Page 8 of The Void

He hadn’t hesitated to volunteer to come and find and rescue Mia. Not after the feelings he’d felt for her since the moment he’d seen her.

He’d been slightly shocked at the zip of sexual tension he’d felt the moment he’d met her, something he’d never felt for anyone else. Ever.

Now, as he lay in the tall grass on a strange planet, probably billions and billions of light years from Earth, looking up at a very unfamiliar night sky with three moons, he wondered just what in the hell he was doing.

He hadn’t questioned traveling to hell disguised as Cerberus, the three-headed hellhound that guards the gates of hell, to square off against the devil. But this, this just might be too much for him.

There was no use in trying to break free from the chains. They were obviously made of magic or some strange metal he’d never seen before.

He crossed his arms behind his head and lay there listening to Jain’s deep breathing. Various night sounds filled the dark woods, none of which he feared.

Something told him that Jain and her brother Proteus were supposed to deliver him alive. Unharmed.

If this Aynah wasn’t Mia, he wondered if she knew where Mia was. Was she safe? Did she still have her powers? If so, why hadn’t she returned home?

As he drifted off to sleep, his dreams were filled with thoughts of Mia.

He woke when the chains were jerked and his arms twisted away and up until he was left hanging by his arms, looking directly into the eyes of Jain.

“You talk in your sleep,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “What sort of being are you?”

“Human,” he said, then he winced. “Well, sort of.”

Her mossy eyebrows shot up. “Sort of?”

“I’m the son of gods. Raised by humans.”

“What is… gods?” she asked, gently setting him back on the ground.

“Deities. Beings with great powers.”

Jain laughed, causing the birds that nested in her mossy body to flutter away. “You have no powers. I would sense them.”

He frowned. “It would appear that I don’t here,” he agreed.

“Aynah is the only one with power here,” Jain said, tugging on the chain. “Come, my brother will be waiting.”

He started to complain that he was hungry, but as they walked, Jain grabbed a couple of large blue fruits from the very tops of trees and handed him one.

“Eat.” She tossed several in her mouth. Well, at least the spot he assumed was her mouth.

He could see now why he hadn’t noticed her eyes before. They were hidden from below by the moss. From down here, he couldn’t see them, which meant maybe she couldn’t see him.

After eating the entire fruit, he tossed the large spiky seed that had sat in the juicy middle of the fruit directly at her head.

At the last second, she tilted her head and the seed landed in what he thought of as her chin.

“Thank you,” she said with a chuckle. “The hárpyia will enjoy using it in their nests.”

He shrugged and continued walking. Obviously, she could see him.

“What kind of creature are you?” he asked, changing his tactics.

“We are nymphonids. My brothers, sisters, and me.”

“Nymphs?” he asked, remembering the Greek myths about the creatures.

Jain glanced down at him. “Yes, you know of us?”