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No, Ixa protests deep inside our mind. Ixa stay with Deka!
But I’m already traveling back to my body, already sinking in. Now that familiar pain is washing over me, an ocean of it, but I ignore it to watch my friends woodenly walking away, their bodies unable to disobey the sheer amount of power I put into my voice. None of them are wearing their infernal armor anymore, so they’re powerless against it. Powerless against any ability I use on them.
As Keita opens the door, he turns to me one last time, betrayal stark in his gaze. But he does as I command and exits, dragging Ixa’s body along behind him.
No! Deka no leave me! Ixa cries, struggling. Then Britta grabs him and tosses him over her shoulder, and that’s that.
Ixa may be strong, but Britta is stronger.
Her eyes are filled with tears as she exits, a wealth of sorrow in her gaze. And rage as well, because I feel, rather than see, Britta slamming her palm against the wall. Destroying the door’s foundation, and the jewel beside it.
A cool hand strokes my brow. Etzli’s. She’s returned to the throne and is settling me on her lap once more. “See, that wasn’t so difficult,” she coos. “All you had to do was succumb. You’re all alone now. As alone as you were when you entered this realm. That is the way of things for mortals, you see. Everyone has to learn it at some time.”
“Except I’m not mortal.” When Etzli’s brow furrows, little windstorms forming around it to mark her confusion, I continue, “And I wasn’t alone when I came here.”
Memories flash past, my life playing out in front of my eyes. I focus on one. A beautiful song that rose to the skies as I fell. The song of the ebiki, all of them singing out in concert.
“The ebiki were there,” I whisper, a tear sliding down my cheek. “They were there and they sang to me.” And they weren’t alone either. Now I see a universe of colors, of scents all flashing past me. “The entire world, it sang.”
And I can hear it now, the singing.
How did I ever forget it?
I suppose I’ve been in this body so long, I’ve become restricted by it. What was it that the Being said about flesh and corporeal bodies? Oh yes, they constrain you. They make you forget what it is to connect. To be a part of—not just other people but the world itself. The universe.
I can hear that song again if I want. Queen Ayo promised me this. All I have to do is reach.
So that’s precisely what I do.
I reach with every last fiber of my being across the distance, across the city, across continents, across even the oceans themselves. The song is a hardy thing. It can traverse time and space, given the opportunity. But all I need it to do at this moment is cross one ocean.
When a door begins opening in the chamber, Etzli glances around, alarmed. She jolts upright, then glares down at me. “What is this? What are you doing? You shouldn’t be able to do that, the jewel—”
I almost savor the look in her eyes when she looks at the door and realizes: the jewel is gone. “Britta broke it,” I rasp with what remains of my breath. “She did it when you allowed me to let her and the others leave. Also, I was never alone. Not then, and certainly not now. I’d almost forgotten that. Or, rather, I was afraid. Isn’t that funny? You made me afraid of my own power.”
“What are you babbling about?” Etzli seems almost hysterical now. She whirls about as the door in the chamber opens wider and wider, its size mimicking the ones now opening all across the city. “Stop that!” she shouts. “I command you to stop!”
“I will not,” I say quietly. Then I slowly, painfully motion my head toward the door. “Etzli, meet Queen Ayo.”
That’s all I’m able to say before a massive reptilian form slams into Etzli. Suddenly, the goddess is nothing more than a shrieking doll as the ebiki queen, now much smaller than usual, picks her up and slaps her across the room. The wall cracks as the goddess lands, but I don’t even wince. I want to enjoy every moment.
Etzli’s vines bristle up, attempting to protect her from Ayo’s next strike, but they’re no match for the ancient monarch, who tears through them like they’re paper before slamming into the goddess again. As Ayo tramples Etzli, familiar footsteps rush up the stairs to the throne.
“Deka!” Britta says, darting over, Keita, Belcalis, and Acalan by her side. Adwapa is nowhere to be seen, but she took her sister’s corpse with her when she left, so I don’t imagine she’s returning anytime soon.
A river of pain washes over me at the thought. Asha, Katya, Rian, and Kweku. So much loss. I can scarcely breathe, I’m so overwhelmed by it all.
“Are you all right?” Keita asks, agitated.
“Surviving,” I grit out. Then I turn my eyes to Britta. “My thanks for smashing the jewel, by the way.”
“Of course.” Britta nods.
Another shriek forces my attention back to the battle, where Queen Ayo uses her entire body to grind Etzli into the wall, not even moving when vines attempt to wrap against her midsection.
“DEKA!” Etzli shrieks, panicked. “DEKA, STOP THIS!”
“But it’s not me who’s doing it,” I point out. “That’s Queen Ayo, one of my godsworn.”
