Book 3 Chapter 22

Torvus watched as the trash stuck to his blade finally slipped away, dropping down to the ground in front of him. He watched as Odee struggled to gasp, fighting to hold onto the last bit of life left in him.

While watching the struggle, Torvus’s foot moved casually, kicking his former collaborator over so that he could watch the man’s face. What he saw was an insane hatred, one that was not directed at him, or seemingly anything. A hatred that existed solely for the sake of hatred. Another type of victim… Torvus thought to himself.

He stared at Odee’s eyes, watching to see if he could actually see the man’s soul leave his body. Yet there was no grand moment, no meaningful second where it was obvious something passed on… One moment he was there, the next he was gone. Just like always…

It was an experiment he had tried many times before, though with Odee specifically he might have said it was because he had no soul to start with. But, no… He had seen plenty of people die and they always went the same, both good and bad. If people could be divided that way….

Torvus stared for another moment at Odee’s crumpled body, remembering the pain he had gone through because of the man before him. He remembered feeling so much hatred back then, the things Odee had done… How many “friends” had he watched die… How many times had he been tortured on Odee’s words… Yet, looking down at the lifeless body below him, though the smile stayed on his face, he felt nothing…

No joy at finally felling a longstanding enemy, no hatred and desire for more vengeance, no sadness and regret over what he had been through… He just felt nothing, as usual.

“Torvus!” He heard a child’s voice call out to him. He watched as Tirr and Maria dug themselves out of the rubble. Looking at the little god’s angry face, Torvus braced himself as he waved towards Tirr. “Boss!” He started to call out before the stomping god cut him off.

“You idiot!” Tirr raged as he approached the former assassin

Shit… Torvus thought, keeping his smile up as he held his hands up placatingly, “Look Boss you didn’t believe Odee right? I’d never run aw…”

He was forced to stop once again as Tirr reached him, reaching out a hand as he channeled the Blessing of Life through Torvus’s body from head to toe. “Where were you? How badly did they get you?” The young god seemed to blink as his blessing swept over the young man finding no injuries

“Ah… I’m fine, I managed to hide when the ambush started …”

“Oh… Wait why didn't you come out earlier then?” Tirr asked innocently running one more check on Torvus’s body.

“Well, I thought you guys could handle yourselves well enough and wanted to try and catch this slippery bastard off guard…” He nodded towards the body nearby.

Tirr took a glance at the body and nodded, “Ah okay, just make sure you tell us next time, with that crap he was saying I thought they got you or something…”

This time it was Torvus turn to blink… “You were… Worried about me?”

“Of course!” Tirr grinned, “You’re one of my followers right?”

Torvus felt a strange feeling running through his body. As if his chest had suddenly tightened. He smiled, this time feeling his whole body relax as he did so. “Of course…” He replied as he truly smiled for the first time he could remember…

Tirr nodded turning as he spoke, “Come on we can still catch the others… Maria!” He called out as he looked back towards his first apostle only to find her mid-fall, wings having faded…

“Maria!” He called out again as he raced towards her with Torvus. As they reached her they found her breath coming slow and rhythmically.

“Guess it was her turn to fall asleep for once,” Tirr said with a frown, as he picked her up easily holding the larger girl with no trouble despite his small frame,

“Let's just get back to Raife’s for now, We dealt a blow by taking care of Odee, and chasing now might be dangerous anyway…

Tirr nodded in agreement and they swiftly made their way through the tunnels, followed unknowingly by a slight breeze…