Chapter 61

Torches lit up the walls of the cave causing flickering light to cause ripples among the darkness along the walls around him. Chynir could sense the presence of someone else up ahead of him as he walked forward in the cave. The sound of footsteps from behind him was the only sound. Silence was like a virtue to him so hearing the way the prince Curtis could not yet conceal himself in silence when walking made him have to push the urge to slash the prince's throat into the pit of his stomach.

"Ah.. what have we here?" Chynir smiled slightly as he gained closer to the person ahead.

He could feel divinity in the air getting heavy. It was like the air pressure was attempting to suffocate them both. Originally he had thought of the cave as a place he could take rest and sit low while he relaxed to see how things would play out for a few days, but after entering the cave he had sensed someone further in. The last person he expected to run into was a fellow god, but it was obvious by the power of the pressure and the sense of divinity. Since he was a god himself he could easily sense another person's divine powers if they were high enough to hold such power.

"Trying to intimidate?" He asked in a whispered tone as he pushed his own powerful pressure out to attempt to counter the pressure that was pressing down on the air around him.

Curtis was trying to refrain from gasping for air behind Chynir as he was hunched down slightly trying to slow his breathing and remain calm. He could not even hold the magic to conceal his black wings causing them to appear upon his back as the combining force between the two gods power pressure forced him slowly to his knees. His eyes were glowing red and wide as his breathing was slow and shallow. Shuddering he worked his body to the core to refrain from making any form of complaint because he did not dare raise himself to such a level to complain to the god he had chosen to follow loyally.

"Why do you not show yourself? Are you afraid of me?" Chynir forced out the question as he could feel the power of the god before them increasing above that of his own no matter how much he pushed himself. It felt like a battle of who was more intimidating in strength and he did not favor the thought of him losing against another.

"Invalid." A single word response rang out throughout the cave.

"Iemis!" Chynir muttered under his breath as he recognized the voice and response from the eldest of gods without needing to glance at him.

A tall man with shaggy gray hair wearing a brown coat slowly stepped from the shadows while gazing at Chynir. The way the man's eyes were white with no color except that of the pupil was enough to make even Chynir want to shudder, but he refrained because he hated the thought of looking weak to anyone. The fact that seeing Iemis before him could cause him to feel such a thing was only mere fuel to his rage.

"To what do I owe this meeting?" Chynir smiled in a way that was beyond easy to tell he felt nothing but pure hatred to Iemis and wanted to fling himself forward, but was forcing himself to refrain from it.

Iemis's eyes slowly turned away from Chynir as the air pressure from Iemis gained more power. The man was not even blinking as a spark of gold faintly glowed from his body. A sudden force from the power caused Chynir's body to buckle slightly and he had to regain his footing where he stood as he pushed his power to max in the air to force back against Iemis's power to keep himself standing. He could feel that Iemis was toying slightly with him to see how he would react and in annoyance grit his teeth. Blood started to slip from Chynir's mouth where his fangs were digging into his lip.

"Don't toy with me!" Chynir shouted out of rage as the power between the two of them caused the cave walls to vibrate as rocks began to fall from the ceiling of the cave around them.

"Invalid." A single word uttered once again from Iemis's lips as his body vanished in thin air in a mere second and reappeared before Chynir.

The two gods stared at each other face to face with only a matter of inches between them. A deep rage burned within Chynir's eyes as he glared deep into Iemis's trying to determine what the god was planning to do.

"Simple responses as usual, eh, Iemis?" Chynir smiled in attempt to mock.

Iemis did not respond, nor did he even blink. His power simply increased causing Chynir to force himself to keep his power on max. Even as the cave was falling apart around them neither of them were displaying a thought of retreating or halting their power to suppress the air.

"So, are you going to act for once since your creation? Going to take me on yourself?"

"Invalid."

"Tch!" Chynir clicked his tongue with rage.

Iemis slowly turned and stepped away from Chynir as his power slowly let up, followed by the release of Chynir's. As his power was released from use the golden glow that was once covering Iemis faded away until he was left standing there silently shrouded by the darkness of the cave around them.

"I don't know how you became one of us to begin with... the eldest god of us all and yet so lacking to do a damn thing!" Chynir scoffed.

"Invalid." Iemis glanced over at Chynir with a slight smile on his face.

For one to see Iemis hold a smile upon his face was like a rarity. The man was not one to ever show emotion, but at the moment there was a smile on his face in response to Chynir's words that made even him feel like shuddering in fear. He could not tell of Iemis was mocking him or if there was something hidden behind the smile of his.

"What's invalid?" Chynir glared with a snarled expression.

There was no follow up words to respond to Chynir. The smiling Iemis slowly stepped over to Chynir as the god just stood in place without retreating. When he reached just a mere foot from Chynir Iemis's body exploded into a cloud of white mist that vanished in the air. The god was no longer in sight and Chynir could feel his presence had completely dissipated from the cave. Fact that the god had left him without a response made him shake with rage.

Chynir was holding the burning fury to kill someone, something, anything. It was fueling him and he was ready to remove himself from the cave to go on another hunt. His mind was racing with debate on whether he should or if he should relax for a while. The simple power struggle from the air pressure between him and Iemis had already worn him out, no matter how much he wanted to refrain from admitting it. There could be no helping it, however, because every god knew that Iemis out ranked everyone of them and had since the day each of them had become gods.

As he glanced back while his mind was still in debate his expression froze as a sight that felt unpleasant so much that his brow twitched. Curtis had lost consciousness during the gods power struggle. The force they had exerted among themselves had caused the prince to completely collapse face down on the cave floor.

Chynir's brow kept twitching as he debated whether or not to stomp on the prince's face to wake him.

"Disgraceful." He muttered to himself as he glared at the prince.