Menyara held her hand up and snatched the staff from his tight grip. She shoved him back into the wall with one end of it. He grimaced in pain as she dug the tip into his chest.
"That poverty is what made you human, boy. Without it or your mother, you would be exactly as your father."
"Bullshit!"
She opened her mouth to speak, then froze.
An instant later, a blinding light flashed through the room. Nick hissed as it cut across him, burning his skin.
Something ferocious slammed into him, lifting him up from the floor and pinning him to the ceiling. He tried to push himself away, but he felt like a roach under someone's foot as they pressed it against the floor.
Suddenly he hit the ground.
Menyara ran to him as he groaned in pain. His ears buzzing, he tried to focus. Every part of him hurt.
Until he looked up.
There across the room was Acheron, and he was fighting a man who bore the same stylized patterns on his skin that Nick had. Only where Nick's were red this man's symbols were black and where his were black the man's were red.
"Stay out of this, Atlantean," the demon thing snarled.
Acheron caught the blast sent toward him with his hand. "Menyara, get Nick out of here. Now!"
Before Nick could protest, she wrapped herself around him and everything went black.
JARED CURSED AS THEY VANISHED. "WHAT ARE you doing?"
"I told you. I am honor-bound to keep him safe and so I will protect him with my life."
"Are you insane?"
Ash took a step back as the Sephiroth stopped fighting him. "I'm an Atlantean god, Jared. I swore to his mother that no one would ever harm him. You know what that means."
Jared stepped back, too, as he calmed. His skin immediately returned to its human appearance. "So when I kill him, you die, too. Are you out of your freakin' mind? Why would you do that?"
"Because I thought he was human and I owed his mother that promise."
"And now you know the truth. You are a Chthonian, charged with maintaining the balance of the universe. The Malachai must die."
Ash shook his head. "The order of the universe is for him to live so long as you do."
Jared laughed. "You don't get it, do you? I want to die, Acheron. If I kill him, I will go with him." He shoved Ash back, then disappeared.
Ash cursed as he realized he had no way to track him. Damn. "Jared!" he snarled, shooting his voice out into the ether so that the Sephiroth would hear it. "You don't get it. If I die, the world dies with me. You can't kill Nick Gautier."
Jared didn't respond.
Ash let out an aggravated breath. Jared was right, Ash was charged with keeping the order of the universe. And no one was going to stop him from carry ing out his duties.
"Savitar?" he whispered, summoning him.
Savitar appeared as an apparition beside him. "What, grom?"
"You knew about Nick, didn't you?"
Savitar averted his gaze, affirming Ash's suspicion.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Ash asked.