Page 39 of Bright Blinding Ruin

I have two thoughts right then. Why is it here and why didn’t it come just a few minutes earlier?

The dragon’s large body shudders with another growl, and it’s a good thing I’m on the ground, because it launches itself off the ramparts and dives for us. Its clawed hand grabs Invictis and throws him into the castle with all its might, shattering the stone wall as his golden body collides with it.

The dragon lands on all fours, situating itself between me and Invictis, and as Invictis crawls out of the rubble, the dragon breathes fire onto him, slowing him down. I hear him grunt, but he’s stronger now than he was before, so this won’t keep him down for long.

I need to get up, use the distraction to try to get away. I don’t want Invictis or this dragon to be the last things I see before I die. I… I’m not ready.

A groan escapes me as I work to sit up, and it’s a downright pain to get back onto my feet. My hand is slick with blood from the wound in my gut, but I need to push forward, to get the hell out of here.

Something nudges my back, and if I wasn’t in ungodly amounts of pain, I might’ve reacted more when I realize that the thing that nudged me is the tip of the dragon’s tail. While the beast is distracting Invictis, the tail flicks in the opposite direction, to the back of the now-dead garden.

Something’s there that wasn’t there before: a portal.

I can’t see exactly where it goes, but anywhere that’s not here is where I want to be, so I go for it. Each step is pain compounded on pain, but this is my only chance to get away while Invictis is distracted again with the dragon. Don’t know how many more times this dragon can come to save my ass, but I’m grateful, even if it did attack me that first time.

Bit by bit I get closer to the portal. Its outline shimmers, like it knows it has no right to exist, not fully stable. It’s my best chance. My only chance. I push myself, moving as fast as I can given the fact that I feel like death, and when I reach the portal, I don’t hesitate.

I walk through it and step into a place I’ve never been before. I look back at the portal and see it’s closed behind me, locking Invictis and the dragon away, before I let my gaze roam across the grand structure in front of me.

Another castle, one I’ve never been to. My breath catches in my throat.

I’m in Magnysia, where Krotas should be waiting for me.

Chapter Fifteen

Magnysia’s castle is unlike Pylos’s and Acadia’s. While Pylos’s is built literally from the depths of a mountain and Acadia’s stands tall amongst flat plains, the castle in Magnysia is grand, beautiful, and nestled inside a forest. The only space that’s clear of trees is the space the castle and its grounds occupy. And unlike the other two, I don’t see a city sprawled around it. It’s literally just the castle.

The stone is different, the architecture, too. I don’t take much time to study it, given the fact that I’m in extreme agony and probably going to bleed out soon. As much as I want to stand there and marvel at the sight of the grand castle that looks more European than anything else, I can’t.

I do the only thing I can: I start walking while keeping pressure on my gut.

Each step is pure pain, but I power through it. My allegedly super-fast healing isn’t doing the trick this time. The castle door sits open, so I can slip inside without expending any extra energy. Once I step inside, I walk into a whole different world.

Rich tapestries—though dust-covered—hang on the walls, near the windows. Grand paintings adorn the walls, scenery from Laconia if I have to guess. A dusty carpet lines the floor, guiding the main paths from room to room. Lots of wide-open space, and yet it feels the most homey out of all three of the castles I’ve been to.

It’s beautiful. It really is. I would’ve loved to see it in its prime, before Laconia fell upon hardship. Before Invictis was released and told to wipe Laconia and everyone in it off the map.

I hear not a sound as I venture deeper into the castle. I suppose I should look for the undercroft… or Krotas. Morimentosaid she’s still alive. Not sure if I want to stumble upon her while I’m like this, though. She’d cut me down in a millisecond.

Then again, if she’s still alive, maybe trying to find the undercroft will be a wasted effort.

I drag myself through the castle. I don’t go up the grand staircase, sticking to the ground floor of the castle instead. Stairs with this wound? No fucking way.

As I search, I think back to Morimento and what she said—and how she said it. It didn’t sound like she expected me to fight Krotas, so maybe the third empress still has some of her marbles and isn’t completely off her rocker. A girl can hope.

I turn into another hall and look around, deciding to call out, “Krotas? Are you here? Hello?” Must be the adrenaline racing through me, but the pain is starting to wear off. Or maybe I’m just going a little numb.

I don’t get an answer—not that I thought I would—and I round another corner of the castle, spotting some sunshine. What I assume is an entrance to a garden or a courtyard is actually just the end.

Yeah, like, the end of the castle.

“Whoa.” I stop myself from taking another step when I realize it isn’t just the end of the castle. The entire back half of the castle is destroyed, like it was incinerated or a bomb went off. The hall walkway literally ends in a steep drop-off, the leveled part of the castle nothing but a crater.

No rubble. Nothing that would hint to the castle when its structure was fully sound. Just one huge dip in the ground that must be, at its center, thirty feet down.

Clutching the wound on my stomach, I carefully lean forward and glance to my left and right. The rooms that are unlucky enough to be next to the crater are either half-demolished or nothing but rubble. It’s seriously like someone took a knife andcut the castle in half, took it away, and then dropped a fucking bomb on the place.

My stomach churns, and I don’t think it’s from the wound. No, something else crawls over me right then, a strange, almost itchy feeling I can’t quite put a name to. I don’t feel right. This whole place… it doesn’t feel right.

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