Higher ground? It never rained enough in Minatsol to worry about water rising above the ground. I was starting to think that I knew nothing about this world, or the gods. I probably should have paid better attention in class; Emmy surely knew all of this.
It was almost pitch black around us now, and since we were running at a full sprint, through a tightly knit forest, it was pretty scary. I could barely even focus on the trees flashing past us, and the knowledge that I was probably going to be smashed against one soon was enough to have my face pressing into Aros’s chest. A girl could get used to being pressed against an Abcurse chest whenever the world decided to go insane. One benefit to all the shitty drama they brought into my life. I sensed they were talking above my head, but by this stage, I was too tired and cold to even listen. I had been walking for almost a full sun-cycle, which was something I was sure I had never done before, and now my body was punishing me for it. My ears refused to work, so I let my mind drift off.
I must have dozed off fully, because obviously a crazy storm and being lost in Minatsol was the perfect situation to get comfortable enough in to have a little nap. I was going to blame the exaggerated forty million miles we’d walked that sun-cycle. It had nothing to do with Aros and the comfort of his strong arms.
As I opened my eyes, I realised that it was still dark and cold outside, but the cave we were in was awash with warmth from a huge fire right in the centre of the round area. A rock wall was on my right side, warmth pressing along my left. Shifting my head, I saw the silky strands of golden-black hair: Siret. From what I could see over his huge body, next to him were his brothers—well the other two parts to the trio anyway. It didn’t look as if Coen and Rome were in the cave with us. Hopefully they hadn’t been abducted by angry gods, or smashed against a tree.
As I shifted slightly, I realised that I needed a bathroom break. Immediately. My bladder was at the bursting point. I wiggled around to get my hands on the rough ground—my head was pillowed on a shirt, which thankfully was not mine. I still wore Aros’ shirt, and it was now dry and toasty warm. Realising there was not enough space on either side of me to get up without using Siret for leverage, I attempted to use my stomach muscles to pull myself up. Of course, I didn’t really have any stomach muscles, so all I managed to do was flap around like an idiot.
A heavy arm draped across me and I almost peed myself. Come on, gods. This is so not funny. A flash of light from outside drew my attention and before I could say anything, the three sols around me were up on their feet and standing in front of me. I understood why the moment the red robes came into view.
Rau stood there, no expression on his face, just the tiniest of fires burning in his eyes. “I will have my Beta,” was all he said, and as Aros, Yael, and Siret started for him, he shot out a blast of energy that materialised in front of him as a sphere of loosely-held smoke. It rose above us all, circling around the top of the cave, lit from within the sphere by some kind of milky, glowing light. My eyes took a while to adjust to the glare, and even though I was terrified, I stumbled forward in the hope that I could help the Abcurses if they were in trouble. This glow couldn’t kill them, right? What was it even doing? Their huge shadows were all I had to aim for, so I headed toward the one shaped like Siret, since he was the closest.
The intensity of the glow shot up again, and I was worried that my current blindness was moments from becoming permanent. I continued pushing my way forward, hoping that I wasn’t about to stumble into the fire.
There was a roar in the direction of the doorway, and this one I recognised as Rome. The giant sol was not happy, and I would not like to be in his way when he lost it. I kind of hoped that Rau got crushed. Deciding I needed to get to Siret sooner, I started to sprint, which of course had my feet tripping up against some of the spare firewood, propelling my body forward and sending me flying into the darkness. Because of the momentum I had built up sprinting to get to Siret, I managed to launch impressively high into the air, my body sailing across the cave, the glare of light becoming so intense that even with my eyes squeezed tightly closed, I was still blinded. My mind reacted by trying to repel the force, shutting down all of my senses. I had only half a click to see Siret’s horrified face. He was reaching for me, but it was too late.
A surge of something hot pierced my heart, branding me painfully as my breath was cut off. I tried to choke back some air as I began losing height, plummeting toward the ground, but there was no air to be had. I prepared myself for impact; I should have hit the ground long ago, but for some reason my fall continued on.
Why couldn’t I breathe? And why did my chest feel like something had sliced it in two, and now a hot branding iron was slowly burning a path through my heart? Had I been hit with a god-bolt or something? Was there such a thing as a god-bolt?