Darkness and Hellfire

Chapter 33 Realm Of The Gods

“You alive in there?” Isaac questioned Macken who was lounging in his cell. Isaac and Lenna had just left the Arbencroft's and had decided to tell Macken about their engagement right away, well, Lenna decided that she didn’t want to wait until the following day.

Macken sat up and squinted his eyes against the glowing stone light. “Last I checked.” Macken replied.

“Macken,” Lenna began. “there is something I wanted to tell you, sooner rather than later. Isaac and I are getting married.”

Much to Lenna and Isaac’s surprise, Macken didn’t immediately fire back with something. Instead, he took a moment to think first. “I see.” He replied. “I’m sorry but you won’t be getting a wedding gift from me. All of my assets are a bit out of reach at the moment.”

Lenna shook her head. “That’s not why I wanted to tell you.” She told him with a chuckle. “You are an ass, ignorant and abrasive, but you are as close to family as I have ever had. I would like it if you would be there for me, along with Aunt Jala and her mate, Fen L’Vore.”

Macken leaned in towards her and his face took on a contemplative expression. “You know that I still don’t like that you mated with a human.” He told her. Lenna scowled at him. “But as far as human’s go, that one has my respect.” He nodded as if to cement his words in his mind. “What do I have to do to be there for you?”

Isaac was leaning against the cell facing away from Macken so neither his mate or the prisoner could see his face. That was a good thing as far as he was concerned because he couldn’t keep the warm smile from his face. Isaac had a lot of conflicting feelings when it came to Macken and most of them weren’t good. At that moment, however, Isaac was just glad that Lenna had a friend that she could rely on. There was no telling whether or not they would go through with Lenna’s plan to bind their strands of fate together. If they didn’t, then Lenna would be alone for a few centuries, well, if Isaac wasn’t actually a demigod anyway. Jala and Fen wouldn’t live forever either and there was a larger gap in age between Jala and Lenna then there was between Lenna and a newborn child. There would one day come a time when the only people Isaac knew that would still be alive would be Lenna, Macken, Aria, and Wo Lu.

Lenna smiled at Macken. “Do whatever you need to in order to get Sir Michael to let you move freely.” She told him.

“That’ll be hard as long as he is still sworn to serve your ancestors.” Isaac chimed in. “I’m not saying that it is impossible but I wouldn’t let him out of the cell if I were Michael.”

Lenna nodded. “That makes sense.” She agreed. “But like Isaac said, it might still be possible without breaking your oath. I can tell you from experience that it is not a pleasant time.”

Macken nodded. “Lenna, promise me one thing, would you?”

“What is it?” Lenna asked.

“Don’t let Fable die of old age.” He told her and took a deep breath.

Lenna’s brows furrowed at him. “I wasn’t planning on it but why-” Lenna recoiled as the force of a thousand angry souls slammed into her. Her aura was held just inside her body in order to keep from frightening people unnecessarily and the wave of power hit it like a falling star. Lenna was shoved a few feet back and almost lost her balance from the impact. Her eyes went wide as she saw midnight black chains start pouring out of his chest.

Isaac whirled around to see what had happened and he was in shock. The guard behind him fell on his ass. “Go get a cleric! Now!” Isaac ordered the guard who scrambled away to do as he was told. The fact that the man didn’t entirely lock up was proof of his combat experience and proper training. What Isaac saw gave even him a sense of powerlessness.

Macken had collapsed onto his cot as over a dozen midnight black chains poured out of his chest and wrapped around his body, constricting him like a knot of snakes. Moonlight shone through the ceiling of the cell and a violet and silver silhouette was hovering over him. The silhouette was grabbing the chains and breaking them with their hands one at a time. “Lua! Please save him!” Lenna called out to her goddess.

“I am trying, child, though his odds are not good.” Lua, the violet and silver silhouette, replied. “It would have been better if he had waited another week.”

“YOU DARE!” A male voice shook the very air as another presence appeared. The chains coming out of Macken’s chest contorted until they became a stream of small black spiders that followed the same path. The main difference was that they were not breaking when Lua grabbed them. Instead she was only pulling away a few spiders at a time that were quickly replaced. “I WARNED YOU ABOUT TOUCHING WHAT IS MINE!”

“Stop being such a bastard.” Lua spat back and held her hands out with her palms facing each other. “The ones that leave you are mine. Stop being greedy.” Moonlight gathered between her hands as she focused. With every passing moment Macken’s body was getting twisted and contorted at harsher angles and with more pressure. Lua focused the light towards Macken and it burned away the spiders en masse.

“IF MY BROTHER CANNOT STOP ME THEN WHY DO YOU THINK YOU CAN?!” The voice continued. Suddenly a dark purple haze appeared in the rough shape of a drider. It reached out and planted its hand on Macken’s chest.

“Stop it!” Lua called out. “You’ll crush his soul! He’ll never reincarnate!”

“Your choice. Let me take him or doom his soul.” The male drider spoke calmly.

“He is mine. You lost your claim over him already.” Lua countered.

“Not yet.” The drider spoke and then grabbed onto something. Macken’s body seized.

“This debt will gather interest until the day I come to collect, I swear it.” Lua spoke in a voice that was so chillingly calm that frost formed across the bottom of the cell. Macken’s body went limp.

“You dare threaten me?” The half-spider half-elf god bristled. “You are still an insolent child.” The dark haze that he was made of started to fade.

Lua continued to glare daggers at him until at last he was gone. Lenna finally started to breathe again. “Wa-was that Dri’El?” Lenna questioned both herself and her goddess. It was at that moment that the guard returned with a mid level cleric.

“Yes.” Lua spoke. The guard and cleric dropped to their knees. The cleric glanced up just enough to see Macken’s contorted body. “I am sorry, child, there has been another casualty in our conflict.” She sighed and her form started to fade. “I could not try any harder lest your friend’s soul be torn asunder. If you ever find yourself in a position like this again, make sure they wait until the full moon to make any drastic decisions.”

Lenna nodded almost absently. “I will.” Lenna whispered. Lua blanketed the area in a melancholic but comforting warmth before she faded away completely.

Isaac was still trying to process everything they had just witnessed but he knew that Lenna needed him so he moved to her side. Isaac wrapped his arm around Lenna and she slowly turned into his embrace. Tears were streaming down her face as Isaac wrapped his other arm around her as well and squeezed her tight. “I’m sorry.” He told her quietly as all sorts of commotion started going on around them. Soon Michael was there and after that a higher level cleric. Lenna stared blankly at Macken’s corpse as the higher level cleric performed a ritual to try and contact the soul of the recently departed. A short while later the cleric shook his head with a frown.

Lenna only passively picked up on what the man said but Isaac could hear it clearly. “His soul is there but I am being blocked. I’m sorry.” He told Michael who had brought him there.

Michael nodded and rested his hand on the cleric’s shoulder. “Do you think a pope could do it?” He asked the cleric.

The cleric shook his head. “No. It is in the realm of the gods now. This man is not important enough for them to trade favors over.” He explained.

Michael nodded in understanding and turned away from the man before he approached Isaac and Lenna. “I heard.” Isaac told him. “Thanks for trying.”

Michael nodded with a frown. “What exactly happened?” He asked Isaac. “If you need some time I understand, but I would like to know what and how this happened.” Michael questioned and Isaac gave him a very abbreviated version of the events before he moved to leave with Lenna. “What should I do with his body?” Michael asked Isaac and Lenna before they could leave.

“Take it to Jala.” Lenna whispered. “Take it to Jala.” She repeated a bit louder. “Isaac, I want to see my aunt.”