Page 38 of Harbinger

Atropos’s eyes widened.

“You—you looked for us?” Tisiphone stammered.

Orena and Kes traded an equally shocked glance.

Loki nodded, tail quivering agitatedly. “Yes! Pan, Boreas, and several other Gods joined the search too. We thought it strange that all of you had vanished at the same time. We scoured the realms, but in vain. Since the Eternity Key allows me to travel to the Hells, I was tasked with the search there.” The imp fisted his hands. “Pan and Boreas warned Heaven that something was amiss, but none there took them seriously. It seemed Elios had done a really good job of convincing them that he was harmless.”

Atropos looked blindly at the floor, still taken aback by this revelation. “I’m—I’m sorry, Keeper. I did not know you had come looking for us. Our presence must have been shielded by Hypnos when you came to the Seventh Purgatory.” She exchanged a distraught look with her sisters. “All this time, we thought we were alone. We should have trusted that other Gods would have become suspicious too.” Her gaze found Loki once more. “I’m afraid you will struggle to make your way into the Hells as easily as before, Keeper. Elios’s strength is now such that he can hide entire realms from our sight.”

Horror filled Loki’s eyes. A strained hush befell them.

“What happened to Hypnos?” Cassius said. “Pan told us he disappeared after the Fall.”

Atropos’s face hardened. “Elios cast him into the Abyss.”

Cassius’s pulse spiked. Shook reverberated around the room.

“What?!” Victor said hoarsely.

“He killed his own twin?!” Morgan ground out.

“We knew he was an unfeeling asshole, but even we were stunned at the degree of his cruelty,”Kes bit out.“Hypnos was utterly blind to his brother’s personality defects. In his eyes, Elios could do no wrong. He’d always followed Elios around like a puppy, even though he was the older of the two of them.”

“Wait.” Gold flared in Theo’s eyes. One iris turned sapphire blue as Rohengar made his presence felt. “You said Elios cast Hypnos into the Abyss. How did he do that? I thought the whole point of him coming after Icarus was because he needed the Awakener’s powers to access the forbidden realm where Chaos is trapped!”

Atropos clenched her jaw, like she was steeling herself for a truth that would be hard to bear. Kes laid a hand on her shoulder.

Atropos grasped her sister’s fingers gratefully. “The Abyssdidopen that day. When Icarus ripped the Nether and every other realm apart, he also tore a doorway into that dimension.”

Cassius’s mouth went dry at Atropos’s admission.

“What?!” he said numbly.

Horror leached the color from Theo’s face.

“She is right, Awakener,” the Reaper God said somberly. “I felt it in my bones.”

“It was an infinitesimal opening. One so small, it closed almost as soon as it opened, partly because Icarus did not unleash all of his Awakener potential. Elios did not know this would happen, so he proceeded with what he’d intended. To throw Hypnos into the Abyss and draw out Chaos.”

“Draw out Chaos?” Morgan said, confused.

Atropos nodded.“A divine soul in exchange for another divine soul. The Abyss is the Eater of Souls, after all.”

18

The Goddess’sshocking words echoed through Cassius’s skull.

I tore open the Abyss?!

“Let me get this straight. Cassius fractured the Nether and all the realms even though he heldback?!” Julia said, aghast.

Zach looked similarly dazed beside her.

Atropos met Cassius’s stunned gaze solemnly. “We may call you a demigod, but whoever wears the mantle of Awakener is, by definition, the most powerful entity in all of Heaven and the Hells. In your fully roused state, you are likely a match for the first Primordial God himself.”She paused.“Did you know that the role of Awakener was createdafterChaos was imprisoned in the Abyss?”

Cassius shook his head numbly.

“The Gods of old realized they needed a safety key in the future, in case another calamity like the one that shook all of Creation when they battled Chaos were to happen again. A safety key that could unlock all their latent powers at once. But one they were confident would never grow arrogant and want to rule over them.”Atropos spread her hands open.“As you likely know, the default state of divine soul cores is that of dormancy, especially for the strongest among us. If we were to go about with our abilities on full display all the time, we would damage the realms.” A gentle smile curved her lips. “You may have lost yourself in that moment of rage in the Nether, Icarus, but, deep down inside, you recognized the danger your powers posed to everyone and you curbed your own soul core.Thatis the true nature of an Awakener. Someone who is not only powerful, but kindness and mercy itself.”

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