His eyes danced with delight as he shot forward again, faster than I could defend against.
“I forged a pendant long ago, to conceal and contain.” His clawed hand held me tight, my blade useless at my side. “My brothers and I grow weary of the games you all play. Treachery is only fun when the lies come to light. It is time for you to stop running from fate, shadow-cursed.”
Before I could stop him, the chain of my necklace ripped from my neck, snapping, and with it something withinmesnapped.
All at once power, raw and unlike anything I had ever felt, came rushing forward. Dark and cold I felt it release in a blast that shook the rubble around us. Pain ripped through me as I was brought to my knees, my body seizing. Dark tendrils,shadows,rippled from my body—leeching as though purging themselves from beneath my skin.
“My brothers and I did not create the plague that ravages you all,” he sang, smiling wide and devious. “But I think you already know that, don’t you?” He moved back and disappeared into the darkness he had come from.
Gasping, I tried to rise as another ripple of raw power shook through me.
At last we are released.
The shadows sang, louder than they had ever been. I curled in upon myself, my hands covering my ears. Horror filled my bones assilverhair spilled over my shoulders and brushed the dirty temple floor.
So long we have waited.
Chained to a girl too terrified to see,
that we are her and she is us.
Body shaking, I cried as pure agony rushed through me again. It was as if my skin was being shredded, my flesh torn apart by talons, mybones crushing and reshaping to make room for the magic that writhed beneath.
Now they shall see.
Now they shall know.
We are power.
We are destruction and you little shadow,
will bring us our vengeance.
“Shadow-blessed.”
The voice was a whisper, haunting, like a call from far, far away.
“Easy, child. Breathe.”
It was a melody, warm and soft. It enveloped me like the warmth of a hug as the shadows leeched from my body. It beckoned me closer, inviting and loving. “Open your eyes, little shadow.”
The temple was gone, and only darkness remained. A world with no end, no beginning, as my body hung in suspension. Stars, bright and flaming, floated all around as I turned and reached my hand out. I froze when my eyes met that of a woman.
Her hair was a halo of white curls around her face, floating and drifting through the air, her skin dark as the night sky though it too emanated an ethereal glow. A silver so light you could hardly see the shimmer upon her skin.
“We haven’t much time,” she murmured, drawing closer as her hand reached for my cheek. “How much pain you have had to endure, my child. I am so sorry.”
Sympathy coated those words and I wanted to sink within it, to burrow and never leave. “Where are we?”
“A place in between your realm and my kingdom, an expanse of everything and nothing all at once.”
That didn’t make any sense.
“Your magic has been contained for too long.” The woman whispered, “It’s ravenous and you have not yet learned control.”
I knew this was my Goddess, knew it to the marrow of my bones. Lua. Yet my mind, my body, had no reaction except the wish to fall into this warmth, to stay and never leave.
“I didn’t—”
