Page 40 of Tears of Tungsten
I didn’t know to what extent she could understand me. She seemed to believe I was a hallucination or a ghost, because she apologized for having let me die.
She deserved better. She deserved to have a good, kind man who could treasure her and give her a warm, loving home.
I wasn’t a good man. Even as I took her in my arms and reassured her, I knew that what would soon happen would be another shock and something she wouldn’t deal with very well. But I was selfish enough to want her anyway.
And so, I kissed her.
The kiss of a Heliad wasn’t a simple lip-lock. It was a brand, the first step in a more elaborate process that would allow us to claim our chosen partners. We burned bright, like stars, and our kisses stoked that fire.
Selene went limp in my arms, overwhelmed by the power she could no longer control. I broke away from her and sent out a prayer to the deity I served. “Helios, if you can hear me, if you think this is just, help us. Help me claim my mate. Take us away from this place.”
Helios didn’t disappoint. Terra might be Gaia’s domain. Tartarus might act as the planet’s protector. But at the end of the day, there was nothing Helios couldn’t reach.
As Helios’s power erupted through me, every atom in my body dissolved. I could have shut down my nerve endings, protected my mind from the unavoidable pain I experienced. Instead, I threw a shield around Selene, protecting her from the energies she was unfamiliar with.
She might know how to manipulate tachyon particles but the emissions that came from Helios weren’t like those that came from Tartarus. They had a different frequency, one that could vaporize anything and anyone, no matter how powerful they were. But I’d been given a gift when I’d discarded my humanity. I’d embraced the power of the Heliads, and it was that power that protected her, even if she wasn’t capable of doing it herself.
Our bodies dissipated under the onslaught of photons, just like mine had at the tournament. Our flesh became dust, but our blood turned into light particles. A powerful force tugged at me, sucking me forward, dragging me home.
The Apsid Quasar was millions of light years away from Terra. I could have never reached it on my own, even through the powers of Helios. But I wasn’t alone, and the Great Mother’s Helix channeled these energies in ways I never could.
When I opened my eyes again, I found myself completely naked, lying on the throne room floor. As always, the Great Mother was there and her light enveloped us like a physical embrace. “I see you’ve procured your female. Congratulations, Jar’yd.”
“I admit I didn’t do much,” I said as I struggled to stand. It was a bit of a challenge, since my body was still reforming, and I had to pick up the still unconscious Selene. In the end, I decided to stay on the floor a little while longer, since I doubted the Great Mother would care either way.“She more or less came to me.”
The Great Mother hummed thoughtfully, and the energies around her whispered a song of curiosity and intrigue. “Some things are just meant to happen, I think. But you had the right idea, anyway, Jar’yd. Following the footsteps of your ancestors was what guided you to her. You might not have known that The Grand Judiciary would attack that settlement, but if you hadn’t been there, Selene Renard would have doubtlessly perished.”
I should have been proud at the realization, but instead, I was furious. Originally, I hadn’t felt I deserved to go to Terra, to try to take Selene for myself. If not for the Great Mother’s encouragement, I wouldn’t have been there at all. Selene could have easily died at the hands of her own lovers.
“How could they do this?” I hissed. “Don’t they love her?”
“They do, in their own way,” the Great Mother replied. “And they want to protect her. But sometimes, that kind of love is not enough. It’s just as poisonous as Typhon’s venom.
“I believe that, in her heart, your female already understood the situation she was in. People don’t change overnight. I don’t know much about relationships between humans, but any respect they might have been able to give her would be limited. To top things off, she’s stronger than they are, and it’s not a situation a human male is prepared to accept.
“The Helix has shown me many things, Jar’yd. The Grand Judiciary is trying to usurp the gods, and that won’t end well, for anyone. Now that you have your female, the best thing to do would be to distance yourself, at least for a little while.”
I stared at her in surprise. “But Great Mother, the mission… You said we had to make the Terrans pay for everything they did.”
“And I haven’t’ forgotten about that, Jar’yd. But as much as I revel in the heat, vengeance is a dish best served cold. The Terrans will destroy themselves if we’re patient, just like they did centuries ago. When that happens, there will be no convenient god or metallic monsters willing to give them a last chance. There will be no more compromises, deals, and undeserved gifts. We’ll step in, as we always should have, and we’ll take that world for ourselves.”
For the first time since my arrival, the light around her dimmed a little and I could catch a better glimpse of her. Her eyes held more warmth and kindness than Gaia’s embrace did. “It will be a world that will protect your children, Jar’yd, the children of our whole nation. Never again will we be taken advantage of and turned into fuel. Never again will we suffer at the hands of faithless men. Terra will be razed to the ground for the crimes of The Grand Judiciary, but it will be reborn from its own ashes—for you, for all of us.”
She glided up to us and knelt by our side. For a few seconds, her hand hovered over Selene’s cheek. Selene twitched, but didn’t stir. “This woman will be important,” the Great Mother finished. “So take her and breed her. Make her yours. Show her the truth of where she belongs. Burn away all the connections she has to her past. She belongs to you now.”
The Great Mother’s light traveled over Selene’s body and her abdomen started to glow. My heart did a funny flip when I realized what my leader had just done. The substance The Grand Judiciary used to make Terran women sterile had just been burnt out of Selene’s body.
It was so easy to imagine her swelling with my child, her flesh eagerly parting to receive my cock. Helios help me, she was so beautiful. Until now, I’d held back because I was still in the Great Mother’s presence, but it was getting harder and harder to not indulge myself in touching and caressing all the naked skin within my reach.
As convenient as photon transportation could be, it sucked that we always ended up naked whenever we used it. I’d gotten over my shyness a long time ago, but today, Selene was in the same situation. I had a great view of her beautiful, full breasts, her flawless skin, her rosy nipples, her taut abdomen and her bare pussy.
I tried not to let my desires get to me. It didn’t work and my ruler let out a sharp chuckle when she noticed the very visible effect those thoughts had on me. “Go, Jar’yd. You’re dismissed. Come back to see me when you’ve succeeded in impregnating your chosen mate.”
“Yes, Great Mother,” I replied, getting up at last.
My weakness had completely disappeared, and the only thing it had left behind was determination. Holding Selene in my arms, I turned away from the Great Mother and left her chamber. Convincing Selene to become a Heliad would be a challenge, but I could do it. And once I succeeded, I’d finally have the family I’d always wanted, a real life better than the one I’d been robbed of when I’d died—when The Grand Judiciary had killed me.
* * *
