“Emperor Tulla asked me to tell you that he looks forward to seeing you all again,” Derek added. I couldn’t help but smile. I kind of missed the guy and his sharp wisdom.
“There are GASP agents already present on Cerix,” Varga chimed in. “Will we be working with them in any capacity?”
Derek and Sofia glanced at each other for a moment, then shook their heads. “We decided it’s better if you don’t cross paths at all. The local Hermessi surely know about them, and they’re likely to be keeping an eye on them, in case they meet with you. We’ve actually reassigned them to a military outpost in the Hadeen Domain for the entire length of your stay there, just to make sure the Hermessi are focused on the wrong part of the empire.”
“That sounds more than reasonable.” Taeral sighed. “Though I would’ve loved some extra GASP help.”
“I’m afraid it’ll be too risky. You’re better off on your own,” Sofia said.
“It’s fine,” Lumi replied. “We’ll handle it. Besides, the Hermessi cult is extremely well positioned on Cerix. Chances are they’ll also focus on the GASP agents as they move to Hadeen, giving us a safer window to go in and do what we need to do.”
I’d almost forgotten about the Cerixian fanatics, which the Hermessi had bestowed with elemental abilities. The walls had ears in the empire, and we needed to be extremely careful. However, this second visit to Cerix wouldn’t catch us unprepared.
On the contrary, we’d geared ourselves up for pretty much any scenario, insane and murderous Reapers included—though the odds of us running into another Yamani were minimal. All the madness we’d survived up to now had taught us a lot, so we were going after Eirexis with much more knowledge than before.
My only hope was that Taeral’s scythe would actually help us, once we got there. The last thing we needed was to waste time in all the wrong places—if a Reaper’s weapon could guide us closer to Eirexis, then our mission had a 70 percent chance of success. Without it, we were stuck with a measly 30 percent, and that was nowhere near satisfactory, given what was at stake here.
We got up and put our equipment on, while Derek gave Taeral the coordinates for Earth’s pink water hole. I braced myself for what came next, surprisingly energized by the prospect of a future with Raphael. I’d had enough of Brendel’s ritual nonsense. I needed some love and peace in my life, and Raphael seemed like the Perfect candidate.
Herakles
After we said goodbye to Derek and Sofia, we made our way to the southern beach, the farthermost edge of The Shade, from where we’d teleport across the ocean and onto the Latin American continent. Riza had done some Earthly travels over the years, and she could get us close enough to the pink water cave.
We hadn’t spoken much since last night, when we’d gone back to our own treehouses. I’d left the dinner table with a sense of bitterness stuck in my throat, but it had dissipated by morning. My own failure in pursuing Riza’s affection had cost me dearly, but it had yet to kick me out of the running. I still had a shot. However, I really needed to up my game a little. What continued to astonish me was that I’d never had trouble with the ladies before, yet Riza had reduced me to a bumbling mess.
Raphael had been so blunt in his date request to Amelia, so sudden and unexpected, that I’d felt like I’d somehow been left behind. As if my feelings for Riza had been part of some kind of competition between the Perfect and me. As if he’d reached the finish line with Amelia before I’d had a chance to take my relationship with Riza to a more concrete level. How foolish of me, to think that his strategy would work for me, too. How silly of me not to think this through…
Fortunately, Riza was still here, stealing glances at me. In fact, something had already changed between us, albeit subtly enough to pass unnoticed. I felt energized to try harder, to do something and get past this invisible wall that had always seemed to be in front of her—a sensation that Varga had described as “first romance jitters,” and which I’d yet to fully understand. I’d met my share of Faulty ladies during my early years on Strava, but none of us had ever considered relationships. We’d been too busy serving and worshipping Ta’Zan.
After he’d kicked me out, however, I’d begun to wonder what it would be like to fall in love with someone. Upon meeting Riza, the possibility had become better outlined, to the point where my body reacted to her, my very soul grew and swelled inside me, desperate to touch hers. However, my usual self-confidence had scampered away from the moment she’d first smiled at me, and everything I’d known to be true about myself around women had suddenly been reduced to dust and distant memories of someone I no longer recognized. I simply couldn’t operate like the old Herakles. My courage was definitively missing. Riza had inadvertently flipped a switch inside me, and I had no idea how to fix that.
By last night’s dinner, I’d contemplated kissing Riza more than a dozen times, and I had, indeed, been working up the courage to reach out to her and tell her how I felt. Alas, my ego had gotten the better of me, and I’d found myself embroiled in this childish competition with Raphael, one I’d somehow initiated myself, in which we competed to see who made more progress with his potential soulmate first.
The Amazonian jungle surrounded us. Its thick and lush greenery dazzled me for a moment. I could barely see the purplish evening sky, as trees stretched outward, tall and rich in foliage. The moon rose somewhere in the distance, but the sun’s own light had yet to vanish beyond the western horizon, causing this peculiar celestial color. Multicolored birds squawked from above, perched on twirling branches as they looked down on us. Growls rippled from the darker depths of the woods—great beasts that had retained their territories here, along the elbow of the Amazon River. In a way, it reminded me of Strava. In another, it was an astonishing opposite, for the creature I’d been then and the creature I was now were incredibly different people.
Even the circumstances differed. Back home, I’d been fighting against Ta’Zan, embittered by his rejection. Here, I was waging war against the very elements that had saved us from Ta’Zan, for their objectives were far worse. And in the midst of this insanity, I’d fallen for Riza, the amethyst-eyed jinni, providing me with the most compelling reason to survive it all.
A quick slap on the back of my head derailed my entire train of thought. It crashed violently, and I turned to see who’d hit me. Raphael stood to my right, grinning like the absolute jerk that he could sometimes be. Riza was in front, carefully analyzing the area, while the rest of the crew had moved closer to the water.
“You were daydreaming,” Raphael said. “And, as cute as that may be, we’ve got work to do.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Try speaking to me first next time?”
“Why? This is much more fun,” he shot back.
I couldn’t really be angry with him. Deep down, he was a little boy, much younger than what his physique suggested. I’d let a lot pass, though I knew the day would come when I’d just smack him back and revel in the shocked look on his face. I saved it for later, provided we lived past the ritual attempt.
“This is so beautiful,” Riza said, her voice low and wavering. Tears glazed her eyes as she marveled at the endless green sprinkled with petal splashes of vibrant red, fiery orange, and bright yellow. There was just enough light to reveal it all, albeit slightly more muted than under a full sun. It was a natural paradise, but I couldn’t figure out why it was making her cry, or why it hurt me so deeply to see tears in her eyes.
“Earth is home to many such places,” Amelia replied, checking the coordinates on her tablet. “The cave’s about ten miles down there,” she added, pointing to the west along the river.
“It’s just a shame that it might all go away if the Hermessi get their way with the ritual.” Riza sighed. “All this… every plant and every tree… every bird and all the animals… not to mention the people. It’s unconscionable.”
Varga smiled, ever so slightly, and came closer. “Hey, Riza, do you want to see something really cool?” She looked at him and nodded, wiping back the tears. “Follow me.”
We all did, and he guided us deeper into the jungle, northwest of the river. We walked for about twenty minutes, moving carefully so as not to disturb the local ecosystem in any way.
“Where are we going?” I asked. The pink water hole was slightly farther to the west, by the river, according to Amelia.
“I just want to show you all something. I learned about it a couple of weeks ago, and I’d planned to come visit, until the whole Hermessi thing blew up,” Varga replied. He stopped for a moment, his nostrils flaring as he sniffed the air. He climbed up the tallest tree in our vicinity and motioned for us to join him.
We spread out and went up different trunks, until we were all on the same level. Riza and I shared a tree, and we were both speechless at the sight before us. Less than two hundred yards away, a clearing had formed. In it, a tribe dwelled, with tents made of animal hides and campfires crackling. We could see them clearly, going about their lives—only, they weren’t alone.
Wolves came from the woods, each of them carrying animals they’d just hunted. There was an interesting relationship at play here, as the wolves let the humans deal with the food. It took me another minute to realize that these weren’t ordinary wolves. They were significantly taller, downright massive, in fact, and their eyes brimmed with a sense of consciousness I’d only seen in Hunter when he… turned. “Oh, snap,” I whispered. “Werewolves.”
The tribespeople and the werewolves seemed to live together here. They smiled and hugged one another. The humans thanked the pack for the food, which they proceeded to prepare for the fire. This was a rare sight, indeed, from what I’d learned about Earth. There was harmony already established between the humans and the supernaturals, but the more isolated tribes had yet to come into contact with the latter—according to the last books I’d read on the matter, anyway.
“Unbelievable,” Riza murmured, a smile blooming on her beautiful face.
I saw Varga grinning. “Told ya.”
“Do we know when they were introduced to each other?” Riza asked.
Varga shook his head. “Not exactly. But they were first observed about two months ago, via drone cameras. The human scientists have been developing observation programs for the protected areas of Earth, and this part of the Amazon jungle is included.”
“This is the first instance of an isolated tribe interacting with supernaturals, isn’t it?” I asked, looking at Riza. She beamed at me, as if pleased that I understood what this was all about.
“It’s clearly a lot better than we’d anticipated. The common assumption was that the tribes might fear werewolves or vampires or anything that wasn’t human, to begin with. We believed they were too superstitious, inclined to fear what they cannot understand. Their normal tendency would be to attack or deify a supernatural creature, not live peacefully with it. I guess we were wrong,” Riza explained.
“Still, it’s nice to be wrong about something like this,” Amelia replied. “It just makes me want to kick the Hermessi’s asses even harder, if I’m honest.”
I didn’t take my eyes off Riza. “Then let’s do that,” I said. “Let’s move and get this over with, so that, when it’s all done, we can come back here and observe this tribe some more.”
“You’ve read my mind,” Riza shot back.
As soon as she climbed down, I found Varga eyeing me intently. He moved from the trunk onto a branch that extended toward me. He seemed like a shadow, as he reached me in the blink of an eye, skillfully gripping my tree with his vampire claws.
“Riza is nuts about other cultures, in general,” he whispered. “The Earthly ones are a favorite topic of hers, but she’s equally fascinated by other species she isn’t familiar with.”
“Like?” I asked.
“Like the Stravian Faulties,” he replied with a faint smirk. “She would’ve majored in anthropology, had it not been for GASP and the constant threats against our lives. If you want to get her attention, that’s your ticket in.”
My throat burned. Had he been watching us this whole time? Had he noticed my childish struggles with Riza? Suddenly, I felt so vulnerable and foolish that I didn’t know what to do with myself. That was unlike me. I was the dashing and daring type. The adventurer. The “cut down first, ask questions later” kind of guy. When had I mellowed to this degree of emotional… mush?
“Why are you helping me?” I mumbled, my brows drawn into a sullen frown.
“Because you deserve a better shot,” Varga replied. “And you’re a friend.”
