Storm Gods - G. Bailey Page 0,5
change,” I suggest, and I instantly know I’ve said the wrong thing. Neritous stands, dropping his fork to the table, and the clang makes me jump.
“You might have killed my sisters and brother, the useless lot they were, but the higher gods’ law still stands with me. Mixing gods is dangerous,” he snaps.
“I’m a mix,” I point out, holding my head high.
“And you are far more dangerous than you realise,” he points out with a sneer. “Come with me.”
He walks out of the door, and knowing I don’t really have a choice, I stand up and shove some lamb into my mouth before following him out. I chew my food as I stay behind Neritous, following him to a thin steel door with three locks. It takes him a minute to put in all the codes, and then the door swings open on its own.
My skin immediately itches, like I can feel something wrong even before I step into the room behind Neritous. In the centre of the metal-covered room is a spinning, see-through green sphere that must be the size of a car. It constantly spins, like it’s actually alive, and right in the middle of it is a cube. The cube is a deep green colour, like the colour of the leaves in spring when they are at their brightest and most beautiful. Alluringly, I can’t stop staring at the cube. I almost feel like I’ve seen it before.
Without realising it, I’ve almost walked all the way to the edge of the sphere, and my feet knock into something. Almost slowly, I look down and see Faleria at my feet. Her eyes lack life, her soul is gone, and a smile is on her lips like she is almost happy to have died. Her body lies at an awkward angle, and sickness builds in my throat. I jump back, turning around to run away when I smack into Neritous. He grips my chin tightly in his hand, forcing me to look at him through my tears.
“Shame about her. Isn’t it?” he carelessly states. His daughter is dead on the floor behind me, and he doesn’t care one bit.
“We are all fecking experiments to you, aren’t we?” I spit out, and he laughs, shoving me away from him. He walks to the edge of the sphere, never looking down at the body. He traces his finger over the sphere, almost in a loving way that makes little sense to me.
“This is the source of all magic in the world. This is the dying soul of the goddess of life,” he whispers. “My adoptive mother, which I am sure you know the story of well from Storm.”
I stumble back, staring at the cube and sphere with a whole new understanding as he keeps on talking. “When one of my children, as promised, is given the power of life, they can give it to me, and I can rule the world. See, my adopted mother was a smart woman, and when she died, she made it impossible for a higher god to take the power. But I found a way around that. When one of you takes the power, I can make gods, I can level cities of humans to remind them who is ruling this world. I can and will do whatever I want, what she never wanted us to do.”
“And if the power doesn’t accept you?”
“You will become like Faleria,” he coldly answers, turning back to me. “But I don’t believe that will happen. The power only touched your friend, Madison, and transformed her. She is the first who survived that since I and my siblings were changed. I believe my adoptive mother’s soul is waiting for you and saved Madison for you.”
“That’s impossible. It’s just a cube, not a soul,” I say, shaking my head. I can hardly believe Storm’s mother’s soul is in that cube and saved Madison for me. Why would her soul know me at all?
Neritous smiles at me like he knows something I don’t.
Walking to my side, he pauses and leans down as I stare ahead, tears prickling the corners of my eyes. “You were born for destruction, Karma Kismet. Don’t let me down.”
“I was born from lies and loved from the second I existed by a brilliant mother. I will never be what you want me to be.”
“In three days, we will find out, won’t we?” he counters, finally leaving the room just before the first tear falls down my cheek.
Chapter 5
“I took