Page 293 of Psycho Devils: Aran's Story 2

How mad would Sadie be if I “accidentally” crushed her mate to death? She’d recover. Eventually.

Purring, white fluff jostled closer to groom my forehead. A tiny wet nose booped against mine.

Clothes sliced off my body, my back was skewered with glass, a kitten licked my eyebrow, and a peculiar sense of relief blossomed.

At least I could save one person.

Glass cut through muscle, cartilage, and bone. I sobbed and shivered.

“I’m so proud of you,” Jinx’s voice said in my mind.

Warmth blossomed across my chest as my teeth chattered from the cold.

I hadn’t failed Xerxes.

Not like everyone failed me.

And just maybe…that was enough.

It had to be.

It was all I had left.

The Legionnaire Games: Rebirth

“The path into the light seems dark.”

—Lao Tzu

Chapter 40

Aran

THE CLIMB

Rebirth—Day 56, hour 5

The clattering of glass stopped abruptly. It was as if the realm itself had reached its breaking point and couldn’t handle it anymore.

That or the nurses in the psych ward had increased my medication dosage so I was no longer hallucinating sounds.

You could never tell for sure these days.

Either way, eerie quietness prevailed as the storm dissipated like an obscure nightmare.

I blinked, and the world flickered in and out of focus.

Streaks of scarlet dripped down my chin. The liquid was feverishly warm compared to my chilled flesh.

I’d been on all fours for hours, and my cold muscles were locked into place.

Like I was cosplaying as a cow.

The light of the eclipse trickled through the dark cloud cover and refracted off the piles of glass. The lawn sparkled. Smoke rose in lazy tendrils as the cold abated.

Everything was quiet. Pretty.

Tilting my head to the side, I jolted from pain, and my eyes rolled back from the agony.

---