Chapter 80: When Darkness Came For His Queen

[The Land Between Mortal and Immortal — Continuation]

Kael remained standing where Shamash had left him; he could not move.

The desert stretched endlessly around him, silent beneath the impossible sky where light and darkness remained divided upon the horizon. Yet Kael no longer noticed the strange beauty of the realm.

He could hear only Shamash’s final words.

The heavens will come for you.

They will kill the child.

You will have to choose.

Kael’s breathing became shallow; his hand slowly moved to his abdomen. There was nothing there, not yet.

And yet the thought of some unborn life being hunted by the gods filled him with a fear unlike anything he had ever experienced.

His fingers trembled.

“No…” The word escaped him as he lowered his head as his voice was barely audible. “I won’t let them. I won’t let anyone decide my life.”

But the moment he said it, another thought struck him.

Lytharion.

Kael’s heart clenched; he had left without telling him. He had allowed Shamash to take him somewhere beyond the reach of his mate.

What if Lytharion was searching for him? What if the air changed?

Kael froze; the wind stopped. The endless desert became unnaturally still; even the strange light above seemed to falter. Kael slowly lifted his head; something was moving in the distance.

At first, it looked like a small darkness upon the horizon, then it grew, and the darkness spread across the golden sands like an approaching storm.

Kael’s heart began pounding.

“No…”

The shadows moved faster, they rolled over the dunes, they swallowed the light, the golden sky darkened, and the very realm between worlds seemed to recoil.

Kael took a step backward; a sound came from somewhere beyond the darkness, not a voice but a growl, deep, ancient, and filled with such fury that the sand beneath Kael’s feet trembled.

“Lytharion…”

“KAEL.”

Kael’s breath caught, and the darkness exploded across the desert.

BOOOOOOM!

A violent wave of shadow tore through the realm. Kael raised an arm to shield his face as sand and darkness whipped around him, then everything stopped, and a figure stood within the darkness, tall, motionless, and terrifying.

Long black hair moved behind him like smoke beneath a moonless sky. His black robes were untouched by the storm, and his golden eyes burned through the darkness with a fury Kael had never seen before.

Lytharion.

The Shadow King, the ancient Lord of Darkness, stepped forward. The shadows followed him like an army. Kael’s lips parted.

“Lytharion…”

Lytharion’s eyes immediately found him; for one heartbeat, the fury disappeared, only one because he saw Kael trembling and the Shadow King’s entire expression changed.

“Beloved.”

He crossed the distance between them almost instantly, and his arms wrapped around Kael. Kael was pulled against his chest so firmly that he could feel the violent rhythm of Lytharion’s heartbeat.

“I have you.”

Kael’s hands immediately gripped his robes. Lytharion lowered his head as his hand moved through Kael’s hair.

“You’re safe…look at me.”

Kael lifted his face. Lytharion’s golden eyes searched every part of him. “Did he hurt you?”

Kael shook his head.

“No.”

“Did he touch you?”

“No.”

“Did he threaten you?” Kael hesitated, and that was enough. Lytharion’s eyes darkened. “What did he say?”

Kael swallowed.

“Lytharion…”

The Shadow King’s arms tightened.

“Tell me.”

Kael looked away as his voice trembled. “He said…he said the gods will come for me because of the child.”

The darkness surrounding them suddenly surged, the ground cracked beneath Lytharion’s feet.

CRACK.

Kael looked up sharply. Lytharion’s voice was dangerously quiet, and Kael huffed as his eyes widened as he swallowed, “The child…the child you and I might have.”

Lytharion went completely motionless, then his gaze slowly lifted across the desert. Toward the distant golden horizon.

His golden eyes became black around the edges.

“Shamash.”

The name sounded like a death sentence, and the entire realm trembled. Kael instinctively held onto him.

“Lytharion…”

The Shadow King looked down at him for one brief moment; the fury in his golden eyes disappeared, not because he was calm but because he was looking at Kael.

His hand rose slowly, almost reverently, and cupped Kael’s cheek. His thumb brushed beneath Kael’s eye as though making certain that the man standing before him was truly there.

Then Kael whispered, “He said… he said our child would destroy the Wolf Clan.”

Lytharion’s expression changed as his fingers stopped moving. The air itself seemed to freeze; a heartbeat passed, then another, and the darkness beneath his feet began to move.

Slowly at first and then violently.

Black shadows spilled across the golden sand like ink poured into water. They curled around his boots, climbed the pillars of the ancient realm, and twisted through the air with a sound like distant growling.

Lytharion’s jaw tightened.

“He said the gods would kill me before the child was born,” Kael continued quietly. The Shadow King looked at Shamash, and the entire realm went silent.

“And he brought you here to tell you this?”

Kael nodded.

Lytharion’s jaw tightened.

“He said the gods would kill me before the child was born,” Kael said quietly.

The words fell into the silence like stones sinking into a bottomless sea; for a moment, nothing happened.

The endless desert remained still beneath the strange heavens. Golden winds drifted across the ancient sands. Somewhere far away, light shimmered along the horizon where the mortal world ended and the immortal realm began.

Then Lytharion slowly turned his head as his gaze settled upon Shamash. The Sun Deity did not look away nor speak.

Yet the air itself seemed to grow heavy between them. Kael felt it immediately; the shadows beneath Lytharion’s feet began to move.

They flowed outward like dark water escaping from a broken vessel, spreading across the golden sands in silent waves.

A cold sensation ran through Kael’s body, the realm was changing, and the light surrounding Shamash seemed to dim, while the darkness around Lytharion deepened.

For the first time since arriving in this place, Kael saw genuine concern flicker across Shamash’s face.

“Lytharion.”

The Shadow King did not answer, his eyes never leaving his brother. The shadows continued spreading, they climbed over broken stones, they swallowed ancient markings carved into the desert floor, and they reached toward the distant horizon.

And then—

The darkness erupted, and the ground trembled beneath Kael’s feet. A deep growl rolled across the realm.

Kael instinctively stepped back; the shadows rose like a storm around Lytharion’s body. His robes vanished into the darkness, his human form dissolved.

The desert shook. Ancient pillars cracked, the sky itself seemed to recoil, and from within that sea of darkness, something emerged.

Kael’s breath caught as an enormous black wolf stepped forward.

Its body towered over the surrounding ruins. Its fur was darker than the night itself, swallowing every fragment of light that touched it. Shadows drifted endlessly from its body, coiling around its limbs like living creatures.

Its golden eyes burned beneath a mane of black fur that resembled a crown forged from darkness.

Each breath that left its lungs became black mist. Each movement caused the realm to tremble. Kael had seen Lytharion’s wolf form before but never like this.

Never in a place untouched by mortal laws, never where nothing restrained the true nature of a deity, this was not merely a wolf; this was the beast that had existed before men learned fear.

The primordial shadow, the first darkness, and the enormous wolf lowered their heads. Its golden eyes fixed upon Shamash, a growl escaped its throat. The sound alone was enough to send cracks racing through the desert floor.

Shamash remained standing, yet Kael noticed his shoulders stiffen. For all his confidence, even the Sun Deity understood what stood before him.

The twin was born alongside the first light, the god who ruled every shadow cast beneath heaven.

The Lord of Darkness.

“Lytharion,” Shamash said carefully.

The wolf took a step forward, and the earth shook. The air became heavier.

“You brought my mate here.” The voice emerged from the wolf’s throat, deep, ancient, and terrifyingly calm. “You hid him from me.”

Shamash remained silent; the wolf continued moving forward.

“You spoke of his death.”

The shadows surrounding its body became restless; they writhed across the ground like living serpents.

“You spoke of killing the child that does not yet exist.”

The desert trembled again.

Kael’s heart pounded; he had never heard Lytharion sound like this. There was no rage in his voice, only certainty. The certainty of a god deciding whether another should be allowed to continue breathing.

Shamash’s expression hardened.

“I am protecting the Wolf Clan.”

The wolf stopped, its golden eyes narrowed, for a long moment; silence stretched between them. Then Lytharion scoffed, and the sound sent a chill through Kael’s entire body.

“Protecting them?” The shadows darkened. “You dragged my mate into a realm between worlds.”

The wolf’s gaze became colder.

“You showed him visions of death.” Its claws slowly dug into the ancient stone beneath its feet. “You filled his heart with fear, and you dare call that protection?”

Shamash’s jaw tightened.

“You know what I saw.”

The wolf’s eyes flashed as its voice became softer, far more dangerous.

“You saw a possibility.” The desert winds died, and everything became still. “You looked into the future and mistook uncertainty for fate, and because of that arrogance, you now speak of murdering my mate.”

For the first time, Shamash looked away, and the enormous wolf lowered its head; its gaze became merciless.

“Listen carefully.” The shadows around them fell silent; even the darkness seemed to be listening. “If every god in heaven decides Kael must die…they will find me standing before him, if every clan turns against him…they will find me standing before him.”

The shadows began gathering around Kael protectively like an army answering a command.

“And if the heavens themselves come seeking the life of my mate…”

The wolf lifted its head, and its voice echoed across the realm. Then they will learn why darkness was feared long before it was worshipped.

Silence followed.

Heavy, ancient, and uncomfortable. Shamash stared at his brother, and for the first time since this conversation had begun the Sun Deity understood something terrifying.

Lytharion was not speaking as a god; he was speaking as a mate and there was nothing in existence more dangerous than a deity who had decided that love mattered more than heaven itself.