15

Adaline took a gasping breath and opened her eyes. She found herself collapsed on the cold marble floor. She looked around for Milo, and found him sitting next to her. She put her arms around his shoulders, clutching onto him, and he let himself be held, gently putting his hands on top of hers.

"I held you--" Adaline's voice shook, tears spilled down her cheeks. "I held you when you died."

Milo rocked back and forth, tears streaming down his own cheeks, as he let Adaline cry into his shoulder. He stared into the distance, and let out a sob.

"Why? Why show us this if it will only bring us grief?" Adaline's voice was undercut by desperation.

Etune gently sat down on the marble floor with them. "Because...your mother wants you back in the God's Domain."

Adaline felt her heart swell with the kind of joy that is right next to despair, the kind of joy that's felt in the pits of your stomach and swells from the dark places of your mind.

Milo felt the same joy, but only for a second. His mind was already working, already figuring out the logical conclusion of the words the Goddess was saying. He glanced at Cymis, whose tail was lashing. What was he grieving?

"When can we see our mother? When can we go back?" Milo asked.

"I am not a member of the Pantheon, so I cannot give you back your Godliness. You should talk to your half-brother." Etune motioned towards the snarling beast in the back of the temple.

Milo gingerly got up, bowed his head, and approached Cymis with the utmost reverence. Within himself, his mind was still racing.

"Cymis, God of Healing, would you grant me and my sister Godliness and allow us to return to our mother in the God's Domain?"

He knew the answer to the question before it had even left his lips. There was yet one covenant left unfulfilled.

The fox peeled back its lips and snarled out the answer.

"Kill the Blood God. Then we'll talk."