“Go on!”
I glance behind me at the sound of Lena’s voice. She shouts at Lilly as she slings her sword at an Otherworlder. Trying to go back for her, Lilly blocks a blow from an advancing Otherworlder to her right, getting them both trapped between the enclosing battle.
Shit. Looking ahead to gauge the distance we still have to go, I notice a swell of dark smoke forming over the temple’s tower. It’s starting.
Conflicted, I motion to Kaide. “Get them out!” Then I order the rest of our group to move forward. I have to trust that Kaide, Lilly, and Lena will follow behind us. Because there is no time left.
If I do survive, this may be one of the hard choices I come to regret.
As we reach the rickety bridge leading to the temple, I look back. A unit of protectors is pushing their way through the battle toward us.
“We can’t fight them all,” Bax shouts. And I agree. I glance at the bridge, thinking of a way to destroy it once we’re across—but Lilly…she hasn’t made it yet…
“Go now,” Bax says, nodding toward the temple. “We’ll hold them off for as long as we can. Just do not falter, Protector.”
A hard lump forms in my throat. I open my mouth to tell him…something. Some semblance of goodbye, but my heart won’t allow the words to come. I look over the battle to where I last saw Lilly. That moment has passed, too. But what could I have told any of them? I didn’t want this to be our end. I refused to accept it until the last moment. Anger and frustration and shame tear through me.
But as I’m trying to accept this as our only goodbye, I see wisps of her red hair through the fray. A heavy breath whooshes from my mouth. I was forced to watch Willa being taken from us. I’m at least grateful to the universe for sparing me that horror with Lilly.
“Go. Now!” Bax yells in my ear as the battle heightens into a cacophony of clangs and blasts.
Before I turn to race over the bridge, I glimpse both Lena and Lilly, and then Kaide, fighting their way toward the line that Bax, Whip, and Kai have formed before the stream of mercury. Meeting Lilly’s resolute gaze, I nod once, then I latch on to Aurelia’s arm.
She’s coming with me.
The temple door is open. I only see darkness within the foyer as I lead Aurelia over the bridge, our feet swallowing plank after plank.
A thunderous boom sounds from all around. As if thunderclouds crashed simultaneously from every corner of the realm. The bridge rocks and sways. I fasten one hand to a keystone in the center of the bridge. Aurelia grips my other hand, trying to stay steady while she releases sobs. I can just hear her over the rumbling aftershock rolling through the Otherworld.
Then, as the bridge rights and I’m regaining balance, my gaze is drawn to the sky. A swell of fast-moving clouds gather in a vortex over the temple’s tower. Each skeletal finger of the claw-shaped tower is lit and blinking like a signal to the smoke rings above….because it has to be smoke. There’s no sky…no clouds.
My mind quits its debate when in the midst of the gathering storm a dim light begins to pulse, becoming brighter with each beat. From there, a beam strikes down, illuminating the whole realm. It travels from the sky to the tower in a contrasting brilliance—the celestial white of the moon. Almost as if the moon itself is funneling its luminance into one, singular channel.
The rock ceiling begins to crumble.
I wrap my arms around Aurelia, stifling her whimpers as I attempt to protect her from the raining debris. Mercury splashes up on us as large stones hit the stream. I’m pelted with jagged edged rocks like hail. Shading my eyes with my forearm, I look up.
The beam tears a seam into the ceiling to reveal the true sky. Not a projection like in the Cage for the Reckoning. I regret my wish to see the moon. The edges continue to concave as the hole spreads. The beam demolishes the tower, the claw’s crooked fingers breaking off one-by-one to reveal…
Moonstone.
Beneath the stone, a sheen of iridescent white and blue refracts the light. The whole temple is made of the moon goddess’s summoner.
My one thought: Caben.
Blocking us from the shower of stone and dirt and mercury, I rush Aurelia toward the temple.
? 29 ?
Caben
ONCE THE GROUND STOPS quaking and what’s left of the temple no longer trembles, a bright cylinder of light blasts down from the sky and surrounds the marble dais.
I’m thrust backward. Scrambling, I try to move farther out of its way. Only I’m shoved toward the dais and the light. Hands force me forward. The light hums. Signaling me to step inside.
/> Lord Arnik and the other dark priest clones form a circle as they chant. Swathed in black robes, they hold their hands pressed together before them, sending their prayers to Bale. Their glowing beady eyes, lit by the snapping, light-filled spires in the sanctuary, judge me. Deeming me a worthy vessel for their goddess’s rebirth.
No shit.