Page 43 of When Monsters Fight
“I went back again and again to help them adapt. To help them find new ways to live, and in the process, I slowly fell in love with Lorcan. It soon became clear to me that Zeus had created this world as a twisted joke. That it wasn’t meant to last long, but I wanted to protect it. I knew that Zeus could bar me from visiting Lorcan’s world at any time. Knew that she had the power to keep me from him. I needed to ensure their safety if I could not return. And so, I did the only thing I could—I stole fire from Olympus.”
“What do you mean youstolefire?” Kabiel asked.
“Hephaestus, the god of fire and flame, was a friend of mine, and so I went to him for help. He tried to convince me not to meddle, but I would not be swayed, and so he gave me an ember which would change Lorcan’s world, and I, in turn, gave it to them. To their world. When Zeus discovered the truth, I hid Hephaestes’s part in it and told her I’d stolen the ember. I thought I’d be punished for it by being grounded to Olympus, but I’d underestimated her obsession with me. She’d been spying on me. She knew about Lorcan. She’d wanted to see how far I’d fall to betray her, and she had a punishment prepared. One where we would forever be together and yet doomed to hurt one another.”
The bridge? “Your punishment was to guard the chasm and be mutilated?”
“Yes,” Prometheus said. “Lorcan would become an eagle and rip out my heart every day. And every night I would crush his skull between my hands. We were compelled torepeat the cycle and did so for millennia. Zeus would visit at first, to watch and revel in our pain, but after a while, she seemed to forget about us. But Thanatos would come visit often, and one day he said it was time to set us free. He broke whatever curse Zeus had placed on us and created a pocket of freedom for us here.”
“Zeus was furious when she found out,” Lorcan said with wide eyes. “She tried to curse us again but failed. Whatever Thanatos did protected us. But she was able to bar him from her circle. We haven’t seen him since.” He sat forward in his seat. “Did you go through the seventh circle? Did you see him?”
My heart sank. “We did. He helped us, and he…he was killed.”
Prometheus let out a bark of laughter. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t laugh at your ignorance. Thanatos cannot be killed. None of the gods can. We are eternal. You saw the destruction of the vessel housing him, nothing more. He has not ceased to exist, and maybe you will see him one day again.”
“That makes more sense,” Gabriel said. “But what I don’t understand is why Thanatos waited so long to free you.”
“There are rules among the gods,” Prometheus said. “Boundaries. Thanatos was merely adhering to them. He did what he could when the time was right.”
“And what about us?” Kabiel asked. “How did you know to expect us? Thanatos? No. He was surprised to see us, and his vessel was destroyed on our way here so…who told you?”
“My brother Apollo came to visit us soon after we were freed from Zeus’s control. He told me that we’d have visitors and that we should help them, that our world depended on it.”
“How do you know he was talking about us?”
He looked right at me. “He showed me your face. Told me to trust it. I know you mean to cross the fifth circle, but unless you can swim for days or have the ability to breathe beneath the waters, you won’t survive, and so we built you a vessel.”
“A boat,” Lorcan said, almost wistful. “It’s magnificent, and it will get you to the gate that leads to the inner circles.”
“Do you know where the gate is?” Jilyana asked.
“No, for that you will need to speak to the Gehennans who occupy the waters. You can lure them to the surface with blood.”
“Blood?”
“They are carnivorous beings, so beware,” Prometheus added. “Apollo told us that much. The rest…the rest is up to you.”
“Come, we’ll take you to it now,” Lorcan said.
Prometheus chuckled indulgently. “Slow down, my sweet. They may wish to rest a little before they continue their journey.”
I’d rested enough. The sooner we completed our quest, the better. “We’re ready to go now.”
“Then come.” Prometheus led the way out of the cabin and into the afternoon light.
We took a pleasant trail through the forest with the sounds of nature around us and the smell of spring on the air. I’d taken my furs off in the cabin, and it was warm enough out here not to need them. Their pocket of existence was beautiful. Thanatos’s doing. I was glad the god wasn’t dead. That he continued to exist…somewhere.
The forest thinned, the trees growing sparser, and a shimmer bloomed in the distance.
“We’re approaching the edge of our land,” Lorcan said. “But look…look at what we built.”
The boat came into view, a magnificent wooden structure larger than I would have expected with a mast and a sail and… “Does anyone here know how to drive one of these things?”
“Sail,” Kabiel said with a chuckle. “You do not drive a boat, you sail it, and yes, I spent some time on the seas in one of my sojourns on earth.”
His nostalgic tone hinted at stories to be told, and I promised the nosy bitch inside me that we’d find out one day.
“We had plenty of time to work on it,” Prometheus said. “In fact, it’s been a labor of love.” He put his arm around Lorcan, and they both looked up at the boat as if it was their child.
