Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 79726 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79726 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
My mind blinks in and out of consciousness, but at least the vampire’s blood allows me to stay in the barest of control. I’m glad for that. It would feel even more cowardly to sleep now and give this final battle to the tactician. Even if he’s better suited to coming up with some brilliant last-minute strategy. This will have to suffice as my final victory. Being in control and stealing the last moment with Lo-Ren that was mine and mine alone.
I reach the front of the line of Devourers, so bright from their internal lights, as we all approach the burning ball of the sun.
What will I do now that I am here and can barely move? I have no idea. They take no notice of me, their attention solely on the combustible sun in front of them.
They are strange creatures now that I see them up close. They are huge, obviously, with eight bulbous sections to their long torsos, covered with filaments propelling them forward at incredible speeds through space.
Here, at what feels like the end of all things, it seems as ridiculous as anything else in my chaotic life to pause and take in the strange beauty of these luminescent creatures. They aren’t filled with the spark of life fire that my father first stole from the Great Hall. Instead, they’ve turned one of Earth’s most destructive forces into nourishment, conquering without intent or greed. Just the simple fact of hunger.
The line of them glows as bright as the stars in the distance. For another moment, right before the creature at the head of the line gets to the sun, all its filaments reaching toward the bursting fire that leaps forth from its surface, I feel completely calm. Absent of rage. Absent of want. Absent of greed or jealousy or any other thing.
For one stretching, infinite-feeling moment, I feel peace within myself.
And then I blink and realize that the warmth of the sun has brought feeling back into my limbs and, with it, the memory of her. The woman waiting for me back on Earth, and what will happen to her if I let these Devourers eat this star.
My eyes widen, uncrystallized and regenerating as memories and fire and fury rush back into my blood.
No. I will not let this happen. I have come all this way to stop it.
Suddenly, everything sparks at once. Thought and purpose connect. The witch told Kharon he could do much more than he ever thought. He only ever traveled to one other plane because it was all he thought he could do. Because our father told him it was his only purpose.
We saw it with our glamours. We can do so much more than we ever thought. We were limited only by our own beliefs about ourselves, holding us in manageable leashes for our father.
But I’m done with leashes and cages.
I’m not just War. I am Chaos and Destruction and Division, both large and small.
So, with my wings warmed just enough to be able to use them again, I race to the front of the line, aim my body like an arrow, and fly straight at its head.
I pass straight through the creature, and at first, there’s a spike of panic. Can I still accomplish my purpose if it’s not even corporeal?
But as I feel the warmth of its inner fire, all that remains murky becomes clear. I don’t just divide brother from brother in war. I divide cell from cell. Stem from stern. It doesn’t matter if the substance is of this plane or any other.
I am not just the angel of War. I am a god.
I vibrate the innards of the creature, my own fury fueling my work as I fling my arms out when I’m in the blinding inner core amid the transformed energy it feasted upon earlier.
The creature explodes from the inside out, bits of it blowing outward into space.
I exalt in my power as I continue on to the next creature. It does not even run from me. One after the other, they absorb me and I destroy them.
It’s only after several that I realize how easy it’s become and that I myself have begun to glow. Not just the glow from my chest from the angel-spark that I rarely shine forth. No, I’m glowing from the tips of my fingers. I feel the heat bursting forth from my eyes, my belly, and the tips of my hair.
I’m being transformed by this, absorbing some of their digested energy as I destroy them. The Devourers are feeding me in a way I never anticipated. It makes me able to move faster and with even more deadly intensity.
When I’m done with the entire line of creatures, I’m far from the sun but feel no cold. I’m burning up, instead. I’m alight with power.