Feros and the Underworld Prince (55 page)

“
Is she telling the truth?”

(She does not appear to be trying to deceive you)

I feel a wave of relief wash over me before I remember the scene in the silver doors. What am I supposed to tell Cheza? Should I just bottle it up and let guilt consume me or should I tell her, jeopardizing our relationship and possibly leading to me losing her forever? What Airi said in Hawaii about loving Cheza being my fate makes more sense now, but she never mentioned anything about Cheza loving me being her fate and that she has no real choice in the matter.

“
I need to tell Dagda to call off the assault first.” I say with a slightly downtrodden tone.

“
Alright, let’s go.” Nagi replies.

I stand up from the bed, grab my jacket, and pull it on before walking out of the room with Nagi. We walk through the courtyard of the palace and sprint to Shehar’s gate. Upon arriving there, I touch my triskele, port us to earth, wait a minute and touch my Haglaz rune to port us to Niflheim.

“
Cole! You’re okay! Where is Chezarei?” Naia asks after I port into Jason’s room.

“
Long story. Where’s Dagda? I need him to call off the assault.” I tell her.

“
He should be coordinating the forces with Jason and Reyna, but I don’t know where specifically.” Naia replies.

“
That will work, thanks Naia!” I say while grabbing Nagi’s arm and dragging her out the door. I head down the hall to the right, feeling for the faint connection that I have with my blood inside Reyna. I know I’m getting close when I hear shouting. I pinpoint the room with the shouting and throw the doors open.

“
Hey guys, I’m fine, Horus is dead, and everybody can go home now. Thanks!” I announce to Jason, Reyna, Natasha, Dagda, Brighid, and Manannan mac Lir as I enter the large meeting room.

“
CT! You alright bro?” Jason asks.

“
Yeah I’m fine; well, except for when I tried to blow my brains out because I thought Cheza was dead, but that’s a long story. Anyway, Horus is dead so call off the assault; it is no longer needed. Oh, before I forget, Brighid? Can you take Naia to Duniya al Jinn and take her to see the Queen of Shehar?” I ask.

“
Well what’s in it for me?” Brighid inquires semi-sarcastically.

“
The chance to see a touching mother-daughter reunion after being forcibly separated for more than a decade; oh, and the mother is under the impression that her daughter is dead. Or it might turn into a huge catfight because the daughter thinks her mother just gave her away…” I reply.

“
Either way, it sounds interesting, so I’m in!” Brighid says.

“
Thanks. Now, I need to get going so I’ll see you all later!” I reply as I walk out the doors. I head back to Jason’s room to talk to Naia.

“
Naia, I need you to do me a favor.” I tell her as I enter the room.

“
Sure Cole, what is it?” Naia asks. I walk over to the desk that is located about ten feet to the left of Jason’s bed, and I pull out two pieces of paper, two envelopes, and a pen.

“
I need you to deliver this letter to the new Queen of Shehar. If anyone asks, say it’s from Feros or Cole and refuse to leave until you’ve talked to her.” I tell her as I finish writing a letter to Tali that says:

Tali—

This is your daughter Anai. She goes by Naia now after Horus renamed her. She also thinks that you were involved in her father’s plan to give her to Horus. I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you before, but I couldn’t risk taking away the majority of your motivation for helping me get to Horus. I hope that you will be able to forgive me someday.

—
Cole

“
I don’t know if I can do that, Cole…” Naia timidly replies.

“
Please Naia! You’re the only one that can do this!” I plead as I write the second letter, this one to Naia:

Naia—

Your mother didn’t know about your father giving you away and thought you were dead all these years. All that I ask is that you try to forgive her. Oh, and I’m sorry for deceiving you into meeting her by delivering her a letter.

—
Cole

“
Okay… I’ll do it…” Naia replies with uncertainty.

“
Thank you, Naia. Tell anyone who stops you that you were ordered to deliver the letter and personally see to it that the Queen reads it. While the Queen is reading the letter, I want you to open this letter and read it for instructions on what to do next, but you absolutely cannot open it before then, do you understand?” I say as I fold the letters, slide them into envelopes, and seal them before writing ‘INSTRUCTIONS’ on the envelope with Naia’s letter. Naia nods and I hand her the letters.

“
Thanks Naia. I’ve already talked to Brighid and she has agreed to take you to Shehar and stay with you, which should help for a smooth delivery. I have to get going, but I’ll see you around. Bye Naia.” I tell her as I grab Nagi’s hand and port to Saraswati’s house.

“
Cole, how did you know where we were going?” Nagi asks while giving me a suspecting look.

“
Lucky guess?” I try to say as least suspiciously as possible, but I’d say I failed considering I accidentally turned a statement into a question. Nagi opens her mouth, but is thankfully interrupted before she can ask.

“
Huh, you’re early. I wasn’t expecting you for at least another five minutes.” Saraswati says while wearing a red cocktail dress as she sashays across the garden, ‘sashay’ being the only word I can think of that adequately describes the movement of her hips and their eye-catching properties. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Cole. I’m—”

“
Saraswati, I know.” I finish for her before realizing that I fucked up.

“
Oh… and how do you know that?” Saraswati asks with a surreptitious smile. I start sweating bullets for a brief second, realizing that it might be impossible to lie to the Hindu/Buddhist goddess of knowledge, before the answer dawns on me.

“
Because it’s obvious that beauty runs in the family… unlike breast size.” I say while staring at Saraswati’s chest that is straining the material of her dress, hoping that she will misinterpret the sweat for the fact that India is hot and humid, or for arousal.

This statement isn’t entirely factual; while Sara and Saraswati are both attractive people in their own right, they look absolutely nothing alike, except for their green eyes. Saraswati’s skin is darker and her face is rounder compared to her daughter, and Sara is about two inches shorter than her mother.

“
You are such a naughty nephew!” Saraswati richly laughs.

“
I suppose I should take you to my brother now.” Saraswati says as she rests her hand on my shoulder.

I blink and find myself in a vibrantly colorful place that defies all logic. We are standing in the center of a vermilion pagoda that sits on a chunk of grassland that is no bigger than one hundred square feet and appears to be floating. The sky is several different hues of red, orange, and pink as I see a peacock flying through it with a rainbow trailing from its tail. In front of me is a floating walkway that follows along the disconnected cliff side to my left, as it slowly rises in elevation before veering to the left and out of sight. Oh, and the cliff to my left has a waterfall flowing off the edge, which wouldn’t be bizarre if it weren’t for the Dr. Seuss-esque fish that are slowly falling down it.

“
Come on; it’s this way.” Saraswati says and starts walking along the floating pathway.

“
Good morning!” a pair of fish says in unison while flowing down the waterfall as I pass by.

I mouth ‘what the fuck’ as my way of dealing with the strangeness of this place. Of course, as I think that, the furry-looking trees from
The Lorax
spring out of the ground on either side of the walkway. The trees start following me. Yes, you heard me correctly; the fucking
trees
start fucking
following
me. Every time I take a step forward, trees pop up on either side of the walkway to mark my progress. Naturally, I start losing my fucking mind and run as fast as I can until I reach a fork in the road.
Horton
is at the fork in the walkway, pointing his trunk to the left while pretending to be an elephant-shaped directional sign. I turn left and keep running as the path essentially results in a u-turn that leads upward. I reach a golden lake that has a waterfall draining into it on my right.

“
Hello again!” a pair of fish says before plopping into the lake. I look upward and see a floating island with a walkway protruding from it and trees bordering the walkway. But I had been running up!

“
Mom, Dad, I swear to the Void that if either and/or both of you come out here dressed as the Lorax or The Cat in the Hat or anything Seuss related, I will lose my shit!” I shout upward. Laughter booms across the sky, which I recognize from my dream in the Underworld.

“
Too much, eh?” my father, Shiva, asks as he materializes in front of me.

Shiva is about 6’6” tall with long black hair that is tied in a bun on top of his head, with a golden five-point crown sitting in front of the bun. His physique gives the impression that he spends every waking minute at the gym, his eyes are silver, and he is holding his trademarked Trishula, an Indian bladed trident. I suddenly have a flashback to the basement where I found Lila and fought the Daeva; my sword had split into three points and reminded me of a trident. Shiva is married to Parvati, who must be my mother; then again, since I’m not a god, I’m not actually their son, am I.

“
Just a bit. Where’s Cheza?” I inquire.

“
Just a moment, brother.” Ganesha says as he ports in with Nagi beside him.

“
I’d like to apologize for what happened with Adelaide; I never expected that would happen in response to the magic being blocked. Nonetheless, I am partially responsible and I hope that you will accept my apology.” Ganesha explains while I try not to stare at his trunk.

“
Apology accepted. Now, I would like to see Cheza.” I reply.

Shiva smirks at me and snaps his fingers. We appear in a house that is all white marble and glass. Looking out the windows, the house appears to be underwater. I look to the right and see a kitchen with my mother and Cheza chatting in it. I nearly break into tears as I rush over, wrap my arms around her waist from behind, and pick her up off the ground.

“
AHH! Cole!” Cheza squeals with laughter as she squirms around in my arms before managing to turn around.

“
I thought I’d lost you…” I whisper into her leather-clad stomach as I hold her tighter.

“
What…? I’m sorry Cole. I figured that you would know I was okay when you saw that my suit was gone and since silicon carbide has a melting point of five thousand degrees, it would be impossible to melt without killing everyone in the room.” Cheza gently says as she wraps her arms around my head.

“
The thought didn’t even cross my mind; I just saw the scorch mark after smelling you burning and…” I trail off while thinking of the aftermath.

“
Cole… do you mean to tell me that you thought I was dead for all of THIRTY FUCKING SECONDS BEFORE YOU TRIED TO KILL YOURSELF!? I WAITED A WHOLE TWO WEEKS BEFORE TRYING THAT!” Cheza screams, suddenly angry. I set her down and look into her eyes.

“
I’m sorry, Cheza; but like I’ve said before, I’m just not as strong as you.” I tell her while getting my first look at her hair.

Cheza’s hair, which once hit her back, has been shortened to her neck. The cut isn’t uniform and is rather pointy/jagged looking, but it looks good and gives me an unexplainable urge to just throw her on the kitchen counter and have my way with her, after asking my parents to leave the room of course.

“
So, what were you two talking about?” Shiva asks.

“
Just some girl-talk that continued after I was done cutting her hair. It turns out that I have quite a bit in common with our soon-to-be daughter-in-law.” My mother replies.

“
Great, so I’m in love with the woman that was like a little sister to me for a decade, who just so happens to be like my mother… can I go cry in the corner now?” I ask and everybody laughs.