Page 283 of Born of Blood and Ash

Everything stopped.

My breath.

My heart.

The realms.

Eather seeped from the top and bottom of the orb, then fromits left and right. What remained of Embris’s essenceshuddered—

Then erupted in a blinding light, streaking to the north andsouth, then the west and east of the realms.

In the distance, half the MasadoniaRise came down. I could hear windows shattering as a scorching wind blewthrough Terra. For a brief second, I saw pink trees similar to those lining theGolden Bridge, as well as the moonlight-kissed thatched roofs of farmsteads andvillages. I saw people running in the hazy glow across the fields. Women. Men.Children. They all ran in a desperate attempt to escape, but then it all wentup like they were nothing but dried-out tinder. The trees. The farms. Villages.The people. The orange-lit hills—the lower mountains of the Undying Hills—thatstretched all the way to the city of Masadoniacrumbled into the sea, sending out a thunderous shockwave. A great wave rose,one as high as any mountain and as wide as the entire coast of the mortalrealm. It blocked out the stars and moon—

A flash of intense silver cut through the night sky, and thearrival of another Primal thudded in my chest. In the shadow of thestill-rising, deadly tsunami, I saw Phanos’ssilhouette. He thrust his essence-lit trident into the wave with a shout,calling forth a roar of powerful wind from all directions. Eather erupted fromthe trident, exploding into a silvery web that pushed the wave down.

The ground trembled where I stood once more, making me dragmy gaze from Phanos. Where the villagers had fallen,shells of packed, hard ash now encased them. Hundreds of them were foreverfrozen, some sprawled on the ground in clusters. Families. Others were alone ontheir knees, their arms shielding their heads or raised as if they’d spenttheir last seconds praying to gods who would not answer.

Because we had brought this ruin upon them.

Fine fissures appeared where Embrishad knelt and spread all the way into Masadonia.Small saplings wiggled free of the cracks all around me, growing, expanding,and rapidly becoming thick trunks with glossy, bleeding bark. Hundreds oftrees. Thousands. Limbs sprouted like bony fingers, misshapen and bent. Budssprouted from branches and unfurled.

From where the lower mountains of the Undying Hills oncestood to the half-shattered Rise of Masadonia, aforest of dark crimson leaves and glistening bark rose forebodingly in thestark moonlight.

The once bountiful fields of Terra were no more. In theirplace was a forest birthed from soil drenched in Primal essence and mortalblood. A tomb.

The temperature dropped until I could see my breath, but itdid nothing to cool my fury. Dark, choking rage rose like a seething storm,swallowing me. It was like a tempest of darkness roaring through my veins,consuming everything in its path, urging me to crush. Obliterate. It was inevery heartbeat, like an echo of wrath with a name as I opened a tear in therealm.

Kolis.

CHAPTERFORTY-TWO

I walked along the sun-streaked golden road,the scent of blood and death clinging to me.

Ahead, the polished marble and diamond Rise stood tall.

Through the mist shrouding what lay beyond, guards in goldenarmor rushed along the top of the wall. Several lifted gold-plated bows, aimingshadowstone-tipped arrows in my direction. Othersexchanged wary looks. They inched back, their attention shifting to the darkclouds above them. It was almost as if they had been expecting me.

“Halt!” a guard shouted from above the gate.

That would not happen.

Eather swelled inside, and I lifted my hands. Gold-lacedessence streaked out from my fingertips and raced across the ground. The cloudsabove continued to thicken, blotting out the sun. Some guards ran. Others firedarrows.

But it was too late for them all.

Wisps of eather rose, shatteringthe arrows as the thicker strands of energy poured into the diamond-encrustedRise. Gold-tinged silver light spread, forming a network of veins that traveledthe length of the wall surrounding Dalos.

I snapped my hands into fists.

The crack was like a blast of thunder, freezing the guardswhere they stood. All across the Rise, gold-winged faces contorted in shock anddisappeared. The Rise exploded into fragments of stone and ash.

Lightning struck the ground as I walked forward, thediamonds beneath my feet shattering. Wind tore the purplish-pink trees fromtheir roots and twisted their limbs until they broke. The smaller wall aroundCor Palace came into view. It, too, turned to dust. I toppled the trees thatbodies had once hung from.

The palace went next as I called for Death to show himself.I shattered the glass doors and peeled back roofs. I brought the walls down,and all that answered was a chorus of short-lived screams.

Chest throbbing, I closed my eyes and shadowsteppedfarther into Dalos, appearing just outside thesprawling fortress and before a line of ready guards.

Several arrowheads hit their marks, but I didn’t care. Iwelcomed the pain and gave myself over to it because it was nothing compared towhat I felt inside. I stalked forward, sending a crackling web of energy aheadof me. The lines of guards fell. I lifted my hand, ripping the heavy,gold-plated doors from their hinges.

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