Hisfather would have been proud.
Thelight in his hand grew from a dim flicker back to a blaze, and the hordescrambled as they fell and burned.The blaze grew into a shining beacon, andthe screams of the dead echoed down the chamber walls.The beacon erupted intoa second sun of light, far brighter than he had ever cast before.Every shadowin the room was erased, every flicker of darkness destroyed, every line ofcolor fading into pure, radiant white.For a long moment, he felt like a starshining in the night.
Thenhis energy was gone.
Thespell ended.His light died like a flame.As it went, he caught a brief glimpseof the chamber, and he saw only clouds of ash.The room was empty of bone.
Hisheart skipped in his chest.His legs buckled.
Hecollapsed.
Stoneon his face.
Movement.Distant voice.
Theworld flipped.He bounced, held off the floor.Ayellow light.
Runningand running.
Theworld went black.
ChapterNine
Unrealized
He woke in pain.
The first thing Isaac saw, as he blinked himself toawareness, was a rib cage of colossal proportion.The ribs spread across thenight sky like comet trails, curving and falling, and the cartilage studdedalong the sternum was glowing a faint yellow, the same color as pyrite.Slowly,still blinking, he realized that he wasn’t looking at the night sky at all, butthe roof of a gigantic cavern hanging above the rib cage itself, the incredibleweight of rock and stone held aloft by the bones of the titan’s body.Thecartilage cast only a dim light, leaving the space between the ribs hanging ina starless black.
He was lying on stone.The white fabric they’d used forshawls had been laid out beneath him, like a blanket.He was shirtless, and historso was wrapped in bandages.
He tried not to groan.
His body was deflated.His face felt like a skull wearing athin human mask.He attempted to move, and his entire body screamed inresponse.There were so many punctures in his skin that he might’ve appeared avictim of an iron maiden.
He noted, dryly, that his pelvis was also continuing toache.
He turned his head.Next to him, Zaria was slumped against abattlement made of brick and mortar, her chin on her knee, the haft of herpoleaxe resting on her shoulder.She was watching an open hole in the floor,where the rungs of a ladder curved down from one end.The sluggish blink in hereye suggested she’d been keeping this watch for some time.
Isaac coughed.
She nearly shrieked in surprise, jumping to her feet, weaponshaking as it raised.Her wide eyes reflected the gloom of cartilage.
“Hello,” Isaac said.
She lowered the axe, breathing.“Xotra’s cunt.”
“Sorry.”
After heaving another breath, she rested her weapon on thebattlement, walked over, and bent a knee at his side.“So, uh....”
She looked at him.He looked at her.
“How we feelin’?”she asked.
His body was experiencing a number of problems.He had topick which one to solve first.He leaned back, licked his lips, and said:“Water.”
She tilted her head.The cartilage light framed her face ina pale yellow.
