Page 47 of Lost and Stolen Gods
“Your mortal world inventions make you lazy.” He took the pan off the heat and dumped the mushy rice into a large bowl. “I’m sure we can make something out of it later.” He washed the pan and set it back on the counter. “Now this is how you make rice.”
He proceeded to show me how to clean the rice and how much water to add, then waited with me while it cooked.
He was patient and kind, and why the fuck hadn’t I been paired with him?
My cheeks felt too hot and my eyes stung because it was obvious that he felt sorry for me. They all did. I’d seen the looks I’d been getting.
“He will come around,” Pashim said softly. “Just…give him time.”
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak because this situation, this whole being treated like shit by the one person who was supposed to be in my corner, being the odd one out, the outsider, was triggering the fuck out of me.
It took me to my childhood, to the classes where no one wanted to sit with me because Nani was a witch, then to the playground where kids called me namesbehind my back thinking I didn’t hear, then to my first crush Darren, who’d been…different. He’d said he loved me then turned on me in the most awful way when it mattered the most.
Granted no one here had said anything bad; in fact, they’d all gone out of their way to help me, but it was the pity that grated.
I hated that Araz was making people pity me.
“Leela?” Pashim lightly touched my arm.
I swallowed my thoughts and smiled up at him. “I’m fine. And thank you for helping, and for caring.”
He looked like he wanted to say more, but in the end, he simply nodded and turned back to the rice. “It’s done. Now watch how I drain it.”
The afternoon wasgray skies and storm clouds. We assembled in the arena once more, where Guru Mihir was waiting for us with Padmini. They wore their all-in-one uniforms of black and silver which Keyton had explained were the standard issue combat wear that every drohi, demigod, and god wore on the battlefield. The same colors so that the enemy wouldn’t be able to pick off the ascended gods from the demigods. I assumed we’d be upgraded once we finished our training either way.
Today, Guru Mihir’s wings were tucked away, but itdidn’t make him any less impressive. His inky black hair was pulled back in a long braid, accentuating his high cheekbones and sharp jawline. He towered over us, his magnetic presence keeping us focused as he spoke.
“A god must have many skills,” he said. “Their body must be honed for combat. Agility, reflexes, perception, strength, speed, wit, and cunning, you must have it all, and you must be able to employ them together, shifting from one skill to another with fluidity. On the battlefield, your body will be your most powerful weapon, and so it must be as sharp as the edge of a blade and as tough as the steel that forms it.
“Today you will view the test that if passed, will allow you to undertake the first official pareekshan.”
He led us across the arena, under the awning and through a set of doors we hadn’t been through yet. They opened onto the other side of the complex and led onto a second platform overlooking a second arena, twice the size of the first. But it was more than an arena; it was a fucking obstacle course.
I’d watched TV shows about this shit back home. Of people wearing jumpsuits and running, jumping, and climbing to a timer. But on those shows, everything was covered in foam padding. But this…This was rough wood and spikes, spokes and swinging blades. It was decapitation central, and there were demigods running across the damn thing. Oh god, was that a chasm?
My stomach attempted to turn itself inside out.
“This is the gauntlet,” Guru Mihir said. “You will complete it to qualify for the first pareekshan. The ankh will grade you, and the potentials with the most points will take the first official test.”
“Wait, you want us to do…that?” Priti pointed at the swinging blades that could easily slice a person in two.
“Yes. Eventually. But you will be practicing on a dummy course.” He led us across the platform that arched over a wall bisecting the space below us to another area of land housing an almost identical course, but on this one, the blades were made of wood. They’d knock you out but not cut you in two. And the chasm was a pit filled with wood shavings not lethal spikes.
“Starting tomorrow, you will practice here every day,” Guru Mihir said. “You will master the course with the help of your drohi, and in three weeks, you will run the real gauntlet.”
“Has anyone…died?” Sylvie asked.
“Not in a long time,” Padmini said. “It is your choice whether to complete the course or not. You can stop at any point.”
But if we stopped, we would fail…that much was obvious.
“I’m not sure I want to ascendthatbadly,” Joe muttered.
“If you don’t ascend, then you’ll be fighting thoserevenant things without god power,” Eve said. “Might as well die now.”
She had a point.
“Other demigods do it,” Joe said.
