It flushed through him.
Warmth and light on his skin.Familiar.
A bittersweet taste pervaded the back of his throat.Not his, but his anew.
The flavor rolled from heart-wrenching to savory on the tip of his tongue.An aroma tickled his nostrils; a particular, unnamable, delectablesomething.
Saer inhaled reflexively—the scent mutated to burning.
Hollowness drained his stomach.
A weight pressed on his shoulders.Crushing.
It all happened in a blink, not enough time to register.Then, he disappeared inside his body.
Aching.
Spasm.
Agony.
No.
Why?
No!
Saer tried to blink, but his eyes blurred.Tried to scream, but instead his mouth pulled into a teeth-baring grimace.
The voice of Lucifer echoed in his skull.My Saerkhanum, my masterpiece.
He wanted to fall to his knees at the horrifying glory in it, but his mind didn’t control his body.
How did It know?
A growl answered, quiet and lethal in his mind.You overestimate your cleverness and underestimate my reach, insolent child.
Child.
Child.Child.CHILD.
The word carried the weight of Lucifer’s disapproval and condescension, suffocating.
Saer couldn’t move.His muscles refused to answer his call.Every command he sent through them brought agony, yet he couldn’t scream.
The Twins.The thought flitted through Saer before he cut his own mind off.
They return to me.They love me.They obey, Saerkhanum.They all do.
Kalia and Errshek had gone back first.Then Runeak.Last, Arek and Alus.He’d told them to avoid punishment.To send Lucifer his way.
Lucifer answered that call, dripping with fury that ripped through his brain like a hurricane of shrapnel.
They all obey exceptyou.
He was alone.
I knew when my Areknar and Alustar returned.
