We reached the top of the stairs. The ritual building’s steel and glass double doors opened in invitation.
I took a deep breath and stepped through the door, the famous phrase echoing chillingly in the back chambers of my head.Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate.
Abandon all hope,yewho enter here.
CHAPTER 6
_____________
––––––––
The Hall of Olympiawas the most majestic place I’d ever seen. Man, even the columns were made of gold. The high ceilings were painted with murals depicting the war of the gods.
Didn’t they say that the winners wrote history?
Twelve Olympian gods’ statues stood close to the four walls, surrounding us. On the rising dais sat one large throne flanked by four smaller ones. All of them were adorned with rare gems, gold, and diamonds.
The biggest throne likely belonged to Ares, the God of War, who was leading Earth’s army against Lucifer and his demon hordes. The rest of the thrones were there for the four demigods.
One could easily tell which throne belonged to which demigod by the symbols carved into each one’s arms and high back.
Six initiates stood to the left side of the door, and the other six had been positioned on the right side with me. High-ranking Dominion officers lined up in two columns from the dais all the way to the door. A few elite students from the seniors, judging from their uniforms, were mixed into the ranks of the Dominion officers.
I bet they had already been selected as future leaders of Dominion of the Gods, which granted them the privilege of watching the show—seeing who lived and who died.
The initiates were as tense as me, but most of the clique looked more excited than anxious. They were the hounds on a blood trail, so confident of their godly heritage, no matter how distant it might be.
Demetra shot me several contemptuous glances, as if dying to tell me how much she looked forward to watching me embarrass myself in front of everyone before my painful death.
I glared back, of course.
Everyone had heard Jack’s diagnosis of me being one hundred percent weak human. No one in this room believed I had enough gods’ blood to survive this barbaric ritual.
Despite that, I tried to put up a brave façade, but the blood had drained from my face as soon as I’d stepped into the hall of death.
I studied the empty thrones.
Where were the demigods? Were they all going to observe the ritual? I’d seen Axel at the top of the stairs before he vanished thirty minutes ago. Where was he now? My thoughts darted from foreboding to how his magical caress had made me wet and how his power had called to me.
“Attention!” a deep male voice boomed, and I nearly jumped out of my skin.
For fuck’s sake. Was it necessary to yell like that when the entire atrium was as quiet as a graveyard?
A tall man wearing a white priest robe stepped into the center of the hall with a flaming dagger. Crimson, gold, and black runes danced on the blade. The crimson ones looked very much like they’d been drawn in blood.