IMMORTALS

C H A P T E R 7

C H A P T E R 7

The entrance of the cave shattered under a deluge of blinding white fire.

The wooden palisades reinforced with river clay exploded into glowing splinters as celestial heat vaporized the barricade in a fraction of a second. Choking smoke and the stench of scorched stone surged into the cavern. Mortal mothers shrieked, shielding their weeping children beneath rough woolen pelts, while Thalia’s warriors formed a desperate, trembling line with notched bows and bronze spears.

Through the swirling wall of smoke strode Jude.

She wore battle armor forged of celestial silver, its pristine polish gleaming like mirrors in the gloom. Flanking her were six towering Seraphim Vanguard enforcers, their faces concealed behind impassive iron visors, carrying heavy polearms wreathed in crackling divine lightning. Jude’s copper hair was pinned in rigid braids, her pale eyes scanning the cowering mortal clan with unmasked disgust.

"How pathetic," Jude whispered, her voice amplified by divine authority, echoing off the damp cave ceiling like thunder. "The glorious children of the dawn, wallowing among the mud-crawlers. Look at you, Ethan. Bleeding like a slaughtered beast. Is this the dignity of your grand rebellion?"

Ethan stepped past the mortal defenders, planting himself firmly between Jude and the cowering tribe. He gripped a heavy bronze broadsword in his right hand, his knuckles white against the hilt. Despite the cuts across his brow and the dark silt clinging to his skin, his posture was lethal, his blue eyes ablaze with reckless ferocity.

"Leave the mortals out of this, Jude," Ethan growled, his voice deep and vibrating with raw adrenaline. "Your quarrel is with us. Face me."

"Face you?" Jude laughed—a cold, brittle sound that made the torches flicker. "You are mortal now, boy. You are nothing more than meat waiting for the grave. Vanguard, execute the deserter. Burn the girl until only her blackened heart remains as a relic of heresy."

Two Seraphim enforcers surged forward with terrifying, inhuman speed, their electrified halberds sweeping in a synchronized arc toward Ethan’s neck.

Ethan ducked beneath the first swing, the air pressure tearing the linen of his collar, and drove his bronze blade into the knee joint of the second guardian. Bronze screamed against celestial silver, leaving a deep fissure that forced the guard to stumble with a metallic grunt. But the first guardian pivoted instantly, slamming the heavy pommel of his halberd into Ethan’s ribs.

CRACK!

Ethan was thrown backward into the stone wall, coughing a spray of crimson blood as the impact cracked bone. He slumped to the ground, struggling to draw breath as the guardian raised a killing spear over his chest.

"Ethan!"

Lili broke from the shadows. The searing lightning burn on her shoulder flared, but the sheer terror of losing Ethan detonated a primal fury deep within her core. Her chest ignited with an incandescent crimson blaze, casting wild, blood-red shadows across the cavern walls. She didn’t just channel the heat—she surrendered to it completely.

Lili lunged forward, throwing her bare hands toward the attacking Seraphim. A torrent of roaring, blood-red flames exploded from her palms, engulfing the celestial warrior in a vortex of untamed mortal fire. The divine metal of the guardian's armor warped and melted under the unnatural heat, hurling the enforcer across the cavern into the underground pool with a violent hiss of steam.

Thalia and her warriors seized the opening. "For the drowned!" Thalia roared, leading a volley of bronze-tipped arrows that struck the exposed seams of the remaining guards.

Jude’s face twisted in savage rage. "You dare strike a sacred sentinel with mortal rot?"

With a flick of Jude’s wrist, a whip of blinding celestial plasma lashed out, slicing through the mortal arrows and wrapping around Lili’s throat. The burning light bit into Lili’s skin, hoisting her off her feet and suspending her in midair. Lili choked, her hands clawing at the searing energy, her vision swimming with dark spots.

"You think your filthy little spark makes you a god?" Jude sneered, stepping closer, drawing a curved silver dagger meant for ritual execution. "I will carve that beating monstrosity from your ribs and watch Ethan beg for his life while I crush it."

Ethan looked up through blurred vision, seeing Lili hanging by her throat, choking on her own breath. The sight shattered the last restraint of his mortal soul.

His own chest exploded with a crimson detonation so violent it shattered the surrounding stone. Ethan surged to his feet, ignoring the agony in his broken ribs, and threw himself at Jude with the force of an avalanche. He tackled her to the ground, his bare hands seizing the wrist holding the plasma whip, forcing it loose.

Lili hit the ground, coughing violently, dragging air into her starved lungs.

Ethan pinned Jude beneath him, driving his dagger down toward her neck. Jude caught the blade inches from her throat with her gauntleted hand, her pale eyes wide with genuine shock at the terrifying, unbridled strength of his fury. Sparks flew between them as their faces hovered inches apart.

"You cannot kill what is eternal, fool!" Jude hissed through gritted teeth.

"Maybe not," Ethan rasped, his bloody smile feral and unyielding. "But I can make you bleed."

Ethan channeled the burning heat from his chest straight through the hilt of his weapon, turning the bronze incandescent. The heat melted through Jude’s silver gauntlet, searing her divine flesh. For the first time in ten thousand years, Jude screamed in agonizing pain as golden celestial blood hissed from her blistered hand.

With a desperate, enraged kick, Jude threw Ethan off her and scrambled backward, clutching her burned wrist. The remaining Vanguard formed a defensive ring around her, their weapons humming with unstable light.

"Fall back to the terrace perimeter!" Jude ordered, her voice trembling with unprecedented terror and humiliated rage. "Ignite the Seraphim beacon! Bring down the Archon's Wrath upon this valley!"

The celestial hunters retreated into the blinding dawn, leaving behind scorched stone, shattered weapons, and a suffocating silence.

Ethan collapsed onto his knees, dropping the charred dagger, his chest heaving as the crimson glow slowly settled back beneath his skin. Lili crawled to him immediately, wrapping her arms around his neck, pressing her face into his blood-stained shoulder as sobs of relief tore from her chest. Ethan gathered her against him with desperate strength, his lips finding hers in a bruising, possessive kiss that tasted of iron, ash, and unbreakable survival.

Thalia stepped forward, looking from the golden celestial blood steaming on the floor to the two lovers kneeling in the dirt.

"You made an immortal bleed," Thalia said, her voice rich with awe and grim reality. "They won't send scouts next time. When that beacon lights up, the Archons will march to wipe this entire continent off the map."

Ethan pulled back from the kiss, his blue eyes meeting Lili’s amber gaze. The fear was gone, replaced by a cold, hardened resolve.

"Then we don't run anymore," Ethan said, his voice echoing through the cavern. "We gather every mortal survivor from the flood... and we bring the war to their golden gates."