To Kill a God by C.S. Wilde

Chapter 27

Mera watchedLunor Insul from the shore of Tir Na Nog, the mighty Night Island now only a blip in the distance. Black, metallic ships that seemed to be made of night sat scattered around the sea, along with the Marauder, which stood guard on the far left.

A few Atlanteans walked atop the ocean’s surface, using their waterbreaking to keep themselves afloat, but they stood far from the nightbringers, not daring to approach.

Mera understood why, of course. Those onyx beasts were built to rip her people apart; death machines carrying iron harpoons, spiked hulls, and booming cannons.

Back when Mera was a merling, Atlantean technology wasn’t quite as developed. So whenever a nightbringer cut through the surface, she and Belinda always hid in fear, watching the monsters’ long, iron bellies cast a shadow upon the ocean floor.

Now, those same beasts guarded the shore against Azinor.

Behind her, beyond a massive stone breakwater that lined the back shore, thousands readied for battle where the promenade used to be.

Automatons helped carry heavy machinery, guided by humans and sirens. On the right, Belinda taught a group of witches how to fire a phaser, while Corvus and Bast talked to a squad of werewolves dressed in black ops wear. At the far back, the professor discussed plans with Adams and the vampire councilor—one of the few of her kind who could withstand being under the sun.

Everywhere along the shore, waterbreakers and landriders prepared for battle together, the differences between them forgotten. The Great War didn’t matter anymore; all that remained was Tagrad, united, against Azinor and his army of sirens and automatons. His waterdragon, too.

Icefire.

Mera’s stomach dropped at the thought of facing the creature.

“You seem to be in distress,” Beta Three noted from beside her as she watched the promenade. “Is that what you call fear?”

“I’m fine.”

He cocked his head with curiosity. “Is that what you call a lie?”

Mera chuckled, facing the ocean. “Maybe.”

Her feet felt heavy in the sand as the waves washed lazily atop them. Closing her eyes, she tried to listen to the runes that danced inside her, their whispers ringing faintly in her ears. Like several versions of herself whispered to her from a great distance.

Over the past days, however, the voices had started sounding closer. As if they knew something big was coming, and yet, Mera still had a hard time deciphering them.

Some words she understood. Ahatana—Fear. Menitute—Courage. Sejun—Prepare. Yet, most remained an enigma.

Ariella told her the voices were her soul trying to speak to her. A shiver ran down her spine when Mera remembered the waterbreakers she’d killed. She avoided thinking about them, ignored what happened, because deep down she knew.

She’d sucked their lives dry as if they’d meant nothing.

Mera certainly wasn’t a waterbreaker anymore. She wasn’t a witch or a human, either. She was something else.

Soulbreaker.

“Why do they wear iron shields, Detective?” Beta Three’s metallic tone jarred her from her thoughts.

When she frowned at him, he nodded toward the crew of a nightbringer close to shore. Some of the ship’s members wore thin iron plates over their chest and backs.

“Ah. The shields help block the macabre, or at least slow it down depending on the siren’s power. Human and weaker supernaturals wear them just in case.”

“But if they go overboard, they will sink faster.”

“They can remove the shields, but sometimes there isn’t enough time. They think it’s a worthy gamble. Better to drown than to explode into a million pieces, I suppose.”

“Is it?” The wind blew gently around them. “Tell me, what is it to be afraid, Detective?”

She pondered what to say. How to explain fear to a creature with the emotional intelligence of a child?

“When you thought Corvus was attacking Belinda, you immediately went on defense mode. Fear is what made you do that. What makes someone wear an iron shield in the middle of the ocean. Point is, you feared losing Belinda and you acted on it.” Her mouth curved with a grin. “Most people freeze, but you went into action. You just might be the best of us, Beta Three.”

“Thank you. I appreciate that.” The automaton focused on the ocean ahead, then nodded to himself. “After what happened to the king, I fear you will be hurt if I tell you the truth.”

“What truth?”

“Someone in Atlantea has been trying to contact you. It is not a recorded message.”

Mera frowned. “Do you know who it is?”

“They’re using the automaton that accompanied Darwhal to connect, so I suppose it’s Poseidon.” A deep silence filled the air, lingering for a while. “I can feel what he’s done to him, and I do not like it.”

Him.Darwhal’s automaton. One of Beta Three’s people, in a way.

Mera set a hand on his shoulder, even if he couldn’t feel her touch. “I’m sorry.”

“It is not your fault.” A whirring sound came from inside his metallic plates when he turned to her. “I do not want you to be hurt.”

“I know, but it’s my choice.”

The voices inside of her whispered louder now, faster, but Mera couldn’t understand what they tried to say; millions of different words she’d never heard, all interspersed with one another. Her skin thrummed slightly.

Shaking her head, she focused on the automaton. “Besides, if I keep him on the line long enough, we might catch something that could give us an advantage. We need all the help we can get.”

With a nod, Beta Three opened up his chest.

To her surprise, it was Ariella’s face that popped up on the blue screen. The bitch wore the Crown of Land and Sea, her hair woven into a low braid like Mera’s.

Her jaw clenched so hard that she could barely bring herself to speak. “Why are you contacting me, Mother?”

Ariella looked to the sides, her voice low. “He wants your power, but by defying him, you’ve earned his anger. Now he’d rather torture you than simply use you. Nevertheless, if you bend the knee, he might reconsider. Join him, and he’ll compensate you beyond your wildest dreams.”

Mera nodded to the gap on Ariella’s left cheek, then her rotting skin. “Sure, Mother. I’ll join him. After all, he has compensated you so well, hasn’t he?”

The bitch’s mouth contorted in a bitter curve. “I…” She couldn’t finish; couldn’t deny the truth.

Mera was tired of their never-ending dance; the ongoing cycle of pain and misery. “What’s the point of this call?”

Ariella didn’t reply for a while. Maybe she didn’t know it herself. Then, finally… “I met her in the world beyond, after you killed me again. You know who I’m talking about, yes?”

Mera swallowed, remembering the times Mother had blabbed about someone in the afterlife. Someone that sounded awfully like… Tears pricked her eyes, and her heart shrank. “It was Ruth, wasn’t it?”

The dead queen nodded.

A devastating longing stung Mera’s heart, but she didn’t show it; wouldn’t give Mother the satisfaction. The voices kept whispering in the background of her thoughts, and though she couldn’t understand them, she felt their sorrow, their pain, because it was Mera’s own.

“What did she say?”

Ariella stared at nowhere in particular, a frown creasing her forehead. The blue holo-screen wavered slightly.

“When you die, there are no words. Only images, memories, sensations, everything at once. A second that lasts forever. You see thousands of pasts, presents, and futures, never knowing which one will be yours, which one will be real. You feel everything, you are everything.” She stared at Mera, an ache burning in her eyes. “Some things are not meant to be shared.”

Seeing a thousand futures. Maybe that was why she’d returned completely broken.

“You don’t get to choose.” Mera’s tone quivered with unshed tears. “You took her from me. If Ruth told you something, I deserve to know. She was my mom—”

“She was.”

Mera’s voice left her. Had Ariella really admitted it?

Still, the monster didn’t share what Ruth had told her.

Sniffing, Mera wiped the corners of her eyes. “I’m the product of Azinor’s violence on you. You love and worship him, but you hate me. Why? I was a child. I had done nothing to you.”

“Could you escape your nightling, even if you wanted to?” She looked away. “There’s no running from your soulmate.”

“Don’t compare what Bast and I have to what you share with that prick. Bast loves me. He respects me. What you two have isn’t love.” She chortled, shaking her head. The voices growled in outrage; her outrage. “It can’t be a mating bond either, and even if it is, you should have walked away. But no, you chose to be your abuser’s little lap dog.” Heat flushed Mera’s head, blood rushing through her veins. “You’re pathetic.”

“If you won’t help him, he will kill everyone, but he will leave the nightling for last. He won’t stop until you beg him to kill your soulmate.” She shrugged. “You saw what he did to Barrimond. Do not provoke him, Daughter.”

Mera’s hands fisted, her nostrils flaring. “I’ll end Azinor before he gets to do that again.”

The question was, how?

As if on cue, the voices rose louder, whispering a word that made no sense. “Ethama, Ethama!”

Shaking her head, Mera forced herself to focus.

Ariella stared at her with a hint of curiosity. “I used to think Regneerik was the end of times, but I see now that it’s the end we face when our time comes. Endless Regneeriks, happening every second of every day.” She swam closer to the screen, a new resolution in her eyes. “If you remove Poseidon’s runes, you remove his immortality.”

And if Mera removed his immortality, she could kill him.

“How can I do that?” she pushed.

The dead queen nodded to Mera’s skin, more precisely, to the tattoos that swirled under her flesh, unseen but always there. The origin of her voices.

“Ethama. Ethama!”

“You have some of his power. Use it, but beware, child. His force is greater than yours, and if you take it, your combined magic will consume you, body and soul. You wish to kill your father? Then take what’s his, let it engulf you until there’s nothing left. Accept your Regneerik.”

Why would she tell Mera how to beat Azinor? This was yet another of her schemes, it had to be, but at the same time… Mera couldn’t explain how she knew that Mother was telling the truth; she simply did.

Like a wall crumbling down, she suddenly understood what the voices had been whispering all along.

Ethama…

Sacrifice.

A freezing jolt coursed down her spine, and she stepped back. Her body trembled, and her throat felt drier than sand. Mera had felt this way once, when she was thirteen and about to fight Ariella above a ring of molten fire.

“Do not fear death,” the dead queen offered quietly. “It is only the beginning. At least, you will be free of him.”

“Detective, you can’t possibly be considering this,” Beta Three interjected. “You would be killing yourself. I cannot allow that.”

Mera swallowed the knot forming in her throat. The automaton was supposed to keep her safe. Letting her do what she had to do went against his primary directives.

Ariella gave her a mournful smile. “Watch the sky the day after tomorrow. Land and sea will burn green.”

She went offline, and Beta Three’s metallic plates closed.

“We must go to the councilors with this information at once,” he insisted.

“We’ll tell them about the incoming attack, but not about the rest.”

“I cannot comply with that.” The automaton turned to leave. “I’m sure you understand. Your safety comes first.”

“I know.” Taking a deep breath, Mera nodded to herself, hating what she was about to do. “Beta Three, delete log for the past fifteen minutes. Override code seven, three, four, two.”

The automaton stopped in his tracks, frozen in place.

“No…” His engines slowly went silent. The light in his eyes dimmed and his chin dropped to his chest. The rest of his body remained mid-action, as if he’d turned into a statue.

Mera stepped closer, facing him. “I’m really sorry.”

His eyes had gone blank, but soon enough, Beta Three’s engines started again. Within seconds, he blinked back into awareness and lifted his chin.

Cocking his head to the side, he observed Mera with his typical child-like curiosity.

“Tell me, what is it to be afraid, Detective?”