Twilight of the Gods ✔️

Chapter 3: An Unwanted Guest

Daeva laid on the cobblestone, sobbing in pain. Rain splattered on her cheeks, soaking into her dress. She felt cold, but the spring chill in Myrania was the least of her worries. She was certain that in addition to the knife wound on her chest, she had a few broken bones and countless bruises on her limbs.

No one was going to save her. Even if a good samaritan did manage to find her in the abandoned alleyway, they would come too late. Considering how lightheaded she was from the blood loss, she figured her death was a few minutes away. At least she would meet the Reaper in her favorite dress. The lilac garment with the tiny flowers stitched into her neckline always did manage to make her look good, although she wasn't sure it had the same effect when she was battered and bloodied on the cobblestone.

She supposed it was fitting that she'd die on her birthday. She had a good nineteen years in this life, even though she felt she had never been given the chance to truly start living. More tears flowed from her eyes, this time from sorrow rather than pain. She really didn't want to die.

But she has no choice. She closes her eyes, resigned. How could she, a mere mortal girl, turn back the wheels of fate in her favor? She felt something cold draped over her and she imagined it to be the Reaper watching over her. The thought was comforting and it quelled the sharp betrayal she felt in her heart. She had been hurt by someone she loved deeply, bleeding out because of his blade in her chest.

"Poor girl," she heard a man say. "You shouldn't have to die so early."

She opened her eyes and saw a shadowy figure looming over her. She had heard many stories in her youth about the Reaper. The old lady who watched over her and the other girls always said that he was a cold man, mean and uncompromising. But the man that stood over her had a kind face, his eyes full of pity.

"I didn't choose this," she said, trying to put on a brave face. "But I am ready to leave."

"I can give you a second chance," he said. "The person who hurt you - they're the one that doesn't deserve to live."

"That's awfully generous for someone who is supposed to escort me to the Underworld." She must have looked terribly pathetic if even the Reaper wanted her to stay alive. She coughed up more blood. Any minute now she would see the light at the end of the tunnel.

"You're mistaken, dear girl," he said. "I'm not the Reaper. I'm a God."

She stared at the shadow in wonder. Gods haven't walked the earth in a century. And yet here was one, casually talking to her as if she wasn't dying. If she hadn't been in so much pain, she would've thought that this God looked nothing like those in the stories. He seemed too ordinary. But if she had been given the time to look at him closely, she would've seen ancient darkness lurking behind his eyes.

"Could you really give me a second chance at life?" She didn't want to hope for too much, not as it became harder to breathe.

"Yes, I can give you that and something more," he said, his velvety voice coaxing her.

"Something more?"

"Revenge. I will give you power beyond your imagination. All for the price of letting me share your soul and body."

Her body? For some reason that made her laugh. But what did she have to lose? She was as good as dead anyway.

"Fine." She agreed to the deal and feels the cold God enter her body. Her vision turned red as her mind clouds over with anger. She would have her revenge like the God promised.

That's when she woke up, sweat coating her body. She patted the blankets beneath her, making sure that she wasn't lying on cobblestones but within the safe confines of the abandoned temple.