a God can defeat a God, Amelia,” he told me, and I started to wonder at those words. Started to wonder at what exactly had made a God. The Venom of God seemed to have transferred into him and made him into the beast he was becoming behind me. My mother too had made herself into a God, and this was with the blood of Pertinax, for she had told me the story.
It was all about the blood. It had always been about that life force the Gods themselves could not live without.
“What is it?” Lucius asked as if he could see on my face, it was all starting to make sense.
“I think I know how to stop him,” I told him on a whisper.
“Good, because we're going to need something.”
“You're gonna have to trust me again,” I said.
“I will always trust you,” he told me after a few moments of looking at each other, for words weren’t needed. But I nodded and then told him,
“Okay… then it's time you give me back what you stole from me, Lucius.” Then, before he could react, I ripped his gauntlet off his hand using the strength of my power left and before he could stop me, I raised his Hellish hand up and bit into it as hard as I could.
“Amelia, no!” he shouted, but it was too late, I overpowered him, holding him still with the energy I had left in me. Doing so now as I sucked the essence he had stolen from me, combined with the Venom of God that he had kept locked away in this part of his hand. Then I didn't let go until I felt as though I had consumed it all, until the hand beneath my hold was transformed back into that of a man once more.
“Amelia!” Lucius shouted, as my body suddenly flew backwards and landed hard on the ground. For a moment I felt stunned, unable to move, as if some piece of me had just been slotted back into place and my whole soul was now taking the time to absorb it and accept it. Something that had always been mine and yet, had always been missing. But of course it had because Lucius had been taking care of it for me.
Suddenly I placed my palm flat on the ground and my entire body started to shake, because I heard the roar of anger… the roar of a Titan behind me. Then I took in a deep breath and felt myself rising from the ground. Rising upright to then find myself surrounded by a red fire. But I didn’t stop. No, instead I continued to rise, wondering when this serene feeling would end. Almost as if I was no longer a body but more like a ghost. It was strange because I felt weightless, and then when I brought my hand in front of my face, I felt its movements and focused on that feeling. Suddenly I felt my entire body come back to me as power started crackling around, making me feel warm and safe.
It was when I looked down that I saw I was still floating in the air, suspended there by my own doing. It was then that I realised it had worked, for this must have been how a God felt.
But then I was in control, and my mind was free and calm. For I no longer felt the rage that I needed to be able to use the power I gained in Hell. I flicked my wrist around and spread out my fingers, now commanding more flames to appear in my hand. A ball of red energy started to spin, and it took no effort at all. In fact, the same amount of effort you would need to catch a ball.
It was incredible.
With this power surging through me, I had never felt so alive, so strong… so unbeatable. Suddenly the rest of my senses started to come back to me. I became aware of what was going on around me. I heard my name being called by a voice I knew. A voice I loved. But he sounded so worried, so scared, yet he didn't have anything to fear, for I wouldn't let anything happen. Though, perhaps he didn't know that. Perhaps none of them knew. But then suddenly more started to come to me, like the clashing of swords, the scream of my mother… my mother… who was hurting my mother!?