Chapter 47: Chapter 47

S A V A N N A H

DEATH FAVOURS NO man. I would know —he was my brother. And he would likely do me no a favour by singling Nadine out and possibly saving her soul. Why hers, and not the countless others?

It was not as though I had expected everyone to make it out alive. But why had Nadine done this? I had done nothing to earn her blood and loyalty.

Honestly, in that moment there were only four people for whom I would willingly jump into the path of danger.

Nadine…had not been one of them.

“Oh my,” Hera breathed, backing up rapidly.

“I…I’m sorry,” Nadine choked out. Smoke curled out from the wound, indicating that Horkos’ sickles were at the least, plated in obsidian.

“Nadine…no,” I rasped, shaking my head. I kept a careful eye on Horkos, who was still frowning at the fact that he had stabbed the wrong person. “You shouldn’t have…Why would you…?”

She tried to respond —but coughed up blood instead.

I gave Horkos a murderous look. He sheepishly met my gaze and then gestured down to Nadine. “Give me a moment,” he said, tugging and making Nadine jerk backwards. “…It’s stuck.”

I growled and gripped my sword tighter. Nadine looked at me desperately. I hesitated. Then she gasped again, as Horkos finally yanked the sickle out of her. A shriek pierced through the air as Nadine’s body fell forward, and her soul remained. My eyes widened.

Her soul was as red as the others.

And then it burst.

I blinked. She was…gone. Nadine was gone —truly. I screwed up my face as I though I would start to cry. Then I froze.

Lewis.

I quickly looked around me, but I could not see him. I looked back at Horkos and I realised something. This could all be blamed on one being. Anger overlapped devastation and I started shaking.

“The sickle was supposed to impale you,” he sighed, shaking his head with pure disappointment.

“You…damn son of a bitch,” I accused.

He then kicked Nadine’s body aside as if it was absolutely nothing.

I could not think straight, and all my mind was telling me to do was get revenge. We might not have known each other so intimately to be called true friends, but Nadine had not deserved this.

And Horkos deserved to die.

I unsheathed my other sword. No words could describe how desperately I wanted to slice him into ribbons at that moment. I felt absolute rage coursing through my veins as I channelled the anger like Thanatos had suggested. And the power manifested tenfold. My insides burned as though they were engulfed by fire; and then my swords were set ablaze —the white flame raging and flickering over the gleaming obsidian.

I inhaled sharply, before lunging at him.

The flamed obsidian blades clashed with Horkos’ sickles as he blocked my attack. I pushed him back, absolutely seething.

“You’ll pay for this, Horkos. I’m going to kill you!” I swore. I screamed so hard that I thought my vocal cords would break, and Horkos had the nerve to just stare back at me expressionlessly.

“Well, well. The rage of the gods of death,” he quipped, pushing against me. “I was not sure that you had it in you, but it will certainly make for an interesting fight —”

“You monster!” I cut him off, before overpowering him and making him fall to his knees as I knocked one of his sickles out of his hand with one of my swords. I blocked his path with a sword as he tried to reach for it, causing him to flinch back. The flames had burned him —though they had actually barely touched him.

“Your fire is hotter than I anticipated,” he said carefully, nursing his fast reddening hand. “Which honestly, just further supports my case.”

“You have no right to talk about my abilities!” I raised my voice, leaning down to him. “You just…killed one of my friends. There is nothing other than your spilled blood that will avenge that crime!”

“So is the way of war, half-blood,” Horkos sneered, frowning in disappointment.

I roared; a sound so wild and raw, before swinging at him.

He parried it with his other sickle effortlessly, holding my gaze. Challenging me. Daring me. I wavered for a moment. He pushed against me, and with my guard down, he managed to stand up again. My anger returned and took a step forward, insistent on regaining the upper hand.

“You know something,” he said nonchalantly, with his cold and dead blue diamond eyes boring into mine, “Maybe it is your own fault your friend is dead. Perhaps it will teach you a lesson. That you should never drag the people you care about into situations like this. Her brother will definitely blame you for this —”

“She was protecting me!” I cried, pushing him back. My voice broke at the end as more tears streamed down my face. He skidded a few feet away, raising his eyebrows in surprise. “And it’s all your fault that she’s gone!”

I lunged forward, but he dodged. I continued to slice at him, but he kept blocking every strike, every attempt.

I growled in frustration —before glancing downwards.

His legs were completely exposed.

I swung one sword at his side, and he took the bait, allowing me to swing the other sword lower. He unwittingly stepped right into the path of the blade, and he let out a satisfying cry as it sliced his leg from the shin down clean off.

“…That is for stabbing my friend,” I told him.

Smoke billowed from the burning wound, along with a fountain of golden ichor. My nostrils flared at the sight, and I felt a surge of accomplishment. Horkos dropped his sickle, fell and writhed in pain as I stepped closer.

The battle raged on around us, but all I could see was him, and his eyes suddenly desperate for mercy.

I kicked his sickle further out of his reach, before I bent down and grabbed him by his toga and yanked him up closer to me.

“I was thinking of giving you a quick death,” I murmured, “but now I realise that would be too good for you.”

“I…underestimated you, Savannah Green,” he winced.

I scoffed. “That is not my name anymore. It’s Savannah the Grim Reaper; the half-blood who’s going to kill you,” I said, before drawing back my fist and hooking his jaw.

He gasped, before turning to look at me again with a big and growing grin on his face. Luminescent golden blood dribbled down out of his nose and from his lips, which only made his smile look even more psychopathic. I snarled and punched him again, this time breaking his nose.

He fell over onto his side, and then started laughing. I frowned. I kicked him square in the ribs and heard a crack. He doubled up and even coughed up more blood, but he still kept laughing.

It was disturbing.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” I demanded, kicking him again, but at his spine. He rolled onto his back, clutching his stomach. I drew my sword and pointed it an inch away at his throat. The fire immediately started to burn his skin, making him whimper sharply.

“Savannah, wait!” Hera suddenly cried desperately, running up beside me. I momentarily turned my head to face her. She had her hands over her mouth and was shaking her head. “You shouldn’t kill him.”

“Why not?” I growled, glaring back down at Horkos. “He had no regard for Nadine when he killed her. So, a life for a life, right?”

“But —”

“Do you know…the punishment…for killing a god?” Horkos then struggled. I hesitated. I had not really thought about it.

However, I then realised something. I would not be killing a deity if he was in fact unworthy of such a title. Everything which he had done up until that moment, had tarnished the names of his kind.

“…You are no god,” I retorted flatly.

He actually paused and looked me dead in the eye, surprised. It was as though he were almost…human. Mortal. As if those words made him so.

“Go to Hell, where you belong,” I ground out. Then I plunged and dragged my sword through his throat down to his stomach.

Having not realised that gods and mortals differed in souls, what I then witnessed startled me. The slash that my sword had made began to glow. I took a cautious step backwards, an ominous feeling setting in.

And I had been right to move, because a bright golden light then emitted from Horkos’ body —before it suddenly exploded with the sound of a firecracker, into golden dust. A few Reapers and the gods seemed to pause in the middle of their battles to look over.

The force knocked me and Hera backwards and off of our feet. I grunted, before looking back to where Horkos had been. There was no trace of him besides a torn and bloody toga, and a pair of sandals. I glanced down at my sword and watched as a golden III glowed at the hilt.

I blinked rapidly, processing it for a moment. I scrambled to my feet and stumbled over, inspecting my handiwork. I had done it. I felt a little giddy with satisfaction and growing blood lust, but ultimately, I felt that part justice had been served for Nadine.

“What have you done?” Hera gasped as she shakily rose to her feet.

I gave her a blank look.

We had no opportunity to argue though, as a sudden whoosh went by my ear. I whipped around, before meeting the gaze of Artemis, who had her bow poised in my direction. I cursed and winced in realisation, reaching up to my ear and drawing back blood.

“…I missed,” she clicked her tongue.

That was the exact same thing Horkos had said before.

“What the hell?” I snapped.

“You have killed Horkos, the god of oaths,” she declared, her moonstone eyes cold and deadly and luminous, “so now I must kill you.”

“No —what you need to do is to stop this senseless violence,” Hera interjected. “Taking her life would mean nothing. And Horkos is not lost forever. You especially should know that.”

Artemis hesitated, before slowly lowering her bow. “Maybe not taking her life,” she began, glancing away suspiciously. “But a warning is definitely in order.” She then shot an arrow before anyone could react.

A sharp, blazing pain suddenly erupted in my thigh. I cried out and dropped my swords, before falling to my knees. I screamed —mostly out of shock, but I had also never experienced such a level of pain. It was as though my leg was being burned, frostbitten and electrocuted all at once.

It was excruciating.

How much worse had it felt for Nadine?

“Artemis,” Hera scolded.

“What? It won’t kill her,” Artemis scoffed. “I did not bring my lethal obsidian arrows to this. It was not worth it.”

“Artemis,” her brother Apollo then said in a low voice from where he was perched above us. “Do not let your emotions cloud your judgement. You would be no better than she is.”

Both the hunting goddess and I growled at that, before the wound screamed again, searing with heat and pain.

“Besides,” Apollo sighed, then jumped down and strode over to me. The agony flashed away for just a moment as my eyes travelled the length of the god. He was taller than I realised; his broad frame corded with muscles of iron. If any god represented the Greek marble statue standard, it was him. “She is more useful in good health.”

I struggled to look up into his sunstone eyes, but I only hissed as I had finally managed to control my voice. Then I paused and stared. He was unnaturally good looking. I was not into beards but his was neatly trimmed and somewhat smouldering, almost shimmering against his golden bronzed skin. He frowned down at me, so I spitefully glared back, shrinking away. He then looked down at my thigh. He carefully grabbed hold of the arrow. My eyes widened at the realisation of what he might do. He suddenly yanked the arrow out, making me cry out again. Red and silver blood flowed down my leg. He then tossed the arrow aside and waved his hand over the wound. Light shone from his palm and a sudden warmth overwhelmed the pain.

I inhaled sharply and gasped as the wound closed itself up and healed, without a trace of blood on my skin. Deep crimson lingered on my jeans though, as did the ripped tear.

Apollo raised a smug eyebrow as I averted my gaze, feeling the temperature on my face rising. “…Thanks,” I murmured begrudgingly.

“You’re welcome,” he quipped, then held out his hand. I stared at it distastefully, before turning further away from him. “…I understand why you would be hesitant, but I can assure you that I have no intention of harming you, Savannah Green.”

I sneered, before getting up on my own. I then picked my swords back up and sheathed them, before folding my arms and shifting my weight onto one leg. I was not about to indulge this male’s deluded charms.

“She’s adorable,” Apollo then smirked, turning to his sister. “I like her.” He nodded thoughtfully in approval.

“Ew,” said Artemis.

“Hey!” Thanatos’ voice then called from behind us. We turned to see him and Hades running towards us. The god of death stopped beside me and pulled on my arm, much like a scolding guardian. “Get away from her,” he told the Olympians.

He drew out his scythe in front of us in a protective arc. My father glared at the other gods, while unconsciously rubbing his wrists.

“What have you done to my daughter?” Hades seethed.

“Nothing,” Hera said innocently.

“Nothing indeed. You are rather late,” Artemis scoffed. “We are no longer trying to kill her.”

“Don’t you mean that you are no longer trying to kill her?” Apollo corrected, giving his sister a look.

“Well, at least I’m not flirting with her,” she shot back.

Apollo gave a sheepish grin in his defence.

Hades’ eyes shone a brighter, sinister shade of jasper as he clenched his fists.

“Excuse me?” Death growled, glaring at the god of light. “You had better back off, Pretty Boy.”

The golden Olympian raised both hands in surrender.

“Thanatos,” I grumbled, feebly slapping his arm.

Of all the brotherly things which he could start doing, I had hoped this would not be one of them.

“There is no time for this,” Hera swiftly pointed out. “We need to put a stop to all of that. I think we can —”

“Actually, I believe that Poseidon just beat us to it,” Artemis breathed, looking skywards. We followed her gaze and stilled.

A giant wall of frigid water was slowly moving over the skyscrapers towards us. Screams rang out as most of the fighting came to an abrupt stop.

“…Always so dramatic,” Apollo muttered.

“Everyone, to the chariots —quickly,” Hera ordered, picking up her skirts and running. We scattered as everyone else took cover. Artemis took off in hers with Hera and Hades, as Thanatos and I got into Apollo’s. We took off and flew up over the wave to a safe distance, but I then realised how I had just left a multitude of people on the ground.

“Thanatos,” I quipped worriedly, “can Grim Reapers drown?”

“No,” he answered. “But that, unfortunately, is not the only way to die in this situation. They could be crushed beyond healing.”

“What?” I cried. “Are you telling me I’m up here while everyone who risked their life for me is down there?”

I then put my leg up over the edge of the chariot. “I have to go back and protect as many of them as I can!”

“Savannah, no.” Thanatos pulled me back in. “If you jump from this height, you will be of no help to anyone. This is all about you. Their sacrifice will be for nothing if you too were to perish.”

I hesitated and looked up at him. He was right. And I hated it.

I glanced at Apollo and met his gaze. His eyes smouldered, a fire simmering in them; and a curious unnerving shiver ran down my spine. For a fleeting moment, the wave disappeared and the cityscape blurred. No battle had raged. Nothing but those golden slithers of sun anchored me to the Earth.

Then Apollo suddenly turned, his face solemn, and the spell dissipated.

I started, glancing back down at the ground. The impending doom grounded itself once more. Focus, I urged. Was there truly nothing that I could do?

I then looked down at my hands. Wait a moment.

I moved to push my way to the front of the chariot. “I’m going to get as close as I can to the wave,” I declared.

Death did a double take.

“I know what I’m doing,” I insisted. “…I think.”

I then steered downwards sharply, causing us to crash into the chariot’s one side.

“Savannah,” Hades cried, noticing our chariot falling away.

“Trust me,” I called back.

I came to a halt in front of the wave, feeling far more intimidated. Raging waters surged before me as solid as a concrete wall.

But I had to swallow my apprehension. I raised both of my hands out in front of me and took a deep breath. I summoned fire, and the flames flickered to life on my palms. I concentrated harder and willed the flames to lengthen.

The white fire began to grow.

“…Are you trying to do what I think you are trying to do?” Thanatos asked suspiciously.

“Fire cancels out water. I’m going to turn as much of that as I can into steam,” I confirmed.

“That is a great effort theoretically,” Apollo then spoke up, “but I fear that your power alone is not enough.”

I faltered.

I looked down to where the fire was hitting the water —and barely doing anything. I cursed but did not stop shooting fire. “…What else am I supposed to do?” I said through my teeth, willing the fire to increase.

“Savannah, if you go on any longer, you are going to burn your skin off,” my half-brother then warned me. Genuine concern filled that brilliant bronze.

I frowned, before realising that my powers were in fact causing my skin to blister and redden. I hissed but I did not let up.

I have to endure the pain.

“Oi. You there!” a gruff voice then thundered. We looked up to see the god Poseidon himself, clad in a sea-green toga that only covered him from the waist down; yielding a golden and emerald trident.

“What’d ya think yer doin’?” He then frowned thoughtfully. “…Or at least, tryin’ to do?”

He had the twang of an old-timey pirate.

“I’m trying to stop your doomsday device,” I growled at him. “Everyone will be crushed to death if you don’t do something to stop this.”

“Oh, it ain’t my intention to kill anyone, girl,” Poseidon drawled. “I just be tryin’ to stop the fightin’.”

“You don’t have to do that with a thousand-foot wave!” I reasoned.

“Well, shoutin’ didn’t help.”

“Just call it off, you stubborn old seahorse,” Thanatos then snapped.

“Fine, fine,” Poseidon grumbled. “There ain’t no need for name callin’.” He then paused. “…But ya better stop the fightin’ afterwards.”

“We will,” I swore. Or I would die trying.

The god of the sea turned back to the looming wave. He raised his trident, and with the motion, he split the liquid wall into three smaller spheres. He then waved the ornate trident from side to side, and the bodies of water swirled high into the sky, before bursting and falling like heavy rain. We were once again drenched, but it helped to finally extinguish my flames —just as I stumbled backwards into Thanatos out of exhaustion.

He had been right about burning my hands. The water stung but ultimately soothed my hardened palms, creating steam.

It was a long, breathless pause before the survivors below began emerging from where they had hidden. For a moment since the battle had begun, everything was still. Blood was washed away by the water, but the bodies remained. I wondered for how long they would lay there.

Apollo then took the reins and flew us back down to the ground. I jumped out immediately, running towards a tall dark-haired Reaper and a squawking Phoenix.

“Søren,” I gasped, launching myself at him in a hug. Phee-Phee shone brightly in surprise as Søren staggered beneath my weight. Then his arms wrapped around me in turn and he chuckled weakly. “You’re alive!” I breathed.

“Yeah. But be careful,” he begged, gesturing to his wounded arm. “Artemis got me with one of her arrows.”

I grumbled. “Me too.”

“But you look fine,” he frowned, before his gaze landed on my hands. “…Except for your crispy palms.”

Phee-Phee then nuzzled against my leg affectionately. I bent down and gently stroked him, though my skin stung horribly; the burns screaming at the touch of fire. “Apollo healed me,” I answered Søren.

He raised an eyebrow at that.

“Oh, you survived,” Chainsaw Guy then remarked as he came up to us, before Søren could say anything in response to me. “Great.”

He hooked an arm around the older Reaper, who was evidently too tired to remove it, because he did not squirm away. The former had a few cuts on his face and a slight limp but otherwise he looked fine.

“Right back at you,” I deadpanned, straightening up. Phee-Phee squawked at him with equal dislike.

“What’s your damage, Melchior?” Søren scoffed, turning his head to eye Chainsaw Guy’s injuries.

“Oh, I got into a fight with Ares because of what happened with Kyle,” he explained rather proudly. “He blamed me for not doing anything to stop him, and I guess I understood why. I now know how Savannah felt.”

I nodded solemnly.

He then paused, as a maniac grin spread across his face. “…He did admit that my chainsaw was cool though.”

“Oh wow,” I mocked. “Achievement unlocked.”

Chainsaw Guy glared at me. “Well, sorry that some of us aren’t that special to have all of the gods wanting our heads.”

“Oh, stop it you two,” Søren sighed heavily. “The battle is over. Can we just celebrate that?”

I was about to say something more when I spotted Lewis running around to the other Grim Reapers; helping them up and telling them that everything was all right. A sharp stab of pain punctured my chest as I bit my lip, fighting back tears. How could we dare to celebrate anything?

“Hey guys,” I whispered. “I…I’ll be right back.”