Page 12 of The Edge of Dawn

He squeezed harder.

But his opponent never yielded.

Good try, katach. You nearly had me.

All of a sudden, their roles were reversed, and Dragek was the one on the floor. Ashrael’s modified arm was cutting off his air, turning his second-sight into a blur.

How the fuck did he do that?

How had he moved so fast?

Dragek snarled in frustration as he found himself slipping into unconsciousness.

Not yet. You’re not ready to defeat him yet.

But your time will come.

Filled with fury, he slipped away into oblivion.

FIVE

He found himself floating… in the same way that he did whenever he drifted outside his body while meditating.

Ashrael had knocked him out cold.

He tried to force himself to wake up, but his body wouldn’t cooperate.

And then, he detected a familiar tendril of presence.

It was her.

Undoubtedly.

But there was something different about her.

She didn’t exude reckless confidence anymore. And she no longer radiated that so-very-human innocence he’d found so terribly amusing—and refreshing.

Instead, he sensed her despair, and it was laced with fear and anger. Her emotions were projected so powerfully that if not for his strict discipline and control, he would have become overwhelmed.

How was he able to feel her emotions so clearly? It bothered him a little because he hardly experienced emotions of his own. He’d learned to suppress those things a long time ago.

Still, he was no stranger to dark feelings.

Anger, terror, despair…

He’d felt these things thousands of times—from the ones that had died at his hands.

For a moment, he forgot his indignation at being knocked out cold and allowed himself to be suspended in the void. He emptied his mind of useless thoughts and focused on the problem in front of him.

Her.

It was obvious that the human was in some sort of trouble. She was unguided and naive, but she possessed an impressive amount of raw Talent.

For her to be able to infiltrate his consciousness so easily… she must be nearby. And yet, she could only do it when he was in this state—between wakefulness and dreams.

Should he go to her?

Should he intervene?

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