Free Lucian: Dark God's Homecoming by Van Allen Plexico

heard a splashing sound behind me, but I did not look back. The humans were already racing into the tunnel ahead, and I followed on their heels with all possible haste. My immediate goal was simply to put as much distance as possible between Vodina and myself—just in case.
    The glow from the lake faded quickly behind us, leaving us surrounded by total darkness. Generating a small blue globe of luminance, I set it to hover alongside us as we ran.
    After a short while, Evelyn dropped back to jog along beside me.
    “You didn’t tell her about the murders,” she said.
    “I saw nothing to be gained from it,” I replied.
    “For you to gain, you mean.”
    I glanced at her as we jogged, but could not read her face.
    “Vodina has already been attacked once and, now that she is recovered, is on her guard,” I said. “It will be extremely difficult for anyone to take her by surprise again.” I shrugged. “So I have left her in no worse a situation than I found her—and, in fact, may have hastened her recovery.”
    Evelyn appeared to be considering this.
    “You think she was going to attack us again, anyway. Why?”
    I frowned.
    “Because she has probably already decided I am the most likely suspect for her attack. And why do I think so?” I shrugged again. “Just a feeling. But my feelings about these things are right more often than I would like.”
    “Godly insight? Some kind of omniscience?”
    A wry grin crossed my face.
    “I like that. Yes. I am great and mighty. Fear me.”
    The sound Evelyn made then is best left not described.
    Ignoring her, I turned my attention to the nature of the world around us. We had run far enough; it was time to depart this plane and continue on toward my own private cosmos. My mind pushed beyond surface appearances and I reached out with my senses, examining the weave of reality around us, studying it with my mind, getting a feel, as best I could, for its strength, its density, its texture—and what lay beyond it. A portion of that same Power that radiated out from the Fountain in our City to all levels of reality flowed through me, there in the tunnel. I began the process of pushing through the barrier separating this level from an adjacent one. I envisioned within my mind’s eye a portal opening for us, and in response a blue glow flared just ahead. I smiled. The barrier was surprisingly thin here. I hardly had to expend any energy at all to open the way. Perhaps we would make it after all.
    The humans, startled at the sight, slowed their pace, but I urged them on towards the light.
    “It’s okay,” I said. “That is mine.”
    As we neared my portal, we saw that the tunnel extended onward beyond it for only a short distance before ending abruptly in a sheer wall.
    “Not to worry,” I reassured them. “We’re in the clear.”
    My blue portal blinked out of existence as if a giant had stepped on it.
    I believe my chin actually hit the rocky floor, as anatomically unlikely as it might seem.
    “What happened?” Cassidy shouted.
    Only the dark and shallow remainder of the tunnel lay ahead of us. Shocked, I poured more energy into the space my portal had occupied, trying to reopen the way, but to no avail. Worse, I was certain now I could hear a splashing sound behind us. Some semblance of panic came over me then, I must admit, and I looked around frantically. The humans must have understood something of our plight as well, for they moved into a defensive circle and braced themselves.
    At that moment another light flared, this one a bit further along in the direction we had been moving, almost to the tunnel’s end. It was green in color, but a darker green than Vodina’s Aspect. The humans looked at it and then back at me.
    “That’s not yours, is it?” Evelyn said.
    “No.”
    I glanced back in the direction of the lake, but could see nothing that way. Cursing, I attempted to force another portal open, only to be stymied once more. The sensation was bizarre. It was