Master of Death

Chapter 11 - Celestial Night

Celestial Night

In a spectacular show of fire and light, the earth will tremble on this star-filled night.

The warmth after setting foot in the kingdom of simply beautiful things is different. Different in a frightening way. The haze of darkness from Thanatos dissipates to reveal what has become of this place now that Natsuki is unable to sustain it. The grass is dull and dark, the trees grey without even enough energy to maintain their colour, the flowers have all withered, and the air is thin. Ra is no longer shining light on this place either, as a tactic to destroy all the gods who depend on him to keep the balance in check. That's it- the balance between all the heavenly kingdoms and earth is spiraling into chaos.

"Natsuki is in her room," Thanatos says as we make haste towards the palace. "She is using what remains of her power to maintain summer for the humans,"

I cannot help my overwhelming concern. Judging from our surroundings, she will not be able to continue doing what she is doing  at this rate. We make it to her room in no time at all, and find her gripping a pillar while leaning on it for support. Even now, I can see plainly that she is exhausted.

"Natsuki," I breathe, nearly running over to her to help her over to the seat next to the deck. "You cannot keep this up for much longer without using up all your power,"

"It is the duty of a god to perform their task without fail, no matter the circumstances," she replies breathlessly. Even her hair is beginning to fade and dull to a lighter colour.

"Yes, but if you lose all your energy by doing this, you will not be able to protect yourself. And if Ra decides that you are a potential threat, he will kill you. There is no way for you to sustain summer or save anyone if you are dead,"

The air hangs heavy with her sighs. "You may be right, but I cannot simply allow the seasons to merge into chaos. It is too unpredictable,"

I am quiet for maybe a minute in deep contemplation before proposing a very dangerous idea. "If I restore this kingdom, then you can draw energy from it to sustain the season for a while longer, right?"

"Isis, you cannot do that," Thanatos argues, rushing over to me. "There is no way you can safely expend that much energy after reviving the valley,"

"The depletion of my energy is a small price to play for Natsuki's life,"

He takes my hands in his and gazes into my eyes for a seemingly long time. "It will take you a few days to recover if you go through with this,"

I offer him a small smile concealing more than just my gratitude for his concern. "I know. But if I can do even a little bit to keep Ra from winning this war, then I will take any chance,"

He kisses the top of my head delicately before the two of us exit the palace through the balcony, finding an open space for me to perform this task for the second time. Only this will take a significantly larger amount of energy due to the one simple fact that the life here is divine. Thanatos stands behind me with his arms wrapped around my midsection so I do not fall when I inevitably faint, and I close my eyes to begin gathering energy within my core. I already feel how low my internal energy supply is, and I know I will not be able to do this again for a long while, but what choice do I have? I will not let Ra win. I can't. And so, with every fiber of my being, I release my dragons from my body, their colors now clashing between silver and ash grey. With energy again pulsating from my body, they fly around the kingdom healing everything in sight. They sink themselves into the ground to revive it at the same time Thanatos expells death with his own dragons. While he steals death away, I return the life, and together we bring back the color and light until my vision becomes black.