“No, no, no, no, no,no, no…”
You destroy everything that you touch—everyone that you love.
“NOOOO!” Acacius roared, a burgeoning bellow of vengeance spilling from his chest and rumbling the earth around him.
His senses went black and the roar echoed on and on like a trapped cacophony between the gorges.
His Chaos and Ruin split up his skull, like a fiend possessing his mind. His thoughts stilled to the perfect hum, lulling him into a trance. The will to fight its tender voice drained away. His pulse throbbed in his gums as his focus locked on his overflowing rage and grief.
If this world cannot give me love, then I will reshape it.
His divine power lifted him in a slow ascension above the land, and he extended his arms and fingers.
Around him, the air lacerated in unfurling wounds, portals straight to Tavora.
As the gates opened wider, the winds and meteors of his realm soared through, bringing annihilation to the earth below.
His Heralds and Daemons jumped out in arcs from the throbbing, indigo fissures.
Unleash calamity upon them all.
34
DEEPER THAN THE EARTH
Marina
Marina’s eyes ripped open.
“No!” She panted, the glass-like ground biting into her palms and knees. Directly below her was herself, floating, as if the floor was made of water. Ripples echoed from underneath her body, her own eyes staring up at her, glazed and unresponsive.
Marina gasped and recoiled away from her corpse. She lost her balance on her knees and landed in a sitting position.
What the…
She assessed the lapping cloak surrounding her, its dark shades whirling in a mesmerizing abyss.
It all came back to her in unstable glimpses—her fight with Soren, Ash’s cut, her nightrazers, Alke’s call, the stillness of her heart as she’d summoned Acacius.
She frantically observed the dark waves rolling around her once more.
This was not the Land of the Dead. Was she caught somewhere between the teeth of death?
Hope sparked in her chest.
There is still time.
Marina jolted, crawling up to her corpse. “Wake up!” She shook her shoulders. “You can’t leave him! You useless bitch, get up!”
Her corpse continued staring lifelessly up at the black sky.
The sides of her throat burned with rage, and her face twisted. “I said get the fuck up!” She slapped the corpse’s cheek, gritting her teeth through the sting behind her nose. “Get the fuck up!”
She hit herself again and again.
Her body did not move.
Marina threw her head back and screamed, releasing a fountain of resentment toward herself that had been silently growing for centuries.
