Page 160 of Psycho Devils: Aran's Story 2

Chapter 23

Aran

DARK CONSEQUENCES

The Legionnaire Games: Day 33, hour 10

Everything was numb.

I couldn’t feel my arms or legs.

Someone pushed John and me forward, and we stumbled onto the blood-soaked lawn.

The sound barrier had been restored, and it was eerily quiet.

Vision blurry, I barely made out the carnage coating the far side of the field where there was a pile of mangled wings and legs.

A buzzing sensation burned my ears.

I wiped at the substances caking my face, fingers shaking as I tried to compose myself.

Then I turned slowly to my only true friend at the academy. The man I’d cuddled with and laughed at every day.

The half a foot of height he had on me was suddenly overwhelming.

I couldn’t find the will to tilt my head up and look at his face.

I couldn’t face him.

Wind screamed as it whipped with a fervor, and I shivered. Dark clouds moved in an unusual pattern and cast the realm into shadows.

They’d said a storm was coming.

But it felt like it was already here.

Behind us the ocean roared as it crashed against the obsidian rocks of the shoreline. Salt and sulfur stained the air. Light from the eclipse tinted the world in shades of scarlet.

I reached slowly into my pocket, shoved my pipe between my lips, and inhaled smoke like it could save me. My teeth chattered around the pipe. I wasn’t cold.

We had to do this, or I’d be skewered on the sacred tree.

I took a deep breath and reached my shaking hand toward John.

To touch him.

I took a step toward him.

Nausea rose with such visceral force that I dropped my hand and took a step back, head spinning as a cold sweat dotted my forehead.

I couldn’t breathe.

Felt weaker than I’d ever felt in my life.

Closed my eyes.

How could I even consider doing the unthinkable to my friend? How dare I sacrifice him for myself? How could I be so selfish?

I was just like Mother.

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