Fate Breakers

Chapter 39

Cadmus

A Few Years Ago...

I had no idea where I was. Where there was once white walls, was now blood soaked snow. Gunfire and the clash of metal. Where the hell was I?

Then, a familiar click.

"Put your hands up."

I froze, hands slowly raising. How the hell did this woman get an AR-15? Which one of these idiots dropped—

BANG!

After all these years, I thought I'd gotten used to the ringing. She shot into the snow, but if it was anymore to the left, she would've blown off my leg.

Her purple eyes were stormy, blood soaked into her uniform. The pattern caught my attention quickly; quilted like the scales of a snake, her brooch having the head of a viper. Her cloak was a greyish-mauve, embroidered with purple string to mimic lightning strikes.

"Whatever you do, don't let one of the Vipers corner you."

Well, that mission failed. Sorry-not-sorry, Doc.

"Get on the ground," she snarled. "Hands at your back."

The smell of blood crept slowly into my nose. I tried to ignore it, but you can't mistake the metallic tang. My body started to shake. Everything hurt. The world started to go fuzzy again, like it was all in a red haze.

"Did you not just hear me?! Get. On. The. Ground. Now!"

The hunger came fast.

"Last chance!"

I wasn't in control.

BANG!

↻

The fact that I woke up was scary enough. I wasn't dead, and I wanted to be. I really wanted to be dead. Then again, they say Fate's a bitch. By the Gods, she must really hate me.

"Oh, Fate is most certainly a bitch. I'd know best."

Sometimes, when I sit up too fast, my stomach will throb like how it had in that moment. The pain was blinding. I'd started to see stars. It's likely how I originally disregarded His presence. Took a few deep breaths, and a lot of staring to finally register Him.

He appeared like a shade in the infirmary ward, His appearance just as disturbing. A fox-like face, eyes like icicles chilling my blood. His skin was golden and earthly and in his long, unruly red hair, sat a crown of thorns. His lips curled into a smile, his teeth sharper than mine.

"Hello, Cadmus Cirila."

I remember believing I was hallucinating. My eyes darted around the infirmary. It was then I learned they'd rightfully strapped me to the bed, then I registered someone physically standing just outside the door. If they heard me talking to someone, they likely would've killed me.

"You don't have to speak aloud," he chuckled, his voice dry and raspy. "Speak into your mind. I can hear you."

Everything in me screamed that I'd gone insane. I just stared at him for the longest time, head spinning and feeling sick. I remember wondering, "So it wants me to think about what I want to say?"

"I go by he, not it." He smiled wider. "But, yes," he said, "exactly that."

I was scared shitless. "What the hell are you? What do you want with me?"

"They once knew me as Rius," he explained. "And I was once a God. A God of many things, but I was best known as the God of trickery, mischief, and the Brother of Fate."