Page 62 of Shadows in Bloom

“What—who are you?” I asked, taking a step back.

A half grin twisted his face into something wicked. The first sign of emotion from him, and it was terrifying. “Both are valid questions, my dear. I am your new God. If a name would better appease your curiosity, you may use Zaelos. Better we know each other well, isn’t it, Nairu? We will be sharing that skin after all.”

“We worship the Old Gods,” I blurted out. I winced the moment the words left my lips, bracing myself for retaliation from the creature.

His tongue darted out to wet his lip, black and snake like. “Not anymore.”

“I don’t want to share myself. Mind or body or any of it.” I tried to sound confident, brave even, but my voice cracked and wobbled.

Zaelos laughed, and a beaming smile of pointed teeth lit his face. It was a wretched enough sound that my knees buckled and I fell to the snowy ground beneath my feet. “To defy a God to his face—are you stupid or bold? Only time will tell.”

In a flash of inhuman speed, Zaelos crouched down next to me, his clawed hand wrapped painfully around my neck. “What you want matters nothingto me. What you will have is power. Power beyond your wildest imagination, and all you have to do is hold on to it for me until I am ready. Then your soul can sleep comfortably, a passenger in our shared flesh, and your people will be saved. They will revere you as their savior.”

It was impossible for me to respond, even if I desired to. My lungs were burning for air as he squeezed hard enough his claws broke skin. Droplets of blood dripped from the punctures, trickling down his fingers. The sight seemed to satisfy him, a sick glint of amusement reaching his eyes. Not from my blood, I realized, but from my fear. He had no desire to consume my blood, but I had no doubt, if my fear was a tangible thing, he would feast upon it like an animal starved.

This—someone so evil was who they were handing me over to. And was I expected to express gratitude for the opportunity?

“That’s it.” He snickered, finally releasing his hold on my neck. “If not the prospect of power, let your hate guide you. I have found revenge to be the sweetest motivation. It is something you would sacrifice anything for.”

Zaelos had arrived as a stranger at our doorsteps, wounded beyond anything we’d ever seen, and we’d taken him in, healed him. Our best work wasn’t enough. His body was far too damaged. His own magic was eating him alive. As thanks, he’d used the last dregs of his energy to curse us. Never could we leave the North. A nomadic people cursed to remain in the most brutal of climates. But the generous God he was, he offered salvation from the very thing he’d created, and more. Promises of eternal life and fortune. All we had to do was sacrificeone of our own as a vessel for his soul, and another to protect them until he was able to take control. Vessel and Keeper.

I looked back at the people of my village. Faces I’d laughed and loved with. I knew most of them by name. I’d played with their children. Shared meals with them. Been welcomed into their homes. The only thing visible to me now was greed. Betrayal. Part of me wanted to let Zaelos consume me, just to watch him destroy them from behind our shared eyes. A bigger part of me wanted to do it myself—take his magic for my own and watch them suffer for it. I only had to overpower a God. His soul against mine, waging war inside of my body. It was possible… it had to be.

“I will… be your vessel,” I said, rising to my feet. I knew it mattered not if I agreed to it. He would take what he wanted, whether or not I obliged. Even in his weakened state, his power was beyond anything I could fathom.

Zaelos stood. “Then we will have our revenge, my dear, as soon as you are strong enough to withstand the full extent of my power.”

“And what if I am not strong enough?”

“You may die in the process,” he mused. “I will make arrangements for such a circumstance.” He brought a hand to my cheek. “You will be the culmination of my life’s work.”

There was no notice for what came next.

Black swirls of pure shadow, wispy like the smoke of a fire, twisted around Zaelos’ body. When he took my hand in his, I sensed it immediately. Raw, unconstrained power. It traveled from my hand up my arms, through my veins, and into my very blood. There was pain, at first, sharp and tingling. Hismagic was a beast, clawing its way through every inch of my body. The pain I endured until it curled up inside of me, comfortable and warm. Mine. My power.

I turned my palm over, wiggling my fingers. The magic was there, pulsing, near bursting at the seams, eager to be released. I had no idea how to use it, nor what I would do with it. Zaelos had said I wasn’t strong enough, that it would take time for my body to adjust. So why did I feel more alive than ever?

I’d forgotten Zaelos’ presence the moment his magic had transferred to me. He’d crumbled to the ground, a husk of the ‘God’ he claimed to be. Little light remained in his eyes, but he was conscious. He raised one hand up and gestured for me to approach him.

A wheezing voice was all he could manage. “Do not forget the feeling of your humanity. How weak and brittle you were only moments ago. You need me…”

He dug a claw into his palm and whispered an incantation in a language foreign to me. The blood that dripped from his wound was thick and black, and when he held it out to me, I recoiled on instinct. “Drink.”

If I’d had the gift of his power to begin with… my people would never have chosen me as their dutiful sacrifice. Weak, sick Nairu. Nairu, who always obliged every request, always gave and gave until there was nothing left of herself but a shell of a person. A mimicry of everyone around her, but not a true individual with her ownwants and needs. An orphan with no family of her own, no place of her own.

I considered turning away from Zaelos, leaving him to bleed out in the snow, but he was right. I did need him. He’d granted me his magic, but I hadn’t the faintest clue how to use it, let alone master it, and I couldn’t take the chance that I would disappear if I reneged on our agreement. Because I needed it, too. I’d gotten a taste of what it was like to have the power to defend myself, the power to destroy, and I’d grown addicted to the sensation. I was not giving it up.

Weak, sick Nairu. Not anymore. That would not be me anymore. They had fed me to the monster and created one far worse. I would repay them in kind for their cowardice.

I grabbed his palm and drank from the cut. Coppery, sour blood coated my tongue and clung to my throat, too thick to go down in one gulp. Panic welled in my chest as I struggled to swallow. The overwhelming sensation of suffocation overpowered my senses until I collapsed onto my knees, clutching my throat and gasping for the relief of air. His blood was everywhere, coating my teeth and smothering my tongue. I was dying. I had to be dying.

Collapsing to the ground, my back flat against the icy snow, I stared up at the night sky. Even the twinkling stars above seemed to mock me for my foolishness. They shined through the darkness, persevered in spite of it, but I’d gotten one taste of dark magic and let my rage and hatred corrupt any light within me without a fight at all. A fitting end that I be snuffed out beneath those shimmering stars.

Numbness overtook me. The edges of my vision began to fade. The sound of my slowing heartbeat thumping in my ears drowned out the sounds of the wilderness and the worried chatter of my people. No one rushed to my side. No one cried out for me, not even my parents. This is what it was to be truly alone.

I don’t want to die.

We cannot die.

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