I saw a mountain rising from the sea. I saw a golden city falling from the sky. I saw a woman opening a jar, not out of malice, but because she couldn't stand the silence of the universe anymore, not after they had taken everything away from her.
Pandora,I thought.She wasn't a girl. She was a bridge.
"Hold the line!" Flynn shouted from somewhere distant, the sound of daggers hitting metal ringing out. "We got more leakers!"
The void was swarming again. I felt the cold creeping back in, nipping at the edges of Kaelen’s fire.
"Don't worry about the rats," Thane rumbled, his presence so heavy it made it hard to think. "Focus on the work."
The work. I was the work.
"My arm," I gagged, looking at my left side.
The grey metal was glowing now. It wasn't dull iron anymore. It was translucent, filled with swirling galaxies of gold and violet light. The runes that had been crawling up my neck were now etched deep into the casing, burning with a steady, constant light.
"It is integrating," Elias breathed, his voice filled with awe and horror. "The star-metal is fusing with the carbon. She is becoming a hybrid."
"She is becoming a weapon," Hephaestus corrected. He grabbed a bucket of something that smelled like oil and liquid starlight. "Quench!"
He dumped the liquid on me.
The thermal shock was worse than the fire. It hissed, steam exploding upward in a violent cloud. My skin tightened, snapping into place with a sound like a whip crack.
I arched my back, gasping, my fingers scrabbling against the Anvil. I found a hand.
Kaelen.
He had reached out, breaking the circle for just a fraction of a second to grab my hand. His skin was burning hot, his grip desperate.
"I've got you," he choked out, tears finally spilling over, sizzling on his cheeks. "I'm here, Aria. I'm right here."
"Don't stop," I whispered, squeezing his hand until I felt his bones creak. "Make me strong, Dragon. Make me strong enough to hold you."
He let out a sob that turned into a roar. The fire doubled.
The heat consumed me. I lost the feeling of the Anvil beneath me. I lost the smell of the sulfur. I was just a point of consciousness suspended in agony fueled by four broken gods.
And for the first time in my life, I wasn't just keeping the power out.
I was the power.
"Heart strike!" Hephaestus yelled, raising the hammer high with both hands.
He didn't hold back. He aimed for the center of my chest, right where the creeping metal met the frantic flesh.
I looked at the hammer falling. I looked at the ceiling where the Titan’s dust was falling like snow. I looked at my Princes, sweating, bleeding, burning for me.
Break me,I challenged the iron.And see what climbs out.
The hammer fell.
EIGHTEEN
Elias
The hammer fell, and the sound wasn't metal striking metal. It was the sound of a universe screaming.
CRACK.
