Page 2 of Dark Reckoning
“I’ll ask again,” Kakashi said, breaking the silence. “Do you know what happened the last time a Dark God breached this plane?”
Sage huffed but shook his head.
“No, what happened?” I asked.
“His poison had spread across half of the content of Europe and Asia. The more heinous acts people committed, the more powerful he became. People died at alarming rates; humanity wouldn’t have survived the month of his rising. This was over seventeen hundred years ago. Humanity had almost eliminated itself as the Dark God, Sana Doré, fed off the misery his influence had created. Eventually, he would have gained enough power to open a portal to hell and bring forth his army, to make his home on this plane.”
“How did he come into this world?” I asked.
“Was it because a contract was broken?” Sage asked. I could tell he was calmer now and so was I.
“There are other ways a Dark God or Goddess can breach the veil,” the French mage said. “It has happened only twice before. The first time was how shifters were made—all shifters—and it was at the hands of a human who had sacrificed an entire village of men, women, and children as an offering to the Dark God to grant him the wonders and powers of a god.”
The other mages were quiet as the French mage spoke, even Kakashi was poised in his regal position as we all listened.
“At that time, many eons ago, it was a Goddess who answered. The Dark Goddess Ka’ Tel El-Savue, and when she came into this world, she created beasts out of the animals here. Those beasts, who could walk on two legs as well as four, began to ravage the land, killing, raping, and feeding off of the humans. It took the sacrifice of the Council to be able to send her back. The beasts remained and over time, the new Echelon Imperial was able to kill those beasts, but what had been left behind were the females they'd impregnated. That is how shifters were born. The new Echelon Imperial allowed to them live because they had their humanity.” The French mage steadied his stone gaze on Sage. “So, you see, your kind lives by the grace of the Council. You should show some respect.”
Sage huffed. “Were any of you on that Council?”
They all remained silent.
Sage smirked. 'Yeah, that's what I thought. Shut the fuck up.”
The blonde fairy-looking mage scoffed. “The arrogance of that one. As if we don't have the power to—”
“Let us not waste time with threats,” Kakashi said, cutting her off with a raise of his hand. He looked at Sage and me. “The second time this event happened, it was a Dark God. There was a time when griezels were truly invulnerable and extremely dangerous because they could not be killed, only contained by magical means, as no cell that long ago could have held one captive.”
“Not even destroying their hearts or brains could kill them,” added the red-headed female.
“The human who made that pact had made an ironclad one,” said the Somalian mage.
“All of that changed when the original griezel who made the bargain found a way to sever the ties by using a spell in hopes of ending his own life and thus the life of every griezel in existence,” Kakashi said, taking over. “He did die, but his death opened the door for the Dark God, Sana Doré, to come. Also, griezels didn't die, because they were bound to Doré, not the original griezel the way vampires were bound to their emperors. And the Dark God still needed them to do his bidding. However, they did become vulnerable. That is why now you can kill them by destroying their hearts and brains.”
Hearing that had me very concerned. “How did you stop him? The Council back then, I mean,” I asked.
“I'm glad you're taking this seriously now,” Kakashi said. “Before I answer that, are we all on the same page that our petty squabbles pale in comparison to what we must do? Of what lies before us?” He looked at Sage, then at the other mages, who were showing their asses, in my opinion.
“You're right,” admitted the chestnut-haired, French mage.
“I just want to make sure that when Adrian and I bind ourselves to you that we aren't getting played. What will happen to our powers? And furthermore, is this some sort of leash you're trying to put around us and our abilities? I think the question is fair to ask if you want our trust. For fuck's sake, the other five of you haven't even bothered to introduce yourselves. What we want from you is the barest minimum,” Sage said, and I agreed with him.
Kakashi nodded. “And you're right. Let us rectify that.” He looked at the male mage at one end of the curved table and motioned for him to go first.
The Somalian mage sighed, then nodded. “My name is Xirsi Ali, and I'm older than I look,” he said.
“How old? Like centuries?” I asked.
He shook his head. “The oldest mage here is Kakashi and he is a little over a century old. But mages don't live forever. With magic, we can prolong our lives, but that is it.”
Both Sage and I looked at Kakashi and my mouth slightly dropped, because he looked no older than thirty-five at the most. And yet, he was over a hundred years old. I was impressed.
“You claim you're immortal, do you even know if that's true?” asked the red-haired woman.
“And your name?” I asked. My eyebrows raised inquisitively.
“Kyla MacKenny,” she replied. “Have you performed any test to verify your immortal status?”
I shook my head because we really hadn't had time to do anything like that. I'd just discovered I'd need Salino's blood to survive only a few hours ago. I really didn't know much about what had happened to me or how much I'd truly changed. “No. I discovered that I can heal very fast and that I need to drink Salino's blood today. And I did say that I might be immortal. I don't really know.” I heard Sage cough as if it was his way of telling me to not reveal too much. I shook my head at him. “No, Sage, they need to know. If we hold something back, then during the binding process, something may go wrong.”
