Page 68 of Crimson Skies

Morgan shot a troubled frown at him over his shoulder, like he’d read his mind.

Cassius closed his eyes to shut out his beautiful turquoise stare and tapped into the incredible legacy that had lived inside him for as long as he’d borne the title of Awakener.

Fire engulfed his core and spilled into his bloodstream when he lifted the lid on his true nature, an untamable force that only he could contain. He clenched his jaw and let it build until it filled him to the brim.

The sound that filled the battlefield when he finally let it loose resonated across the Earth and was heard through all the realms.

Divine energy exploded from his body, ripping the shadowy mantle shrouding the firmament apart and drenching the landscape in a blinding light that made Elios and his troops squint and the war demons and ghouls among them screech in pain.

Cassius’s bones rattled with the strength of the Awakener. It pulsed from him with every beat of his roused heart, brightening the air with waves of pure celestial power, an invincible force gifted to him by the Gods of Old.

A command fell from his lips. One that could not be defied by any of the deities he directed it at.

“AWAKEN.”

Light swallowed the Hesperides and Ladon. The dragon shuddered as his scales shifted from obsidian to a gold that matched the fresh, bright beams of his mothers’ eyes. Seraphic brilliance engulfed Thetis and her sisters, wrapping them in a glow reflected in their new tridents. The battle-axe that appeared in Daphne’s hands dwarfed her frame even as a delicate chainmail weaved itself over her translucent wings and around her willowy body. Shoots and vines sprouted on Kalliste, a living shield stronger than Stark Steel and brimming with the power of the Goddess whose blood flowed through her veins. The essence of Nature distorted the air around Myrdin as his crown morphed into a thick wreath of gold and silver flowers.

Pyri arched on a silent scream, the inferno tearing through his godly core so fierce his flames looked like they would scorch the Hells themselves. Divine magic swamped Hecate, turning her eyes to limpid pools where endless galaxies swam while her hounds and snakes nearly doubled in size. Styx and Acheron sucked in air as their currents brightened to crystal streams that glittered with the life force of Heaven.

Pan threw his head back and bellowed, his horns thickening and extending into deadly, curved projections tipped with a dazzling, gold light. The power of Spring set Demetrius’s eyes ablaze and swamped his slender form in a viridescent battle suit. Ice crystals sparked through the atmosphere as Boreas assumed his ultimate manifestation, the armor of ice that covered him from the neck down reflecting the sun until he resembled a blazing star, the Frost Crown equally luminous where it sat upon his head.

Cassius’s pulse thrummed as the world of man trembled with the powers of the newly roused Gods. His breath caught in the next instant.

Something had just sparked, deep inside him.

His belly clenched when he caught his first glimpse of what Hyperion had revealed to him.

A vivid haze saturated the sky above San Francisco and rid it of the corruption tainting it before he could fully make out the secret hidden within his core. The iridescent aura flaring around Atropos and her sisters warmed his skin and cast a heavenly glow upon them all as they revealed their awakened forms.

Elios pointed a blade made of his siblings’ flesh at Cassius, his face a mask of pure fury. “KILL HIM! KILL THEM ALL!”

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The dark God’sroar was drowned out by the battle cries that filled the sky, the sea, and the city below as Atropos and Cassius led the charge toward the enemy forces.

Theo’s heart thumped heavily. He watched the two armies collide in a violent clash of weapons, magic, and sheer brute strength from where he floated high above San Francisco with the Reaper God and Loki. The Book of Rain glowed in his left hand, the ornate filigree of gold and silver encasing the tome warming his fingers as it reacted to Rohengar’s soul and bloodline. The Spear of Light resonated with the artifact where it hummed in his right hand.

The Reaper God narrowed his eyes at the battlefield below. “Now, South Star.”

Loki unleashed the Eternity Key and shifted into his Gargantua form before taking up a defensive position at Theo’s back. The God of Death’s scythe glinted menacingly as he assumed the same stance in front of him.

Theo took a shallow breath and focused on the divine energy that lived within him, knowing they would defend him come what may while he focused on his precious task.

Rohengar’s presence soared inside his heart as heat flooded his veins, bringing with it the balmy scent of summer. The voice of the first prince of Rain Vale echoed through Theo’s mind, sweet and strong and so achingly familiar he wondered how he’d lived without him for so long.

Together, Theophile…

Theo gasped and arched as their awakened core went supernova, drenching him in a power so pure and formidable it rattled his teeth and shook his bones. The Spear of Light thickened and extended in his grip, the weapon pulsing fiercely with the most blinding radiance.

Seraphic beams blasted from his eyes when he lifted it above his head. “SHIELD!”

A sea of brightness boomed from the Book of Rain at his command. Theo hung on grimly to the artifact while it vibrated violently in his grip, its divine essence merging seamlessly with the Spear of Light.

Dazzling columns hundreds of miles wide burst into existence at Earth’s cardinal points. A translucent veil started to form across the planet.

Theo’s heart slammed against his ribs as he searched the distant ground with his preternatural powers. He found Earth’s nexus where he’d sensed it during his training with Cassius and Kalliste, deep within the marrow of the planet.

A shiver raced down his spine as he contemplated the living stream of magic that had sustained mankind’s world for as long as it had existed. He was about to do something that had only ever been done once before, by a Goddess much stronger than him.

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