Bound

Aria stood in the corner of the old, run down barn, peeking from behind one of its pillars at the most terrifying sight she’d ever seen.

One of the old gods.

What was he doing here, in the middle of her tiny village? And what could she or Jasper possibly have done to elicit a visit from one of them? The gods hadn’t been seen in centuries - not since the earth’s energy had fallen out of balance, and the darkness descended. It seemed that the immortal beings weren’t interested in helping out Aria and her fellow mortals, content to relax in whatever protected dimension they resided in while the world they were meant to rule was transformed into a scene straight from the deepest pit of hell. And yet, there he stood.

She hadn’t figured out who he was, but she supposed it didn’t matter. Even the weakest god could destroy her village with a wave of their hand, and he was currently using one of those hands to hold Jasper by his collar.

“What an unlucky day to be you,” the god crooned, hauling Jasper up so that he was eye-level. “It’s nothing personal, you know. The Fates make these kinds of decisions, not me.”

Aria could see Jasper trembling, even from across the abandoned barn, and watched as he dredged up the courage to look the god in the eyes. Though his voice shook, Aria thought it was admirable that he hadn’t let go of his bladder. “Who are you?”

“You don’t recognize me?” the god looked offended. “Perhaps we should have visited this realm more often. I’m Corin.” Aria couldn’t help but gasp, slipping her hand over her mouth in an attempt to hide the sound. Corin was the patriarch of the family that ruled the gods - the Sotirs.

Her surprise cost her. The god turned and pinned Aria with a disdainful stare. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten about you, my dear. You’re next.”

Indignant rage bubbled up within her. If there was one thing she couldn’t stand, it was people who acted like they were better than everyone else - even if that person was a god, and had once been feared above all others.

She made an irritated sound, her earlier plan to feign meekness and go unnoticed forgotten. “For what?” she snapped. Aria knew on some level that it wasn’t wise to ignite his temper, but she was no longer thinking straight. “You haven’t even told us what you’re planning to do.”

“Ah, you’re a fiery one I see.” Corin looked back to Jasper, who was still dangling in his hand, and rolled his eyes. “Since we’re going to be spending the next few millennia working together, I’m going to let her tone slide.”

“Millennia? You do realize we’re mortal, right?” asked Jasper.

“Of course. That’s what I’m here to fix. We’ve noticed that recently things have really taken a turn for the worse here, and - ”

Aria cut him off. “What do you mean, recently? It’s been five hundred years since the darkness fell.”

“You would do well to remember who I am and what I’m capable of before interrupting me, child.”

“Sorry,” she muttered, though she wasn’t at all sorry.

“As I was saying, we’ve decided that someone needs to rebalance the energy on Earth. And the Fates named the two of you to do it.”

“To do what, exactly?” Aria demanded with a frown. “How could two mortals possibly change the reality we’ve been living in for centuries?”

“By fighting as our scions, of course. With one of you controlling aeide, the light energy, and one of you controlling aeidon, the dark energy, you’ll be able to bring the world the balance it needs. I do apologize about the fighting part - but like I said, it’s nothing personal.”

Aria and Jasper exchanged glances, stunned into silence. They’d been best friends for as long as she could remember, and becoming his enemy sounded like her worst nightmare. Jasper began struggling in Corin’s grip, and the god finally set him down.

“Right, so now that I’ve explained that, let’s get on with it shall we? I’ll summon my family and we’ll begin with you, Jasper.”

Aria didn’t pause to wonder how he had known Jasper’s name. She knew in her bones that they were standing on a precipice - if she allowed this to happen, her life would change irrevocably. And she liked her life just as it was. So she launched herself at Corin, attempting to distract him from whatever he was about to do to Jasper. But before she could even lay a hand on the god, her body stopped in mid-air, halted by Corin’s energy - his irumen. She fell to the ground.

The god laughed, a sound that grated on Aria’s ears and caused something deep within her to rear its head. She would never forgive him for this. Corin didn’t even pause to punish her for her attempt. She was simply an annoyance, like swatting away a fly.

Aria could do nothing but watch as the gods she had heard tales about as a child blinked into existence one by one. The Sotirs stood in a circle around the two mortals, and began channeling their irumen towards Jasper. He screamed as the power entered his body, lifting him up off of the ground. Aria stumbled backwards towards the edge of the circle, unable to take her eyes off of the scene unfolding before her. It would have been beautiful if it weren’t so terrifying.

Jasper’s screams could have lasted for minutes or hours - Aria wasn’t sure. But eventually, the relentless stream of irumen stopped, and Jasper dropped to the ground. He recovered faster than she expected, jerking upright and bringing his hand up to his face. The gods watched alongside Aria, now the sole mortal in the barn, as Jasper’s fingers began to crumble into dust, only to be replaced by something that looked like smoke. But Aria knew what it was. Aeidon.

Corin turned to face her, grabbing her arm to pull her into the center of the ring as Jasper continued staring at his hand in disbelief. She knew there was no escaping her fate, but that didn’t mean that she had to go gently.

Aria wrenched her arm from Corin’s grasp and ran towards a gap between where two of the Sotirs stood, making it further than she expected before she was blasted back into the middle of the circle by Corin. The god didn’t pause to pin her down. He simply nodded to his family, who once again began directing their power towards the center of the circle. Only this time, it was Aria that was caught in it.

She realized as soon as the first tendril of irumen touched her that the fact that Jasper had screamed, rather than immediately passed out, was exceedingly impressive. Her bones felt as though they were being melted by her boiling blood and then welded back together. And though she opened her mouth to scream, no sound came out. She thrashed in the air as the energy surrounding her grew hotter and hotter, until it no longer felt like flame - it felt like starlight. Like the nuclear forge in the heart of a star.

When it was finally over, Aria opened her eyes and realized she was glowing, as golden as a newly formed star. Her eyes immediately searched the room for Jasper, but she could no longer see him.

The gods surrounding her simply stared, like they were examining a new play-toy they had created. But Aria was no longer mortal, and no longer weak. So she stood up, dusted herself off, and looked Corin directly in the eyes.

“You will pay for this,” she hissed. Then she stalked out of the barn and into the darkness to hunt her prey - Jasper.