Page 177 of The Blade in the Ashes
Veric roared above us, Elaina joining him until their screeches shook the ground beneath us. Damon opened his maw, swooping low and releasing a plume of dragonfire that sent a wave of heat brushing my hair back over my shoulders. As the enemy began emerging in clean lines of shining black armor, I took a single, fortifying breath and sent a desperate plea to my God, begging him to protect us.
“Loose!” Kent commanded, and the arrows began flying over my head.
Chapter Fifty-Three
Thea
If facing the possibility was going to be anything like facing the truth and the fear, I was nearly positive I would not enjoy it.
I slumped forward, resting my hands on my knees and panting heavily in exhaustion. Athene stood as stiff-backed as ever, watching as I worked to wipe my face and pull myself back together. My hair hung in tangled knots down my back, and it snagged as I tried to run my hands through it and force it out of my face.
“Are you ready?” Athene inquired, her voice far too light for the situation.
I threw my head back, closing my eyes and trying to breathe through the raging storm in the deepest parts of my belly.
Magic.
I’d gone without feeling it for so long that now it was the only thing I could feel. It overwhelmed all my senses, leaving even the hairs on my arms standing on end. It was as if a foreign static electricity coasted over me in steady waves from the top of my hair down and through my toes.
It felt like I was about to explode.
“How can I answer that?” I grumbled, unable to stop myself from snapping at her. Politeness wasn't possible when every part of my bodywasaching.“How can I truthfully answer whether I’m ready when I don’t know what you're about to subject me to?”
Athene took my outburst patiently, with a slight nod. “It is not I who subjects you to this, Goddess of the Veil. This is your own journey. Only you can take it. I am only here as a guide.”
Perhaps I should have said no to the Forging.
Because it was starting to seem like whatever changeor deeper awareness I was supposed to gain from doing this wasn’t worth it.
“What does it even mean to facethe possibility?”I rested my hands on my hips. “As my guide, you could provide a little more clarity.”
I watched as she fought to contain the smile that threatened to emerge at the edges of her lips. She shifted her weight, taking two careful steps toward me. “The truth is what you know has passed. The fear is what you worry may come to pass. The possibility will certainly come to pass depending on...”
Her voice trailed off, her eyes glazing over as if she were thinking about something else. A thought far off from the current time and place.
“Depending on?” I prompted impatiently.
She snapped back to awareness, meeting my gaze as the Veil began to fade away and the next vision rose to life around us. “You, Goddess. Depending on you.”
This time, the vision didn’t emerge around us slowly. This time, it was a vortex into which I fell. It stole the air from my lungs and tore me out of the Veil into the possibility of what was going to come next.
My ears rang out in protest, and I instinctively lifted my hands to cover them, ducking rapidly as a plume of orange and blue dragonfire blew over my head, an orange-scaled dragon soaring over me only moments later as a wave of heat fell across my skin.
I yelped instinctively, stumbling away. My feet slipped on the muddy ground as soldiers ran past me, swinging weapons and grunting. Blood splattered across my back, arms and legs. The wetness of it practically soaked me through, and I fell, the sound of screaming metal and cracking bone all I could hear. Just as I found my balance, a body came hurtling through the air towards me, and I darted to the left, just barely avoiding it.
“Where are we?” I screamed towards Athene, who watched the anarchy around us without a hint of unease.
She didn’t even move as a sword passed directly through her and into the seam between two dark plates of armor. The soldier grunted out in pain as the blade pierced into him, but Athene simply glanced down at where the weapon stabbed through the soldier and watched as he fell when it was pulled free.
“I cannot answer questions here.”
“Then you’re not a very helpful guide!” A blast detonated to my left, rubble and body parts flying in the air, and I ducked, arms lifting to protect my head.
“You cannot be injured here,” Athene reminded me, her form flickering in and out as soldiers repeatedly ran through her.
That fact didn’t stop me from yelping when a sword came darting towards me, passing directly through my legs. A shiver worked its way through me.
Exhaling, I focused on the world around me, trying to make sense of the different colors of the armies and raging men fighting against each other. Black armor on some, a mismatch on others. Woods in the distance. A well-cared for manor behind me.
