Two Sides of The Moon - Chapter 33: Chapter 33

-Jack-
I followed everyone in silence as we were returning to Aurora's home. Arch was right next to me, and I could feel his worried glances on my face, but I kept my eyes on the wet ground.
I felt empty. I was empty. I couldn't feel a thing as I listened, searching for them. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe the emptiness I was facing. I couldn't believe it was actually real.
They were...
Gone.
I took a deep, slow breath, and let it out even slower. Nothing. The word, free, scared me, so I didn't dare to use it. Not yet. What if it wasn't real? What if they had somehow managed to avoid getting blasted out of me? What if that peacekeeper had been unable to get rid of them all, and they were still inside me, lurking... waiting...
The arrow itself hadn't hurt me, but when the shadows got torn off my souls... That fucking hurt, but only for a brief second. Oliver was good at relieving pain. I didn't want to know how much pain I'd still be in if he hadn't been there to take it away.
I needed to thank him. I hadn't had the opportunity to thank the peacekeepers before they returned to their fortress to get ready for Cameron's inevitable return.
Tilly held the bow like a precious gift as we walked, her eyes never leaving the golden bones. The bow really was a special gift. If only we'd had it before, we could've defended ourselves. I could've gotten rid of the infestation sooner. But I understood why the peacekeepers had stayed away until now. They'd been hunting down Cameron.
I shivered at the thought of that shadow and glanced at Jaden. He'd been possessed by Cameron only for a brief moment, but he had to be shaken. To get possessed by something as horrifying as a corrupted champion of the gods... Only after a few days, Ryder had been in pretty bad shape, too.
By someone like... me. I still wanted to laugh at the thought. I was no one's champion. I was just a fucking runt of a dead pack.
'Ahem...'
I rolled my eyes at the sound of Fenrir's voice in the back of my mind. He had to be mistaken. He must've confused me for someone else. And even if I was his chosen champion, he'd made a terrible mistake.
'Oh, stop it. I'm a god. I do not make mistakes.'
I snorted at his words, gaining Arch's attention once again.
"Could you get out of my head?" I asked out loud.
'Nope.'
I sighed.
"Is everything all right?" Arch asked quietly.
"It's nothing..." I muttered, pointing at my head. "It's just Fenrir up there..."
'Forever and ever,' Fenrir said in an amused tone.
"I'm not getting used to all these gods hanging out in everyone's heads..." Arch muttered, giving me a careful smile.
I nearly stopped to stare at him. He looked so gorgeous when he smiled...
"Me neither," I managed to spit out and rip my eyes off him.
There were no shadows trying to ruin this moment for me. I almost expected them to start moving inside me. For a brief moment, I waited for the fear and all the other negative emotions to swallow me, but nothing happened.
And I glanced at Arch again. His smile grew a little bit wider. He walked so close that our shoulders touched every now and then. His scent was all over me. His eyes were all over me.
And the shadows didn't try to take that away from me.
We reached Aurora's house, and the guards escorting us stayed outside while the rest of us got back in. The house was a mess after we'd left in such a hurry, so we all helped to clean up a bit.
While I was putting the blanket I'd used during the night away, Aurora stepped next to me.
"I think you should stay with us for a while, don't you?" she asked with a kind voice.
I shivered when I thought about my own home.
"I guess so..." I said.
There was no point in trying to turn down her offer. She wouldn't let me leave. She'd probably tie me up if I tried. But I didn't want to leave. I had no other place to go. And... It was nice to know she cared so much.
"We have a spare room you can use," she told me, gesturing for me to follow her past the living room.
I did so with Arch right on my heels. The bedrooms were just around the corner, lining up a short hallway behind the living room. Aurora stopped behind a door at the end of it, and pushed it open. I came to a halt next to her and peered in.
It was a nice, cozy bedroom with a big bed for two, a dresser, and a small desk. The curtains in front of a big window and carpet on the floor were the same green ones I had back in my home. Or used to have...
"It's lovely," I turned to tell Aurora.
"You can stay here for as long as you want," she told me with a smile. "I've already found new clothes and other things you may need."
"You shouldn't have bothered," I told her, but she waved her hand in a dismissive manner.
"I promised to take care of you like my own," she said, touching my arm gently.
I would've told her she shouldn't bother with a runt from the enemy pack, but it just so happened that my ability to speak was momentarily disabled.
"Come – I'll make us something to eat. We missed breakfast," Aurora said.
I snorted in amusement. "Funny way of saying we were attacked..."
I saw a hint of something dark in her eyes when I said that, but she flashed a smile at me anyway.
"Next time they won't catch us with pants down," she promised.
"I'm definitely done being an easy victim," Arch agreed. "Helios better get my gift fixed."
"We really need it," Aurora sighed. "I hate the idea of letting you fight..."
"What else can we do?" Arch asked when we joined the others in the living room.
"Not this conversation again..." Tilly sighed.
Aurora watched her for a brief moment. Then she sighed and turned her back on us.
"I'll go make us something to eat," she said and stepped into her kitchen while Arch and I entered the living room.
The bow was resting on a table in the middle of the living room. I stopped to stare at it.
"You know how to use it?" I asked Tilly.
She glanced at me. "I hope so..."
"She has a good aim," Arch said reassuringly and leaned closer to touch the bow. "At least now we have something we can use to fight the shadows, but one bow isn't enough."
Jaden tried to speak, but only air came out, so he groaned and crossed his arms.
"Jaden annoyed," Oliver said quietly.
The Alpha's son rolled his eyes.
"Jaden even more annoyed."
I had to laugh a little. I rubbed my temples and went to sit down on the couch.
"What's so funny?" Tilly asked.
"I'm just..." I glanced at them all before I continued. "How are we supposed to win?"
"That's not really something I wanted to hear from the Son of gods," Oliver said. "It's not that reassuring."
"I'm a son of no one," I corrected him. "Fenrir made a mistake."
I heard the godly voice clearing his throat in the back of my mind once again.
"Could you please get out of my head already?" I asked.
'Fine.'
A second later, Fenrir stood in front of me, staring me down with his yellow eyes. "You need to stop calling yourself a mistake. You are my champion. You always have been, and always will be."
"Bad decision, really," I scoffed.
He laughed at my words and kneeled down in front of me. "You are free now," he said with a wide smile, grabbing me by my shoulders. "The shadows are gone. Your spirits are healing, and the enemy will regret attacking you.
I tried to argue back, but he promptly covered my mouth with his hand and turned to look at the others.
"You should see him angry. It's amazing – work of art," Fenrir told them, while I pried his hand off my mouth.
"I'm nothing special. I'm less than average! I can barely function like a normal werewolf," I tried to tell Fenrir, but he refused to listen.
He'd spotted the bow on the table and was already walking to it. We all stayed silent when he leaned over it and carefully touched it.
"Bow of Hades..." he mumbled. "Arlona is here."
"They paid us a visit while you were gone," I told him. "Where were you?"
Fenrir sighed and looked down. "I visited Ra..."
Cameron's god...
"And...?" I muttered while Aurora joined us to hear what he had to say.
Fenrir sighed, his expression turning sad. "Love is such a powerful weapon if the enemy knows how to use it."
"What does that mean?" Oliver asked.
"According to Ra, Cameron was consumed by hatred before he died. Ra tried to intervene... he tried to help Cameron, but it was too late. Another god, Apophis, Ra's enemy, had already corrupted Cameron's mind. Cameron attacked Ra, and then... He ended his own life."
"That's how he became a shadow," Oliver muttered.
"But you said love," I said. "What does love have to do with this?"
'It's my fault...'
We all turned to look at Oliver's guardian spirit when he appeared in the house. Even as a swirly mist, Cedric looked heartbroken.
'We were lovers,' he began quietly. 'He was a great man. A strong warrior with a heart of gold. He was fierce and so full of life... He was fire in every meaning of the word.'
"What happened?" Oliver asked.
'I... I chose death over him,' Cedric whispered. 'I chose to become a spirit.'
"You... killed yourself?" Oliver asked with wide eyes, but Cedric shook his head.
'I chose not to be reborn,' he corrected him.
"You lost me," Oliver said apologetically.
'I'm not a human, Oliver,' Cedric said. 'I'm a phoenix.'
We all stopped to stare at him. No one expected that, even though his spirit was clearly different from others. But fucking hell was it obvious? His spirit looked like it was literally on fire!
"You're a.... a... phoenix?" Oliver gasped.
'So is Cameron,' Cedric said.
"But... But... Phoenixes are rare," Tilly said with wide eyes. "Like, really rare."
We all still just stared at him. Inappropriate perhaps, but meeting an actual phoenix, even as a spirit, was extremely rare.
'I was already old and tired before I met Cameron. I'd lived through dozens of lives and fought hundreds of battles before we fell in love. He was young and still full of life, but I... I was already waiting for death. I loved him, so I stayed with him for six more lives, but then... I was ready to leave. I was ready to stay dead. He... He couldn't understand why I chose death over him. He was so young... He knew what my plan was, and it angered him. He didn't want to accept it.'
"What happened to him was not your fault," Fenrir said quietly. "Apophis saw an opportunity and turned Cameron's grief into hatred. Even Ra couldn't protect him. The enemy corrupted him."
'He was fire... His love burned hot, and his rage even hotter...' Cedric said quietly, clearly deep in his memories. 'I didn't know what had happened to him... I thought... I hoped he was still out there with someone new. Someone who could stay with him for dozens of lives... Someone who loves him just as much as I did, and even more.'
I could feel his pain as he spoke, and when he was done, none of us said a word. What a horrible situation. Cameron was our enemy, but knowing how and why he became one was just... heartbreaking.
"So... if he's a phoenix..." Arch began slowly with a grim look on his face. "He can be reborn. He can do it any moment he wants."
"And he'll regain his full power..." Oliver sighed, shaking his head.
"Not only that," Tilly murmured. "He's a phoenix. Lord of fire."
"He'll set this world on fire unless we stop him," Fenrir whispered.
"The peacekeepers better act fast with that binding thing," I said, shivering at the thought of our enemy. "But he's just a lesser evil. He has a master. Someone who's stronger than him. So let me ask again: how the fuck can we win this war?"
"How, you ask?"
I turned to look at the doorway when Helios appeared to it, holding something that looked like a white marble. Before any of us could say a word, he marched to Arch and pressed the marble against his forehead. The marble vanished inside him, and Helios stepped back.
Arch didn't even flinch, but he did close his eyes. He took a deep, deep breath, like he'd been unable to breathe properly until now. Then he stretched his shoulders, shook himself a little and opened his eyes again.
They were completely white now.
"Finally," he muttered and smiled. "I can feel you..." he added in a sinister whisper that sent shivers down my spine.
He was not talking to any of us.
"I made it better," Helios said, admiring his handiwork. "It's more... accurate."
"I can see that," Arch said and blinked, his eyes turning back to normal. "We won't be caught with our pants down ever again."
"That's good news," Aurora spoke in a dark voice. "I'm done feeling defenseless."
"The enemy has their fair share of strong contenders and horrifying artifacts, but so do we," Helios spoke, looking at me. "You may now feel like there is no hope, but give it a few days."
"How is anything going to change in a few days?" I asked.
"What you are feeling now is just a remnant of what the shadows left behind," Helios said, walking up to Tilly. "You are a champion, after all. Losing is not in your vocabulary."
I very much doubted I'd feel any different in a few days, but Helios had already turned to Aurora.
"I know how worried you are about your children's safety. I wish I could change things. I wish it was someone else who got chosen for this war, but that was not our decision," the god spoke.
"Then whose decision was it?" Aurora asked, clearly not accepting his sympathy.
"Fate's, I suppose. The spirits returned by their own will, choosing their homes by chance. All we can do is make sure they are ready for battle, and win," Helios spoke.
Aurora shook her head, looking angry again. She had all the rights to be mad, even though it didn't change anything.
"Perhaps I can ease your mind?" Helios asked her and turned to look at Tilly without waiting for Aurora's reply. "You truly have a warrior's spirit. It goes a long way back in your lineage. Brave, unyielding souls each and every one of them."
Helios lifted his hand to push a lock of Tilly's hair behind her ear. "You will be feared. Weaklings will see you and run for their lives. They will know you as the beautiful death."
"What did you do to her hair?" Oliver asked.
We all stepped closer to see what he was seeing, and sure enough, the strand Helios had touched had turned gold in color.
Helios smiled and stepped back.
"What did you do?" Tilly asked with wide, excited eyes.
"You think our enemy is scary?" Helios asked, conjuring a dagger out of thin air. "They should see you."
He attacked Tilly with all his might, pouncing at her with the dagger in hand before any of us could do anything. The dagger hit her shoulder with a force that should've slashed her entire arm off.
But it was the knife that broke.
The knife. Broke.
We all stared at her unscratched skin, then at Helios.
"You now have my Strength," the god said with a pleased smile. "Handle it carefully."
"I'm invincible?" Tilly asked with a way too excited look on her face. "I can't be harmed?"
"There are weapons that can hurt you – other gifts. You should not let your guard down, but this will protect you from many things," Helios told her, and turned to Aurora. "I hope this gift will soothe your mind."
Aurora was still inspecting her daughter's shoulder, then turned to squint her eyes at the god.
"You attacked my child," she said in a dangerous voice. "But your gift is appreciated."
"I only did it for demonstration purposes," Helios said as he picked up a piece of the dagger from the floor. "And since Cerberus is waking up..."
Again, before any of us could even blink, he took the piece of blade and ran it across Arch's arm, but without leaving a single mark behind.
"Does this mean," Arch spoke with a frown, staring at his arm, "we can use each other's gifts?"
"Unfair, isn't it?" Helios asked with a chuckle. "To our enemy, that is."
"So we all are invincible? We all can sense danger? And when we get the Howl back, we can all heal, too?" Tilly asked.
"Like I said, very unfair," Helios said. "Oh, and that bow of yours? It's a soul weapon. It lives in your soul just like Oliver's guardian lives in his."
"So... since our souls are connected, we all can use it?" Arch guessed.
"You all can use them," Helios said, keeping three of his fingers up. "Three souls. Three bows."
All three of them, Jaden, Arch, and Tilly, crossed arms over their chests and turned to stare at the bow in a freakishly similar manner.
"Fucking hell, they should've killed you guys when they had the chance," I said.
"So what other gifts do you guys have?" Tilly asked with a greedy expression.
Helios chuckled at her question. "Now, now, you can't carry more than one gift at a time. The shared soul of Cerberus is a loophole we're taking advantage of."
"Stupid rules..." Tilly snorted.
"Two gifts are too much for mortals to handle. It will kill you and maybe even destroy your soul."
"Bummer..."
"This will give us an advantage we didn't have before," Aurora said. "I do feel much better now."
Tilly smiled at her mother. "We're going to kick some serious ass!"
I didn't share her excitement, but... I had to admit... I already started to feel like we maybe had a little hope, after all.
I suppose Fenrir could feel this too, since he turned to give me a smile.
"You will get your strength back soon," he said. "You are my champion, the carrier of my power, just like Cameron is the carrier of Ra's power. And when you are back in full health, you will defeat Cameron."
"How can you be so sure?" I asked.
"Please – when has a bird ever been a match to a wolf?" Fenrir asked, watching me with pride in his yellow eyes.