What the hell was that!?
The monstrous abomination had only kept growing taller and taller, even as I escaped through the lake. Its scent of rot was almost overpowering, despite the fact that I had to be miles away from it by now. Once it reached nearly the size of a skyscraper, I was genuinely worried it would just keep growing forever.
But of course, the crazy crap couldn’t just end there.
I watched from the shore as ice erupted across the lake.
The tower of flesh screamed.
Massive shards of ice formed in the air, sharpening into weapons before raining down on the monster. The back of my head tingled as I felt the sheer power behind them, even from this far away.
Easy mission, my ass!“Now, this is interesting,” an amused voice said from behind me.
Loki sat on a rock, watching the giant battle across the lake like it was a TV show.
“Oh, I’m so glad you’re entertained!” I scowled. “Everything’s sunshine and roses over here.”
The god only shot me a grin. “Why, that it is, Percy!” He stood and clapped his hands together, looking far too pleased with himself. “Finding out the Underworld’s seals were weakened enough for a piece of the Beast to manifest is a grand achievement. You should be proud. What a wondrous—”
I couldn’t help myself. His sarcastic tone was the final straw.
A lash of water shot toward Loki’s smug face.
Unfortunately, my attack didn’t do much of anything. The water passed straight through him, splashing against the rock behind him instead.
Loki’s body shimmered for a moment, his grin never fading as his form settled back into place.
“Rude.”
“You’re not even here,” I frowned.
Another whip of water shot out and passed through him, making his body ripple.
Some sort of magic illusion?
“Of course not,” Loki said, rolling his eyes. “What kind of third-rate do you take me for?”
Right. If he could easily come investigate this seal himself, he wouldn’t have needed to send me in the first place.
But why appear now? Did he…
“Daydreaming?” Loki snapped his fingers, cutting through my thoughts. “Not the smartest thing to do right now boy.”
“What do you want me to do, then?” I pointed at the gigantic battle happening across the lake. “I’m strong in the water, but…”
My eyes drifted back to the titanic tower of flesh and the waves of enormous ice weapons raining down on it.
Yeah… no way I was getting around that back to the teleportation circle. It wouldn’t surprise me if the underground cave had collapsed from the sheer shockwaves alone.“Simple,” Loki said with a shrug. “You’ll need to find another exit.”
He strode past me and pointed toward a nearby shore.
“Follow the edge of the lake and head to the Devil’s manor. They should have a few teleportation circles connected to the Human World.”
I eyed the building I had very distinctly been trying to avoid. It was relatively close. If I swam there at full speed, I could probably make it in no time.
“You can’t just teleport me out?” I asked. There was something off about this situation.
“Unfortunately, there’s only so much power stored in the runestone I gave you,” Loki said, clicking his tongue. “But worry not. It should still be enough to secure your return to the Human World.”
“That doesn’t sound reassuring,” I said slowly. “Maybe—”
“Every breath you waste complaining is another moment lost,” Loki snapped. “Simply listen to my instructions. The stone should have enough power to brute-force the teleportation circle open once you reach it. We can figure out the details later, but you have to hurry.”
Loki needed me alive.
I hadn’t been completely sure before, but now?
Now I was a hundred percent certain.
“No.” The denial slipped out on reflex.
This felt like a terrible idea, but there wasn’t going to be a better time than now. If I wanted to do this, then doing it while Loki couldn’t just magically control me was probably my only chance.
Loki blinked. “What?”
“I said no.” I crossed my arms.
“I heard you, you daft fool,” Loki scowled. “Do you not understand your situation? You will end up in the hands of literal Devils. Your mother will die screaming in the dark without ever seeing your face. So listen to me and head to that manor now.”
My answer was to sit down on the shore.
“Not until you give me what I want.”
Loki stared.
Then he chuckled, dragging a hand down his face. The sound grew louder and louder until it was almost manic. Finally, he looked back at me with eyes full of sharp, amused disbelief.
“I don’t know if I should praise your foolishness or your arrogance for thinking you can barter with me,” Loki said. “I am not the one on the verge of death, Percy. What gives you the right?”
“I’ll blab,” I admitted. “I’ll tell the Devils everything. Why I came here, how you caused that weird monster to appear, and I’ll hand them this stone while I’m at it.”
“You think they’ll believe you?” Loki raised an eyebrow. “Better yet, you think I’m foolish enough to leave traces? I’m offended.”
“Maybe you're right,” I acknowledged. “But it doesn’t matter, because they’ll have me and you won’t.” I jabbed a thumb against my chest. “I’m pretty important, aren’t I? So give me a magical oath, or promise, or whatever gods use to keep their word. Otherwise, you get nothing.”
Loki simply remained silent at my demands. I couldn’t tell if he was royally pissed, annoyed, or amused.If it meant getting closer to saving Mom… I had to take the gamble. Mr. Strada had taught me the bare basics about oaths and promises when it came to magic. Most of it had been less instruction and more a long list of advice telling me to never enter one. But the one takeaway I’d gotten from it was that they had weight. Even for Gods.
The towering monster of flesh screaming across the lake was a pretty big reminder that Loki was an evil piece of shit. Trusting him to help me save Mom without forcing some kind of promise was obviously going to end badly. Slowly, the sound of clapping filled the air.
“Well played,” Loki said, grinning. “Had anyone else taken that gamble with me, Percy, they would have lost.” He shook his head, looking almost impressed. “But you?” His grin sharpened. “You would burn the world to save the ones you love.”
“Do we have a deal, then?”
“State your desires, Percy.” Loki sat across from me, an uncomfortably wide grin on his face. “Right…” I took a deep breath. “I want three things. Everything I need to know to save my mom, everything there is to know about the Moonlit World, and a guarantee that you won’t just kill or imprison me the second I get back.”
“How delightfully greedy,” Loki said with a smirk. “Very well. I will swear it on my Troth. I, Loki Laufeyson, swear that I will provide Percy Jackson with all the knowledge necessary to save his mother, teach him the truths of the Moonlit World, and neither kill nor imprison him upon his return. In exchange, you may never reveal our relationship to another unless I allow it.”
A weight settled in my chest. Not pain, exactly, but pressure. A connection waited there, and I instinctively knew the agreement would snap into place the second I accepted. It was weird because I just sort of knew what the promise entailed without anyone explaining it.
Magic terms and conditions… Neat.
“An oath sworn on one’s Troth is binding to the soul itself,” Loki said. “Satisfied?”
I hesitated for a moment before nodding. “Yes.”
The sound of a pen scribbling filled my ears, followed by the distant rattle of chains as something settled deep in my mind. The knowledge burned itself into me as an absolute fact.
If I ever revealed my connection to Loki, I was dead.
“Now that that’s settled.” Loki clapped his hands together. “It is quite time for you to run.”
Another scream resounded across the lake.
My eyes widened as a spear of ice drove straight through the tower of flesh like a freaking skewer. Gigantic chunks of red meat cracked loose and sloughed off, crashing down onto the frozen lake with enough force to shake the shore beneath me.
Oh shit.Yeah, that was definitely my cue to get out of here.
I threw myself back into the lake and swam like hell.—Sona had felt a smidge of fear at the sudden invasion.
Which was completely reasonable, in her defense.
An actual attack on a Devil Pillar clan hadn’t happened in ages, for Satan’s sake. Save for the occasional stray devil or Old Satan faction squabble, the Underworld had been ruled relatively peacefully by her sister and the Satans.
But she guessed whatever that thing was didn’t care about that at all.
Sona looked through the window toward the lake below and couldn’t help but shiver. It just felt wrong; something inside her just felt repulsed by it.
Fortunately, for all the dread it inspired, the monster still couldn’t compare to her sister.
Another scream tore from the strange thing as Serafall ravaged it with another glittering wave of ice. The lake flashed white beneath her demonic power, frost spreading across the surface in jagged sheets before shattering under the creature’s thrashing bulk.
Sona was glad she’d ordered most of the servants to evacuate. The aura alone had left several of them trembling on the brink of collapse, and she doubted most devils in the manor would have been able to function under that pressure for long.
Still…
Another gigantic chunk of flesh dropped into the lake.
The impact sent a fresh wave surging outward, rising high enough to crash against the estate's lower walls. Water sprayed over the courtyard, flooding the stone paths and tearing through the carefully maintained gardens.
Sona frowned at the damage for a long moment.
The waves were going to ruin so much of the manor. Maybe she should head down and divert some of the water. Her sister seemed to have the monster under control, so dealing with the waves should be safe enough.
Sona glanced toward the lake again, her expression tightening as another enormous swell began building toward the manor.
She unfurled her wings and flew closer, stopping just above the shoreline. With one hand raised, she summoned her demonic power and activated her bloodline ability.
Redirecting waves of this size would consume a fair amount of power, but it should still be easy enough—
Nothing happened.
Sona blinked.
The wave continued rushing toward the manor without slowing. In fact, was it getting faster?
She thrust both hands forward and pushed more demonic power into her bloodline. Normally, bending water came as naturally as moving one of her own limbs. Now it felt like she was pressing against a solid wall.
What was going on?
Sona gritted her teeth and forced her power to its limit. At last, she felt the faintest tug from the approaching wave, but by then it was already nearly upon her.
A ball of water shot from the crest of the wave and struck her squarely in the face.
The impact shattered her concentration. Sona recoiled, blinking rapidly as water blurred her vision and stung her eyes.
“Sorry!”
Through the haze, she could barely make out a black-haired figure riding atop the wave.
“What—”
The rest of her question vanished as the water crashed over her and dragged her into the surging current.***Chapters of Moonlit will usually be Mon/Thurs. So 2 chaps a week normally. Might add an extra biweekly I'll see. Sorry for the small delay!