Destiny's Warrior: Pale Bay, #5

By Roxy Matthews

A Gods and Mortals Romance Series, Percy Jackson for Adults (Pale Bay Treasures Finale)

 

She was born to save mankind. Fate drove him miles to be by her side. Together they will need to stand up for mankind, once more, against those who wish to destroy it all.

Three Gems. One Destiny.

 

Most twenty-year olds spent their days studying, their nights partying, but normal twenty-year olds weren't destined to save mankind. Nor did they have a vengeful God to destroy in the process. Delaney Pennington knew her fate, accepted that one day she'd have to be strong enough to fulfill it. What she didn't expect was to learn there was more to the story. Much more than even the Gods of Olympus could tell her...until now.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Roxy Matthews
• Release date: Aug 2, 2019
• ISBN: 9781999015886

Roxy Matthews

R.M.Sackville is a self-published author of novellas, novelettes, and short story collections that delve into the dark and twisted, testing the boundaries of taboo with Dark Fantasy, Sci/Fi, and Thriller pieces. Her work has been featured in Suspense Magazine and LitFest Magazine.     R.M.Sackville's softer side can be found under her alternate pen name; Roxy Matthews, where she writes Romantic/Suspense and Fantasy. In 2018 she was named one of Canada's Best Writers of the Year by Polar Expressions Publishing. Her work has been featured in several anthologies under this pen name, including ‘The Way Through’ by Polar Expressions Publishing, The Charmed Writers Flash Fiction Anthology 2019, and Naughty Night's Press' Sweeter Than Chocolate: Valentine's Day Anthology.  Subscribe to her newsletter for updates on new releases and promotions at https://bluebaloo79.wixsite.com/roxymatthewsauthor/newsletter

Book preview

Prologue

Eons Ago, Divine Era Of Gods And Mortals

Home Of The Gods, Mount Olympus

Her final breath was no different on Earth, in mortal flesh, as it was on her home soil, as the Goddess of her birthright. Yet that did not make it less jarring in Gaea’s mind and soul. 

Luckily for her, that momentary tingle of fear dissipated as strength renewed her ethereal glow the moment she saw her loves face once more. 

Losing Harold devastated Gaea more than she admitted. It showed in the creases of her face, the years she’d been left alone on Earth. If she were to be honest, her destiny was never to go before him or ever, at least not until the Virtues of Life changed to mortal hands. She knew her sentence the moment the decision was made, the moment Helios told her of Cronos’ rant. Yet, even in knowing she would love and lose over and over, nothing had eaten at her soul as much as losing Harold Doucet. 

Gaea tilted her chin skyward, inhaled the fresh scent of wild orchids, closed her eyes as lush leaves from the great Tree of Life brushed her cheek. 

I will be back, my love. She sighed, reached a fingertip to trail along the smooth, strong bark. Wait for me?

Of course, my love. I will wait an eternity for you, his voice trailed to her on the warm breeze, caressed her bare arms, lifted her gown to reveal bare toes. 

It was those words, the feeling of her Harold with her on Olympus through the great tree that kept tears at bay. 

Chapter One

Delaney Pennington looked like a normal twenty-year-old. She worked part time at the Cafe Ole, attended college courses, had friends and dreams of her one true love swooping in to sweep her off her feet. They’d live in a small house overlooking Silver Lake with two point five children. He’d have a great job, and she’d have her books. Maybe even pen one of her own.

However, Delaney knew those dreams were meant for those lucky enough to not have been born with a future foretold, a destiny that awaited them.

Being a descendant of the mighty gods of Olympus, living with mortals on a planet she’d been born to, Earth, Delaney was far from a normal twenty-year-old. Schooled on both the legends of Olympus and those of mankind. Trained for a battle that still, to this day, loomed over her. 

Delaney sighed, plopped herself down on her bed, the same one she’d slept in most of her life.

Yes, she still lived at home, but college rates and housing costs had her staying put. Mortal problems, but still her own. Another thing that frustrated her. Why did she have to be burdened with both mortal and godly problems? It was maddening. 

Of course, her parents never grumbled about the decision for her to stay. If anything, she was sure it relieved her mom when Delaney decided. 

On her back, arms folded beneath her head, auburn curls fanned out, hung over the edge of her bed. Above her, the picture she’d drawn so long ago was still taped to the underside of the top bunk. 

Her family. Gods and mortals alike.   

Delaney was raised among man, in a way felt she was one of them, wished she was. However, she knew her destiny, had since as early as she could remember. 

She recalled the day she created the drawing as if it was yesterday. Crayons in hand, a look of determination thinned her brow as she hovered over the page. 

That day she felt the first pangs of loss. Losing her uncle Helios, Zander, to the townsfolk of Pale Bay. He’d come to her in the sandbox, offered her solace and a special gift, a flame torch.

She’d been six at the time and well versed in the gods and all they were capable of, so when he misted in front of her, she hadn’t been alarmed. If anything she’d felt a wave of warmth circle her. That day, she received the first of three gifts given to her. Gifts, she was told she would one day use to fulfil her destiny. Gifts that still waited, hidden from all but her.

Delaney smiled at the memory of holding the flame torch for the first time. She recalled the warmth that travelled into her fingertips, up her arm. She felt the connection today as she did then.

When uncle Helios disappeared into thin air above her, he left her with something more valuable to her than anything, and that was the picture she drew. Most she’d yet to meet at the time, others she already knew. But when the crayons flew, and the faces began to emerge, their bodies in full warrior garb, their faces stern, she knew who they were. 

Her warriors. 

The ones she heard talk of for years. Stories of an army. Of a fight. The Virtues of Life. She’d since seen the gems, held each of them. Besides Aunt Gaea, she was the only other who could hold all the Virtues of Life at once. Aunt Gaea informed her that that meant Delaney was the chosen one.

And now, looking into the face of the woman standing front and center in a flowing white dress before thirteen others, she finally recognized the determined face as her own. Her twenty-year-old self.

Her grin lowered. 

Did that mean the time was now? All the years of waiting were now? 

Delaney sat up, closed in on the picture, on her face. It was uncanny. Like standing before a mirror. How was she only noticing that now, she wondered.

Her heart skipped as she lowered herself back down to the mattress, her mind playing over when it would happen, how she’d know. All the while wondering why Aunt Gaea never told her what to expect and when.

Instead she always replied, "When the time comes, you will know."

Releasing a frustrated sigh, Delaney lifted her arms to rub her eyes.

The day she’d been given her second gift from the gods, a pair of white and gold feathered wings, she’d been twelve. That was the second time she’d felt a loss so great it nearly tore her apart. Aunt Selene, cloaked in a mist as well, appeared. She’d soothed her aching heart and gave her wings. They, unlike the flame torch, could not be stowed away until its time came. Instead, they were a part of her. Invisible to the human eye unless she chose otherwise. 

To all she passed in the halls at school, or on the streets of Pale Bay, she was just Delaney Pennington, the daughter of the local florist. Not a God walking amongst them meant to save mankind. 

She sighed again. 

Nothing like a little bit of pressure, she mumbled. 

Not that she didn’t accept her path, her destiny, or that she didn’t believe in the army standing behind her.

But because you are afraid, a soft voice finished her sentence. 

Delaney pulled her hands from her eyes, saw a mist forming beside her. 

No, Delaney cried out as she bolted upright on the bed. No. 

When Aunt Gaea’s form materialized as uncle Helios and aunt Selene years earlier, she’d known before the words were said.

No, she cried, reached for the woman who was as close to her as her own mother. What happened? This can’t be. You aren’t—

Gaea’s being shifted to nod her head. Yes, my sweet Astraea, it is true. My quest here has been fulfilled. It was only a matter of time.

But you were to be with me, to stand with me, she cried, jabbing one finger towards the hand drawn picture.

I will stand behind you, whether or not in mortal flesh. You know that.

Delaney’s hands shook, her chest tightened.

No, this isn’t right. What happened? You are a god for Christ’s sake.

The mist shifted, cloaked her hand. 

I may be a god, but I can still be taken from this plain.

Behind Delaney’s lids, she saw a vision of a green and tan scaled tail wrap around her aunt Gaea, pull her eye level with one of his three heads. 

Delaney gasped. Tears streamed down her cheeks while she watched in horror as Cronos pierced Aunt Gaea’s heart with the speared tip of his tail. A knowing smile crept over Gaea’s aged lips, eyes drifted shut with her final breath.

Delaney’s heart broke in half as her body heaved with unrestrained sobs.

Shh, my sweet. This is how it was always meant to be, Aunt Gaea soothed.

No, not you too. Delaney sobbed as her world tumbled around her. He’s taken too many already. It should never have been you.

Gaea’s ethereal body moved closer, reached for her, pulled her within. Delaney closed her eyes. Her shoulders heaved. 

For years she bounded at this woman’s side, learned all that the wise woman was to teach, and was loved like no other. 

"It is the only way, Astraea. You’ve known this. Why do you think the drawings of Helios, Selene, and I are clouded? Distant? Because we were never meant to physically stand behind you, my girl. But with you."

Delaney felt the warmth of Gaea’s mistral fingers as they touched her chest, just above her heart. 

Inside you.

Delaney squeezed her eyes tighter. She didn’t want to hear this. She couldn’t accept what she was hearing. Yes, she’d noticed, but refused to believe. Not this woman that she loved as much as her own mother.

The gifts you’ve received from each of us, those will be how we connect. That is how we will work together to slay the serpent.

You could have kept the gifts, given me you instead, Delaney argued, opened her eyes to the swirling mist that surrounded her. 

If only that was how it worked, Astraea. But you need not worry. Not all is lost. Not all is forsaken. You have your army. You have the ability to bring mankind to the brink of destruction and back unscathed. Aunt Gaea’s voice paused as a bolt of lightning lit before her eyes within the mist, shooting down, then up before materializing into a shimmering shaft of lightning. The bright white light shone strong.

With this final piece, you will be unstoppable. Your transition complete.

Delaney reached out, touched the tip of a finger to the hovering bolt before her. Her eyes widened at the warmth it emitted. Her fingers, drawn towards its aura, closed in around it. The jolt that followed swam through her system, reached her toes, emitting a glow that shot out, zinged back inside her. 

Your connection to the Gods of Olympus is now complete, aunt Gaea started, turned her attention from the bolt now held tight in Delaney’s grasp.

The mist moved, wiped a tear from her cheek.

Be strong, Astraea. Be confident. You are and always have been everything this planet has ever needed. Another pause rent the air. Centuries ago, my ancestors came here to gather these virtues in the forms of seedlings. But mankind was not ready, and before the gems arrived in Pale Bay, they’d been rescued from men intent on cracking the code. But Helios, Selene, your mother, and I stowed them away, protected them, knowing what was to come. Another pause as astral fingers whispered across her cheek.

You will show mankind a way other than following in the cruelty of Cronos’ power. And your mortal pure soul army will carry on the light, the light that flows through the Virtues of Life.

Delaney lowered her lids, swiped at a tear, resigned to the reality of what had happened and to who.

I could have still done that with you by my side, Aunt Gaea.

I still will be by your side, sweet girl. Forever and always. But, for now, I must go. My time here is over, my quest complete.

Delaney’s eyes whipped open, searched the mist as it pulled from her, regained the astral shape of her aunt. 

She wanted to reach out for her, to beg her to stay, but she knew, as her aunt had stated, that this was how it was all meant to be. The path had been forged centuries ago. And neither man nor god had any control over what was destined.

Before her eyes, her aunt dissipated. The remnants of puffy smoke rose to the ceiling and disappeared. 

Delaney’s attention moved to the lightning bolt in her hand. Its bright white light bounced off the picture of her army, across the smile that grew on Gaea’s crayon colored lips. 

Chapter Two

Eos stood outside her daughter’s bedroom door and listened to her sobs as she had so many times over the years. And it broke her heart every time.

She remembered the night she stood before the Great Mother in full warrior garb, their quest told to them. It had devastated her to know she would not be a protector to one of the Virtues of Life, as her brother and sister had. The words Gaea spoke, her quest whispered on the winds of Olympus, had been hard to accept then, and for some time. 

That was, until she’d been blessed with little Delaney, the gem she would protect to adulthood.

For years she watched her grow, heard her laugh, caught the twinkle of love in her sea-foam depths, observed her heart break with the loss of those closest to her. Eos had always been by her daughters’ side, but this time she could not wipe her tears. 

Eos felt the moment Gaea was taken from them. She felt the spike of Cronos’ tail penetrate her own heart. She’d dropped to the floor, cried out in pain, and Jeff had come running. He dropped to the kitchen floor at her side, pulled her in his arms. 

It’s going to be okay, he whispered into her ear. 

She cried. She shook her head, but no words could escape. And they didn’t need to. Jeff knew as she had the moment Gaea was no longer on this plain with them. 

Now she was all that was left of the four original gods, chasing their glowing charges through the skies of Olympus to Earth.

Will he come for me now? Eos asked, her voice low, her throat tight. 

He may. Jeff pulled back, lifted her chin with one finger until she could only stare into his dark brown eyes. And if he does, we fight, like we always have. There is a quest to fulfil, and I don’t plan on letting Cronos take me out before I have a chance to stand behind our daughter as she balances the scales.

Eos paused, nodded. He was right. Defeat was what Cronos wanted. He wanted to dishearten them, destroy them slowly. An army was nothing if it didn’t have faith and a collective determined spirit. She refused to be the weak link in a chain her daughter held the reins of.

I’m going to miss her though, Eos whispered as she peered around him through the slit in Delaney’s bedroom door. 

She caught sight of Gaea’s spirit as she engulfed Delaney. Delaney cried. But the mist held her, soothed her, showed her the strength she would need to continue on.

Eos sighed, pulled back to look deep into her husband’s determined depths.

I’m going to miss her.

Jeff nodded. We all will. But we are stronger for knowing her, for our children who grew around her. She is the Great Mother Gaea, the woman responsible for creating this all. She has given everything she has in her to build us all. The gem holders, their warriors, you and I, and all of our children.

Eos sniffed, nodded.

Behind them, Delaney’s room exploded in a white light so bright that it shot like a dagger through the slit in her bedroom door. It slammed into the wall across the hall, basking them in its brilliance. 

Jeff smiled, pulled her close, and kissed the top of her head.

Delaney’s transformation is complete.

Eos nodded, sniffed back tears of happiness, sadness, and fear. Fear of what was to come. Fear of what her daughter would face, of what she would have to do to see this quest to fruition.

Jeff was right though. They could not falter now, could not allow her to stand against Cronos alone.

Deep in her soul, Eos knew her daughter had it in her to go the distance, but she needn’t have to do it on her own. 

Later that same day , Eos pushed her way inside April’s Showers 4 Mae’s Flowers, closed the door behind her, and inhaled the sweet scent of her hard work. 

As Mae Pennington, Pale Bay’s only flower shop owner, anything that happened in the lives of those who lived among the towering White Pines, from births to deaths, to husbands making up to their wives, she was front and center. She was a reputed member of their town, the residents none the wiser of her true form. 

She stopped before the large front window overlooking Main Drive. Fresh summer baskets of Azalea’s, Buttercups, and Honeysuckles hung in view of passersby. 

After her family grieved in silence earlier that morning, she picked herself back up, straightened her shoulders, and reinvigorated her determination. She would step in Gaea’s shoes, see to their quest started so many years before finally fulfilled. 

But a part of her felt at a loss. 

Life moved on in Pale Bay as if nothing devastating happened earlier that morning. That a prominent part of their community wasn’t taken from them. All they knew was that Denise Doucet, the late Sheriff’s wife, had a heart attack walking her dog; Trobidon. But the truth was only known to a select few, hidden from the townspeople. They did not need to know that gods walked among them all these years, befriended them, protected them. 

No, to out themselves now was unwise. But Mae knew in her heart that their ignorance of what was really happening would be short lived. They would one day know, they’d have to. Because it takes an army to defeat evil, and not just the army the gods and gems created. In the end, when all was said and done and Cronos destroyed, mankind would still need to continue on in the gem’s image, not that of Cronos. 

His power was almighty, his ability to bring out the worst in mankind deplorable. But man still had a choice. The question was, could they continue on with the Virtues of Life at the heart of their being? Could they embrace Life, Love, and Happiness after all they’d sacrificed? After what her daughter would be forced to sacrifice?

Mae turned from the window, took in the sight of the colorful flower arrangements that adorned her shop. From handmade planters that hung above, to crystal vases on glass shelves. Pink, blue, red, and purple flowed into one another, creating the most fragrant rainbow man or God had ever witnessed.

She closed her eyes, inhaled the scent of African violets, yellow begonias, and pink orchids that impregnated the small shop, and sighed

Her biggest fear no longer could be hidden beneath centuries of practiced courage. Now it was at the surface, blatantly taunting her with the unknown. 

He’ll find her now, she whispered, her words lingering in the air of the empty shop. 

Mae knew with Gaea’s passing, her daughter was no longer cloaked as she’d always been. She