Zelus (Perseus Reimagined) (BXB)

Chapter 34

"Now, name your price."

???

"YOU GOT A LOT OF nerve showing your face to me again."

"And that's supposed to scare me? My boy, you don't even know how to work your powers, and you're threatening me?" He lifts his open palm between us as his powers circulate around his fingers. "I can snap your wings off in a second if I wanted to."

I couldn't feel it, but I knew deep down that I was scared, and if I were to pester him further, things could end really bad. So, I remained silent.

"But I won't do that," he fisted his palm, powers ceased. "Tell me, Jonathan, are you enjoying your wish?"

"I can't say that I am," I said. "I didn't think you'd actually send me back to this timeline."

"You know the saying, be careful what you wish for," he stands behind me, the talon of his index finger tracing the horn of my right wing. "Do you remember our deal back in your dead lover's house?"

"Not everything," I told the truth. I still remember the day I woke up in this century, realizing the encounter with Sulod wasn't a dream and that he's sent me to this century. Though, I couldn't recall the price I paid.

"I knew it," he takes a few steps back, chin up as his eyes close.

He began transforming once again. White painted his hair, snow-colored on the first day of winter. His hands grew larger, talons made from silver, as his body stayed the same, pitch black, and the grass beneath his feet burned to ashes. He turns around as I behold a new being. His eyes remain unchanged, and crimson red travels down to his chest from the bottom half of his lips, where it fades along with the darkness. At this point, I can't tell if he has a body.

"Do not be fooled by the one feature you perceived of me. I own millions of faces, but what you see now is my true form. And I'm not Sulod. It's Dolus."

Dolus... why does that name ring a bell? Though, it's pretty smart how he spelled his name backward.

"What do you want?"

"Straight to the point, I like that," he claps. "You see, I did not expect you to last this long. Everyone before you had killed themselves on the second day of their new life. The pressure was too high, let's just say that. You, on the other hand, it's been years, and I doubt you'll be giving up anytime soon. And I'm getting impatient."

"What did you expect? You provided what I wished for. I wouldn't have asked for it if I didn't mean it," I said. "Even though I really miss my old life."

"Don't you want to return?"

"I do."