Chapter 55

Mikel opened his eyes and he was in a white void. The air was crisp and absolutely clean - there was no hint of char or smoke or blood. He was clean and wasn’t covered in road grime and sweat - he wasn’t hungry and his body worked.

What the Hel?

The novelty of that took him down for a moment before he shuffled to his feet and looked around.

There was nothing but utter, stark whiteness around him. He was alone - or so he thought.

“Hello, Mikel -” the voice from before drolled.

Mikel reached for his sword, found his sheath empty - then assumed a fighting stance he knew well enough to use against the unknown enemy.

“Where are you?” He called into the void, “Show yourself!”

Moments later, Mikel wished he hadn’t commanded the voice so severely. There was a steep price to pay for doing something like that - he could see that now.

Blood, hot, sticky, and raw poured from the sky, appearing from nothing and drenching the entire scene a stark crimson.

Mikel was soaked instantly - the sweat he was missing was replaced by thick rivulets of blood. He shut his eyes against the assault as the woman’s voice echoed endlessly through the void around him - or near void, it was quickly filling up with hot blood.

Minutes passed and Mikel did what he could to shield his face and mouth from the onslaught, but the blood still found its way into his ears, his mouth, and his eyes. His vision shot through with red and he sputtered against the assault.

“Show yourself!” He screamed, “Enough tricks! Show yourself and face me! Whoever you are!”

And just like that, the blood rain ceased to be - leaving an infinite red puddle, stretching from white horizon to white horizon with ankle-deep blood.

“C’mon! You made it seem like -”

He cut off as something within the blood began to… Shift.

At first, it felt like tiny tentacles were reaching out in all directions - touching the blood, caressing it - but it became apparent what was happening the next moment as the blood began to course together and… Pile, somehow up and up and up.

The level of blood dropped from ankle deep, to nothing in a matter of seconds - all of the tide rushing towards a growing tower of pulsing blood which shot into the sky. It rotated as if it were a dust devil with tiny, red motes circulating it like planets around a star.

Mikel gasped and reached for his sword once more to once again find it missing before he stepped back and tried to see the top of the tower.

He nearly fell over as it all came crashing down in a roar.

Mikel held his hands up to his face to shield his eyes from the flood of blood he knew was coming - but one that never came.

He lowered his hands and squinted as the figure which had replaced the tower of blood.

A nude woman stood with her back to him, her voluptuous form accented by her floor-length, red hair - her pale, waxy skin playing with his eyes.

Mikle clicked his jaws together before his mouth could hang open in awe.

She was… the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen and she wasn’t even facing him yet.

Then, the voice that had taunted him came from the woman and she turned to face with with the smile of a predator.

Mikel’s eyes roamed up and down her body, as she turned. He was unable to stop himself as a heat gathered in his stomach and groin and a familiar sensation began to take over.

The woman laughed again and looked coyly at him, “What? Never seen a naked goddess before?”

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***

With a tremendous force of will Mikel made his eyes look just at hers and nothing more. The brief moment he’d allowed them free reign over her body had almost destroyed his sanity. Not to mention what was going on just below his belt.

He was glad he was wearing thick, cotton pants - otherwise, he might have embarrassed himself.

Her body was perfect - full and feminine, but nothing was explicitly on display. Her floor-length, blood-red hair covered just enough to make her even more tantalizing than if she were entirely nude.

“I’ve never seen a naked woman before,” Mikel said, squinting hard at the woman’s eyes, “I’m guessing you can read minds - same as Librarian, so you should know a lot more than you’re letting on.” Her eyes were nearly as distracting as her body - blood red against a white which was whiter than the area they stood in.

The woman sneered, “That name - don’t use it in my presence. That disgusting creature has risen far above her rank in my absence.”

The unknown goddess spat to the side - blood-red saliva arching through the air to crash into the void and vanish.

“Whatever,” Mikel said, “I don’t care about that right now. I care about who you are and what we’re doing… Here?” He gestured to the void around them.

She shrugged, nonplussed, “I’m me - same as you are you,” She smiled at him, teeth razor sharp and filed to points that fit neatly together.

A shark, he thought.

She laughed again and Mikel startled.

You can hear me, then?

She nodded, her eyes not leaving him. She was a predator - that was plain to see and she’d locked onto her target like a hawk to a dove.

“Then answer me, why are you here?”

She pointed a razor-sharp nail at Mikel, “I’m here because you called me. Remember? Something about,” She puffed up in what was an apparent imitation of Mikel and said, “POWER!”

Mikel squinted at her as she began to laugh.

“You mortals… Always so serious. You’re not going to live very long - why worry about a little thing like power?”

“I worry about it because I don’t have it! My friend is… Out there? Wherever Kar’Xet is, getting killed right now. Every minute I’m in here is another minute he could be already dead. You… Dragged me here, talking about power. Do you have anything for me or is this just another waste of time?”

“That depends entirely on you, Young Raithson,” the unknown goddess intoned, “Power is something that is rarely given and more often -” She wrapped her hand around empty air, “Seized. You’ve already proven you can kill for power - what else are you capable of? What are you willing to give up?”

Mikel winced as the familiar pit of despair welled up inside his stomach.

She was right - he’d already crossed the ultimate line. What was left?

The goddess laughed again, “You really don’t know who I am, do you?”

Mikel shook his head slowly back and forth.

She shrugged, “I’m not surprised. I’ve been gone for, what… Two thousand years? Three? The only remnant of me left was in The Jewel.”

Mikel startled and reached for his chest only to find the Callisto Jewel gone, the same as his sword. Not even the chain that held it remained.

“You look for that which isn’t lost, Young Raithson. Look no further than me, in all my glory, and you shall have the answer to your question of where The Jewel has gone.”

She flung her arms out and tilted her head back, laughing as if possessed.

Could she be possessed?

“I generally do the possessing,” She said, turning her face back to Mikle, blood-red eyes trained on him as if he were a piece of meat.

It was obvious to him then who she was - How could he have not known right away?

“You’re Callisto,” Mikel said, glaring, “You’re… You’re supposed to be dead.”

“Death is a bit of a… Non-thing, for our kind. You can’t kill something that hasn’t ever lived - and you can’t harm a concept.”

Mikel took a step forward and shook his head, “If you’re Callisto then help me. I bear your artifact - I paid the blood price to wield it and so far, all I can do is use it enough to hurt myself and hinder those around me. You can read my mind - you’ve seen just how useful I’ve been.”

“Yes, dear Raithson, I have seen. I’ve seen it all - from the moment you fished The Jewel out of the puddle of blood you made to get it, to the moment you seized me and held me and demanded,” She shivered in ecstasy, her eyes rolling back into her head as her hands roamed her body, “Power.”

Mikel didn’t look away but forced himself to stare her down.

Now of all times, he wouldn’t be denied.

“If you can give me power - I want it. I need to save Helsket. He’s going to die if I don’t get back to the battle and help. I’m… A burden. I need to get stronger, but something is keeping me from accessing my Essentia - a block.”

“Peh,” Callisto flicked a careless hand to the side, “A small thing. Essentia is so… Overrated when there are so many other ways to inflict pain on your enemies.”

“I don’t want to inflict pain, I want to help my friends,” Mikel stated, “Don’t confuse my intention.”

She dropped her gaze and looked at him through bloodied eyelashes, “I know you better than you know yourself, Young Raithson - I know exactly what you want to do.”

Callisto trailed a finger from her throat, down to between her breasts, and then lower… Lower… Lower.

“Stop.” Mikel commanded as her hand caressed the area around her navel, “Enough games. If I have to seize power - then I will. I’ll do whatever I have to. I’ve already killed - I’m not afraid of death. What would you have me do?”

She waved the hand which had just been on her stomach and Mikel’s sword appeared in thin air, hovering as if suspended by a string.

On instinct he reached out and grabbed the hilt and pulled it to him, taking up a double-handed grip on the short sword.

“You want to fight? I can do that,” He said, slashing his weapon through the air, “I can do that just fine.”

Callisto grinned, her teeth now bloody as she swept her arms to her sides in a welcoming gesture and beckoned Mikel on.

“Come to me, then, Mikel, and taste what Blood can do for you.”

Mikel shot forward like an arrow, his sword leading, as the Goddess of Blood - long thought dead and gone, laughed like a mad woman with her arms out to her sides and her head thrown back in wild abandon.

All he felt was resolve - all he was was intent and purpose. He would kill Callisto if it came to that - all to save Helsket before it was too late.