Kael's POV
The night was quiet and dark, mist covered the grounds across the settlement. I stood at the top of the watchtower gazing around at everything I have built. To everyone else the settlement was safety but to me it was everything.
I turned my blade in my hands wishing that training would settle me like it used too, but now Lilly is the only thing my mind can concentrate on.
She was the one soul I could not touch, the tether, how that title mocked me. And every time she looked at me the god I once was wanted to wake again.
I climbed down the watchtower gazing around tower and stood on the ground, swinging the blade in my hands forcing my pulse to calm.
There was a scent in the air of honeyed corruption and smoke, I knew he was near. Riven was testing my wards and I can feel him reach out into Lilly's dreams.
"Stay in your pit," I muttered my eyes focused towards Lilly's house. "She is not yours to touch."
The shadows gave no reply but the cold chill creeping down my spine told me he had heard.
When morning came I found myself wandering around the outer path of the settlement. I can into Liam who was checking along the barricade.
"The guards last night reported movement,"he said. "They couldn't tell what it was."
"It wasn't anything ya'll have had to deal with, it was something older," I said my voice low.
His jaw tightened as he asked, "Are we in any danger?"
"We always are."
It wasn't the reassurance he wanted but it was the truth.
The gardens were soaking in the morning light when I saw her. Lilly was kneeling in the soil, the loose strands of her hair shining in the sun, hands deep in the earth enjoying the feel of something alive in this dying world. I noticed the air around her pulsing like the divine.
She didn't notice me at first so I almost turned away, but then she looked up and the world seemed to stop.
"You can't sleep either," she stated wiping her hands on her pants.
"Old habits."
"War god habits?" She asked softly, teasing.
Her acceptance of me still confused me, when she learned of what I was she didn't reject me she actually accepted me. That made her even more tempting than she already was.
"I used to think that sleep was for humans," I said.
"And now?" She asked sincerely.
"Now I envy it."
She smiled at me faintly and replied, "You look like you carry the whole world on your shoulders."
If she only knew how true that was.
"You shouldn't be out before the guards finished their rounds," I change the subject. "It isn't safe."
"I couldn't sleep anymore," she admitted to me. "The dreams have been getting worse."
My blood chilled as I asked, "What dreams?"
She shrugged and her lips turned down on one side as she answered, "There is a voice lately and it feels close like it's reaching out for me."
I clenched my fist because now I knew Riven had gotten that far.
"Don't answer it," I tell her quickly.
"I'm not, but it feels so real, Kael. Like the dream I has of us before arriving here."
I forced my voice to remain calm as I say, "Dreams are doors and some should stay closed."
She examined my face trying to get an expression from me before asking, "You know something don't you?"
Of course I knew the name of the one whispering and entering her dreams. I knew what he wanted and what would happen if he was able to get to her. But I couldn't tell her that, the truth would mess with the peace she has finally found and it would draw him here faster.
So I said, "There are forces that crave what you are but you can't let them reach you."
She looked confused before whispering, "What am I?"
I hesitated before giving her a part of the truth, "A light in a world that's forgotten how to see."
Hours later after the others had begun their day I climbed the tower again noticing the air trembled faintly with a different kind of magic that was cold and deliberate.
It wasn't Riven this time but Theron, the god of time and decay. He was once my brother in arms but now another that was cast aside. Where Riven was passion and chaos, Theron was measured and promise.
If he was watching Lilly then the balance had already shifted.
"You could never resist meddling," I murmured.
The wind blew carrying his voice that was flat and distant.
"You guard her as if she is yours, how human you have become, Kael."
My hand found the hilt of my blade as I replied, "Better human than hollow."
"You can't keep her from what she is meant for," he said. "Not from us."
His presence faded leaving me colder than the air was.
That night I couldn't stay inside so I paced the perimeter as the torches flickered and the stars shone brightly above. From one of the houses came Lilly's laughter, soft and unguarded, and I wish I made her laugh like that.
I closed my eyes listening to the sound and for a moment everything felt simple again, but peace was a lie for someone like me.
I looked out beyond the walls and knew somewhere out there was where Riven waited and Theron watched. I was the line in between them and the only light left in this ruined world.
She could never know how close the storm truly was, because if she ever learned the truth about Riven, Theron and the divine war her peace would shatter and her trust in me would fade. I couldn't allow her to look at me without that shining in her eyes.
If that happened I wouldn't be sure if there would be anything for me to live for.