Two Sides of The Moon - Chapter 41: Chapter 41

-Oliver-
"You saw him again?" Rayleigh asked me once I was back up on my feet. "The enemy?"
I nodded, but before I could tell him more, I got yanked into a tight hug. I wiggled a little to look up and saw Jaden's murderous eyes.
"We saw him too," Arch spoke, his voice surprisingly calm. "He showed himself as a shadow, so we still don't know who he is, but we heard his voice."
"He said everyone knows him by different names," Tilly added, wrapping her arms around herself.
"It could still be anyone," Arch said, and this time he seemed anxious. "Do we really not have a clue who it could be? He's Gaea's enemy, for crying out loud! That has to narrow it down!"
For a brief second, I wondered why Arch got so heated, but then I realized he wasn't used to not knowing the answer. He was really smart, after all.
"Cameron is coming," I reminded them, and forced Jaden to let go of me. "We need to focus."
"We are ready," Aadhil said shortly.
"Yes, let us wait until the enemy arrives. Might as well make a cup of tea while we're at it..." one of the Alphas mumbled.
"I understand this war is frustrating, but we have to–" Aadhil tried to speak, but the Alphas were getting impatient.
"Stay focused? Is that it?" the most annoyed of the Alphas hissed. "Focus on what? We can't fight the enemy!"
The sound of our alarms interrupted the heated conversation at that very moment. We all froze to listen to the sirens. The sound was so normal... I'd heard it whenever the town was testing their horns. But this was the first time that sound filled me with dread and fear.
"Our wait is over," Aadhil said in a grim voice. "He's here."
"Now what?" Rayleigh asked quietly.
"We will try to catch him," Aadhil said just as quietly.
"The enemy said he'll give me his name if I defeat Cameron," I said. "Sounds like he's here to fight this time."
"We will try to catch him," Aadhil repeated.
I looked at Jaden, and he immediately turned his attention to me. I didn't need to read his mind to know what he was thinking. What we all were thinking. The enemy knew we were ready to catch Cameron, and he still sent him, his strongest fighter, against us. We had no high hopes for the binding box. Even the peacekeepers were doubtful.
This was it.
'You have to kill him,' Cedric whispered, his voice filled with pain.
'I'll try not to,' I promised.
'Come out, little mouse.'
We all heard Cameron's voice, but none of us even flinched.
'And bring my Starling with you.'
I looked up towards his voice but couldn't see him through the ceiling. I could feel him, though. He was somewhere above us.
'I want to talk to him,' Cedric said.
"All right," I replied, turned into a spirit, and flew up, hearing the people in the Hall yelling after me.
Once I was outside, I saw the big, black shadow looming threateningly in the sky, waiting for me.
'I'm here,' Cedric spoke and left my soul. 'Why are you doing this? You were a great man, a just man!'
'Maybe I lied as well,' Cameron replied. 'Maybe I never was what you thought I was.'
'That's bullshit! You were corrupted by evil. We heard the story! Apophis–'
'Enough!' Cameron shouted, and Cedric fell silent. 'I will deal with you later, Starling.'
'What do you want, Cameron?' I asked. 'Why are you here now?'
'Wait for your turn, little boy,' Cameron told me, and looked away from us.
Four big clouds of black dust appeared around him, cornering him from every direction. The peacekeepers appeared from within the clouds, but not alone. They were riding some kind of winged beasts! Like... Like horses, but with paws and lizard's heads! With massive bat wings! I was so shocked and mesmerized by the beasts that I nearly forgot we were in danger.
The peacekeepers were already making their move. The space between them burst out in something that looked like white lightning, and it was so bright I would've had to look away if I was in my human form. I could barely see Cameron in the middle of it. In a blink of an eye, the shadow was surrounded by the electricity, and in another, he was gone. What was left was a small, wooden box floating in the air.
For a brief second, I thought that was it. That Cameron had been successfully bound to the box, after all. I heard my friends shouting my name somewhere below me, and I glanced down. Jaden seemed mad at me.
Get your ass down here right now!
I smiled at him, the relief washing through me.
And then the box let out such a loud crack the entire territory heard it. As I turned to look at it, I could see darkness emanating from it. I could hear Cameron laughing inside it.
'It's not going to hold,' Cedric said, but I had already come to that same conclusion.
Of course it wasn't holding Cameron. Dark lightnings surrounded the box as Cameron kept pushing through the boundaries. All we could do was stare at it.
Useless. I'd have to kill him.
'Yes, please do,' the enemy laughed inside my head. 'You would love to destroy him...'
'No,' I said.
I would not. This was Cedric's lover, after all. A champion who fell victim to corruption. This was not Cameron's fault. The enemy had used his grief to turn him against us.
Another burst of light blinded us all for a brief second as Cameron easily burst out of the box. I heard screaming. It was loud and filled with pain, and for a moment, I had no idea where it was coming from.
The light dimmed down, and I saw Cameron next to the box. Before anyone could do anything, one of the peacekeepers flew close and quickly grabbed the box, then vanished with his beast. My focus was on Cameron. He was silent, his spirit quivering.
He was in pain.
He let out a shivering laugh. He was... shaken?
'That was not... a binding box,' Cameron breathed out, and I suddenly realized his spirit was badly damaged. I could see the purple wounds all over him.
"It was, but we modified it a little," one of the peacekeepers said. "In case you were strong enough to get out of it, we wanted to make sure we'd at least get the artifacts."
'Stripped down...' Cameron murmured, trying to recollect himself. 'Clever, clever Arlona... No matter...'
He turned his hateful gaze to the remaining peacekeepers, but the three of them vanished into thin air.
'Wait. You're leaving me with him?!' I shouted after them, and Cameron turned his rage toward me. 'Fuck...'
'Fuck indeed,' Cameron said, and it was clear he was now pissed.
I braced myself. I was ready to fight. I could only hope he was now weak enough so I could defeat him without killing him. Maybe he was weak enough so we could use the box on him again? I just needed to keep him busy.
'You will pay for that,' Cameron hissed, ready to launch at me, but the air started twisting between us. Cameron let out a sigh. 'Now what...?'
A woman appeared between us. I could only see her back, her long hair, her golden armor, and a massive spear. I couldn't recognize her, but I knew she was a spirit.
A very, very strong spirit.
"We meet again, traitor," the woman spoke in an angry voice.
'Sekhmet,' Cameron greeted her, his voice as disrespectful as it could be, but his form suddenly changed.
A pair of massive wings grew out of his back, and he conjured a big spear of his own. His smoky appearance turned into something that looked like black fire, and I could see his human form more clearly.
I had no idea what was going on between these two, but it was clear Cameron was now taking things seriously. That was his battle form. It had to be.
So that could mean only one thing...
'The gods found a champion spirit,' I muttered.
"My father would like a word with you," Sekhmet said, her voice so poisonous even I had to take a step back.
'You can tell Ra to go fuck himself!' Cameron spat at her.
Sekhmet let out a blood-chilling roar and launched at Cameron, who was ready to take her first attack. Cedric and I hurried to safety when the two of them started fighting, their spears whistling through the air in a blur.
'She's not a champion,' Cedric said once we were far enough. 'She's the Egyptian goddess of war.'
'But she's strong?' I pointed out, watching the fight.
'She never gave up her powers – she's one of the few gods who chose not to take a champion,' Cedric explained. 'And she's the actual daughter of Ra.'
'So they found a goddess whose father Cameron tried to kill?' I said, and Cedric nodded. 'Damn. He's in trouble now.'
And so was I.
GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!
I peered down at Jaden, who was absolutely fuming. The strength of his emotions left me no other choice but to do as he said. We returned to the ground, and I turned back to human. Jaden immediately grabbed me by the collar of my jacket and pulled me very close to him.
His eyes were shooting daggers at me.
"I'm sorry," I said. "I was fine."
He had a lot to say to me, so I was quite glad he didn't have a voice right now. He would've yelled at me until I grew deaf. Now I had the opportunity to speak to Aadhil.
"What happens next?" I asked him.
"The box was – as we expected – not strong enough. But we now have the artifacts. He is weakened," Aadhil said.
"Can we still capture him?" I asked.
"We have another box ready, but first we need to let Sekhmet drain Cameron's energy even further. Once he's weak enough, we will try again."
"What if he tries to escape?" I asked.
"We'll go after him the second he does," Aadhil promised.
"So this was your true plan all along?"
"Yes. It was important the enemy didn't see it coming."
'Why not just kill him?' the enemy taunted inside my mind. 'I've ordered him to kill everyone you hold dear. Every single one of them will meet a gruesome death in his fire if you don't stop him.'
My mind was suddenly flooded with images of burning people and horrible screams. For a short moment, I thought what I saw was real because of how vivid the images were. I nearly panicked again, but I felt something warm around me.
Do not let him fool you.
Jaden. I couldn't see him, but I felt his calming presence around me.
Do not kill Cameron. We can still save him. There still has to be good in him.
He loved Cedric. He loved my guardian so much he turned mad when he lost his love. Cameron couldn't be pure evil, not even now. There had to be a way to reach him!
'Kill him. That's your only option.'
'No. There is still good in him. He's still in love with Cedric.'
The enemy laughed at me. 'So you're just letting your loved-ones die? Stupid kid. Don't tell me I didn't warn you when you mourn your mate next to his grave.'
He showed me that grave. It felt so real... I could almost smell the scent of summer and hear the birds singing above me.
Not real.
Jaden pulled me back to him, and the image of his gravestone vanished.
An angry roar pulled my attention back to the sky. Cameron was still fighting Sekhmet, and neither of them showed any signs of exhaustion. They seemed to have forgotten the rest of us as they continued their battle high up in the sky.
"We need to catch him soon," I told Aadhil. "I'm... I may lose it... The enemy is whispering in my head, and I don't know if I can keep my corruption under control."
'Yes, kill him. You know you want to...'
I shook my head, hoping I could get rid of his sinister voice.
'You're so boring... Fine. Have it your way,' the enemy said, and I could feel him loosening his grip on me.
And a second later, something massive broke above us. I couldn't see it at first. I didn't even know what I was looking for, but then I could feel the barriers protecting us against the shadows coming crashing down.
"He broke the shields!" I shouted, even though it seemed like everyone else had realized this too.
I could see the shadows behind it slowly making their way closer, but Cameron stole my attention again. He had managed to put distance between himself and Sekhmet, and the goddess was holding her side.
'Interrupt my mission one more time...' Cameron spoke loudly in an angry voice, leaving his threat hanging in the air as he vanished in a blink of an eye.
Everything turned into chaos within a few seconds. The shadows invaded our lands, trying to get to the people to possess them, but the spirits on our side put up a fight, preventing the enemy army from getting too close.
Sekhmet kept springing around as she tried to find Cameron. I tried to find him as well, but it was hard to feel his presence in the chaos. One by one, the gods arrived to our aid, and so did the peacekeepers.
"Where's Cameron!"
"Did you see where he went?"
I stopped to stare at a person standing in the middle of the chaos. Everyone else was frantically searching for Cameron, but not him. Ryder.
He stood further away from us, looking calm and composed. He was accompanied by three people I didn't know. I did not recognize any of them. I had never seen any of them. I had only heard about them once, but I knew exactly who they were.
I could feel the Echoes in them. Hades' Echoes.
"Ryder!" I yelled and took a few steps towards him when he turned around to face me. "Cameron! Let him go!"
All eyes were on the Beta now. Cameron was using his body once again, and the laugh he let out was so cold and so deadly that I didn't recognize the person as Ryder, even though he looked exactly the same.
"I'll let him go once my job here is done," Cameron spoke and turned to take something from one of his companions. A gun.
A gun...
'Say goodbye to your loved ones,' the enemy said with a chuckle.
"No! Ryder!" Ezra shouted and ran closer to Ryder, only to be stopped by Rayleigh. "Ryder!!"
If I had missed the clues before, this time I didn't. I could feel the horrified distress Ezra's spirits were in when Ryder only ignored him.
They were mates.
"Cameron!" I yelled, the anger rising inside me. "Let Ryder go and face me!"
'What are you doing?' Cedric asked, but I stepped closer to Ryder. Cameron.
"You're here because of me. Let Ryder go! He has nothing to do with this!" I continued.
Cameron shook his head and took a step closer to me, holding the gun in his hand. It wasn't a human-made gun. It was exactly the same Henry had used to shoot Arch. A gun to kill werewolves.
"Let him go?" Cameron asked with a snort. "After all that humiliation your little group put me through? No, I don't think so."
Before he or I or anyone else could do anything, Ezra broke free from Rayleigh's grip and ran toward Ryder before anyone could stop him.
"Let him go!" Ezra shouted. I could feel his madness caused by the fear of losing his mate.
Cameron lifted his gun and pointed it at Ezra, who slid to a halt only a few feet away from him. It felt like the entire world had stopped to stare at the gun.
And my god... I could hear Ryder. I could hear him begging Cameron to spare his mate.
"Now... Where were we?" Cameron asked with a big, murderous smile on his face.