Mike's claws scraped across the wet stone as he dragged himself upright.
Every movement hurt.
Not the kind of pain he had grown used to after battles that came from torn muscle or cracked bone that healed moments later. This pain was deeper. It ran through his bones like something had cracked the structure of him from the inside. The explosion that shattered the cavern wasn't just force from thier clash, it had been his power colliding with the divine power around him, tearing through whatever strange prison he had been sent to.
Cold seawater lapped at the rocks beneath him as Mike blinked slowly. The cavern was gone. Above him stretched an open sky, pale blue streaked with drifting clouds. The air smelled of salt and ash. Waves rolled in slowly against a jagged shoreline of black stone.
Fragments of the battle littered the coast.
Burned planks from Enki's ships floated in the water like charred bones. Pieces of bronze armor bobbed between them. Broken spears drifted slowly out toward the open sea.
Mike exhaled a slow breath.
"Okay… so the area above where I first appeared and this cave from Kur's memory were the prison?" he muttered. "Why is everything with gods so obnoxious."
Across from him, sprawled against a ridge of shattered rock, lay Enki.
The god looked nothing like the towering radiant figure from moments before.
Now he looked… smaller.
Still larger than a normal man, broad-shouldered and armored in gold but the divine aura had dimmed. His armor was cracked and blackened. Several plates had melted entirely, exposing deep wounds beneath.
Golden blood pooled beneath him, slowly seeping into the stone.
Mike smiled as he saw him.
"Didn't go as planned, did it fucker?"
His voice came out rough with a low chuckle.
He started walking toward the fallen god.
Each step left faint scorch marks in the stone.
Enki stirred.
His eyes opened slowly, glowing faintly gold beneath blood-matted hair. For several seconds he simply stared at Mike.
There was no rage in that gaze now.
Only disbelief.
"You… should not exist," Enki rasped.
Mike shrugged.
"Yeah," he said. "Gods and Angels keep saying that."
He crouched beside the god. Up close, the damage was worse than it looked from a distance. One side of Enki's chest had been crushed inward. The golden armor there had caved in like soft clay. His neck still bore the ragged bite wound where Mike had tried to tear it out during the battle. Divine energy struggled to knit the flesh back together.
Mike tilted his head.
"Huh," he said. "Why is your essence fading away?"
Enki's eyes narrowed.
"You… devoured her," he said again, voice trembling with fury.
Mike rolled his eyes.
"Yeah. We covered that part already."
The god tried to push himself up. His arms trembled violently before collapsing.
Mike watched with casual interest.
"You should probably stop doing that," he said. "You're not surviving this."
Enki's gaze burned with hatred.
"You think this victory?" he rasped. "You think killing a god's wife and destroying a fleet will save you?"
Mike leaned back on his haunches.
"Not save me," he said. "But it definitely feels like a win. I will also devour you and get stronger."
The god spat blood.
Golden droplets hissed as they hit the stone.
"You don't understand what you've done," Enki said.
Mike sighed.
"You know what… instead of saying obscure shit like other gods, just tell me what I have done." he said. "Do any of you just say what you mean?"
He stood again, stretching his wings slowly. The joints popped as they extended, black membranes catching the sunlight.
The wind rolled across his scales.
For a moment he simply stood there, breathing. Something about this place felt… different than before. The sky felt different. The air felt thicker with something he couldn't quite identify.
He looked down at his claws.
Still scaled. Still massive.
Still very much not human.
"Still me," he muttered.
Or something close enough.
Enki watched him carefully.
"You don't know where you are," the god said quietly.
Mike snorted.
"No shit."
The god laughed weakly.
It turned into a cough.
Golden blood ran from the corner of his mouth.
"You broke the construct," Enki said. "But the past still exists."
Mike froze.
He turned slowly back toward the god.
"…what?"
Enki's eyes glittered.
"You believed it was only a prison of a memory," he said. "But time is not so simple."
Mike stared at him.
"Speak clearly," he said flatly.
Enki smiled faintly.
"You are still here," the god said. "Just earlier than you belong."
Mike frowned.
"…earlier?"
Enki said nothing.
The waves crashed against the rocks again.
Mike rubbed his face with one claw.
"Okay," he muttered. "What does that mean?"
The god's smile widened slightly.
"You will see soon enough."
Mike's patience snapped.
He grabbed Enki by the front of his armor and lifted him off the ground.
The god gasped as the movement tore open half-healed wounds.
"Listen carefully," Mike growled.
Flames curled from between his teeth.
"I just fought you, your fleet, and your weird memory prison bullshit. I'm not in the mood for cryptic hints."
He leaned closer.
"Where the fuck am I?"
Enki stared into his eyes.
Something flickered across the god's expression. Mike couldn't tell what it was as Enki's pupils widened.
"You… truly don't know," he whispered.
Mike tightened his grip.
"No," he said. "I don't."
The god laughed again. Weak. Broken.
"You shattered the memory prison," Enki said. "But the current of time dragged you with it."
Mike blinked.
"…what?"
Enki's smile became bitter.
"You are standing in the world as it once was," he said.
Mike stared at him. Then he barked out a laugh. "Yeah," he said. "Okay."
He dropped the god back onto the rocks.
"Nice try. I don't believe you."
Enki hit the stone hard and groaned.
Mike turned away.
"No way," he muttered.
His brain rejected it immediately. There were limits to how insane things could get.
Gods. Demons. Djinn. Fae courts. Skinwalkers. Sure.
But time travel?
"Well fuck," Mike muttered. He looked out across the sea. Burned wreckage drifted farther out now. The tide was pulling it away slowly. The horizon stretched endlessly blue.
Something moved far out above the water.
Mike squinted.
At first he thought it was a large bird.
Then the wings spread wider.
Much wider.
The creature glided through the sky in slow, powerful circles. Its wings were massive easily the span of a small airplane.
But they weren't feathered like a normal bird.
Golden plumage shimmered along the leading edges, but the shape beneath it was wrong.
The body was unmistakably feline.
A lion's torso.
Powerful shoulders.
A long tail streaming behind it.
And the head was that of an eagle.
A curved golden beak.
Eyes sharp enough to spot prey miles away.
Mike blinked.
"…why is that thing back?"
The creature circled once more high above the coastline.
Then it banked sharply.
For a brief moment the sunlight caught its wings just right.
Behind him, Enki whispered hoarsely.
"…a guardian."
Mike glanced back.
"You mean that thing?"
Enki nodded weakly.
"It hunts for the gods."
Mike looked back at the sky.
The creature was getting closer.
Slowly descending.
"Oh," Mike said.
He grinned.
"Well that sounds fun."
The griffin's wings thundered as it dove.
Wind blasted across the rocks as the massive creature descended toward the shoreline.
Its talons slammed into the stone thirty yards away with explosive force.
The ground cracked beneath the impact.
Mike straightened.
The griffin folded its wings slowly.
Up close it was even larger than he'd thought.
Its shoulders stood nearly as tall as Mike's chest. Bronze plates protected its ribcage and neck. Leather harnesses wrapped around its torso.
Runes had been carved into the metal. The creature's golden eyes locked onto Mike immediately.
It let out a piercing scream.
The sound echoed across the sea like a war horn.
Mike cracked his neck.
"Alright," he said.
"Let's see what you've got."
Behind him, Enki whispered something under his breath.
Mike didn't hear it.
His attention was already on the creature stalking toward him across the rocks.
The griffin spread its wings again.
Talons scraping stone.
Beak opening to reveal rows of hooked tearing edges.
It screamed again.
Then it lunged.
Mike laughed and stepped forward to meet it.