Two (The Godslayer Cycle Book 2) Read online

  Dart felt it, as well. A glance at the Witness confirmed they all felt it. It was a sense of power, but unlike anything Dart had ever felt before in her long, long existence.

  “What is that?” mimicked Dart. “I've never felt anything like that in my life.”

  “I have,” said the Witness. “That is the presence of a God. A God has breached the walls around Levitz.”

  Chapter 17

  Avery sat on the grass across from Viola. He looked deeply into her eyes, searching for some sign that what he had just told her had not driven a new wedge between them.

  “So... You can lose your power?”

  The former heretic nodded, but it was Hamil who responded. “A God is only as powerful as the faithful who believe in him. But no matter how many believe in a God, if something were to block the devotion of his faithful, he would be powerless. He could possibly even die.”

  Viola's eyes darted to her lover in panic. “Are you going to die?”

  Avery reached out and took Viola's hand. “No, I am not going to die. But we have discovered that whatever was in that pit back there, it tried to take away my power. Which means it could be dangerous to do what I am going to suggest.”

  The would-be-God took a deep breath, then continued. “You have a piece of that... black... whatever it was. Whatever fell from the sky. You took a piece, right?”

  Viola's other hand went reflexively to cover the pocket of her skirt.

  “Yes, that. If I am right – and I hope that I am – that piece won't be big enough to affect me like the larger piece did before, but if it can block divine power like mine, then it should be able to also do the same to the magical power holding up the wall of water.”

  Viola glanced at the enormous wall, now some distance away. The trio had walked some distance back and away from the small community surrounding the outskirts of where Levitz had once been. Avery had wanted isolation from any but his most trusted companions as he discussed the possibility of losing his power. Even Aaron had been asked to remain behind, in spite of the officer having portrayed a certain amount of commitment in Avery's servitude. If he was going to entrust anyone with the knowledge that he could soon be powerless, it was not going to be with someone he had only met that morning.

  Viola's hand darted from covering the pocket to reaching inside. Avery did not wait to see whether her intention was to draw out the object of their conversation before releasing her right hand to close in over her left.

  “No, don't pull it out yet. I want to make sure we are all agreed on how this will work. We need to test it, sure, but we need to be careful about it.”

  Avery looked over his shoulder at Hamil. The scribe stood behind him, but it was plain to see that he was resisting the urge himself to run. The strange little scribe had some kind of power – that much was certain. And he had all but admitted that the fallen debris had also affected him, though he had not been in any way specific about it.

  Turning again to face Viola, Avery gave her concealed hand a reassuring squeeze. “We know it doesn't hurt you, so you are the only one we know can handle it safely. But we need to see if there's anyway that I can. Which means we need to do this in slow stages.”

  “The one thing – about the only thing really we know for sure, really,” offered Hamil, “– is that it has an area of affect.” When Viola only stared at him blankly, he added, “At a distance, it stops working.”

  Avery nodded his agreement. “We also know that if this doesn't work, it won't affect me permanently. Otherwise, my power would not have returned after what we encountered in the crater. So if something goes wrong, we only have to get it away from me, or – as you have found – hide it away. It seems that if it's not open to the air, its effect stops, too.”

  “Which truly does not make any sense, at all,” muttered Hamil under his breath, though Avery heard him quite clearly.

  Avery shot a look at Hamil to silence him, lest Viola overhear. He then turned his attention back to her. “So what I was thinking,” he went on for Viola's benefit, “is that first we need to see how much this one piece you have affects me. We only experienced it when we were by the larger piece, so there's a chance this won't be nearly as strong.”

  Sort of counting on that, actually, thought Avery.

  The would-be-God waited for Viola to say something. So much relied upon her cooperation, and Avery was still not completely convinced that her doubts had been vanquished. What would her reaction be to learning that her God was not as all-powerful as he had portrayed himself to be?

  “Just tell me what to do, Avery,” said the former barmaid at last.

  Avery stood up, urging Viola to join him. At the same time, he nodded to Hamil, who moved away from the pair.

  Viola did not miss the hasty retreat, though. “Where's he going?”

  “We decided,” Avery offered, “that one of us should not be too close in case we might need help. It's just a precaution, that's all.”

  The truth of the matter was that Hamil had resisted any real effort to test the object. His plan had simply been for Viola to throw it at the wall and stand back to see what happened. Avery had countered that it could just as easily destroy the entire wall and kill everyone inside if they did that. Hamil's reaction had been shocking.

  “At least then we'd know,” the scribe had shrugged.

  Ever since Avery had revealed his deductive reasoning of Hamil's hidden talents, the scribe had become almost surly in the way he spoke. It was as if revealing the facade over the scribe possessing secret abilities had also exposed a far less complacent personality, as well. And Avery was not entirely certain he was going to like the person that was being revealed now for the first time.

  The two had reached a compromise though. It involved Avery taking all of the risk, and Hamil standing aside in reserve. Avery knew it was more a fear of the object – whatever it was – stripping the scribe of his own power – whatever that was. Assuring Hamil he could remain a safe distance away had been the only bargain that the young man had been willing to consider.

  Viola raised her right hand to cup the side of her lover's face. “Are you sure about this, Avery?”

  The man nodded. “I have to be,” he responded.

  All at once, Avery felt his insides split apart and his brain exploded in pain. All awareness of his surroundings vanished as he felt himself exploding in a thousand different directions, held together by the sheerest of threads.

  Just as suddenly as it had onset, the disorientation and pain were gone, and Avery found himself retching on the ground. He was vaguely aware of Viola's hand resting on his back, but he could not raise his head to respond – not yet, at least.

  After several minutes, Avery felt himself take a full lungful of air, deciding he had endured this indignity long enough. Sitting back upon his heels, he faced Viola. “Again.”

  Viola's eyes went wide. “But, Avery--”

  “Again,” he repeated. “I can do this. I have to do this. I know what to expect now, so it will be easier. But I need to find a way to endure this, or we will have no way of entering Levitz.”

  When the woman only looked on with disbelief, Avery went on. “Have you forgotten what Martin said? I am supposed to face the Godslayer here. And I have no hope of facing him while he has One - not unless I can get my hands on Two before he gets here.

  “Viola,” the former heretic pleaded. “Please. I need to do this. I know I can, because I must.”

  Tears began to poor down Viola's cheeks, but she bobbed her head in agreement.

  The pain was just as sudden and overwhelming this time as before. Once more, he felt himself being torn in a million different directions, the center of his being existing in countless places at once. He thought he must be screaming, but his ears had been disassembled all over the countryside so that he could not hear. And the pain receptors in his throat that might have registered the anguish of his cry had imploded in upon themselves so that there was absolutely no possibili
ty that any air was passing out of his lungs.

  But he was aware of his lungs. He was not at first conscious that he was aware of anything, but eventually – after an eternity of trying to form a cohesive thought – he realized that his lungs were real. And there was something else there, too.

  His heart was caught in a frozen second of time, right at the edge of bursting. The pain – the incredible anguish – was unbearable. And yet...

  Then it was gone. The pain, the discombobulation, the very real sense that his body was not a body any longer, but an infinity of tiny exploded – and very raw – nerve endings. It was all gone.

  This time, he was on his back, and his throat was raw. He had been screaming, after all. His head was resting in Viola's lap, and her cheeks were awash with her own pain.

  “Al-almost had it,” managed Avery. “I can do this. Please. Again.”

  “Avery,” came Hamil's voice from afar. “We are attracting attention from below. If you scream like that again, there is no way to guarantee that others won't come.”

  Avery's mouth split in what he knew must have looked maniacal grimace. “So I won't scream, then.”

  The former heretic closed his eyes and remembered back to all the pain he had suffered in his former life. This is nothing compared to all of that, he tried to convince himself. He knew it wasn't true, and yet...

  If the man took every pain, every bruise, bloodied wound and burned inch of flesh he had suffered through, all the emotional anguish and fear, all the terror and uncertainty he had endured, and he encapsulated that all into a single moment, a finite point of experience...

  Then the pain was on him again, and he nearly lost himself again.

  Yet he didn't. Not this time. Now he had something to compare all this pain to, and the anger, the rage, the frenzied, animalistic desire for carnage and mayhem took over.

  How dare the world shun him. Not him! Not Avery! Not me!

  The torment, misery and perplexity became the crucible upon which all the pent up fury at what he endured was cast upon. This was not something to run from, to surrender to. This was something to challenge, to conquer, to force into submission. He was Avery. He was a man, by the Old Gods! And he deserved – no, he demanded – respect, and by all the Pit's demons, he would have it! And he would have it now!

  At the deepest recesses of his being, Avery felt a fire burning outward and he grabbed hold of it, twisting it, directing it at the source of his pain. At first he intended to crush the pain, to obliterate it from existence. Some kind of divination took hold of him as he saw a new, better way. He needed the pain, because if he conquered it, he somehow knew inherently that he would destroy the power behind it. And he needed that power. He could not exactly remember what he needed it for, but he did need it.

  Avery opened his eyes and looked around him. Viola lay upon her back, as though she had fallen backwards. She looked up at him in awe and fear, uncertain apparently whether to flee or accept whatever fate this being before her had envisioned.

  The man then noticed that he was laughing. No, not just laughing – he was actually cackling! No wonder Viola cowered in fear – she must have thought he had been driven mad.

  With great effort, Avery forced himself to stop, to calm himself. He still felt his heart beating fast and hard – and he also felt the fire burning in his hand. Looking down, he saw his left hand clasped tightly. He knew what was held there, for every fiber in his being rebelled for him to cast the infernal source of his torment away.

  “We need to go now, or not at all,” the self-made God proclaimed. Without waiting to see if anyone followed, he set out toward the great aquatic barrier looming in the distance.

  Avery envisioned himself running, but all he could manage were deliberate, forceful steps forward. His perception of time fluctuated, with the wall first nearly a mile away, then somewhat closer, then a mere hundred paces from him. The disorientation he experienced was still trying to dominate his senses, he realized. And he did not know how much longer he could hold onto his own determination. So far, his unconscious control kept him moving towards the wall, but there was no guarantee that in a moment of lost control that he might simply release the mysterious object he kept hidden in his hand.

  Before he realized it, Avery stood a dozen paces from the wall. He had not remembered stopping to stare at the edifice, but clearly he had, for there he stood.

  “We need...” Avery managed to start speaking, without any assurance he had any idea what he was going to say, “You and I, Hamil. We need to take this slowly.”

  "I don't understand your reasoning,” came Hamil's voice. Avery must have known that his scribe was nearby, because he certainly had not been able to take his eyes away from the massive aquatic structure in front of him.

  “You have to promise me,” said Avery, ignoring the scribe's confusion, “that if the wall looks like it will collapse, to take this thing from me.”

  “I could not if I wanted to,” responded the scribe. “I can barely stand within a few feet of you right now.”

  “Viola?”

  “Here, Avery,” came his lover's voice. “I'm here.”

  “You'll need to take this if something goes wrong then. Promise me. I don't want to cause the death of everyone inside.”

  “How will I know if something goes wrong?” asked Viola.

  Hamil responded, which was good because Avery could not have reasoned out an explanation at that moment. “It comes back to the area of affect theory,” he explained. “Avery believes that the effects of the stone will only dissolve a small part of the wall, letting us get through.”

  “No,” interrupted Avery. “Only you and me, Hamil. Viola stays here.”

  “No!” cried Viola. “I won't leave you now!”

  “You must,” Avery said. The herculean effort it took to pull his eyes away from his target was incredible, but somehow he managed. He needed to look upon her face one last time.

  “I need to know you're safe, or I won't be able to do this.”

  Avery noticed the umber-like cast to Viola's skin and realized that behind him, the sun must be setting. The day was nearly gone, when it had been barely past the sun's zenith when they had begun. How much time had been lost in his suffering? Clearly not the few scant moments he had believed.

  But the man also saw the firm determination of devotion set rigidly into the woman's face, as well. How could he ever have doubted her devotion to him before this moment?

  “If that is your wish, My Lord,” Viola said.

  “That is my wish,” managed Avery. “My love.”

  Viola's hand flew to her mouth in shock, but Avery was already turning away. He once again faced his nemesis, and he felt his feet moving forward of their own volition. Viola's face filled his mind's eye as he moved forward, seeing the umber colors reflecting off the wall and take on the features of the woman who was his everything.

  Unconsciously, Avery found himself reaching out with the hand that covered the item of power – the stone, did Hamil call it? Two of his fingers broke their grasp on the object as he sought to tenderly caress the smooth surface of Viola's skin, feeling the cold power of the second sword's magic pull away from him as he did.

  No, not Viola – the wall. Shaded the color of the setting sun, Avery's mind had cast the illusion of it being his love. But it was only the cold water of the ocean, bound by the magic of the sword.

  The rage returned, and with it the fury of betrayal. How dare this sword's power seek to confuse him, to bar him from what he desired? He knew that in order to ever touch Viola's skin again in reality, he must overcome this obstacle in his path.

  The man reached out to the water, and the water receded. Avery realized he was still several feet from the wall's surface, so to see the wall move at all at this point startled him. But it did not stop his progress towards it.

  “He's doing it!” came a strange voice from somewhere. Cheers and shouts of encouragement rang in his ears. “He's breaking t
he wall!”

  No, not that, thought Avery. But I will breach it.

  Time skipped for the man again as he now found himself at the boundary of the wall, but the wall was no longer in front of him. At least, not the solid, smooth surface of it. It still hovered to either side of him, but the area directly in front of him had receded. It was now several steps away from where he had stopped in amazement.

  “Don't stop now,” came Hamil's voice. “Keep going!”

  Urged on by his companion, Avery stepped forward, conscious that he was now walking into a corridor of water. The crystalline structure above him cast an odd blue hue to all around him. Sadness filled his heart as he realized that Viola's skin tone was now completely gone from his sight.

  This realization was replaced by another, however. The object in his hand had begun to vibrate, painfully so. Until now, it had burned unlike any fire he had ever known, but it had at least been stationary while it scalded the core of his being. Now, it was as if he were holding a buzzing insect, one that had decided to start stinging him in every conceivable direction as it sought to vibrate its way free.

  “Hurry!” came Hamil's voice again. “It's not going to last much longer!”

  Hastened by Hamil's urgency, Avery once again pressed forward, feeling the energy that somehow existed in tangent with the watery substance of the wall recede from him. Only now, it did not do so as quickly, nor as readily. Like a pack of wolves that no longer saw the dragon as a threat, he could feel the water beginning to fold back upon him. The water was no longer running away – it was preparing to take back its lost territory.

  Then, miraculously, the water was no longer in front of him and he was falling to dry earth beyond.

  “Throw it away! Now!” screamed Hamil.

  Blindly, Avery thrust his arm out and away from him, not knowing nor caring where the stone flew. A deafening roar soon overpowered his senses as he felt the wall behind him buckle and fold around a powerful blast of thunder.