Page 109 of Brutal Birthright

With a violent shudder, dust and dirt fell from the high stone arched ceiling overhead. Ri felt herself flinch ever so slightly but then didn’t recognise the movements of her own body either.

Her hands were unfamiliar, and it took a few blinks to recognise that what she was seeing wasn’t her own body. Perhaps this was a dream, or she was witnessing someone else’s memories.

That was it.

She realised now.

What she was seeing was through the eyes of another. However, she didn’t know whether this was happening to her in real-time, wherever her corporeal body might be right now, or was this some kind of enchantment?

Everything seemed foggy and clouded if she tried to recall how she got here, where she was before now.

It was the strangest sensation of appearing partway through a story without knowing the beginning.

Another deep and dreadful rumble far, far below her feet had her attention brought back swiftly to her surroundings.

The path was unfamiliar, even to whoever's memories this scene belonged to. Ri got the distinct impression that this was the first time they had tasted freedom in a very long time. Far too long. The simmering rage deep inside her bones pulsed and whipped like a cat’s tail. Quietly stalking towards a potential victim and ready to exact vengeance.

Only there was not a soul in sight. The halls of this place were echoing. Empty. Devoid of life.

Whoever had been in charge here or had kept this individual captive–the one who’s memories she was seeing–seemed to be no longer present.

And that created a surge of displeasure.

Power began to hum through the veins of Ri’s phantom body. Something new and potent and virile began to soak into the air just above her skin. Her body greedily sucked it in through every pore as though they had just crawled through a desert and finally discovered fresh water.

She felt the power begin to sweep through her form and accelerate with every passing second.

The kind of magic like she’d never experienced before. An untapped and ancient source that began to build and build and build.

Ampher power being restored after centuries of abuse and manipulation.

Ri became aware of a large doorway up ahead, thrown open on its hinges as if blasted from inside. The top of one side hung limply outward, partially wrenched from the great stone wall it would usually have been affixed to. A sulphuric, tangy smell clogged the air, and putrid waves of smoke wafted towards her ankles.

But instead of feeling trepidation or hesitation about what might lie beyond this destroyed doorway, there was only the rising sense of power and the possibilities that came with magic being restored.

And what a source this was that replenished that power, long since stripped from whoever this body belonged to.

Their soul stretched and purred, being able to fully inhabit their true form once more. Like they’d been able to fill out the skin they’d simply been existing within for far too long.

Wrongfully imprisoned. Cheated. Manipulated.

The words pulsed inside Ri’s mind. She could taste the acrid hunger to seek revenge in the back of her throat. Such vehemence lay behind each of those words. She was in no doubt whoever this was would stop at nothing to achieve retribution for whatever suffering they had endured.

Suddenly, they were inside a great hall. Bodies littered the flagstone floor, all in various states of mutilation and torn to pieces. But that wasn’t the most disturbing sight. Right through the centre of the space was a giant chasm extending down into the bedrock below wherever this was. Steam billowed forth from the gaping mouth, and the source of the smell burning up the inside of her nose became clear.

Casting a look around, there was no obvious sign of life. But the proximity to this chasm gave her the first unobliterated hit of the immense power surging from within the depths of its yawning mouth.

A portal.

Power the likes of which her Ampher magic had never tasted.

It was potent and wicked and filled up every inch of her being to the point she felt like she might burst.

After centuries without any magic, this was like having her soul filled with unadulterated power bled into her veins from the Goddesses themselves.

Ohhh, yes. She could get used to this.

Inhaling a deep lungful of the surging, invisible force emitting from the chasm, she felt it ripple through her body like the moment hot oil clashed with water. Powerful pops and sparks and hissing in her blood as her magic took on board everything hanging in the air and began to amplify it.

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