Page 5 of Bright Blinding Ruin

He’s clearly caught off-guard by my response and blasé reaction to his vicious threat, because he does not squeeze harder, nor does he say it again. He growls out, “Most humans would be quaking with fear if they were in your place.”

“Yeah, well, we both know if you were going to snap my cute little neck you would’ve done it already.”

Invictis sneers. “Cute? I said nothing—”

I talk over him, “So why don’t we go back to the real world so we can finish this, hmm? Unless you want to keep at this whole schtick. Although, I should warn you, the magic has worn off now, so I doubt watching from the sidelines like a creep will be as fun.”

His hands around my throat tighten just a hair. Not enough to choke, but enough to remind me that they’re there. They’re there and if he should choose to, he could choke me out very easily.

But I don’t think he will. I can practically feel him seething with annoyance—it’s something I got pretty good at when he was nothing more than a tattoo on my wrist and hand. Bugging the shit out of him. A skill like that comes in handy right about now.

Plus? The dude is so full of himself that there’s no way he’ll kill me right here. Like he said before, he wants to make it last. Make me pay for being a thorn in his side.

“You wish to go back and finish this?” Invictis sneers. “Fine. We shall finish this, as you say, and before you die, you will know just how worthless you are.” He releases me, and I fall backward, to the ground—only the ground no longer exists, and I fall into nothing.

I see nothing. Everything is black. Black and thick, invisible threads trying to crawl inside, get at me in a way nothing elsecould. I’m falling for what feels like ever. Falling, falling… until I’m not.

Chapter Three

My eyes open. Blackness no longer surrounds me. The opposite, in fact. I see nothing but blinding golden light, and I struggle to push myself to my feet. I face the source of the light, squinting something fierce.

Still in Acadia’s throne room. At least I’m not trapped in my head in some kind of illusion. Win for Rey, right there.

Invictis does not wear the face of a human; he’s in his metallic, golden body, six giant wings of metal floating behind him. His blinding light fades somewhat until I can gaze upon him with no squinting necessary.

Though he has no true face, a voice comes from him all the same, dark and low, unearthly, the kind of voice that sends shivers down your spine if you’re not careful: “I must admit, Rey, I look forward to killing you. Ending you will bring me more joy than the entire decimation of Laconia.” He stands on metal feet, though they’re more like boots built into his figure. It’s not like I see any toes or anything.

I grin. “Hate me that much, do you? Wow. Maybe I am something special after all.”

“Your sarcasm is unnecessary and pointless. You are no more special than the dirt that fills the cracks in this room.” Invictis holds his arms out, his clawed fingers turned up as if in offering. “Hate is beyond me—”

“Is it? So, just to be clear, hate’s beyond you but annoyance and joy isn’t? Or were you just bullshitting me when you said you’d take great joy in killing me?” I pretend to be lost in thought.

Running’s no option here. He’ll catch me. The only way out of this without magic to defend myself is to make him blindingly enraged and hope a miracle happens.

His hands curl into fists. “You take great pride in twisting words. It is the one talent you have. Beyond that, you are a pitiful excuse for a human.” As he speaks, a giant ball of light forms over him, sparkling as it swirls and grows, an expanding orb of magic. “I am nothing more than an agent of destruction, but your undoing will be my crowning achievement, I think.”

I ready myself. That ball is half the size of a small car now, so I doubt I have much time until he throws it at me. I don’t want to die by running, but I also know that I might not make it out of this alive. If that means I have to bring the entire castle down upon us, then that’s what I’ll do.

Come hell or high water, I’m going to take this golden bastard down one way or another.

“Prepare for your death,” Invictis speaks, his voice so low it threatens to choke me on its own. “Goodbye, Rey.” His six wings flap, and the giant ball of magic shoots toward me at a speed I’m not expecting.

Turns out, leaping and rolling, parkouring with magic, actually got me used to moving like that, and even though I don’t have any magical aid, I’m still able to roll out of the way. The ball of light collides with the stone ground, right where I was before, breaking the floor completely and revealing a hidden floor underneath.

“Oh, come on,” I taunt him once I’m on my feet again. “You can do better than that, can’t you?” I stand about fifteen feet away from him, on his left.

Invictis says nothing, but he does lift a hand and send multiple shoots of yellow lightning at me. The power sizzles in the air, surging toward me much quicker than the giant ball did—and still I manage to dart out of the way. The lightning bolts hit the wall and crumble the stone.

Does he know what I’m doing, or does he think I’m stalling for time, for an idea?

I now stand directly before the throne containing the skeleton of Morimento’s son, nothing but regal attire and bones now, and I let out a laugh. “And you’re supposed to be some ancient weapon? Gotta say, I don’t see it.”

His golden chest rumbles with what must be annoyance, and the light emanating from his faceless-head glows brighter. His wings flap and elongate, growing until they take up damn near the entire room. His metallic wings are now wide enough to stop me from running around him, blocking off half the room to me.

“Pitiless and pathetic,” his dark voice whispers into my mind. “If you think you can defeat me, you are woefully more foolish than I thought you were. I am so much more than you will ever be, Rey.”

As he speaks, the light within him shoots up, breaking apart the cathedral ceiling of the throne room, a beam of blinding magic that surely goes all the way to the sky above. I wonder what his goal is, but then a bolt of yellow lighting comes down through the ceiling just behind me, sizzling the air as it zaps the space a foot away.

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