Chapter 2

Her embrace, her tears... they just made me want to vomit.

I numbly lifted my head and stared at her with empty eyes.

"Didn't you say your divine blessing could track me anywhere?" My voice was hoarse. "Why are you only here now?"

Cassia went rigid. Panic and guilt flashed in her eyes. She hugged me tighter.

"I'm sorry. The laws of Tartarus were too strong. I was blocked... It's okay. You're safe now. No matter what you've become, I will still love you."

Love me? I twitched my bleeding lips. I didn't even have the strength to sneer.

My lifeless gaze seemed to sting her. Frantic, she took off her cloak, wrapped it around my shattered body, and carried me into the portal.

A flash of light, and we arrived at the Temple of Asclepius in the Argos Order.

Seeing my horrifying state, my comrades fell dead silent. Even these hardened warriors, men who wrestled mythical beasts for a living, had tears in their eyes.

"The tendons in his limbs are entirely shredded by a Stygian blade..." the priest's voice violently shook. "His life force is nearly gone. And... his lower body has been completely destroyed by dark magic."

Healing light flared up. I closed my eyes in pain and turned my back, pretending to sleep.

I didn't want to look at Cassia. Not even for a second.

Cassia sat by my bed. Her tears dropped onto my hand. "Darling, I'm so sorry. I will never leave your side again."

Soft footsteps came from outside the door.

"Cassia..." It was Adonis. His voice was soft, laced with a practiced vulnerability and fear.

Cassia's fingers paused, but she didn't let go of me.

She stood up. "Adonis, it's not safe here. You need to take the only Apollo Griffon back to headquarters first."

"I'm scared!" Adonis immediately grabbed her dress. "Please come with me?"

"No, I have to stay and take care of my husband." Cassia refused.

"But sister, I was almost scared to death by monsters just now. I really don't dare go alone..." He gently shook her arm, coughing with a pale face, seemingly triggering the lingering aura of his curse.

Cassia looked at his weak state, then turned to look at me, "sleeping" peacefully in the healing light. She glanced at the High Priest.

"He is out of danger, My Lady," the priest murmured.

Three seconds.

That's all it took for her to break.

"Alright, wait for me." She placed her Heart of Nature necklace, pulsing with divine magic, next to my pillow. "I'll go tell the Council. I'll drop him off at the safe zone and come right back to you."

The door clicked shut. Cassia's footsteps faded away.

The weak, helpless Adonis instantly dropped his act.

He strode over to my bed and raised his hand without hesitation.

Smack! A harsh slap struck my face.

I opened my eyes. I met his eyes—they were vicious and arrogant.

"Stop pretending to sleep, trash," Adonis sneered, looking down at me. "I know they forced a Wakefulness Potion down your throat. So? How does it feel, knowing you're not even half a man anymore?"

I glared at him. A thick taste of blood filled my throat. "Get out."

"Make me." He leaned in, malicious light gleaming in his eyes. "You don't know, do you? Cassia brought me here to replace you."

My pupils shrank.

"Your squad lost two good men to that Minotaur. All that glory they died for? It's mine now." Adonis laughed arrogantly. "Cassia is about to report to Olympus that I, Adonis, slayed the beast. You're just a stepping stone."

Rage exploded in my chest.

My comrades, my brothers, were torn to shreds alive by that monster! And she was giving their blood-soaked honor to this worthless scum!

"You... bastard!" I tried desperately to fight him, but my severed tendons only shot blinding pain through me.

"Save your breath." Adonis pulled a dark green vial from his coat.

Hydra venom.

He didn't hesitate. The needle sank into my vein, and he pushed the plunger all the way down! The moment the venom entered my blood, the protective Heart of Nature necklace beside me flared violently, then dimmed, its green light corrupted and extinguished by the poison's unholy power.

Adonis sneered and kicked the now-dead stone aside.

"You're useless alive anyway. Might as well do Cassia and me a favor." He smiled like a viper. "Go to hell."

Adonis threw the empty syringe on the floor and walked out laughing.

Less than five minutes after the venom hit my blood.

The life-ward charm on my wrist shrieked a deafening alarm. The priest and my comrades smashed the door open and rushed in.

"Lethal poison! The Hydra venom is burning through his magic!" the priest roared, his hands covered in my blood. "Get him to headquarters! Only the divine elixirs there can save him!"

"The portals are down! A raw magic surge!"

Death's cold fingers were already wrapping around my throat. My blood felt like it was flowing backwards.

I couldn't die yet. I could never let that bastard claim glory over my brothers' corpses! A violent will to live burned in my chest.

"There's a way!" my vice-captain, Brynn, yelled with bloodshot eyes. "Lady Cassia requisitioned a Griffon! It's at the roost!"

"Hurry! Push him!" A few brothers heaved me onto a stretcher. We sprinted like madmen toward the Griffon roost.

Fierce winds howled. On the platform, the massive Griffon was beating its wings.

The stretcher smashed the heavy doors open.

Right there on the platform, we ran straight into Cassia and Adonis, just as they were about to leave.

Brynn's eyes practically tore open. He rushed forward in despair, grabbed Cassia's arm, and roared:

"Lady Cassia! Wait! Aiden needs the Griffon! He's dying!"