Rhiannan stared out at the desert wasteland, eyes dry and thirsty as fuck already.
"FUCK this realm," she growled, yanking her boots tighter as if they'd somehow fix this mess.
A flash of divine energy exploded across the sky, and her mates appeared in various parts of the wasteland, each one loaded with different supplies. Above them, the clouds shimmered with ominous golden letters:
Find her. Protect her. Or we all die.
They scattered, each beginning their trial.
Kaleb's POV
The sun beat down on Kaleb's back like fire. His boots sank deep into the sand with every step. He was used to the forest, the pack lands, the cool of the trees, not this dry hell. He lifted his head, sniffing the air, but all he caught was heat.
Then the mirages began.
One after another, he saw her. Rhiannan. Limp. Bleeding. Calling out his name.
"RHIANNAN!" he screamed, lunging forward only to land on hot sand.
He ran for hours, chasing illusions. One showed her being torn apart. Another, kissing another man. The hallucinations dug deep, trying to break his focus.
But Kaleb gritted his teeth, ignored the pain slicing through his heart, and pushed forward until the illusions faded and his wolf stilled. "I'm coming, baby," he growled. "No mirage is stopping me."
Arwen's POV
Arwen was already irritated. The sun. The sand. The silence. And then a FUCKING SAND WORM burst out of the dunes, teeth like jagged obsidian, hissing directly in his face.
"OH COME ON!" he shouted, leaping back as the creature lunged.
Drawing both blades, he charged. The worm was fast. It swallowed swords whole, spat acid, and screamed like a banshee on a bender. Arwen dodged, rolled, sliced. Over and over.
He managed to jam a dagger in one eye and the thing let out a bloodcurdling roar, but it wasn't enough. So he baited it toward a cliff, used his speed to lure it over the edge, and blew the fucker to hell with a rune grenade he didn't even remember packing.
Covered in goo and sand, Arwen climbed back up.
"Remind me to NEVER visit a beach again."
Liam's POV
The air shimmered around Liam like a dream...or a nightmare. An ancient sphinx sat coiled in gold and bone, its eyes glowing.
"You must answer the riddle or perish," it purred. "Answer wrong, and your soul is mine."
Liam cracked his neck. "Lovely. I love riddles and mortal peril."
The sphinx grinned. "What walks with fire, dances with night, and speaks with stars?"
He froze. "Fuck me sideways..."
Images of Rhiannan filled his head. Her magic. Her sass. Her fire. "A Goddess," he said softly. "The answer is the Moonblood Goddess."
The sphinx stared.
Then bowed.
"You may pass."
Liam gave a smug smirk. "Still got it."
Elisha's POV
The heat didn't bother him. He was a dragon. The real threat came from within.
He came upon a massive skeletal horse with glowing red eyes and a sword lodged in its chest. It charged without warning. Each strike from the beast felt like lightning. It was fast. Relentless. Unstoppable.
He burned it. Froze it. Slashed it. Nothing worked.
Finally, he shifted.
Golden dragon fire roared across the dunes as he locked horns with the undead horse and finally found the trick, a sacred mark under its ribcage. He clawed through bone and yanked it free.
The horse collapsed.
Exhausted, Elisha reverted and whispered, "Not even a hell horse can keep me from her."
Sable's POV
Everything burned.
He fought sand sprites, little fuckers that shrieked and bit and tried to chew his fangs. He ripped them apart, laughing as he collected their teeth. "For her. Only the best accessories."
Then came the griffin. Huge. Proud. Arrogant.
Sable respected that. But it didn't stop him from grabbing its beak mid, strike and slamming it into the ground.
He panted, wounds dripping. "Fuck this. Fuck sand. Fuck all of this."
But he felt her. A thread of gold pulling him forward. So he ran.
Rhiannan's POV
She wasn't alone.
A talking lizard named Gregory was perched on her shoulder. A scorpion named Janet rode in her cleavage. And a deranged bird named Kevin kept squawking about the doom of the gods.
She was tired. Dehydrated. Bleeding.
But she smiled.
"They're coming for me."
She collapsed in the sand. Right as her mates reached her, one by one. They all fell to their knees, arms around her.
Then the sand started to move.
They all scrambled, trying to pull her out, but it was too late. A voice boomed....
"Only one may remain behind to save her."
The sand swallowed her body.
Sable stepped forward. "I'll do it."
"NO!" she screamed, eyes wide.
But he smiled, tear streaks running down his bloodied face. "I was born to be a weapon. Maybe now, I get to be her shield."
As the light consumed him, the ground split... and instead of dying...
The Chalice of Truth rose from the earth, glowing gold.
Sable collapsed to his knees, marked by the goddess herself. A circle of divine light burned around his neck.
"You are free. Forever."
They wept, holding each other for dear life.
And Rhiannan screamed his name as she clutched the Chalice, cussing the Gods with her every breathe. "You will NOT take them from me." She vowed.
They had done it. The Chalice of Truth pulsed in Rhiannan's arms, glowing with an inner light that seemed to hum with ancient power. But the triumph was short lived.
The air cracked like thunder, and a sudden, suffocating darkness rolled in over the golden sand. The sky above them fractured. Shadows twisted and curled with malicious intent. The realm shuddered.
Sable froze.
"It's him," he rasped, his voice low and rough. "The entity... he's trying to break through again."
Rhiannan's heart stuttered. "Here? In the divine realm?"
All around them, the golden desert shimmered like heat waves on pavement, until it burst into light. The divine realm, in all its radiant glory, unveiled itself. Pillars of glowing crystal sprouted from the ground. Celestial rivers of silver water flowed through the sky. Gods and goddesses, forgotten by time, materialized around them in dazzling armor.
Arwen blinked, jaw slack. "Oh, we just fight with the gods now? Cool. Totally normal."
Kaleb flexed his fingers. "What's the plan?"
"Not dying," Elisha growled.
Liam's grin was sharp and unhinged. "Ten bucks says I take down more shadows than you bastards."
The sky screamed as black tentacles of pure hate tore through the veil. The entity didn't come quietly, he came with armies. Wraiths. Hollow eyed beasts. Undead horrors riding storms of fire.
But the pentacle stood together.
Rhiannan raised the chalice, her voice steady. "Let's remind him what it means to face a goddess."
The gods surged forward. Lightning danced across the battlefield. The pentacle joined them. Rhiannan burned with power. Her mates fought like avatars of wrath.
Sable, back to back with Kaleb, snarled as he tore through shadows with claws of obsidian flame. Arwen leapt and struck like a panther god. Liam blinked through portals, fangs bared, draining anything stupid enough to get close. Elisha unleashed firestorms that scorched the heavens.
Rhiannan's body pulsed with divine fire as she shattered illusions, forced truth upon the corrupted, and wielded the Chalice like a blade.
And then...
Silence.
The darkness shattered like glass.
Light swallowed them whole.
They awoke in a tangled heap in the garden of the dragon estate. Bruised. Bloodied. Parched.
Rhiannan sat up first, groaning. "...Did we win?"
Arwen rolled over with a whimper. "Define win."
Liam groaned. "I think my spleen is on the outside of my body."
Sable was still passed out, a satisfied smirk on his bruised lips.
Kaleb cracked one eye open. "We need water. And possibly a new reality."
Elisha exhaled smoke. "You're not wrong."
They didn't remember the end. Just pain. Light. And a whisper of a promise.
The Chalice now rested quietly in Rhiannan's lap, filled with silver liquid that pulsed with the heartbeat of the gods.
Whatever came next... they'd face it together.
But first... maybe a nap.