“O-ow…”

“Doyle? Doyle! Are you awake?”

Doyle forced his eyes open despite a head-splitting migraine. He felt as though he was struggling out of an endless darkness, and he didn’t even know how it was possible that he was breathing. When his vision cleared, he could see Kahn and Victoria looking down at him in concern. They were like a brother and a sister-in-law to him, more of a family than his father. “Where…am I? It doesn’t look like Tartarus.”

The last thing he remembered was the god he served, Persephone, manifesting, and as she revealed the power of Mother Earth, his magic power had gone wild. Apostles were like the high priests of their gods. They could never refuse their will, and he’d been forced to go along with her wishes. It was a painful memory.

From the Heavenly Demon to Mother Earth—why was he always being used by these divine beings? He felt wronged. It wasn’t like he had chosen to be born this way. Then, Doyle realized that his body had changed drastically. ‘What? It’s gone?’

He was either always connected to some great spiritual being...