Shifting my weight, I took a few moments, then swiped it open, somehow managing to answer in a lighthearted, upbeat tone, “Hey, gentle god.” Yes,he called metiny god,so I went withgentle god.It was something we’d been doing since I was a kid.
“It was inside you.”
I blinked.
Ketheron was heavy with the small talk when it came to me. To not even sayhello, and to then open withthat… this was supremely fucking bad.
“Uh… what?”
“This contamination penetrated you.”
Really not sounding any better. “I’d rephrase that, Keth.”
“A double entendre?”
“You have no idea.”
“I can’t concern myself with avoiding such things at the moment, only with what needs to be conveyed. Your essence is entangled with this substance.”
I swallowed hard. “Right. Because I captured it.”
“No. That is not the reason. Your blood and bile are also present. As well as your magical signature, however only the necromantic aspect. You vomited this, yes?”
Fuck.“Yes.”
“Any other being who’d ingested this, been infected by it, would have been at death’s door. Without intense Celestial intervention, they would have certainly perished.” He paused noticeably, before adding, “Much like any who Draco infected with his power when he rose decades ago.”
“You know why there’s a similarity to the feel of his magical residue, don’t you?”
“I also know that this attempted to extract your necromantic power.”
That explained the glitching, then.
“Being what you are, you were able to combat it, to resist. I’d imagine it cost you, though. Power volatility? Unexpected flares? The inability to perform even the most basic aspects of Necromancy?”
“There was some glitching, yeah. But it’s done with now.”
“Because you cast it out. Hence, the vomiting. It marked you, though, Winter.”
“Marked me?”
“The source of this now has the means to track you. It was also trying to establish a connection with you—mental and emotional. To bond with you.”
“Bond with me? In an amiable way, you mean?”
“Yes. Although, this source is calculating and highly intelligent, so that intent would be for an overarching purpose that isn’t so… amiable.”
“You keep sayingsource.Does that mean you know what it is? And talking about an emotional bond… it’s a person, not just some magical infection or partially sentient matter?”
“The reason you likened it to the Mark of Draco is because the similarity it bears is the perversion of Celestial power. That perversion is also why it felt very different to what you are used to from those Celestials you have spent your life in the company of, like Cassius and my kindred, Ariana.”
“You’re saying the thing that did this to me is another corrupted Celestial being like Draco?”
“Draco was Fallen when he inflicted such profound damage upon the mortal plane during what they refer to as theReign of the Beast.This being holds True Celestial status.”
“I don’t understand. The Severance cut off contact with the Celestial Plane. It’s impossible for any of them to leave and travel down here. And all other Celestials on this plane are accounted for and not threats, and definitely not corrupted orperversions of Celestial Power.Who is this being? Do you know?”
“There is only one whom it could be. I need you to come to me. I must nullify their ability to track you and cleanse you of its residue in your system.”
