Chapter 4
Ethan returned to the house to find Sabina just finishing setting the table and his mother carrying pots of steaming food from the stove to the table. He sat down across the table from Sabina and when she smiled at him he return the gesture but a trill of nervousness shot through him. He didn't allow the unexpected emotion to show on his face and he turned his thoughts inward to find the source what had disturbed his mind. Through most of the dinner he remained quiet and thoughtful only speaking when a question was directed at him and in single word sentences. He helped Sabina clean the dishes and they both remained silent as they worked, him thinking and worrying as she watched him. Just as he washed the final dish he realized where the feeling originated and his face went pale. Sabina dried the plate, set it in the rack, and then grabbed his arm and pulled him into their room.
"what is wrong," she demanded after she closed the door.
"What makes you think somethings wrong," he asked fidgetting nervously with his shirt.
"First you practically ignore me and mom at dinner, second you've said maybe ten words alnight, third when we where washing the dishes you looked like you might hurl into the sink, and lastly your fidgetting like a ten year old. You don't fidget useless you've done something wrong or you think you have," she replied. He flinched, his hands dropped to his sides, and he let his head hang forward.
"What is wrong Ethan," Sabina asked again her tone soft and coaxing. He took a deep breath and braced himself for the worst and then answered.
"When I came in tonight and you smiled at me I suddenly felt nervous and I didn't know why. I thought about and thought about and finally I realized I was feeling guilty about earlier," he told her.
"What did you do earlier," she asked in confusion.
"I had sex with Rosa," he answered quickly. She froze her expression completely blank and he began speaking rapidly in a panic.
"I know you said it was okay but when I got home and saw you I got nervous. Then at the sink washing dishes I realized what was bothering me. I also realized that what I had done might hurt you and I nearly did hurl into the sink," he rambled and would have continued had she reached out and covered his mouth with her hand. She walked him backwards slowly her eyes fixed on his trapping him in her gaze. He barely fely the edge of the bed hit the back of his legs before she suddenly shoved him onto his back. She undid her jeans and let them fall to the floor then kicked them off to the side.
"I told you little brother," she said and straddled his hips. She leaned forward until the faces were a mere inch apart and whispered into his face.
"You can have sex with whoever you want as long as there is enough left for me."
She brought her mouth down in a bruising kiss as soon as she finished speaking and ground her hips down against him. He moaned at friction caused by her grinding on him, she lifted her hips and unzipped his pants and shoved them down until she could pulled his cock from his boxers. As soon as he was free she grabbed the crotch of the her panties and pulled it to the side and slid herself onto him. They both moaned as she pushed her self down onto him and he slowly slid deeper and deeper.
"Mine," she growled in his ear and began to roughly move her hips.
Two hours later he rolled off her and she lay her head on his shoulder as they caught their breath. He nearly laughed at the sight of the room with both of their clothes flung all over the place. He couldn't even remember how or when they had gotten undressed.
"Was she better than me," Sabina suddenly asked.
"No," Ethan replied.
"Was I better than her?"
"I love you and that made it more intense," he answered. Sabina nodded her understanding and they lapsed into silence. He could tell the exact moment she fell asleep and he listened to her soft even breathing for a while before sleep dragged him under. The next morning he woke again long before Sabina and he began to worry that he might have developed a sleep disorder but his alarm at his continuous short nights was temper by the fully resting feeling he always woke with. He slid out of bed careful not to wake Sabina as he slid from beneath her arm. Her bare shoulder, the only part aside from her head not covered by the sheets, temped him to climb back into bed and pull the sheet lower by he resisted. He could feel the hollow ache of desire in his bones but it felt distant almost not there at all. He suddenly got the urge to run so he headed outside and began to stretch. After he was warmed up he broke into a jog and steadily increased his pace until he was sprinting full tilt through the streets pay close attention to the turns he was taking so he wouldn't get lost.
Suddenly the world went dark a pitch black cloud of darkness appeared out of no where and enveloped him and he skidded to a halt. He looked around warily feeling like he was being watched but even his new ability to see through the dark didn't allow him to penetrate the inky wall of nothing surrounding him.
"Hello son of Aphrodite," a voice sounded from the dark.
"Hello, ominous black cloud," he replied warily. A bark of laughter sounded from the dark and then as suddenly as it had appear the darkness changed and he could see through it like normal. In front of him stood a tall woman, even taller then him, with snowy white hair and skin the shiny black of a polished onyx. Her hair hung down past her ass nearly to knee level and her iris' were yellow and slitted like a cats. She was clothed in what appeared to be shadows that moved constantly.
"I am Nyx, Goddess of Darkness," she said in introduction.
"Ethan," he replied simply.
"Yes I know I have come as agreed to teach you how to use the skills that my blessing have bestowed upon you. You have already been using the most common and easiest ability. The underworld essence in the harpy's bite infected your eye and the ability woke in self preservation to keep you eye sight intact."
"Thanks for this," Ethan said and touched the eyelid covering the blackened orb.
"It was my doing exactly so much as a mingling of the blessings bestowed upon you and your own will to fight," she replied simply.
"Thank you for part in helping anyway."
She nodded her head graciously and began walking the and he followed along beside her.
"As I said the ability to see through the darkness as you have been doing is the least of the abilities my
blessing can bestow. There are three in total though the third ability, to shadow jump, can not be taught. Shadow jumping is being able to move from a shadow where you are to any shadow with in your range of vision, no matter how far away if you can see the shadow you can go there in an instant. The second ability is a limited ability to meld with shadows. If you stand in a shadow no matter how small and concentrate you can become part of that shadow and hide there. I say it is limited because if you lose concentration you will be ejected from the shadow. If the shadow disappears you will also be ejected and probably on your face if you are caught unaware of your surroundings. Any questions?"
He shook his head.
"Good, go stand in the shadow of the building and and concentrate on becoming shadow," she ordered. He obeyed and found it surprisingly easy to slip into the shadow but harder to keep his concentration focused enough to stay there for more then a few moments.
"Not bad for first starting. Keep practicing and it will become second nature to dwell in a shadow. For the third ability do not worry about it if you can then you will in time and if you cannot," she said and finished with a shrug. She held out her hand and a case hanging from a shoulder strap appeared dangling from her fist.
"Your mother asked that I give this to you and to tell you that it works exactly as agreed."
"Thank you," he said taking it from her. He opened the zipper a few inches to see a black laptop inside the case before closing it again. He looked at his watch and saw that it said he'd only been out for ten minutes. Knowing that was impossible and he tapped it and held it up to his ear to see if it was still ticking.
"It is working fine, I slowed down time a little," Nyx said. Ethan bent and picked up a pebble and lightly tossed it into the air and as soon as it left his hand it slowed to a crawl on its way up into the air.
"Impressive," he said as they walked. Between one step and the next Nyx froze in place one foot half raised to take her next stop. Ethan noticed as soon as he pulled ahead turned to face her and froze in shock. Standing next to Nyx was a woman who he could only describe as the most beautiful he had ever seen, she even out stripped Aphrodite in her magnificence. She was clothed much the same as Nyx with the exception that the writhing blackness that garbed her was not shadow, it was an absence of anything at all and made his skin crawl. She had long blonde ringlets hanging to her waist the accentuated her figure. The void warping her twisted and flailed as if in agony and showed glimpses of perfect bronzed skin beneath.
"If you think that is impressive, you should see what I can do," she said seductively. Her eyes were a swirling and shift clash of every color he could possibly imagine, no white and no iris, and staring into them he knew he wouldn't enjoy anything she showed him.
"Who are you," he asked taking a step back. He wanted to run just from the feeling of sheer wrongness that emanated as this being just stood there. He couldn't bring himself to turn and flee though as the unknown woman stroked a finger down Nyx's cheek. Feeling foolish for thinking he could protect a goddess, especially another goddess. One obviously powerful enough the freeze another deity in time.
"Flee mortal, I can feel that you want to," she said continuing to stroke Nyx's face. He began to suspect that Nyx, even though frozen, was aware of what was happening.
"No, I will not," he responded. She stared at him in silence letting her hand fall from Nyx as her focus shifted to him. He shuddered under her gaze and stared into her odd rainbow eyes as they whirled like a maelstrom.
"Leave," she ordered her voice booming painfully in his ears. He felt an almost overwhelming urge to turn and do as she commanded. He struggled with himself and sweat beaded his skin and his muscles locked painfully but he remained immobile staring her down.
"How curious," she muttered and took a step towards him.
"Who are you," he demanded through clenched teeth.
"She, if you can called her a she, is Chaos," a voice said from close behind him. He whipped around and found an exact duplicate of woman this one called Chaos. They his head whiped from one to the other and he noticed some minor differences as they glared at each other. The new woman had one green eye and one brown, each eye was one color with no pupil, iris, or whites. This one was clothed in what looked like a sundress made from the night sky, complete with constellations and shooting stars which moved on their own.
"Gaia," sneered Choas her face twisting into a mask of hatred made all the worse by its previous beauty.
"What are you doing here? You know that it is forbidden to interact with god and mortal alike," Gaia demanded. Chaos was suddenly beside Ethan, he lurched to put distance between both him and the two being in front of him but Chaos's hand shot out and clamped onto his wrist like a iron shackle. He cried out in pain as his bones began to vibrate in protest at her touch.
"This one is neither god nor mortal and I can speak to him if I wish," she said petilently as she held his wrist in a grip he couldn't break. He dropped to his knees as he began to go numb.
"Why would you deign to speak with a demigod," she asked.
"This one is interesting, he defied me," she said and Gaia looked at him in surprise. Ethan failed to notice her gaze as his vision was beginning to tunnel and the vibrating of his bones was beginning to sound like an oddly pleasant humming in his head.
"Release him at once or else," Gaia ordered. Chaos pouted and stuck out her bottom lip sarcastically but she released her hold and Ethan drop to the ground with a moan of pain. Chaos gave Gaia one final sneer of contempt and vanished leaving Ethan face down his face pressed to the stone of the road beneath him. Gaia moved closer to him and he tried to move away from her but his limbs would not obey.
"Be calm, I mean you no harm," Gaia said softly and rest a hand on the same wrist Chaos had gripped. He shuddered at the pain flowed of his body and was replaced by a comforting warmth.
"Be careful, it is not a good thing that Chaos has become interested in you. It is against the rule for her to harm you irreparably but she can make your existence unpleasant," Gaia warned and vanished as well. With her and her comforting warmth his strength vanished and he could not move. He could here footsteps and someone called his name just before his consciousness fade away.
He woke suddenly and sat bolt upright, or would have if Sabina's arms around him had let him rise. He felt so weak that he couldn't even break her hold, not that he wanted to. She looked at him, her face streaked with drying tear tracks and squeezed him tighter. He winced slightly as his whole body ached badly and her crushing embrace was both welcome and painful.
"What happened? Some woman with black skin appeared carrying you in her arms. Then she lays you in bed next to me and tells me to care for you until someone come to help. You look like you did after the harpy poisoned you," Sabina demanded. He took a deep breath and then spilled the entire story.
"I guess that explains where this came from," she said and reached over to the night stand. She pulled the laptop which was already up and running into her lap.
"What does the news say," he asked.
"Lots of monsters that shouldn't exist are running around killing people. That isn't even mentioning the gods who keep popping up all over the world demanding to be worshiped and killing anyone who refuses," she replied. She turned the screen so he could see a picture a two harpys lifting a woman into the air, one latched onto each shoulder. By the look of pain and fear on the woman's face you could tell she was not going willingly.
Ethan was seized by a sudden coughing fit and blood speckled his hand and trickled from the corner of his mouth.
"Well that isn't good," he said looking at his bloody hands. Liz, who'd been reading the article looked over at his words and shrieked in alarm at the sight of his blood. Not two seconds later the door burst in so hard it would have rebound closed again but for his mother's hand thrust out to stop it as she hurried into the room.
"Whats wrong," she asked but saw the blood before either could answer. Ethan coughed again and more blood came up and he nearly puked from the hot coppery smell.
"Aphrodite," Sabina screamed so loud Ethan was half sure she'd damaged his ear drum. Aphrodite appeared standing at the foot of the bed with an annoyed expression on her face until she saw Ethan. Annoyance dropped away instantly to be replaced with concern and fear.
"What happened," she demanded. Before anyone could speak Nyx appeared beside Aphrodite, facing her.
"I've been looking everywhere for you...," Nyx began but was cut off.
"Not now," Aphrodite said and moved around the bed to Ethan's side. Nyx looked a Ethan with and expression he didn't understand before refocusing and Aphrodite.
"What happened," Aphrodite demanded of Sabina and Lily.
"That is what I am trying to tell you," Nyx said and Aphrodite whirl around and glared at her.
"You did this," she demanded in a hiss and walls of the room shuddered.
"No, he has been touched by Chaos," Nyx replied. Aphrodite's became ashen and she quickly lay her hands on Ethan's chest. He felt nothing but the urge cough vanished and the blood coating his hands and mouth disappeared, even the taste of copper left his mouth. He expected Aphrodite to pull her hands back but she didn't move. She stared intently at his abdomen in silence as if she was peering right through his skin. After nearly ten minutes of her motionless staring she shuddered and lifted her hands from his body.
"What would Chaos want with you," Aphrodite asked him and he shrugged.
"She didn't want him," Nyx interjected, "She wanted to torment me for some reason. She laid her hands on me and she told him to leave. He refused and she 'Ordered' him to leave and he fought off the order and refused her again. Then Gaia appeared and Chaos grabbed his wrist. Gaia eventually drove her off but the damage had already been done."
"What damage," Lily asked and looked worriedly at her son.
"Choas is not her name, she doesn't have a name. Chaos is what she is, she is the embodiment of all chaos. The universe, everything in existence with substance, is formed through order. Atom, particles, energy, whatever you want to call it we are all formed of these thing bound together in an orderly way. In a way that lets our bodies operate, all of the pieces working together. Chaos is not like us, her body is an illusion created by all chaos, an illusion so realistic it can touch you. But you aren't really being touched by a person but by pure concentrated disorder and it conflicts with your existence. Because she is more powerful then Ethan her disorder began to overpower the order of his body, simply with her touch, and his body began to tear itself apart resisting her," Aphrodite explained.
"You sound like your saying order and chaos are sentient," Sabina in disbelief.
"They very much are sentient and they can walk this world when they choose. Although they almost never interfere in the affairs of mortal or the gods. They are more powerful then all the gods. They can freeze us in time, Chaos sometimes come and freezes us and torments us with her touch. We are much more durable then mortals and her touch cannot kill us. However as powerful as we are no god in existence has ever been able to refuse to obey an 'Order' from Chaos," Nyx answered staring and Ethan, again with a look he couldn't decipher.
"I wish he hadn't," Aphrodite said mournfully with a sad look in her eyes.
"Why," Lily asked and Aphrodite looked at her.
"Because now he has her attention and she nearly killed him from simply touching him. What do you think will happen if she decides to come visit him again," Aphrodite asked and Lily's face paled.
"Isn't there anything we can do," Lily asked.
"We will do what we can but Chaos does not answer to us. We have tried many times over the eons to destroy her but we have always failed," Aphrodite said and vanished. Nyx gave Ethan one final unreadable look and followed after her.
"How are," Sabina asked Ethan.
"Fine," he answered and she threw herself into his arms and squeezed him tightly. A small sob escaped from her mouth and she began crying into his shoulders as his arms encircled her.
"I thought you were going to die," she half wailed half sobbed in his ear. He kissed the top of her head and stroked her hair and just held her, letting her cry out her fear.
"Better now," he asked when she subsided into sniffles and she nodded. He looked at his watch and was astounded to realize that very little time had passed and they had five minutes to get over to the field.
"Come on wash your face we are going to be late for school," he said as he hoisted Sabina to her feet.
"Your hurt you can't go," Sabina said.
"I was hurt, I am fine now," he said but had to hide a wince as his muscles protested even the small strain of helping Sabina to her feet.
"Besides I only have to go to the beginning of class today. The smith gave me today off to rest," Ethan continued before either of them could object.
"Hurry so we can go," he told Sabina and she looked like she would protest again but at the determined look on his face she kept her mouth closed and hurried into the bathroom.
P.S.:
First of thanks to all of my readers who write back to me with ideas even if I don't use them. Secondly this chapter was originally much longer but due to an unfortunate power outage I lost a little over half the chapter. Thirdly sorry for the long wait between chapters.And finally as stated in my other stories' updates, this will be the last post for this story on xnxx. I WILL continue to write this series along with all other uncompleted stories. If you wish to continue reading my writings you can find them at karaxs.com. The site is under construction but a link (which is impossible to miss) on the page will direct you to my temporary site, where my works are posted.
Thanks for reading,
Karax
