Tissaia could barely see past the wind driven rain in her eyes as she and Talarion galloped towards the large structure they had caught sight of before the sky began to darken. Flashes of lightning illuminated the mountain face and the temple emerging from it, and Tissaia narrowed her eyes, spying several guards already stationed to intercept them.

    She drew the makeshift bow she had fashioned from the remnants of her old one and fitted an arrow in place. "Stay close to me when we get there!" Talarion called over the wind. "They'll try to separate us!" Tissaia only nodded in response, unsure if her brother had been able to see the gesture.

    As the next bolt of lightning split the sky, she loosed her arrow and watched as it struck one of the guards through the throat, taking him down. Talarion's teeth glinted in a cunning smirk while she prepped her next arrow.

    The guards were running at them now, but Tissaia kept her breaths measured, her focus steady, and released another arrow. As soon as the guards were in range, Talarion leaped off his horse and threw himself at them, his daggers and magic mere flashes of silver in the bursts of lightning.

    Tissaia slung her bow back over her shoulders and followed suit, brandishing one of Talarion's longer pair of scimitar daggers that could almost be classed as a shortsword in her hands. He had given it to her the day before when she pointed out that she hadn't recovered her own dagger after the fire.

    Tissaia raised a sparkling amethyst shield on her forearm and braced herself to take the first blow that fell towards her. The moment the male's sword made contact, she thrust her arm back and her shield forced the male to stumble. She sliced her dagger through his leather-clad stomach without hesitation and sprinted past, not waiting to watch him fall.

    She and Talarion remained a few paces from each other as they cut down each guard who threatened to intercept them. Tissaia barely looked at her brother, knowing she wouldn't recognize the male she saw there. She could hear it in the choking screams of each warrior who fell beneath his blades.

    Talarion wasn't granting them swift deaths. He was incapacitating them and letting them die suffering. Many of them reached towards her, pleading for mercy. She granted it by killing them instantly, ignoring the churning in her stomach.

    Finally, the last guard fell and they were sprinting towards the temple entrance. They had just reached the stairs when a pulse of energy tore from the temple, throwing both of them to their knees. Tissaia gasped for breath as Talarion grabbed her arm and dragged her upright.

    "What the Hel was that?" She panted. Her twin pointed into the temple and her eyes grew wide.

    Beams of crimson light flared from the chests of every warrior who encircled their father. Roshan himself stood upon a statue of Nepenthe, his bleeding hands uplifted as he spoke words she couldn't understand. Shadows whipped around the throng and speared through several of the warriors. They did not fall, but their heads were thrown back as the shadows pushed their way through their mouths and eye sockets.

    "What is he doing?" Tissaia all but screamed. "Do you see Kaius?"

    "Come on! We have to stop him!" Talarion said, not answering her question. He caught her wrist and they raced up the steps together.

    They burst into the chamber, but the warriors paid them no mind. "Father!" Tissaia shouted above the wind and chanting. "End this now!" She unslung her bow and leveled an arrow at his head as his gaze shifted towards her. Where it had once been a deep onyx, it now glowed with an unnatural bloody garnet light.

    Roshan's lips peeled back in a butchered grin. "It seems you both have one last purpose to fulfill after all. Bring them to me!" He pointed at them and the shadow plagued warriors lunged.

    Tissaia fired her arrow at her father, but Roshan dodged it with unnatural speed. She brought up her dagger in time to catch the first attack aimed her way and from the corner of her eye, saw Talarion already fighting his way towards their father.

    "So eager to die for me, Son?" Roshan taunted him.

    Talarion ripped his blades through the throat of another warrior and flung himself at their father. Roshan gave an enraged shout as Talarion tackled him off of the statue and they hit the ground hard. Tissaia ducked under another blow, bringing her attention back to her own opponent.

    She raised her dagger and plunged it through his gaping mouth. Shadows lashed around the blade and crawled up towards her hands. She gave a startled shriek and wrenched the blade back with all her strength. It came loose, sending her toppling to the floor. Tissaia rolled away from another attack and caught sight of her brother and father again.

    At some point, Roshan had pinned Talarion to the ground, but her brother had already wedged his knee between them and threw him backwards. Thin blades appeared between his knuckles and when Roshan staggered to his feet, he was greeted by a punch that left him gushing blood from multiple wounds.

    "Where is he?" Talarion snarled in his face. "What have you done to him!" He brought his elbows down on Roshan's shoulders and as the male doubled over, slammed his knee into their father's jaw, then kicked him backwards. Before Roshan could recover, Talarion had grabbed him by the straps on his leather suit and hauled him closer. "Where is Kaius?" He seethed. "Where is he!"

    Tissaia slashed the throat of her next opponent and shoved him away, then sprinted towards her father and brother. "Go!" She hollered. "Find him, Talarion!" Roshan snapped his forehead into Talarion's nose, managing to loosen his grasp, and shoved him back. Tissaia caught him by the shoulders. "Go," she repeated breathlessly. "He could be in danger. You have to find him!"

    "I'm not leaving you here with him," Talarion protested.

    "Kaius needs you more than I do right now."

    A low laugh interrupted any response her brother might have given. "Perhaps you should listen to your sister," Roshan sneered. "She always has been the smarter twin. My Mindseeker should be doing terrible things to your mate at this moment."

    "You sadistic monster!" Talarion raged, already starting towards him. Tissaia threw an arm across his chest, halting him in his tracks.

    "Go!" She ordered him once more. "He's trying to keep you distracted. Find Kaius. I'll be all right." Talarion gave her a long look, his features twisting in regret and confusion, as Roshan continued to laugh behind them. Tissaia offered him a curt nod and pushed him again. "Find him."

    Talarion pried his gaze away and turned on his heel. He didn't look back, even when their father ordered more of his warriors after him. Tissaia brandished her dagger while her father's attention returned to her.

    "Brave little Would-Be-Queen," he gibed. "Too bad you won't live long enough to become her. You might have been worth something then."

    "I don't need to be a Queen for my life to have any worth," Tissaia hissed. "I am worthwhile to my brothers, and to my friends."

    "But not the Prince. You were never enough to please him, and now, you never will be."

    Tissaia lifted her chin, shoving down the pang of regret that flashed through her. "It doesn't matter what he or anyone else thinks of me. I know I deserve better than the life you gave me, and I will make that life for myself. I almost wish you could be around to see how you failed to keep me chained down."

    "I almost wish to see it too," he chuckled. Then he was bearing down on her, and their blades clashed in a spray of sparks and the singing of steel.

•༻☽☾༺•

    Kaius dragged his fingers over every inch of the altar, but could find nothing amiss. Still, something in his gut told him that what he was searching for was right in front of him. He risked a glance over his shoulder as thunder roared overhead, overlapping the sounds of battle that had begun several minutes ago.

    He hadn't let himself think about who had arrived just yet. The urge to find Talarion was almost overwhelming, but he couldn't unseal this chamber until he had the gods' artifact in his grasp. He couldn't give Roshan a chance to wield it.

    "Help me," he whispered to the empty air. "I don't know what I'm supposed to find."

    That warm, gentle touch returned to his shoulder and Kaius looked to his side, but the space remained vacant. There was no sign of Drenusha's Doe or any other deity. A featherlight sensation grazed his jaw, coaxing him to lift his head. He did so, studying the altar anew. He tilted his head, his eyes resting on the carving of Nepenthe and her outstretched hands.

    He pursed his lips, tracing a finger over her chiseled features. The same depiction was on the other side of the altar, while the narrower ends were blank aside from a few decorative decals. He had walked around the altar repeatedly, examining it from every side, but found no sign of any hidden drawers or apartments. Nowhere something could be stored around or beneath the altar.

    He slid his finger to the very edge of the carving, hidden beneath the lip of the altar. He followed the smooth edge while his brow creased in thought. Kaius looked at Nepenthe's hands again, then splayed his own flat against the stone, covering hers and a portion of the carving completely. There was one other option he had not considered.

    Perhaps what he was searching for was not stored beneath the altar, but within it. He had never seen a hollow altar before, but that didn't mean they didn't exist. Kaius swallowed hard and pressed against the stone. His eyes flew wide as it sank back into the altar and continued to move even as he pulled his hands away.

    The slab retreated to the very back of the altar, revealing a gaping hole in its bowels that extended far into the ground. Before he could reach into it, the sound of grinding stone resumed, and Kaius held his breath as another slab of stone emerged from the hole to become the bottom of the altar. Resting upon it was an ancient book, covered in a thick layer of dust.

    With a shaking hand, Kaius wiped it away to reveal cracking black leather. He pulled the tome into his lap and carefully opened the stained pages, skimming over its contents. Every page was written in the Old Tongue, but in its oldest form.

    Even he struggled over a few of the words, but what he could make out told him much of what he already knew about Asterria's history, only from a more detailed perspective. Very likely, it had been written or transcribed by those who had lived through the events they were writing about.

    There were passages about how Nepenthe had created her wards, and how the four gods had lived among the first mortals and helped the Mother finish creating their world. There were accounts from some of the first Shifters, telling of how Drenusha had blessed them with her gift of transforming into animals.

    There were records of the kingdom's first deaths and the comfort the souls and their loved ones received from Durga when she guided the dead to rest in the Eternal Haven. There were stories of war, with his own ancestor, Hadeon, in the middle of them all.

    And there were stories of love. The account of Oriana and her Human poet. The daughter they bore, who became Asterria's first Queen and Azael's ancestor. Kaius skipped over the pages detailing demi-gods and god-spawn. Something was urging him towards the very back of the book.

    He flipped to those pages and paused, his fingertips skimming over chipping ink, a dark brown color as opposed to the rich black of the other pages. Kaius sniffed at the page tentatively. A trace of copper still clung to the paper and he blinked in surprise. These pages had been written in blood. As he skipped over the passages, understanding dawned on him.

    The writing belonged to Janus, Hadeon's son and the First Phoenix. Kaius's own distant ancestor. The accounts detailed his own struggles with Astaroth, and the measures he had taken to try to defeat him. The opposition he faced from Hadeon himself, who harbored a strange attachment to his spawn, as though he considered him another son. One passage in particular caught his eye and Kaius stiffened as he read it.

There is a sword forged by my father in the depths of Hel, which can be brandished by our bloodline alone. It is an immortal weapon, capable of killing immortal things. A weapon that can cleave through the very fabric of the world and the shadows that bind it. The shadows that make Astaroth. Noxbane is its name.

    He raked his gaze down over the next passages, which ended with Janus and his daughter Rhana's deaths. There was a map included below the entry, undeniably depicting an older version of the Mouth of Hadeon. The current resting place of Hadeon's immortal sword.

    "This is it," Kaius breathed. "This is the knowledge she's going to need."

    He placed the book on the ground and lifted his still bleeding hand, already understanding what he needed to do. He had to hide these passages the same way Drenusha had hidden her Library, only he had to make sure that none but his bloodline would be able to read them.

    He flattened his palm on the first page of Janus's writing and smeared his blood across it until it was completely covered, speaking the words that seemed to come to him instinctively, or that he had once dreamed and forgotten.