Page 137 of Wraithwound

Lena was floating in a cloud of glittering black, and when it parted, she saw a beast there. She knew in her bones that this was Runa’s true form. She was beautiful, fascinating, and utterly terrifying. There were no words to describe the creature, none in her language anyway. The beast stared back at her with small white eyes that examined her, piercing all the way to her soul before she extended a long black tendril. Lena reached a scarred, blackened hand forward and closed her fingers around it.

The influx of power was absolutely and wholly devastating. Lena died in the onslaught of it, life fleeing her body as it consumed her. And then she was reborn.

As she awoke anew, she saw flashes of a darkened planet, a castle made of glittering black stone perched high atop a mountain range. She saw enormous open-air libraries full of books and beasts. A darkening sky tinged in moody purples and oranges as a backdrop to a blazing black sun. Lena saw images of war: battles fought with claws and teeth and tendrils, as well as battle cries and commands communicated with growls, snarls and roars. Lena felt decades and then centuries fly by; she saw civilizations rise and fall. She felt ugly, shameful things, fury and rage and loss, and then something akin to boredom or stagnation. But then, she felt love. An unyielding, territorial, brutal type of love that was also wrapped in the most exquisite tenderness. She felt longing, desire, and arousal like she had never experienced before. Lena gained knowledge and lost some too. And then she opened her eyes.

In truth, she was no longer Lena. No longer human. She was more and yet somehow still incomplete, a sort of chasm having yawned open inside her. She’d always known deep down that she felt that way, but her awareness of it was heightened.

“Runa?” Lena asked.

“I’m here,” she said, in a voice that sounded more like a purr than a hiss this time.

“Are you ready?”

“Et Vitri Vitae,” the wraith answered.

For victory in life. The meaning came to her in her mind, and Lena knew it must be an expression used on the battlefield. Runa confirmed as much with a push of emotion.

“What did you just do?” Malnik asked, a murderous calm in his voice.

Lena spun to see a curious glint in his eye. Cross stared at her intently, searching her face, while the Aurynn only managed to look bored.

“What do you mean?” Lena asked him, wondering what he’d seen.

“Your form shifted. Humans cannot see our true forms for they would go mad. As a defense, the air around us distorts. It is likely when you shifted, he lost sight of you for a moment,” Runa answered.

“But do I look normal now?” she asked Runa in her mind, their communication now effortless.

“Yes, I enforced your illusion,” she replied.

Lena wasn’t quite sure what that meant, but now wasn’t the time to ask.

“Kol. Let the beasts play,” Malnik said as he turned to walk away.

“Wait, no, please!” Lena said.

“I’ve grown tired of your stalling. You can come out or watch them die,” he said.

“All right. I’ll come out,” Lena said, holding her hands up.

Panic broke free in Cross’s features as Malnik stepped back from the opening to allow her to pass.

“Stay,” he said to Cross.

Lena glanced at the distance between her and Kol, which had increased as he moved closer to the beasts. She would have to find a way to get near to him.

Lena braced herself and stepped through the portal, the swirling air pulling at her as she did. She had just cleared it, stepping into the freezing winter air when Malnik’s arm flew out and wrapped around Lena’s neck. Cross tried to lunge for her but couldn’t move.

“Len—” Cross tried, but Malnik silenced him with one word.

“I do not like being kept in the dark,” he seethed.

Malnik flung Lena out into the snow before she could react. But she barely registered the pain from the impact because around them were several other portals that led to other lands. One of the swirling vortices led to a place she recognized in her own world, but the others led to places so beautiful or bizarre she could never have imagined them. One portal lay open to a darkened sea, waves crashing into a towering slab of stone with what appeared to be stacked caves carved into it.

Dragging her gaze away from the foreign worlds that lay beyond the portals, she scanned the area for Kol and found him standing several feet away. He seemed completely uninterested in the scene unfurling before him, but then his hand twitched, and he cocked his head, something like recognition flickering in his gaze.

“I’m going to ask you one more time. What did you do? Did the Goddess shield you or did you summon the wraith?” Malnik asked, stalking toward her as she scrambled backward on hands and knees.

But Malnik was faster. Reaching down, he hauled Lena up by her clothes. He was so strong. Cross still struggled where he stood, eyes bulging, the veins in his neck straining as he fought to disobey his creator.