Adrean alucard's Arc

Chapter 24 of 28

Adrean left the loading dock before the market girl finished speaking. Aphrodisia Divine walked at his side, her red jewel glowing hot. Strangers with no shadows had entered his city. Someone had sent them, and it was not her masters. He needed to know who. But first he needed to answer the man who had followed him for three days. At the base of the glowing spire, a stranger waited by a carved rune stone. Its blue marks pulsed under his hand. He was old and small, with a white beard down to his belt and gold thread on his robe. Adrean knew him. Yahweh Christ. The god who had made him, then hunted him, then knelt before him drained. The old god stood in the shadow of the spire, and Adrean felt no threat from him now. "You crossed Lucifer's door," Yahweh said. "I cannot walk through it. So I speak through this." He tapped the rune stone. "I sent no one to your city. But I know who did." Adrean stopped. "Why tell me?" "Because I want no war with you." Yahweh's yellow eyes held steady. "I testified for your life once. Let me testify again, as a friend this time." He held out a thin hand. "The locals whisper of elven gods. They gather at the edge of your land. They do not answer to the council. They want the trees you bled for." Adrean weighed the offer. A friend among the gods was worth more than a drained enemy. He took the old god's hand. Beside him, Aphrodisia's breath caught. Her jewel flared, and warmth rolled off her in a wave. "I bind myself to you," she said. Her voice shook, but she did not stop. "Not as a watcher. Fully. I love you, Adrean. I will gather your court and bleed your trees and stand against my own masters." She sank to one knee before him. Adrean pulled her up. The goddess of beauty had chosen him over Chronos Luminar. His court now held a god and a goddess. His arc goal, to gather the beautiful and the divine, moved forward. Then the rune stone cracked. A face formed in the blue light, a young elf with silver hair and purple eyes that sparked with small lightning. Zephyr Nightvolt. Shadow curled around his shoulders. "So the shadowless ones found their king," Zephyr said. His voice hummed with power. "My masters send greetings. We do not kneel to a man who steals gods. We came for the tree-blood, and we will take it." The light snapped out. The stone went dark. Adrean's hands closed to fists. Yahweh's warning was true. Aphrodisia stepped close, her love now a weapon at his side. "Elven gods," she whispered. "They mean to take your trees before you bond the rest." Adrean looked toward the city's edge, where the strangers gathered. His court was born. Now a war for the trees had begun.