Page 83 of Rebirth

“He’rox!” Soh’fee screams, but I am already there, grasping her and thrusting her behind me as I unleash my tentacles, swinging them forward and toward the charging terror.

I cut down the first Corrupted even before they realize I’m there, another tentacle wrapping around the female Corrupted’s neck and pulling her back and away from my Soh’fee.

But that’s when I hear a sound I don’t want to ever hear again.

Soh’fee screams. Bloodcurdling and filled with pain. At my back, I feel when she falls to her knees and my tentacles slice through the air as I spin, cutting through the tower of a male that’s reaching for me. But he isn’t the reason she screams. He isn’t the reason she’s fallen on her knees in damp earth, blood seeping from the wound in her shoulder.

A roar rumbles through me, stilling the air as my gaze snaps to the hyu’man child. The tang of copper fills the air as Soh’fee releases her, the pain wracking her frame too sudden and too much for her to control her grasp on the child.

And those wide juvenile eyes turn on me, fear so thick I can taste it, as she turns and disappears into the bushes.

“No!” Soh’fee calls, staggering to her feet, but I am already there. I brace her up, fury going through me as I see the pain on her face.

“I’m f-fine,” she stutters. “Save her.”

I stare at her in disbelief, knowing my gaze has bled to black and that the smell of her blood is calling to that other part of me. But something supersedes that call. Soh’fee supersedes that call.

“Save her, He’rox. Don’t let her get away.” She says this, even as she grits her teeth against the pain and I see a flash of darkness pulse under her skin, leading from the wound toward her neck.

My nostrils flare as my gaze lands on the wound at her shoulder.

No.

This is not what’s supposed to happen.

I’m supposed to save her world. Save her.

“He’rox! Please! Go!”

I did not sacrifice everything to be unable to save the one thing I truly care about.

Back on Edooria, my people and my work had been my life. I’d thought they were my reason for living. For being.

I was wrong.

With just one touch, this female taught me I’d been living a hollow existence.

The universe wouldn’t dare take her away from me now!

“Go!” Water’s in her eyes as she grits her teeth and looks up at me. “Find her! She might be the clue to all of this.”

And at that moment, I realize one thing.

Soh’fee was wrong.

“My sacrifice was not selfless.”

She blinks up at me, even as my tentacles grow longer at my back. Even as I allow the monster to claim what’s left of me. And still, she does not flinch.

“You were wrong, Soh’fee.” I crouch, gathering her in my arms as I hold her as gently as I can. “When I tried to save my world, I acted out of selfishness.”

“He’rox.” A tear slides down her jaw as she looks at me. Pain tightens her features as another dark pulse spreads from the wound in her shoulder.

“And when I saved your world, it was for the same selfish purpose.” I lean in, face level with hers. “And I’m about to do it again.”

For I am no hero.

A tear slides down her cheek as the infection spreads within her. I gather her gently in my arms. She is my light in the darkness, my beacon of hope.

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