"That's it?" Pallas asked, looking confused. "It's over? I thought killing one of them would be harder."
Finn lowered himself to sitting, his face pale. The flow of blood had stopped as his armor clamped down on his wound, staunching it.
Raider bypassed the others, heading for the place where Elena had fallen.
Kira shifted, keeping an eye on Thea.
Raider knelt at the edge, searching the water for his daughter. "Where is she? I don't see her."
Thea's shoulders started to shake. A giggle left her. The sound growing until it bounced off the walls of the rotunda.
Pallas threw her a look. "Silence, traitor. Your reckoning will come soon enough."
"You don't get it. Gods can't be killed." There was a look of worship on Thea’s face as she stared beyond their shoulders.
Pallas and Kira's eyes met in realization. They turned too late as a being made of madness and light unfolded from the body of the Osiri.
Kira caught an impression of scorching gold where its eyes should be. The rest of the face’s details indistinct and hazy. As if her brain refused to focus.
The Osiri's voice was something out of a nightmare. "You will die painfully, screaming for your end."
Kira's ears buzzed from the assault. "Pallas."
He flicked her a glance, a grim understanding there.
Seeing it, Kira reached for her primus. It slammed into her consciousness, flooding her body with power and strength she'd desperately need.
Pallas tossed his sword in the air. Kira grabbed it, stabbing it into the Osiri's center.
The Osiri grabbed its length, using the blade to haul Kira closer as it lowered its face to hers. "You waste your time. I am eternal life. Unending. Undying."
"Haven't you ever wondered why they call me the Phoenix?" Kira snarled.
Flames started to lick along Pallas’s blade. Orange and yellow with hints of blue at their center.
The origin of her namesake channeled down Pallas's sword. It wasn't the best medium, but for her purposes it would do.
Kira shoved her power down its length.
In this place where her natural connection with her soul's breath was severed, it wasn't easy. It took chunks of herself. Bits and pieces, gladly sacrificed.
If this was what it took to destroy this blight, she'd offer it willingly.
The Osiri shrieked, the sound awful and penetrating. Like taking razorblades to her ear.
It wasn’t going to be enough, Kira realized. He was going to win.
Child.
Kira faltered, her consciousness suddenly in the pool below. Eyes flashed in her mind.
If she concentrated, she could make out the dim form of a coiled lu-ong crouched in the depths. Scales missing along its length. Open wounds that bled into the water around it.
Scars covered its snout and face.
Free me, child of a different era, it hissed with a touch of madness and a level of rage that was capable of toppling empires. You will not be able to destroy him by yourself.
"I don't know how."
