The Phoinix: Age of Demigods (46 page)

Rhea raised an eyebrow.
Bre chuckled
,
now
seeing where her father got his
reaction
to sarcasm.
It was
their
way of
saying
,
‘You know
full well what I am talking about.’

“We couldn’t afford to let
emotions affect the battle. It was too much to handle. I would not
be able to concentrate on Elpis if I
was
worried about his safety. I
would constantly be feeling his concern for me. Not to
mention
,
I know
he would involve himself in my battle with Elpis
,
or worse, he would sacrifice
himself to protect me.” Rhea tried to interrupt Bre but Bre put up
her hand to
stop
her. “You are a goddess of soldiers. You have seen him and
you know what he is willing to do for me. ”

Rhea released a
troubled
sigh, followed
by a pitying smile. “
Amica
Mea
, it is his emotions who have
changed
,
not
yours. Your concern has not dissipated
;
otherwise you would not have
walked away from
him
. You need to understand that war
is
passion. The Power in your soul
was created as a result of that passion. You have empathic
abilities because you are meant to feel the adoration of life with
the stimulation of fear. Eoghan is a gift from the universe because
of the sacrifices you must and will make.”

“You mean is he a pity
gift
”
Bre
interrupted.

“I
mean
he is meant to make you fight
harder for the world, because he is your world.” Rhea
said
,
guiding Bre
towards a group of trees that provided shelter from the valley
breeze.

“My powers are too new. I do not have
full control while his emotions mix with mine,” Breanna tried to
explain.

Rhea disapprovingly shook her
head.

“Breanna, your powers are
older than you
,
and wiser. They are the perfect balance in the universe, the
root essence of life. You have to understand
,
the most repeated trend in history
is Love and War. They are fundamental aspects
of
the universe.”

Rhea sat poised beneath a
shady tree and patted the ground
for
Bre to sit next to her. Rhea
held Bre’s hand in between her warm palms. “Your father and uncle
were born from the love of a war god. Do you understand how rare
that is? It is why the power chose to exist in
your father,
who would
later
find
its
other half in your
mother. The Power wanted to conceive its future vessel. You were
chosen
,
Breanna
,
after centuries of The Power hiding. That has never happened
in the history of man or the gods. Even Etruria has been reborn
into Rome
,
A
kingdom forged from the love and war of two
brothers
;
a
sacrifice The Power commanded in order to live.”

Delusional from the news,
Breanna half laughed and half cried. “You are saying that my soul
demanded the death of my parents
,
and
now you expect me to be Love and War?
It destroys everything near me,” Bre tried to hold back
tears.

Rhea sweetly replied,
“Oh,
Amici Mea
,
what have I been telling you? War and Love
are
the roots of our universe. Even
the gods bend to
their
authority. You are upset about Eoghan because love is a
battle because you fear it. From the moment you received your
father’s half of The Power, emotions, especially loving ones, will
be a constant struggle for you. You need to accept what you are and
life will be easier.”

Bre once again breathed a
laugh of disbelief at Rhea’s explanation of
her
emotional conflict. “Why
couldn’t you make me understand this earlier? You are direct, and I
appreciate that, but it’s too late. I forced Eoghan to give up his
feelings for me. Even worse than that, he did it through magic. Who
knows the consequences that will follow
?”

Rhea had no further
explanation or words of comfort. The two women silently sat under
the tree. Rhea gazed at the beautiful scenery while Bre picked at
blades of grass. As Bre twirled the blades between her fingers, a
small stream of water rose up from the ground next to her. The
water startled Bre
,
but Rhea seemed more suspicious than scared. The water
continued to flow closer to Bre’s hand until it reached her
fingers
and
swirled around her wrist and up her arm.

Bre wildly shook her hand to stop the
water but Rhea grabbed her. “Don’t move. The water will not harm
you. Water is used for divination. It opens the mind to glimpse
what the eyes cannot.”

The water reached the base
of Bre’s neck and sunk into her skin. Her eyes turned ice blue
and
her
face
became expressionless as
she was
forced into a deep trance. Bre grabbed Rhea’s
hand
,
and the
goddess fell into the same trance.

Chapter 35

Binding of the
Gods

B
re and Rhea stood on a stone pathway outside
of
a cave that
overlooked rolling green hills in the distance. To the right of
them was a rocky cliff with a straight fall to the ocean. They
should have been cold from the ocean breeze
,
but they could not feel the chill.
In fact, their entire bodies were numb.

From inside the
cave
,
two women
argued, followed by an explosion.

“How dare you hide that abomination!”
one woman screamed before another explosion rattled the cave
walls.

Bre and Rhea ran into the
cave. Once inside,
they saw
a woman dressed in a sheer
,
white dress held up only by thin
pieces of fabric around her shoulders. Slender bands of fabric
flowed from her shoulders and attached to gold cuffs around her
arms and wrists. Strips of gold stretched out from a gold belt and
wrapped around her breasts. Sandals made of gold with leather
straps wound up her calves. She had a red rose pinned to the side
of her light brown hair that fell just below her shoulders.
Her
Beautiful facial
features turned to rage.
It became obvious
that
she
was
the one yelling and the origin
of the explosions. She had her arm extended with a grey energy ball
formed in her palm. Her eyes blazed a bright red.

A second woman across from
her stood with a pleased smile. Purple light, a protection charm,
shielded her from the explosions. She wore a
long
,
black dress
with a silver bodice. She had a raven
-
feather cape that shimmered green
and purple in the dim light of the torches on the
walls
. Random raven
feathers stuck out from her black hair
,
tied into a bun. An amethyst
amulet rested in the middle of her forehead, fastened
with
black metal chains
connected to the sides of her bun. Her eyes were black with a
slight purple shimmer in the center.
If
evil
had
a face, it would be hers.

“Anath,” Rhea
said
,
pointing to
the woman in white and gold, “and the Great Phantom Queen,” Rhea
pointed to the other.

“Great Phantom Queen?” Breanna
whispered.

“There is no need to
whisper here, Breanna. This is only a vision. They cannot hear nor
see us. We, in return, have no powers. The Phantom Queen is also
known as The Morrigan.” Rhea did not take her eyes off The
Morrigan. She seemed uneasy
,
as if she did not completely believe they were
invisible. “She is a shape shifter goddess of war and death,
well-rehearsed in the dark magic of her religion. The Morrigan is
the one who taught Eversor the secrets of Celtic
sorcery
,
who then
created the order of the Druids.”

“Eoghan said she was
trying to break down our protection charms. She can’t be trying to
reveal our location if she is detained by flying energy
balls
,”
Breanna
said, staring
at The Morrigan
,
wondering if she was as powerful as everyone made
her sound.

“Do not underestimate The Morrigan.
Look at her hand.” Rhea pointed to a glowing blue light in The
Morrigan’s palm. “She is actively wearing down our shields as she
defends against Anath.”

“I thought that was her
protection spell.” Breanna said with a knot in her stomach as she
watched the goddess multitask complex spells with
ease
.

“The protection spell
is
cast
by the
Amethyst crystal on her forehead,” replied Rhea.

“
You had no right, you
hag. You have betrayed the entire
council
! You should have handed him
over when you found him!” Anath screamed and sent another energy
ball
crashing
into The Morrigan’s shield, spraying sparks into the air. “I
will wear down your shield, Morrigan.”

The Morrigan smiled
and
calmly said,
“
Tienne
.”

Suddenly, a ring fire erupted around
Anath. Anath fell to her knees, grabbed her head, and
screamed.

Bre lunged to help Anath,
but Rhea grabbed her arm, holding her back. “Listen to me
carefully. The Morrigan has great power. Even if she cannot see or
hear us
,
she may
be able to sense us if we get too close. That will be most
unfortunate for us. This vision is a warning. Let us not do any
harm to its cause. We must wait and see the true reason we are
here.”

Bre stayed next to her
grandmother, but every fiber in her body urged her to rescue Anath.
Rhea was a goddess
,
but The Morrigan frightened her. If a goddess was scared of
her, Breanna had to heed her advice. Anath writhed in agony on the
floor. Breanna was thankful she was powerless here and could not
feel Anath’s pain.

The purple light around The Morrigan
faded as she walked closer to the screaming goddess.

“Beg,” The Morrigan said coldly. Her
tone was unforgiving and her power unyielding. “Beg for mercy,
Anath.”

Anath refused. Anath gritted her teeth
as she said, “You can torture me for a thousand years, but I will
never satisfy your sadistic soul.”

The fire rose in height
and Anath now
lay
on the ground with her nails digging into the
floor
,
Her back
rigid and arched as waves of pain convulsed her body.

“I see you are as stubborn
as ever, Grandmother,” a woman said disappointedly from the back of
the cave. “With the plans I have for all
of you
, you will not have to yield
to The Morrigan.”

The third woman emerged
from the shadows of the cave, appearing
to
be
no older than
her
mid-twenties. She had
wavy
,
dirty-blonde hair that fell to the middle of her back. Her
eyes were a crisp blue that glowed in the dim light. She wore a
mid-thigh, red silk dress with a low cut back that stopped just
shy
of
her
behind. A gold belt clung to her hips with a gold sheath that hung
to the side.
She wore
black leather
sandals with straps
that climbed
her legs
and
up her thighs
,
hiding beneath the rim of her
dress. Egyptian style daggers engraved with hieroglyphs of animals
covered her shins.

The woman looked all too
familiar, but Bre could not place where they
would
have met.

“Now, now, my
love
.
Don’t
reveal too much of our plan.” Eversor stepped out from behind the
woman and kissed her forehead.

“It does not matter. She and her kind
will soon be dead and the world will be ours again.” the woman
smirked at Anath and The Morrigan, unafraid of both
goddesses.

The Morrigan glared at the
third woman
, who
ignored her and walked towards Anath.

Anath tried to relax her body and
control the pain, but it kept surging through her, forcing her back
to arch repeatedly. Still gritting her teeth, Anath gazed up at the
third woman. “It is not possible…we killed you.”