Killer Queen

“Charlie,” His voice was different.

Stagger Lee had a lot of tones when he spoke to me. Most of them were related to my nature of being a hard one to deal with. But this one was different.

It made me look at him.

“I think you should...”

“Yeah,” I nodded. I knew what he wanted to say.

I felt him reach out and take my hand. We stood on that elevator waiting for the ground floor, the thin material of each of our gloves holding our skin apart. He interlaced his fingers with mine.

“She’s dead,” I whispered.

Neither of us said anything then. We listened to the sound of the elevator trundling downward. We heard the sound of each other breathing.

I could feel his eyes on me but I didn’t look back. He closed his other hand over mine and rubbed at my fingers, his touch gentle and reassuring.

When the elevator came to a stop and the doors rolled open, I pulled my hand away from his, marching out onto the pink marble floors. I heard my steps but I didn’t hear his. I stopped and turned back to look at him. He was standing in the elevator looking at me with those hazel eyes.

I couldn’t take it.

“Goddamnit.” I looked away, “Stop looking at me like that, Stagger.”

“I don’t know how to look at you any other way.”

“Look,” I glanced back at him for a second then looked down at the pink floor. One of my hands came up to brush my hair aside before I rested my fingertips on my forehead. “Just... I need to know for sure.”

He stepped out of the elevator and came to me. I lifted a hand to stop him, pressing it to his chest. He lifted my chin with a curled finger and I looked him in the eyes.

“Know what for sure?”

“If she’s really gone,” I said and he nodded.

“I understand,” His thumb brushed my bottom lip.

“Let’s just get through this. After that... I’m done fightin’ you.” I said, and he took a deep breath. I could hear frustration disappear with that sigh. I felt his muscles relax under my fingertips

“That’s all it takes to make you feel better?” I asked.

He just smiled at me.

I shook my head and started heading down that pink hall.

My skin felt hot. I felt goosebumps all over. I lifted both of my hands to my face and rubbed my cheeks.

If this is what feeling special to someone was like, I was completely out of my depth. I wasn’t prepared for the way Stagger made me feel.

If I wasn’t so worried about my sister I might even have giggled.

I turned around and walked backward so I could look at him as he followed behind.

“I just thought about somethin’,” I said and he lifted an eyebrow.

“What’s that, Charlotte?”

Hearing him use my whole name gave me such a buzz.

“If Orcus kills us... we won’t get a tomorrow.”

“Yeah. That’s a possibility.” Stagger replied, his arms swinging at his sides, sauntering like a hero out of the old west like he did.

“Kay,” I said, “Sooo... ask me anything.”

I kept walking backward through the empty halls of the Bacchus Theater. Our fight had sent the patronage of the establishment running for their lives. The casino floor was empty, the dance floor was empty, the bar and the buffet were cleared out. The only people left were Stagger and I. Our footsteps echoed from those beautiful walls like the soundtrack to our lives.

“Alright,” he grinned, “What’s your favorite movie?”

“I like a lot of classics. I can’t afford cable, so I watch a lot of old movies on antenna, y’know? So really anything with James Cagney, Clark Gable. Especially Paul Newman.”

“Yeah? I didn’t expect that. Got a favorite though?”

“Two. The Long Hot Summer and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.”

“Paul Newman really is your guy, huh?”

“Yeah. He’s fuckin’ sexy as hell. To me, he’s immortal,” I smiled, sticking the tip of my tongue out.

“Cool. Favorite color.”

“Orange.”

“Orange? Really? It would be the color that rhymes with nothing. You rebel.”

I laughed.

“Shut up.”

“Never,” he gave a playful chortle. “Favorite food.”

“Donuts.”

“Donuts?!”

“Yep.”

“What do you weigh, like ninety-five, a hundred? How the hell does donuts work?”

“Ninety-two actually, and I usually don’t get a lot of choices when it comes to food. Most times it was whatever I could afford and still have enough left to get high.”

“Oh, hey. It’s cool. You don’t have to explain.”

“No, it’s good. I don’t mind. When you get court ordered AA as many times as I have, you learn to love what’s on the concession table. So... donuts. When it’s free, you’ve always got change left over to backslide.”

I forced a little laugh, but I could feel the weight of his stare.

“Ask me somethin’ else.”

“Can I kiss you?” I stopped.

“Um-... I,” my cheeks burned red, “Maybe.”

“Maybe?” He asked, moving in close to me.

“Uh-huh,” I felt his hands on my middle.

“I dunno what maybe means, Charlotte.” He looked me right in the eyes.

“How about later? I don’t want it to be a mistake,” I whispered, slipping out of his grip.

I started walking back again and he followed sighing playfully.

“Ask me somethin’ else,” I smiled back.

“First three things on your bucket list.”

“Umm.”

“Nope. Without thinking about it,” He urged me on with a wave of his hand, “Just go. Fast.”

“Fuck, okay, here we go.” I ticked things off on my fingers, “Learn how to cook, ride one of those Fat Bird things and...” My voice drifted off.

“What?” Stagger asked.

I looked back up at him.

“Learn how to be a better woman,” I turned around and sped up, walking

towards the doors at the end of the hall.

“Whoa, whoa, hey.” He said, catching up with me.

“New subject,” I said, turning to head through the player’s lounge and towards the doors at the back.

“I like this subject,”

I felt him grab my arm and I snatched away.

“Yeah, well I don’t. Alright? Just... Fuck.”

“What?”

“This is what I don’t want, alright? This. Everything- ... you,” I stopped, my hands flailing in front of me for a moment. “This! You just,” I turned to stare at him.

“You get in my head, Stagger. You make me think about things I don’t wanna think about. About shit I can’t have, okay? Every time. You do it every fuckin’ time. I don’t...” I pushed the heels of my hands against my head for a second and dropped them to my thighs. “I can’t defend myself against you.”

“You don’t have to,” He said, smiling.

“That’s what I’m talkin’ about. That right there.” I looked up at him. “You fuckin’ look at me and I just... tell you everything. You and that stupid smile.”

“Charlie.”

“No!” I shoved open the doors leading outside. “Just leave it alone, St-... Stag.” My voice flattened as I looked up.

“Alright, Charlie. Alright. I’ll just shut my mouth and stop talking to you. How about that? I’ll close my mouth and we’ll just never sp-...”

NEST Soldiers lined the courtyard between us and the tunnel. There had to be twenty or more.

“Alright, I’ve had just about enough of this shit,” Stagger ripped his black sword from nowhere. He rushed forward, that big black wing of his bursting out from his back.

My shield came off my back as I pushed my aching muscles to move once more. I ran at his side, pushing my shield onto my arm. He shoved me hard to the left as a blast from one of those heart fire bracelets slammed the ground between us. I hit the ground at a roll and bounced back up, pushing off of my feet into the air. I brought my shield up high, roaring as Stagger and I waded into the swarm.

Metal clashed, balls of energy rushed through the crowd. I slammed a blast aside and spun into two soldiers, bashing the sides of their helmets into one another with a hard swing. My hand followed, boring another to the ground with my Nemean glove. I ran forward and lifted my foot, shoving my boot into the chest of another, sending him careening back into the pack.

Stagger whirled around behind me, severing arms. His coat fanned out around him, that black blade whipping like a lightning strike, dropping bodies into two pieces. He turned, spinning his wing into another three. His sword whipped up and cut through a burning bolt of energy, sending it back at the soldier that fired it, blasting them off of their feet.

I saw three advancing on his back and buried them under a shove of my shield, spearing into them and rolling over their bodies just as Stagger turned, swinging his blade low, a flash of black and streams of red ending all three of them behind me.

I couldn’t help but remember our sessions on the valley wall. The two of us dancing our practiced dance, moving around one another, complimenting each other’s weaknesses like we knew them by heart. My shield clanked and gonged against armor. His blade tore through flesh and severed limbs.

My wing came free and propelled me forward, spinning in the air to cut the arm from a soldier. I landed, planting my feet, flexing every muscle in my body as my shield rammed into his chest, sending him rolling through the air.

I brought that shield up, deflecting a bolt of energy. It flew out wild to my right. Stagger, without missing a step, spun and batted it back at the sender with his sword, spinning right into another vicious slash, cutting a man down just as that bolt slammed the armor from the chest plate of the soldier that fired it.

My shield spun through the air and bashed that soldier to the ground, collapsing his unarmored chest, the impossible weight of the wolf metal dropping him and crushing his core.

We marched side by side down to meet the rest of the NEST platoon. I yanked my shield up from the body it sat atop and the rest of the swarm rushed up at us.

“Havin’ fun yet, Princess?” I asked, grinning.

“Oh, best first date ever,” Stag said, taking the lead.

We mowed them down like grass.

I brawled, he slashed. I growled like an animal, turning, spinning like a top as my wing and shield cut through flesh and rattled bone. My fist pummeled anything that came near me, that Nemean glove roaring at my side as the lion ate.

When the last man fell the two of us stood panting, staring at one another.

“Fuckin’ hard, isn’t it?” I said.

He laughed. “Bet you’re regretting those two packs a day now, huh?”

Righting himself, he sheathed his sword into the scabbard in his off hand, releasing it into his multi-tool.

“Every. Fuckin’. Second.”

I pulled my shield off of my arm and placed it onto my back. It held fast there and a moment later disappeared into my multi-tool as we jogged towards the tunnel of love. I couldn’t help but think back on all the times I’d forgotten to put my shield in my multi-tool. Or that I even could.

“I keep forgettin’ I can do that...”

“Do what?” Stagger asked.

“Nothin’.”

“If you say so.”

“Changed my mind. One more thing on my bucket list.”

“What’s that?”

“A lung transplant.”

Stagger burst into laughter.

“Let’s get inside before anything else happens. I gotta save some juice for Orcus.” Stag said as we made it to the dark pink carpet running between those gold torches outside of the tunnel.

We slowed our march, looking up at that big, gaudy entrance. It was a giant heart that sat half submerged in the ground, it’s center open to admit people inside. The tower that shot high into the air went up for probably twelve or more stories, but we weren’t going up.

“Every floor is dedicated to a new kind of debauchery. Starts out really tame at the bottom, but by the time you get to the top? That’s some fucked up shit you don’t wanna see.”

Stagger shook his head.

“Gross,” I said, curling my lip as we walked into the tower.

The floor was made up of gold and pink squares and as we stepped down onto them, our footsteps were amplified far beyond anything normal.

“What the fuck?” I took another soft step.

It boomed.

“Yeah,” Stag said.

The two of us made our way across that odd floor. We headed for the chained off path ahead, our footsteps booming away. Stagger led us to the tunnel ride entrance and I looked around, almost expecting NEST soldiers to come popping out on us at any minute. My hands were sore, nervousness was swirling about in my stomach as he unclipped the chain and we stepped off of that noisy flooring onto the concrete landing that led down to the water’s edge.

As we stepped into the darkness, Stagger grabbed my hand.

I wanted to pull away but I couldn’t. I laced my fingers with his and we walked along the path, following the curve in it down to that pinkish purple light that illuminated the dock.

Even from here I could see that the water wasn’t normal. It didn’t move like waves, it moved like odd, square fractals, catching the light and bouncing it off in strange ways. I stared at its hypnotic movement as we made our way down. I looked at how far the water seemed to stretch on. It reached into an unknowable horizon with a vague purple hue in a sky I couldn’t properly imagine.

It looked like dying light at the end of an endless tunnel.

“You have to be careful here.” Stagger said, “The water changes when the Bifrost is coming. The river Styx washes up into our world. Try not to look at it too long.”

Too late.

As we neared the dock with it’s pink and purple striped lamp post, I stared at that water.

I let Stagger’s hand go and kept walking.

The concrete path ended in deep, pinkish purple sand. My boots smashed down in it with every step as I walked to the purple wooden slats of the dock.

“Charlie.” He whispered, but I didn’t hear him.

“So pretty.” I said.

It wasn’t.

It was cold and lifeless.

The water moved like an unnatural thing. Like it didn’t belong. But I kept walking towards it. I moved to the very edge of the dock before I felt Stagger’s strong arms wrap around my middle and yank me off my feet.

“Alright. Okay. You’re right, the water is nice. Let’s let it be, okay?” He sat me down back on the purple sand shore by that little lamp post and turned me around to look at him.

“I like the water,” I said and he nodded at me.

“Yeah? I like the water too.” I tried to look at it again but he took my face in his hands.

“No, don’t look at it. Look at me.”

“Why? I wanna look at the water.”

“Just look at me, Charlie.” He said, his tone calm and reassuring. He reminded me of my daddy so much sometimes it was scary.

“O-... okay.” I nodded.

“You don’t wanna look at the water too much. It makes you want to keep looking. Then you want to go for a swim. That’s a bad, bad thing. Okay?”

“Okay,” I nodded again.

We stared into each other’s eyes for a long time. For some reason, it didn’t bother me so much. His hazel eyes were so kind.

“Your eyes are really pretty,” I whispered.

“So are yours.” He replied.

“Thanks...” I could feel him leaning closer.

Moving in.

“Charlie?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re standing on your tiptoes.”

Stagger wasn’t moving closer. I was.

“Oh.”

Then he was moving closer.

I could feel his breath on my lips. My hands came up to grip the lapels of his jacket, tugging him towards me.

Our lips were so close.

A crackling sound from far away shattered the peace around us like thunder rolling in the distance. I blinked a number of times and fell back onto my heels, trying to move my head.

Stagger stopped me.

“Not yet.” He said, the crackling sound getting closer.

I felt it then, rumbling inside of me.

“What is that?” I asked, my voice trembling, suddenly fearful. “What the fuck is that?”

“It’s okay. It’s the Bifrost. It comes for anybody standing on the shore.”

The crackling sound started to condense like it was coming through a long tube. The sound warped and changed. My eyes got wider.

“We need to go. Stagger. Please. I’m scared.” I tugged at his hands, frantic.

“I know, Charlie,” he said, his voice still so calm. “Just look at me. Trust me.”

I clung to his wrists and nodded my head, blinking rapidly as I tried to fight the urge to cry. I could feel the moisture building, distorting my vision.

“Don’t cry, Charlie. Everybody has the same reaction the first time. Here it comes... cover your ears.”

He let me go and lifted his hands to his ears, nudging his head at me to do the same. I brought my palms to my ears and pressed hard, just as an absolutely terrifying sound ruptured the crackling hiss. It sounded like a thousand infants screaming in anguish over shattering glass, mingled with what could only be the sound of an implosion. Like a star being born in a small room.

My eyes were wide as I stared at Stagger.

When the sound rolled away to silence Stagger lowered his hands from his ears, still looking at me. I was afraid to look anywhere else. I lowered my hands, trembling.

“Are you alright?” He asked.

I shook my head.

“No.”

He nodded, “Yeah. I know.”

“I don’t ever wanna hear that sound again.”

I turned my head to look out at that strange water again, but what I saw set me back a step. My entire scope of vision was taken up by the multi-colored sails of a large pirate ship. Its entire body was constructed of aged and distressed multi-colored slats of wood. Even the large ramp that was laying down on the dock was colored in multiple shades of the rainbow. Its sails were old, ripped, and weather-worn. The number twelve was on its flag waving in a nonexistent wind.

From the top of that ramp, I heard the thunk and drag of movement. I tried to take another step back but Stagger’s hand was there, stopping me.

“It’s alright,” He started marching forward and I followed far behind.

I saw a tricorn captain’s hat pop into view as a man dressed in ancient naval officer’s garb climbed up to the edge of the boat and stepped down the plank, his one pegged leg dragging with every other step. One of his arms were ripped off at the elbow where a long metal shaft jutted out, a trident at its end. One of his eyes were covered with a patch, the other was a milky, deathly white. All of his clothing was aged and moth-eaten, his skin like that of a rotting, rubbery fleshed sea creature.

He stomped to the bottom of the ramp and stepped aside, opening the path for us.

“Who seeks passage aboard the Rainbow Bridge?” His ghostly voice hissed just above a slow whisper.

Even though he was twenty yards away I heard his voice like his lips were pressed to my ear, whispering just to me.

“Two by the black river, Boatman,” Stagger said.

Metal chimed through the air as he flipped that coin Hymeris had given us towards the old, undead captain.

The wraith snapped its hand up with unnatural speed, snatching the coin from the air. Holding it up, his one milky eye examined its face. We stood there, feet away from him for what seemed like an eternity.

“The Boatman finds you wanting. But the Boatman will provide safe passage on board the Bifrost.”

He snapped his old, decaying hand closed around the coin and dropped it into one of his pockets as he turned to walk back up the ramp. Again I could hear that peg leg thump and drag its way over the wood and into the schooner.

Stagger led the way ahead of me and I followed. We marched together up onto the boat, our boots thunking over its multi-colored deck. Stagger grabbed my hand and led me up a set of stairs, headed towards the front of the ship.

I could smell the old wood, the semi-mossy smell of ferment and decay. The steps creaked beneath our boots, the wood warping and shifting slightly as we walked past the mast. Stagger led me to some stacked up barrels to one side where he took a seat on one of the old, broken rum casks. I sat down on the one beside it, looking over the ghostly boat, feeling a thrill run up my body as the smell of that odd water hit my nose.

It smelled like lantern oil.

The ship captain dragged himself over to the helm, taking two of its spokes in hand and trident before he spun it hard right. The boat pulled away from the dock and started to turn.

“Straight on through the piercing dark,” The wraith’s ghostly voice rang in my ears. “Straight on to the cold hills of judgment. To the court of the fallen. Into the mouth of the abyss. Be you worthy of the dying light or wanting of its good grace. Be you powerful beyond measure or meek as a lamb. I come for you all.” The Boatman said, carrying the last word long into my ears.

I leaned into Stagger, not wanting to hear his chilly voice anymore.

Stagger put his arm around me as the boat suddenly lurched forward hard.

“Hang on,” he said, reaching out with his free hand, grabbing the rope beside us that was bound to the ship.

He clutched me tight to him as the boat lurched forward again, harder. Then it lurched again.

Soon it was racing across the water, it’s multi-colored sales full of wind that didn’t exist. Chilly air blasted over me, digging into my skin through my armor. I felt the inertia of the boat threatening to throw me off of the cask. There was no water, no splashing, just the loud, rattling, clicking sounds of that odd water being shoved out of the way. It sounded like the boat was pushing its way through a sea of tiny crystal cubes.

I looked up into the sky to see nothing but the fading purple light of the horizon stretching upward.

I hated this place.

I felt the boat lurch one more time and the sky around us exploded into chalky, blue-green vapor. The black sky was gone. I shut my eyes and screamed. Stagger held me tighter. The icy pull of the air around us was moving so fast and so hard I thought my skin would rip.

The Boatman’s cackle shattered the vapor, hitting my ears like he was standing over me, rattling that loud chortle right into my skull.

I was at the edge of madness when I heard that crackling sound again. It was coming toward us much faster. Stagger clapped his hand over my ear and held my head tight against his chest. He buried his ear against my head and I instinctively reached up to protect the one left uncovered. That horrible sound rang out in my head again as the boat ripped its way out of that ghostly vapor world.

We drifted to a slow stop.

“I want off,” I said, standing up, frantic. “I want off. I want off now!”

I got up and tried to climb over the edge of the boat but Stagger again grabbed me. He hoisted me up like a suitcase under his arm and carried my flailing body down the steps to set me on the deck.

“Charlie!” I jumped as he yelled at me. Looking him in the face, his eyes were dire. His face was grim. “We’re here.”

I turned my head to look out at the dock we arrived at.

A white sand shore stretched out for miles in either direction against the black dark of that strange, fractal water. My eyes slowly panned upwards from the shoreline, following the sand. White pearl steps lead up to tall, golden, twinkling gates sitting open a crack at their very center. I heard the hum in the air like an angelic chorus singing an unending note at the very edges of my ability to hear, urging me to listen harder. Outside of the boat, the rainbow ramp was extended, sitting beside a massive pearl white seashell.

“It’s... beautiful,” I said, the confusion in my voice clear.

“This place was built by Brahma God. You expected it not to be?” Stagger replied, taking my hand and leading me towards the ramp.

The boatman was already shambling down it to stand beside the shell, waiting. I heard his voice speak to no one.

“Who seeks passage onboard the Rainbow Bridge?” His voice still sounded like it was right next to my ears.

I shook my head and followed Stagger down to the white shores.

I trudged into the white sand at the bottom of the ramp, not realizing Stagger had stopped in front of the Boatman and offered him a nod. I turned and walked back to stand beside him.

“I’m sorry.” He said to the old captain.

A single, milky tear ran down from his dead eye. I looked him in his rotting face, my eyes moving down to the strange necklace he wore. An odd, lumpy sphere with numbers on each of its flat sides. The one facing out read twelve. I looked back at the Bifrost, my head craning up to look at that large sail with the same number emblazoned upon it, my mind struggling with something.

Twelve.

The Boatman finally shambled back up the ramp and a moment later he was gone. The boat was lurching away, growing ever faster. It disappeared from our vision, but we still heard the telltale, quiet roar of that horrible sound as it disappeared into the vapor world.

“Stagger,” I asked, pulling his hand, making him turn to face me before he started walking. “Who was that man?”

“That was the Icosahedron. Or what’s left of him. The Emperor of Tides... Warrior in the Still Water. The water god, Nidus. Or as he was known during the silver age of men,” Stagger looked at me, “Poseidon.”

“Oh my god...” Hearing his name weighed heavy on me, “What happened to him?”

“The same thing that happened to everyone else. Bijou’s son. The Lightning Emperor.” Stagger started up the beach and I let his hand go, walking beside him.

“But Nidus was Brahma God’s strongest. He’s the only God whose original job was to fight. How in the hell did Perun beat him?”

“By using the thing you stole. The Heart Fire’s source is unfathomable power, Charlie. That’s why it’s so imperative that we find it before Perun does. If he gets his hands on it, it means the end of everything.”

I shook my head as we trudged up through the white sands. I felt Stagger looking at me. I couldn’t stop thinking about Poseidon. About the ruin he had become. The sadness in his dead, milky eye. I thought about what a wreck I was and how somehow every one of us was connected to the same series of events.

And none of us came out of it okay.

The thought made me sick to my stomach. I swallowed hard as we made it to those beautiful, pearl stairs and started up them. The first one we touched gave a gentle, musical hum, matching the sound in the air.

We stepped up another stair and this one created a new octave. And then another. And another. By the time we reached the top, a full chorus of keys was singing to us. The music dug itself into me. All I could think about was Sammy. Her pretty green eyes. Her silly little laugh.

“Jesus,” I said, choking up.

I fought the tears as we got to that doorway, looking inside. The beautiful hymn of the Underworld was pulling out of me every ounce of everything bad I had ever done. I felt like it was trying to purify me.

Me, a person that was all bad from the inside out.

I collapsed right there at the door. I couldn’t walk another step.

“Charlie!” Stagger caught me and helped me down. He squatted down beside me and massaged the back of my neck.

I looked up at him and saw tears in his eyes.

“I’ve never been this far, the boat’s as far as I ever got.” He swallowed back his tears, “I always turn back.”

“Why?”

“Because I feel so goddamn guilty my feet don’t want to move.”

I nodded.

That’s right where I was. Trapped in my own guilt.

“Does it ever go away?” I breathed the words out.

“No,” he said, breaking down, collapsing to his knees. He brought his arm up to hide his face in the crook of his elbow as he sobbed.

“It never does. It never does.”

I blinked hard, feeling tears rimming the bottoms of my eyelids. Watching a man as strong as Stagger Lee cry like a child scared me. It hurt me to see.

I tried to hold on to my promise not to cry anymore.

Don’t. Charlie don’t. Don’t.

Tears spilled from my eyes. I didn’t know how to comfort anyone. Most times I could barely comfort myself. I slid closer to him. I reached out for him but I didn’t know what I was supposed to do to make him feel better. I placed my hand at the back of his neck like he always did for me. I rubbed his skin with my thumb, my fingers gentle in his wavy locks.

He eventually turned over to sit on the ground, pushing his back against the golden wall. I sat there beside him as we both struggled to push down the guilty feeling inside. Hurt, self-loathing and pain were all we knew. Every horrible thing we’d ever done laid before us, playing over and over again in our minds.

We wept until we couldn’t anymore.

Then we sat there with our heads against each other, staring out over the white sands. The sky was black but the world was illuminated like it was the brightest sunny day.

We looked up at the black sky.

A single star twinkled into existence. The world gave a gentle ring like a triangle was struck.

Another star blinked in and another note rang out.

“Do you see that?” I asked.

“Yeah... what is that?” Stagger whispered, but moments later the two lights disappeared.

“Weird.”

More silence followed. Stagger spoke after that long beat and it almost made me jump.

“Charlie.”

“Yeah?”

“I love you.” I was struck dumb.

“You-... wha?”

“I always have.” He said, finding my hand and lacing his fingers into mine.

I felt my cheeks burn.

“Stag... I...” I looked around those white shores.

If he only knew how much he just broke my world. My head was hot, I couldn’t think. Butterflies were whirling about inside of my stomach.

“You don’t have to say anything.” He said and his tone was genuine. “I just don’t know what’s about to happen. And I don’t want to die with it on my chest. I know how you are about secrets, so... I thought I’d at least start with something you already know.” He looked at me then and I looked back.

“You really mean it, don’t you?” I asked, looking him in the eyes.

“Yeah.” He whispered back, nodding his head. “C’mon, kiddo.”

He stood and helped me up. Hand in hand we walked through the gap in those impossibly thick doors and stepped into the light at the other side.

A large marble fountain sat at the center of a wide open, circular room. Great pillars outlined it that stretched high overhead and held up a marble and stained glass ceiling. Light splashed through various greens, reds and amber tones as if a sun was shining on the other side. It painted the room in beautiful blotches and bands of colorful light. The fountain had fat tubes of water swirling about, creating an impossible shape before us. A sphere inside of a sphere inside of another sphere.

The water spiraled impossibly inward. As we walked around it, it seemed to always be showing us the same side. The bottom of the fountain fed water into the top and the top fed water into the bottom.

It made my head hurt to try and make sense of it.

Around the opposite side of the fountain, sitting between two of those broad white pillars was a door, and as I stepped out farther and looked into the black depths of nothingness through the pillars on our left, I screamed and fell backward.

The massive, helmeted head and shoulders of Orcus stared back at me. His eyes weren’t glowing. They were dead and lifeless. His shoulders, still shot through with arrows and wrapped in brambles, looked pale and ashen gray, not the vibrant red his skin normally was. He looked defeated somehow. He was far away in the black water, but his immense size made him seem as if he was right beside us.

The size of him was impossible.

Stagger came along beside me and looked out at the face of Orcus, his own face twisted in confusion.

“What the fuck is going on?” He said.

I got to my feet just as a chant began. The door opened and Stagger and I fell back. He pulled his sword scabbard from nowhere and unsheathed that deadly black blade.

My shield snapped to my wrist in an instant, it’s shimmering silver and white clock face marred with dry blood.

The chant grew louder as that door rolled open. Valkyrie stepped through in full dress. Their battle skirts and slim, ornate armor shimmering, their pauldrons polished, their single owl wings already out at their backs and Atma Swords sheathed at their hip. They looked like samurai from a forgotten future. There were ten of them, five going to one side of us, five to the other.

They continued to chant, the valkyrie song slow and beautiful. They sang of the fall of Mount Olympus. They sang of clashing swords at Demonhead. They sang praises to the Bright Throne.

“Fuck,” I cursed.

“Yup. We are.” Stagger said.

A tall figure stepped out of that open door next, hiding the inside of the brightly lit, marble room beyond. Her head was down, wreathed in long white locks of hair. Her athletic body wore slim, golden armor over her chest and shoulders. Her midriff was left exposed and below her belly button, she wore an armored skirt with owl feathers sewn into the fabric like they were fluttering in the wind.

She wore ornate sleeves on her wrists, her dextrous, slim and dainty fingers baring manicured nails in alternating gold and black paint. Her knuckles bore long since healed scars.

I knew who it was right away and fear nearly stopped my heart.

The Mother of Owls. The Mad Queen, Gozen Morrow.

As she stepped out beyond the valkyrie corsairs, she set her wing free and the room lit brilliant orange as the scorching heat of a wing made entirely of Heart Fire burst from her back. Stagger and I fell back a step, lifting a hand to protect ourselves from the burning blaze.

“I burn with the brightness of the life-giving light in the sky,” her voice, low and powerful, rang out clear and familiar. “And you would dare come here with your stones.”

Her head snapped up and suddenly her face slammed into my memory, filling in all the empty spaces.

“I sit high above you!” Her voice was regal. Made powerful by decades on the throne.

But her face... I looked into the face of Robin Colleen Ryan.

“Don’t you ever throw rocks at the sun. It’s beyond your reach!” Her voice boomed throughout the marble room, the flames grew hotter.

My head spun as burning orange tracers shot from her back and painted hot, swirling vortexes across the ground.

“How is this possible!?” Stagger roared over the sound of those angry flames.

Robin Ryan was the Mad Queen. The woman who tortured me my whole life. The woman who killed me. Who ran a spear through my body and threw me from the Lightly Perch to my death.

She was also the girl who beat me, humiliated me, tormented me endlessly as children.

“Robin!?” I said, my entire body trembling. “Robin! Robin, how!? How!?”

My shield disappeared and I ran to her. I couldn’t believe it.

Gozen’s hand snatched tight around my throat and lifted me from the ground.

“Ghhgh! R-Robin!” I choked.

She burst forward, a blazing trail of fire behind her as she rammed my back into the fountain. The stone broke, crumbling under me as water poured out over my head. She held me down under the torrent as I kicked and flailed, gurgling desperately.

She yanked me out of the water, hoisted me high overhead and slammed me down onto the wet ground.

“Stop!” Stagger roared, rushing her.

The Mad Queen spun on him faster than my eyes could keep up with. Her leg blasted him in the side, buckling him. Powerful hands moved to yank him upright by his throat, only to pepper his body with a series of punches. A hard kick shoved into his chest and sent him sprawling across the marble.

I lay there sputtering, gasping, my hair wet and matted to my face.

Gozen reached down and grabbed my wet bangs, repeatedly bashing my head against the ground until the room spun.

She prowled beside me.

Pacing slowly back and forth, her hateful blue eyes never once leaving me.

Stagger got to his feet, coughing hard. He rushed her again, blade flashing.

Gozen’s hand snapped out and blasted his black blade to dust, her strong hand grabbing him by the face. She hoisted him from the ground.

Up and over he went. Slammed down beside me.

Flames burst out wide behind her as she turned her blazing blue eyes on me.

“Robin... Please. What did Orcus do to you?”

“Orcus?” She laughed, “Orcus played but a small part in my grandeur. My beauty.” Her wing blasted a gust of fire into the air, water evaporating around us into a spinning whirlwind of steam.

“I have you to thank for what you see before you.” She waved a hand and her wing disappeared, leaving water steaming around us as it continued to pour from the fountain.

The Valkyrie continued to sing.

I crawled over to what was left of the side of the fountain and clambered my way up to my feet.

“Stag. Stagger, are you alright!?”

He groaned, turning over onto his hands and knees.

“And this one,” Gozen said, looking at Stagger. “This pathetic thing.”

She punted Stagger away from me, sending him slamming into one of the pillars at the outer edge of the room. I watched him crumple to the ground.

“Stop it!” I roared, rushing her, slamming into her side.

Her feet slid on the ground but her frame didn’t move.

She grabbed me by the back of my neck and shoved me down to the ground. My nose slammed into the marble and I cried out.

I felt her then throw me upward into the air like I weighed nothing.

As I fell, she snapped her fingers and a hail of heart fire peppered me in the air, sending me sprawling onto the ground in front of her.

I fell to the ground hard, tasting my own blood.

I remembered my dream. The dream where she punched me out of the ring and I splashed into cold water. In that dream, I sank to the bottom and died.

Robin grabbed me by the hair and forced me to stand up. I got to my feet, trembling as I looked her in the eyes.

“Bobby, please... I came all this way for you. I’m so sorry for what I did. For what happened, I-..”

Robin Ryan was long gone.

The Mad Queen, Gozen Morrow was what stood in her place. And with her bare hands, she began to pummel me.

My small body was thrown around by her fists. This way and that as she tore into me. I cried, I yelled, I screamed and she didn’t care. She fed me more pain, she made me drink from the cup of her rage until her boot rammed into my chest and sent me splashing into the water of the fountain.

I felt my armor dragging me to the bottom. My head felt heavy, my eyelids weighed six hundred pounds. I let the air in my lungs out in a great bubble.

I accepted my fate.

In the darkening light of my life, when I felt more pain than I ever had before, I realized not even tears would do my life justice. The pathetic, tragic story of Charlie Siobhan Ryan would end, beaten and bloodied at the bottom of a fountain. Everything she’d ever done laid before her, playing back in still frames at the edge of her memory.

Like a museum of failure.

As the light started to fade, I saw a hand plunge in after me from the surface. I felt her fingers find my hair and hoist me out of the water. I gasped and sputtered. She dragged me to the edge of the fountain and brought her fist back, driving it into my face again before she slung me out onto the marble to lay there and bleed.

“Bring me a leash.” She held her hand out and one of the valkyrie stepped forward, never breaking their song, bringing with her a chained leash fit for the hounds of Demonhead.

I gasped and managed to sit up onto the heels of my boots.

Gozen snapped that leash around my throat so tightly I whined. It bit into my flesh. She jerked it hard and I cried out, gagging as tears fell from my eyes.

“Back where you belong, Siobhan.” She jerked the chain again. “Apologize to your sisters for your wayward behavior.”

“I-...” I gasped, “I’m sorry fo--GHHK!” She wound her hand around it and jerked the leash upward into the air, hanging me from it.

I kicked and flailed, my toes scraping the ground. My eyes turned to Stagger, crumpled and broken against the pillar. Gozen swung me around overhead by my throat and slammed me down onto the marble. I was no match for her strength. I clawed at my collar, desperate to breathe.

She mercifully loosened my tether.

“Stand and face your better.” Her regal voice commanded.

I was a little girl in the garage again. I coughed blood onto the marble. I was embarrassed by my wounds. I didn’t want anyone to look at me. I got to my feet, hanging my head, blood spilling down the front of my armor from my nose.

“Ask me the question,” Gozen said, shoving my chin up, making me look at her.

“H-” I hiccoughed, “How?”

She smiled at me and for a moment I saw my sister’s beautiful face.

“I’ve been waiting a long time to see you cry.” She slapped me and I crumbled.

“Up!” I climbed to my feet.

“Chin up,” I lifted my chin.

She rewarded me with another stinging slap to the other side of my face. This one was hard enough to spin me to the ground.

“Up!”

She made me get up five more times. Five more times she battered me to the ground.

Every time I fell in line just like I did when I was Siobhan.

Because I was her.

And now we both had a cut around our necks to prove it.

“Ohh,” Gozen gave a motherly coo, “Tsk, tsk, tsk. You’ve gotten blood on your collar.”

“Stop it,” I heard Stagger’s hard tone.

The white glimmer of hope in my chest sang.

He marched towards the Mad Queen, clenching his fist.

“If you hit her again, I’ll beat you to death.”

I looked up to see the fearsome dark promise in his eyes.

“Stagger, no,” I said through a mouthful of blood. “Leave it alone.”

Gozen looked at him, her lip curling, then she looked at me.

I saw her smile.

I knew that smile.

She was going to kill him in front of me.

I bolted to Stagger, slipping and falling in the water in front of him.

I got to my knees and lifted my hands in surrender.

“Not him! I’ll do whatever you want. Take me back to Demonhead, I don’t care. But don’t hurt him. If you ever had an ounce of love for me, please. PLEASE!”

Gozen looked me in my eyes.

Her brilliant wing burst to life behind her. The heat in the room reminded me of the forges back home, only this wasn’t just Heart Fire. This was tainted by something else.

I still felt it feed me. I felt my muscles loosen. I felt the cuts in my mouth starting to heal.

It didn’t matter. In minutes, Stagger and I would be dead.

“Ask me the question.” She said again, raising her hand.

The Valkyrie chant stopped.

“How is this happening?” I asked, my dark eyes glaring into the inferno in front of me.

“Before I was your sister... I was your owner, Little One.”

Stagger stepped beside me and helped me to my feet.

I stumbled into him. Like always, his strength held me up.

“Robin, that doesn’t make sense. We both came here at the same time. We’ve been missing for months! They’ve probably got cops looking for us.”

“No. You’ve been missing for months.” She smiled at my confusion.

“What?” I hissed.

“In fact, I just had dinner with our family not six hours ago.” Her voice was a cold promise.

“What!?” My head was spinning. I didn’t understand any of this.

“Make this make sense.” Stagger said as I stared at her.

“The gate.” She said, her hand lifting and pointing above us. “The black sky above. All of it is the gate. Every twinkling light above is the mark of someone passing through it. It doesn’t matter where in this world they activate it, they all come through this one, singular point.” Gozen opened her palm then, showing it to me. All I saw was her flesh until the burning symbol of the old world appeared in it.

A gate key, made by Orcus.

“Every one of these symbols is created from the All Sight. A power that Chroma once had before Orcus took it from him. You have one too. One that only goes one way. To Blue Veil.”

I lifted my left palm and looked at it, remembering the familiar burn the day we were pulled through.

“Yeah. I remember... but we both got branded when Orcus grabbed us.”

“No. He was aiming for you. I was a consequence. Thrown through the gate without a key. Without a destination. I arrived in this world almost one hundred and thirty years ago.”

My mouth fell open. My sister was trapped in Blue Veil for a hundred and thirty years.

“I’m so sorry. Robin, I... oh my god. I did this to you.”

Gozen laughed.

“No, Little One. You liberated me. For that I owe you... and I’ll spare this one’s life. But consider our ledger completely even.”

“But I saw you,” I turned and pointed at Orcus, the massive creature in the black water.

“I saw him hurting you.”

“No. You saw the middle of a fight that went on in the pit of Muspelheim for three years. The Gate launched me into the labyrinth. Lost in the halls of light, I found Orcus and fought for my freedom. You were looking at an image from the far, far distant past. That,” she pointed at the creature in the water. “Is the beast that I destroyed with my bare hands.”

“And this...”

A voice came from beside us.

From the door, the valkyrie had come from. Stepping out, draped in a crimson coat was a handsome man with short white hair. His eyes beamed a brilliant white light. The eyes of Chroma. He brought his hand up, gesturing at himself. A shimmering golden ring rested on one of his fingers, twinkling like starlight.

“Is the face of what she created.” He looked at Gozen.

“I don’t... I don’t understand,” I said.

“That’s enough, Gozen. These two confused young people are guests in the Underworld and thus under my protection. Furthermore, until our little Owlet remembers where the Heart Fire is, death isn’t an option.” Orcus said.

Gozen gave him a foul look and nodded her understanding.

“Saved by Orcus. The Punisher of Broken Oaths,” she said, turning her blue eyes on me.

“Valkyrie!” Gozen roared. “Recover!”

All of the Valkyrie snapped to attention. They rushed into formation and Gozen’s wing burst back to life in a whirl of fire. She leapt into the air, that wing sending a hot gust downward, pushing her high above.

Stagger looked at the crimson-coated man, then up at Gozen as the valkyrie took flight after her.

“Alright, can somebody give us something resembling an answer?” Stag asked.

The Crimson coated man nodded his head.

“Your questions will all be answered momentarily. You have my word.” He turned on his heels and headed back towards the door.

“Alright,” Stag said, squinting at the man.

My mind snapped back to Blood and Blade.

“Robin, wait!” I called up to her.

Gozen glared down at me from above. “What, Little One?”

“Truce Rite!” I shouted and Gozen’s eyes tightened.

She dropped from the sky like a burning comet, setting the ground on fire around us.

Stagger tried to step in front of me but I pushed him aside.

“No, it’s good.”

“Fuck that, she’s not hurting you anymore.”

I stepped in front of him and looked him in the eyes, my face bloody but resolute.

“I’m a big girl. I know what I’m doing.”

“No, you don’t.”

“Stag. Trust me?” He looked me in my eyes and nodded.

“Fine.”

I turned back around to face Gozen.

My sister.

My burden.

“You heard what I said, Gozen.”

She grabbed me by my hair and I groaned. Shoving me down to my knees, her blue eyes bore into me as I looked up at her.

“Go ahead.” I nodded, “Smack me around. Fuck me up all you want. You still gotta gimme my Truce Rite.”

Gozen’s jaw tightened, “You will address me on your knees, Owlet.” She spat the title out, the title of a valkyrie slave, like it disgusted her.

I winced as she tugged my bangs, jerking me forward. I bent all the way to the ground, bowing my forehead to the floor.

“That’s better, Feronia,” She released my hair and stood up, lording her power over me.

“What is your request?”

“I want the other Owlet Feronia.”

“What?” I flinched at the sound of Gozen’s sharp word.

I sat up onto the heels of my feet, glaring up at her.

“You heard what I said. Free the slaves at Demonhead and give them to me. I want my real sisters. The ones you just kick in the dirt.”

Gozen’s hand found my throat again, but this time she was gentle.

I flinched anyway.

She unbuckled the collar she put around my neck.

Feeling it peel off of my skin, I gritted my teeth at the pain. Fresh blood leaked from my collar scar. A wound Siobhan and I would now forever share.

She then held it out above my head.

I reached for it and she tugged it out of my reach.

“Use your teeth, dog.”

I curled my lip, my eyes falling away from her, anger in my face.

“Do you want your Truce Rite or not?”

“Don’t, Charlie.” Stagger said, “We’re not playing these fucking mind games anymore.”

I tilted my head and took the collar with my teeth.

My dark eyes burned with hate.

Gozen rubbed my head like a puppy, then shoved it, laughing.

I tipped back onto my ass, holding the collar in my mouth.

“I’ll see to it the rest of the dogs make it out of the pen.” She extended her hand as if to receive something.

“And for my part... I’ll have my Atma back.”

I spit the collar out into my hand and looked up at her.

She grinned that smug grin down at me and I nodded.

My Atma Sword...

Her Atma Sword... appeared in her waiting grasp.

I watched her curl her fingers around it, exposing the only scars on her perfect body. The ones on her knuckles from fighting for her life for three years in the pit of Muspelheim.

She ascended into the air slowly, that burning wing blazing her path upward to meet her valkyrie above.

“Send them all to neutral ground. The Bacchus Theater. And see to it Hymeris doesn’t try to pimp ’em out.” I glared up at her.

Gozen hovered in the air, glaring back.

“You’re starting a fire you can’t put out, Little One. I hope you’re prepared to get burned.”

“Fuckin’ right I am, Morrow!”

Gozen’s laugh echoed around us as she and her sisters moved through the stained glass ceiling as if it were nothing more than an illusion.

“Charlie,” Stagger said, helping me up. “This whole thing is doing my head in. What’s going on?”

“I dunno, Stag.” I looked over at that door, “But I think the answers are in there.”

I walked over to the fountain and dropped to my knees, reaching inside of it to wash the blood from my face. I saw the water run red in my palms, my skin burning, my nose on fire with soreness. Stagger came to my side and sat on the edge of the fountain, helping me clean myself up.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

“Yeah- ow...” I complained as he brushed blood from my bottom lip with his thumb.

“Sorry.”

“No, it’s okay.”

When we were done, Stagger and I walked together for that opulent archway.

Looking inside, I saw a brilliant white room, the marble floors reflecting an equally marble ceiling. The walls were silver and pearl with reliefs of crying faces and images telling stories of the long dead. At the head of the room was a large throne atop a high set of silver stairs and in it sat that crimson coated man that called himself Orcus.

I heard Stagger walking up behind me and Orcus leaned over on his throne, resting his chin in his palm, his elbow propped on the armrest.

“Leave.” He said, looking at Stagger from across the room.

“Fuck you, I’m not leaving her.”

Stagger stepped up beside me and puffed his chest out.

“I’m not going to hurt her.”

“Yeah. I believe you.” Stagger replied sarcastically, staying put.

“Then I guess we’re going to sit here and stare at one another because I only intend to speak with Siobhan.”

“Ooh, staring contest. I’m good at those.” Stagger’s resolute face didn’t match his childish words.

I almost laughed.

“Stag, just wait outside.”

“What? Really!?” Stagger balked, pointing at the throne Orcus sat in.

“Yeah. Really.” I nodded.

“This is the guy, Charlie. This is who we came here for. We’re just gonna talk it out?” Stagger threw his stare up at Orcus, “Fuck you. Fight me.”

I smiled despite our grim situation. Stagger was starting to sound like me.

Orcus only laughed.

“Oh, it’s funny now?” Stagger took a step forward.

“You have my word, Stagger Lee. I won’t hurt her. I’ll only talk. And if she’s not satisfied with what I have to say, then I give you both my permission to leave at any time you wish.”

Stagger’s stare practically scorched Orcus.

“Fine, but for the record, Charlie? This is fucked up.” He turned and stormed out, casting me one last look before yanking the door closed behind him.

“So what’s this about, Dude?” I said, my voice just as tired as I was.

He smiled.

“Can I sit down? I’m really fuckin’ tired. I got my ass handed to me just now. My sister is... I dunno. That shit’s all fucked up.”

“Sure. I’ll join you.” Orcus said, standing up from his throne and walking down the stairs to meet me in the middle of the room.

I backed up a step when he came close. He lifted both hands peacefully.

“No tricks.” He sat down on the floor, pulling his ankles in to cross his legs.

I looked down at him as he beckoned me down with a wave of his hand.

I sat down in front of him and took a deep, steadying breath.

“What’s happenin’ to my life?” I asked.

“I need your help,” Orcus said and my head tilted.

“Huh?”

“I have become painfully aware of the problem in this world. And unfortunately, I am in no position to fix it because,” he gestured around with a hand, “I’m bound to this place. This is my home and my prison.”

“You’re stuck here?”

“I was imprisoned here.”

“By who?”

“By whom. It’s whom.”

I rolled my eyes, “You gonna give me an English lesson or answer my question?”

“I should answer another one first. Your sister.” He looked me in the eyes.

“Yeah...” I looked away, “let’s start there. I saw you kill her. In the mirror.”

“No, what you saw, as she said, took place over a century ago. Almost a century and a half. I was born into this world as a destroyer. A thoughtless, careless creature that Perun hid at the center of the maze. I lived my life in the labyrinth, defending the original resting place of the Heart Fire, monstrous and deformed.” Orcus took a deep breath. “One day someone came to take it. I assumed. But in actuality, your sister appeared in my labyrinth by chance. I tried to kill her. I hadn’t the wit to reason out that she was just a lost woman needing aid, thrust into a new world outside of her understanding.”

“Shit...” I blew a heavy sigh, guilt hitting me all over again.

“Mm, well. Don’t pity her too much. She was mighty. And that close to the Heart Fire, its power found her worthy. We fought in the maze until we broke down its walls. Until blood became our bond. When Perun discovered my inability to kill her, he threw me into Muspelheim and she with me. There, in the burning pit of hell, we fought. For three years. Her power eventually wore me down. Broke my body. Forced me to evolve from the chrysalis form you see in the black water.”

I looked into those glowing white eyes of his and nodded my understanding.

“After that, Perun was intrigued by her power. He freed us but banished me to the Underworld. Repurposing me to help him keep other gods from coming back to this world. I became the keeper of the gate above, and the watcher of god-kin souls. This beautiful place that Brahma once used to help loved ones mourn has become the court of judgment that rules all gods killed by the Bright Throne. We send them to earth where Midvalley’s cruelty destroys their lives. Forcing them to go from one form of pathetic existence to another as they live out immortality without power. Without ever feeling the light of their home sun warming their faces again.”

“What about my sister... what happened to her?”

“Perun was intrigued by her power, as I said. Why do you think she’s called the Mad Queen?”

My eyes go wide.

“My sister, Robin Ryan... Gozen Morrow... is the queen of Valhalla?”

“Correct. And her cruelty knows no bounds. Blood and Blade is the only order. The vaalkyrie code rules the land now. Their twisted and self-righteous self-worship destroys the very fabric of what made this world what it is.”

“And why the hell do you need my help?”

“Because I need you to bring me the Heart Fire.”

“Oh, please. Buddy, get in line. You want it, Perun wants it, Brahma needs it back. I don’t even know where the fuck it is. Or where to start with any of you.”

“You do. Buried in your mind is the key. It is the reason you are still alive. It has bought Perun’s mercy. I tell you, Charlie, this world is plagued by one problem and one problem alone. It has too. Many. Gods.”

“Yeah? And how do you suppose you’re gonna change that?”

“By becoming the one true God. One of order.”

“Yeah, heard that before on Earth. It’s not going so well for anybody involved.”

“So I’ve heard.”

“Why should I give it to you? Why should I do anything for you?” I squinted at him.

“You don’t have to. But consider your position... be it Brahma, Perun or me. Someone will sit on the Bright Throne. You cannot change the order of power in this world. There will always be those with it and those without. It’s up to you to decide who rules. And unlike your sister... I think you are what this world needs in its queen.”

“Whoa, whoa. I thought you said you wanted the Heart Fire. Now you want the Bright Throne?”

“They are one and the same,” He shrugged.

“And I’m supposed to rule with you? Buddy, I can’t even pay my rent on time. What makes you think I’m any better at makin’ decisions?”

“You have the favor of the people. The Vallhalites have become fat and happy with their prosperity. They care not for the struggles of the people beneath them. Once they are gone, there still live those that hold high the banner of Brahma God. Those that believe in you. With you as my queen, we effectively unite the people. We bring real order. Real prosperity.”

“What makes you better than Brahma? He created this world. He loves it enough to take care of it.”

“What makes you think Brahma and I are different in our love for this world?”

“I dunno.” I shook my head and shrugged, “You’re tryin’ to take over. I never heard of anything good comin’ from that.”

“You’re a child if you believe the motivations of men are as clear cut as good and evil. Did you really think there were good guys and bad guys?”

“Yeah? No? I don’t know. Right now I don’t know what decision is right.” I shrugged again, “What makes what you want better, Orcus? How do you keep little girls like me from gettin’ chewed up and spit out before we’re old enough to decide what we even want outta life?”

Orcus closed those brilliant, stolen eyes.

“Brahma was a careless child with power. Instead of watching over the men and women of Blue Veil, he stuck his head in the sandbox and played. Brahma is a dreamer, not a ruler.”

His eyes opened then, “That’s why he made other gods to do it for him. So he didn’t have to dispense law or order, and what did those gods do? They divided the people based upon ridiculous belief in their empty world views. I say again, there are too many gods.” His voice was alive with disgust.

“What should I do then, Orcus? The problem with worldview is that everyone has one. Who’s right? You? Perun? Don’t talk to me about choices like I’m the fortunate one for being saddled with the burden!” I curled my lip at him, “I live in and deal with poverty every day back home. If I’m eatin’ it’s because I scrapped for it. There’s nothin’ fortunate about me.”

“Charlotte, the problem is that you ask other people that question too often and never yourself. What should you do? The future is in your hands. Just don’t replace a tyrant with a careless child.”

“Or one tyrant for another?” My eyebrows rose with my swift reply.

“Tyranny and dispassionate order are not the same things. This isn’t about rich or poor, powerful or powerless. It’s about giving people the ability to live in a world that doesn’t come with hard choices. A wise man said that in this life a person will either build or destroy, Charlie. I need to build. To do that... I need you to destroy.”

“You can’t ask me to make that kind of choice. You’re talking about war.”

“Yes. I am. And be it me, or Perun, or Brahma, someone will reshape the future. You’re the one who has to decide who sits on the Bright Throne. Only you.”

“I can’t do this.” I rubbed my hand over my forehead, then pushed my fingers through my still damp hair, “Don’t ask me to do this.”

“You don’t have a choice. The Heart Fire is your responsibility. Your burden. It can’t be destroyed, only harnessed. It doesn’t matter which one of us you pick, the fight is still coming.”

“I can’t just push Perun off the throne. He’ll push back. I’m not strong enough to fight him.”

“No. Not yet. All you can do is walk the path in front of you. Cry all you like, Charlie... it’s you that brings war to the endless sky.”

Silence followed as those words lingered, replaying in my head.

He wasn’t wrong. No matter how I rolled it around in my head it came up the same way. People were going to fight and die for power.

I took a deep, sobering breath.

It couldn’t be avoided. The moment the Heart Fire turned back up, it was going to be in someone’s hands. War at this point was inevitable. The one thing I knew is that Perun was far from the person that should be in that chair.

Especially not with Gozen Morrow at his side.

“I need you to do something for me,”

“Name it.”

“NEST.”

“What about them?”

“When it starts,” I said. “And people start dyin’... they’ll go after my family. I know they will. Midvalley controls what NEST does, but I know you have a say in it. And Robin’s completely lost her fuckin’ mind. She’ll leverage the people I love in a heartbeat. I saw it in her eyes. She loves power now.”

“You’re asking me to keep your family safe?”

“No. I’m askin’ you to give Chroma back his sight. I’ll keep my family safe.”

“You want the Gate,” Orcus reasoned. “You ask a high price.”

My eyebrows tipped down.

“You ask for the Bright Throne.”

Orcus stood up, walking back towards his throne.

He stopped halfway there and looked back at me.

“I will share the sight with Chroma God. We will each have one eye. And the ability to make Gate Keys. But neither of us will be able to see the future anymore.”

“That’s only half of what I asked for.”

“I’m only asking for half of the Bright Throne,” Orcus smiled.

“What if I don’t want my half?”

“Do you want it?” He asked.

I thought about it. The Bright Throne. Sitting on top of the world, able to call the shots in my own life for once. Not having to take abuse from people that barely knew me. To be in control.

I did want it.

But that’s exactly why I shouldn’t have it.

“No.”

“Lies.”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe a lie?”

“Maybe a lot of things.”

“I’ll see to it your family is safe. And I’ll make sure NEST doesn’t see you coming. It’s up to you to diminish their stranglehold on earth. You’ll need to take out the Triumvirate to remove Midvalley’s control. After that, the earth will become neutral territory that no one will want to tread on too freely.”

“Why don’t you just take their Gate Keys?” I asked.

“We all have a part to play. Mine is to make sure Perun believes we still fight together.”

“Why did you agree to help him in the first place?”

“Son’s do that.”

“Perun’s your dad!?”

“And Hymeris is my mother.”

“Son of a bitch! She set me up. You set me up!” I got to my feet.

“I play the long game, Charlie. Everything that’s happened up to this point has all been to get you here without Perun knowing my true intentions. My mother has hated him ever since he replaced her with your sister. The Mad Queen thinks I acted on her behalf to ensure her creation. It took a very long time to help her formulate what she thought was her idea.”

“What?”

My head hurt at that notion. I thought back on everything that had happened, everything I went through to get here. “Robin did all of this?”

“Charlie, understand. One-hundred and thirty years is a long time to hate. Gozen Morrow is imprisoned by it now. Her hatred for you has gone far beyond what you did. It is her dogma. All I had to do was give her direction.”

I shook my head at that. Imagining Robin hating me for that long. Her hate festering and growing for over a century.

Orcus ascended the rest of those ornate steps. He sat in his opulent throne and looked down at me.

“Wait,” I said thinking back to something he said, “If Hymeris and Perun are your parents, then you’re not a celestial, you’re a god. I thought you wanted a world without those.”

“I said I wanted a world with only one.” He rested his chin on his knuckles, his elbow propped on that beautiful armrest again.

“You know what’s really fucked up about gods?” I turned my head to look at the bas reliefs on the wall.

“What’s that, Charlotte?”

“Every time one of you comes around you’re never satisfied until you tear people’s lives apart and create more reasons for people to hate each other.”

“Apropos.” He nodded.

“I don’t know what that fuckin’ word means. Look, can you really make sure earth is neutral?”

“Every war has rules. Even Ragnarok had them. The war of the New Gods will be no different. Perun and the Mad Queen will follow them, rest assured. We just have to make the rules seem like they came from them not you. Earth will be granted sanctuary.” He sat up in his chair and pointed at me.

“Know this though, Charlotte. If you cross me, I will destroy everything you hold dear.”

“Are you forcing me to choose you?” I asked, turning my head back to him.

“No. I’m forcing you to be impartial.”

“Then there’s something you should know,” I replied, my voice a deadly promise.

“Which is?”

“If you hurt my family, there is no limit to how fast and how hard I will bring the world crashing down on your head.”

“My word is my bond.”

Orcus opened his hand and from it he pulled that brilliant golden ring he wore, releasing it into the air. It floated the distance between us, my hand opening to accept it.

I looked down at it. It was a man’s ring, twinkling rich with tiny stones in its beautiful and heavy gold band. As I moved it around in my hand, the band shrank down into something less masculine, but every bit as heavy.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“Draupnir... The ring of Odin. Consider it an early engagement ring.” He said with a smile.

“I’d rather not. Little early for proposals, don’t you think?”

“Consider it my word then.” He gave his armrest a sharp knock with his knuckle. The sound echoed around me.

“It allows the wearer to freely travel between here and earth once every nine days. Every ninth night it duplicates itself eight times. The duplicates are powerless, but you’re a resourceful woman. I’m sure you’ll figure something out with them. For now, it serves me no purpose. Its power doesn’t work here.”

“I can’t take this from you. Like I said, I don’t know you. I don’t love you. I don’t know anything about you.” I turned the ring over again and looked at it.

“I’m not asking you to love me, I’m asking you to help me. Just make sure that you make the right choice when the time comes.”

“Yeah,” I said, turning around and heading back towards the door.

“Charlie?”

I stopped at the door, my hand on its intricately designed surface.

“I will send one eye to Chroma God. But I leave you one warning. Stagger Lee has something to tell you.”

I felt a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

“How do I get outta here, Orcus?” I said without looking back.

“The fountain. Or the stained glass ceiling. Your choice.”

I turned the knob and headed out of the door.

It closed behind me, leaving me to stand in the fountain room looking at the destruction left behind by Gozen. Water was still pooling on the floor and Stagger Lee was sitting on the fountain’s edge beside the break in the stone.

He stood and looked at me.

“Charlie... Is everything alright?”

His tone sounded worried. Like he was afraid I would disapprove of him. Like he was afraid Orcus told me his secret.

“Yeah. Yeah, everything’s cool.” I said.

We met one another halfway and he hugged me to his chest, wrapping his arms around my middle. My arms wrapped around his neck and I rested my sore face against his chest.

“You gonna fill me in?”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “Later.” I looked up at him.

He looked down into my eyes.

I felt the red marks on my face where Gozen hit me.

“So what are you gonna do with those slaves Gozen’s setting free?”

“They’ve all been through the same things I’ve been through, Stag.”

“Yeah, I know. I can’t imagine.” He shook his head.

“Not just that. The ones that are still alive have survived the arena. They’ve seen the valkyrie fight first hand.”

“So what’s the move?”

“You and Bijou are gonna help me teach ’em how to fight.”

“That’s my girl.” Stag said, gently rocking us left to right.

“Stag?”

“Yeah?”

“This isn’t over.” I hugged him tighter.

I felt him inhale a big breath and nod.

“No, it’s not.”

“I gotta make sure my family’s okay.”

“Oh. Back to earth.” He confirmed.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“It’s okay, kiddo.”

There was disappointment in his voice, but I could tell he meant what he said.

“I don’t know what Robin’s been up to while I was trapped here, but you heard what she said. I can’t trust her to keep our family out of this. Orcus saved my ass, but there’s no tellin’ what she’d do to get her hands around my neck again.”

“What is it you think she’s gonna do if you go back to earth?”

“It doesn’t matter. If she has me she doesn’t need my family. Not only that, I gotta get rid of the NEST problem back home, just like Chroma said. And after talkin’ to Orcus, I think I’ve got a pretty good chance of doin’ it.”

“Can you really even trust him?”

I clenched my jaw, remembering the last few things Orcus said to me.

“Maybe. I dunno. I know I won’t be able to live with myself if somethin’ happens to them and I didn’t even try.” I looked up at him again.

“Well,” Stagger smiled, “if you gotta go pick a fight,” he shrugged.

“Kinda don’t have a choice,” I said, resting my forehead against his chest.

“Guess I’m coming with you,” he said.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah...”

“Then I think you should tell me your secret now.”

I felt him squeeze me like he was afraid it was the last time.

“Are you sure?”

“I have to be,” I said.

“Are you sure?” He asked again, his voice a trembling whisper.

“I have to be,” I whispered back.

“I killed Samantha.”

A breath caught in my chest.