis at Kyle, who looked like he was waiting for a response.

“Won’t you answer me?”

Yup. He was waiting for a response.

In the sky, with Smith on his back, Lucas said something to Silence, too far away for them to hear. Chris didn’t need anyone to tell him that anything involving Lucas would hurt Andrew. Conscience swallowed and choked on it, coughing and nearly stumbling. Kyle and Lamassau saved him. To Chris’ surprise, Lucas lost his serene composure for a moment and flinched.

What the hell was happening here?

With Andrew leaning on him, Kyle called up to them, “You know this isn’t what you wanted! You can break nacre glass. Fight with us!”

The three in the sky talked amongst themselves. Silence never took her eyes off Kyle. Maybe Chris had spent enough time around Icari to read them, but he suspected Lucas wanted to join the fight. It might have something to do with his boyfriend—ex?—turning the color of a parfait down here, but those were Chris’ assumptions.

The alien light pulsed under Silence’s skin again.

In the most terrifying display of power Chris had ever witnessed, Silence lifted her open palm in front of her, squeezed it into a fist, and sent every single Rayne and Nox copy to the floor in a crumpled heap of concaved nacre glass.

Godlike, Silence stood on high, hands on hips, and quirked an angled brow, letting her actions speak for her.

“Sorry. She gets like this when she’s gone too long without sex.” They all looked at Smith. “It’s really best just to stay off her radar.”

Yeah. No shit.