# Chapter 9 Rhett and Violet sat in the back of the main area within Publix. The members of Ironsoul had raided and moved all the aisles to form walls between living quarters for the guys and gals, and the living and training spaces. Not unlike Rhett's group had done to the furniture warehouse. “As I was saying,” Jack, one of the teenaged leaders said after a bite of a sandwich. “We’re all demigods here. We’ve been very solitary for a long time, and this shit just happened, and we want information.” “Dude you kidnapped me. My people will be worried sick.” Jack nodded, taking another bite of sandwich and answering Rhett with his mouth full. “We did leave a note and a map in the truck.” *He’s not too dissimilar from Hunter.* Rhett waved off Jack's answer. “So you people claim to be gods.” “No not the gods themselves. They’re dead.'“ “So you're children of dead gods? How the hell does that work?” Rhett asked flatly. “The gods died the day the world ended.” “So you claim to be the children of gods.” “That's right. You're getting there. I'm sure this is a lot for a mortal.” *A mortal? Sounds like an insult.* “Look in my point of view, you're all insane.” Violet butted in, arms crossed. “Oh, I can demonstrate for y’all. Just please don't scream or cause a ruckus.” Jack said in a pleading manner. “Charlie, get Nova, please.” *This better be good* Charlie grinned and uncrossed her legs and went to fetch Nova. Raven, Charlie’s sister sat quietly watching. *Those two are a sight, but Rose…* Charlie returned shortly after, “Nova will be here in 10. She’s out ‘purging souls’ again.” She said with air quotes. “Oh gods. Outside of the parking lot this time right?” Jack asked, exasperated. Raven chuckled slightly. Charlie smiled again, “Yes outside.” *What do they mean?* It didnt take long, the group just continued to eat. Violet ate more slowly and hesitantly than Rhett or the ‘demigods.’ Rhett saw a figure streak through the air, into the doors, and up. The figure then extended wings, one black, one bleach white. It landed in a crouch, then Rhett saw her face. Her face quickly reformed, now more human than skeletal. On her left side she was all skelatal, faintly green pale skin now covered the area. The right side was one of the most beautiful girls Rhett had ever seen. “Gods above…” He said, Violet Paralyzed next to him. “How in Hell?” “Rhett, Violet. Meet Nova Helkin. Immortal daughter of Hela and Thanon, Goddess of the underworld, and God of death.” “Holy shit,” Violet said, not moving. “Yeah I know man.” Jack said. “We got a book.” Raven pulled 2 small books out of a bag, handing one to each of the prisoners. Violet opened hers and began skimming it. “Jack, this is a lot of names.” “Yeah you get used to it. Charlie and Raven are the daughters of Vaelix and Nythrana, Chaos and Magic. They ain’t immortals though. It's kinda random chance.” “Holy cow.” Rhett said, flipping through his book entitled ‘Ironsoul for Idiots.’ *Fitting.* ___ Rhett had given the group a ton of details since the world fell, stuff the children of the gods didn’t know. In return Rhett learned much about the history of Ironsoul, it's split from Mythborn, and the God’s civil war. “The kids of Athira, Arex, and Veluna are very powerful. I can feel their presence when they walk past.” Violet said, reading pages intensely. Rhett flipped to the index in the back of the book. “So house Arex can riot emotion, Athira have commanding presence, and Veluna can soothe emotions.” “This sounds like something Tolkien would write.” “If Sanderson and Riordan had a child.” “Not far off on Riordan.” Raven commented, coming uo to the pair in the parking lot. The day was very overcast, and looked like it would rain in the next few hours. Raven was much paler than her sister, darker makeup and demeanor made the 2 not look like twins. Not to mention Raven’s dyed hair. “What happens now that the gods are dead?” Violet asked, finally putting down the guidebook. “No idea. Most of the immortals are now dead, they were the closest thing to divinity we had. All the gods are annihilated. Even the minor ones. And now so many fuckin mortals are dead.” “Do you know anything of the other groups or Mythborn?” Rhett asked the pale girl. “Nope. Honestly I hope at least the leadership were annihilated.” “Were they that bad?” Rhett asked. Raven looked down, then rolled back her sleeves. Scars covered them. *Poor girl.* “I got these as a child. Charlie has some she covers well. Main reason I keep mine covered is in case the undead can smell that like in old ass movies.” “Man. I’m sorry Raven.” She breathed in deeply. “Nothing to be sorry for. It wasn't the fault of any mortal. Only Victor Cran.” “He was the leader of Mythborn right?” Rhett recalled from the conversations with the 4 leaders. “Yes. Still is unless someone had the sense to kill him.” Raven shook her head. “Lashings, beatings, slicing. Fuck him and his worthless quarterborn soul.” “Quarterborn?” Violet asked, “Haven't read of them yet.” “We don't usually include the slurs in there. It's a minor one. Just refers to mortals who have a sole God grandparent. They aren’t common. Jack’s cousins would be considered them.” Before the conversation continued, Rhett and Raven both noticed House Koryph look toward the sky, dropping what they were holding. Each of the demigods around camp had an insignia in several places on their simple uniforms, each designated for each god. Koryph had an anvil, Athira had an owl, a sword for Arex, Caelos had wind. “Jack, Nova, Raven, Charlie!” Rhett heard Logan Brewer shout from a distance. Raven took off in a mad dash, Rhett and Violet shortly following. “Guys I dont know what the fuck happened, every one of us can feel some metal in the atmosphere.” “Coming to us?” Raven asked, not even out of breath from her dash. “Yes. It's everywhere, but not dispersed like water drops.” “Shit. Everyone get inside!” Charlie shouted, taking Jacks hand sprinting to the entrance of Publix. The sky opened up and began to rain. Then Rhett understood the urgency, it hit him hard in his arm above his wrist, then his hip and thigh. ___ The pain was searing, like a musket wound, and it was deep. Jack sat, arm around Charlie, in the makeshift med bay. Pain and suffering was around them, many had far worse injuries than just some metal Hail to the shoulder. Rhett, the mortal, had sustained 3 major impacts, Violet had one to her collarbone, and many others had similar. The worst was Logan himself. A ball of this odd metal had hit him in the back of the skull, severing his spinal cord and killing him instantly. Jack shivered at the thought. He was 10 yards from the doors. Charlie was stunned, the more emotional of the twins. She’d been good friends with Logan for a very long time. Jack rubbed her shoulder slowly, playing with her hair. She looked at him with her pretty green eyes, now full of tears. “Charlie. I am so sorry.” She didnt say a word, just laying her red head on Jack’s good shoulder. “I love you.” *Fuck, what did I do. Oh, gods.* She smiled at him, poor thing already had tears in her eyes. “I love you too.” Charlie slid her arms around him, and kissed him. *Thank you Nythrana.* Her lips were soft, sweet, She smelled like cinnamon. She met his eyes when she pulled away, deep green pools. “Took you forever.” *Longer than you know,* Jack thought. “6, 7 years right?” Charlie asked. “Shoot, I didnt say that out loud did i?” Charlie giggled. *Angel.* “Yeah you did, idiot.” “Hey uhh, am I interrupting something?” Cass Mason of Athira interrupted. “Oh no, no,” Jack said, “Uhh, what’s up?” Charlie shook her head, smiling, and giggled again. The group of 3 walked to the new forging area, where some demigods sat slumped against the wall. They were covered in all the grease and everything that comes with forging, and soaked in water, empty bottles in hand. One stood as Cass walked in the area, “Hey Jack, Charlie. We already spoke with Raven. So we have made some progress on the metal.” [[Wade Dawson]], new leader of house Koryph began. He walked over to a particular anvil and picked up a small blade. “Hold this.” Jack obliged, “Feels like a normal blade.” He said, brow furrowed. “Try to silence everything in your head, it has power.” Jack’s brow furrowed further, but he did as requested. Thoughts of anger, fear, despair, left, images that had been on repeat in his head flowing out like the wind. Then he felt it, “What…” “It may help to know what power it is. Navitor.” Cass said. It clicked then, “It is very faint.” “Yeah we’re just learning as we’re working on it. Each one had turned out different thus far.” Wade nodded. Jack passed the blade to Charlie. She paused for several long moments. Then she sped off, and back in less than a second. “Faint?” She asked. Cass’s eyes widened, brow raised high. “That's new. I’ll have to have some others test that.” “One last thing we did after Cass left.” Wade said, pulling a ring from his back pocket. “Jewelry?” Charlie asked, a sly smile playing on her lips. “Touch this to your blade.” Wade said, grinning. “Then put it on.” She did so, the clink of the metal distinct, more than coins or plates touching together. Charlie put the ring on, not her ring finger, but her index. She paused, and the blade in her other hand vanished. She gasped, “What the hell?” After another paused the blade reappeared, now backhanded. “We’re calling them ringblades. The metal is called godmetal, rather uncreatively.” “Adamantine.” Nova said, spooking Jack. “They spoke of it years ago.” She'd been sitting behind them, to one side, Cross-legged. “That's actually a lot better.” Cass said, Wade nodded. ___ “Jack, Charlie, we have visitors.” Raven said, interrupting them. Jack pulled away, and Charlie brushed herself off and fixed her hair. *Lord have mercy there is no privacy here.* Jack thought. Raven had a playful smile on her face. “That’s my pickup.” Rhett said when Jack and Charlie got to the Publix entrance. “Took them a while Holy cow.” Charlie commented. “Had the sky not fallen apart, I would have sent a party to them.” Jack added. Jack, Charlie, Nova, Raven, and Rhett all headed towards the gate. They didnt use a vehicle, instead going by foot. Rhett was in the back of the group, the others were to open the gate. “What the fuck're you people?” A very southern sounding man asked. “Welcome to Ironsoul.” Jack replied. “I’m Jack, this is Charlie, Raven, and Nova.” “Hunter.” The man responded, then saw Nova’s face. “Gods above…” Nova's face went from skeletal to slightly uncanny pale. She grinned. Hunter hopped down from his truck, walking to shake hands with Jack. “So, ‘re yall human?” He asked slowly. Silence befell the group, and before his question was answered, Jack heard a young girl yell, “Rhett?!” Rhett smiled, moving closer to the gate itself. The girl crawled over the center console, *Odd choice,* then fell straight out of the door. She got back up quickly, not bothering to dust herself off. “Rhett Michael Kane. Bastard.” She said, catching him in a hug, and kissing him. *So everyone around here’s getting together.* “Ava, I missed you.” Rhett said in a deeper octave than normal. He kept her close, holding to her waist. The whole group went inside, Jack didn’t bother having Hunter or Rose disarm. Jack had the off shift Koryph kids fire up the grills, and prepared dinner for everyone. Hotdogs. They’d managed to find a case of them in a singular still functioning freezer when they first got to Publix. There was a generator running, but nobody in sight. Nobody had been back either. But that was 60 pounds of hotdogs. “So,” Hunter began between bites, “Rose interrupted my question, are you guys human?” “Yes and no.” Raven replied. She’d finished her meal already, she’d likely sneak more later. “We are the children of the gods.” Jack added. “So you're some kind of religious cult?” “Nah man. The gods are dead, but we are half deity. Most of us.” Jack countered. He’d expected such an argument, Rhett had been much the same. Violet sat at the corner of the table, fiddling with a walkie-talkie she’d stolen from one of the Navitor children. “Well, guess that tracks. Not everything i believe can be true.” That was that. He didnt question further out of skepticism, rather asked about Ironsoul’s history, the godwar, the death of the gods, and the metal hail. “Hunter, you’re awfully easy to convince,” Charlie commented. “Well, I dont care much for being right.” “That's is fair I suppose,” Jack replied, handing him the handbook. “Reading material? Alright I guess. ”