Page 76 of Harbinger

Morgan’s heart thumped heavily in his chest. He and Cassius traded a surprised glance.

Orena’s eyes rounded. “You will?!”

“Is this because of what Icarus told us Elios did when he captured you?” Tisiphone asked, equally shocked.

“The God of Darkness interfered in our domain and killed hundreds of our brethren,”the Reaper God stated in a tone that would brook no argument.“We cannot remain impartial under those circumstances, regardless of the rules that govern our interactions with the living.”

Atropos studied him for a timeless moment before dipping her chin gracefully. “We appreciate the offer, Temir. Though it goes against the edict given to your kind by those that are supposed to govern us, I see no need to follow their decree when they have done nothing to stop Elios. We could use all the help we can get.”

The Reaper God positively beamed while keeping a somber face.

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A sound disturbedthe ever-living darkness filling the Goddess’s mind. She ignored it, certain it would fade to nothingness, like everything else around her always did.

The sound came again. It was a woman’s scream.

Her tortured cry jolted something inside the Goddess. Something she could barely recall. She frowned faintly where she stood chained to a dark boulder, barely aware of the shackles drinking her blood and the divine power that flowed through her veins.

Divine…power?

The thought fluttered through her consciousness, causing her frown to deepen. She did not know what it meant. But…she used to. Once upon a time.

The notion was rapidly swallowed by the wicked susurrations the chains made as they sank into her flesh and the numbness clouding her skull.

The Goddess blinked when the woman’s scream came again. Her cry rose to a wail of pure agony. Something sparked within the Goddess’s belly at the woman’s suffering.

Something hot and bright and full of rage.

It caused a memory to drift through her mind for an infinitesimal moment.

Clo…tho?

The Goddess swallowed heavily. She clenched her jaw, lifted her head, and forced herself to scan her surroundings.

There were others bound to boulders around her. Women in tattered, golden dresses. Their faces swam in and out of view through the clouds of sulfur spouting from the jagged, lava-spitting crevasses carving red scars across the desolate crater she found herself in.

The women looked familiar, somehow.

One had been laid spread-eagled upon her prison of stone.

Giant, winged figures with bodies wreathed in shadows and crimson eyes were crushing her legs with stone maces. Bone and gristle poked out from the woman’s shattered limbs before her flesh healed over, only to be split apart again and again by the weapons that smashed down upon her unblemished skin.

It was a cruel cycle, one meant to torment her into madness.

“CLOTHO!” someone bellowed.

The Goddess’s gaze found the figure who was straining against her chains. Silver tears dripped down the stranger’s filthy face. Fury burned in her eyes as she glared at the dark entity hovering before her, the inky lines throbbing under her skin radiating from an ugly seed embedded within her chest.

“Tell me what I need to know and I will make the Nephilim stop,” the being hissed.

He held a blade of black currents that roared as it tried to escape his hold.

“Go to Hell, Elios!” the woman spat in his face.

The black cloak around the floating figure writhed agitatedly. He swelled in size.

That was when the Goddess realized he was made of darkness itself.

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