Page 6 of Bright Blinding Ruin

“There is nowhere you can run, nowhere you can hide,” Invictis warns as more bolts slam down through the clouds, busting through the ceiling. Some are so strong they crack the stone floor when they hit, and they all leave black singe marks in their wake. “You will perish here. Your body will be buried with the rubble, and now that I am whole again, I will finish Laconia.”

I do my best to zigzag around in the part of the throne room I’m trapped in, but the lightning bolts come faster and harder. Soon the air itself, no matter where I go, smells of electricity, and I know there’s nowhere to run.

He was playing with me, toying with me as I tried to bring down this entire room, and now he’s done. The smaller bolts stop, and the moment they do, I know he’s about to bring down the Mack Daddy of them all.

Invictis was right. I have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. This is it.

I straighten out and glare at the golden monstrosity, at the being who wears the shape of a man but is no man. How fast everything changed. The wound is still raw, and honestly I’m terrified of dying.

I don’t want to die. Who does?

All that aside, my voice comes out steady when I tell him, “The people of Laconia are strong. One day—maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow—but one day someone’s going to put you in your place. Even if you are a weapon, you should know sometimes even the best weapon fails.”

And then I give him the finger, because what else can I do? No magic, nowhere to hide, the air around me sizzling so hard my hair has started to lift on its own.

Invictis doesn’t dignify that with a response. At least, not one that I hear, because right then the area around me is blasted with his golden-white energy. It shatters the small skeleton on the throne, along with the jewels inlaid in the band around its skull. I’m enveloped in the light, and it’s so bright I have to close my eyes.

It’s warm. So warm. Everywhere on my body, from my toes to my fingertips. If I’m being blasted into eternity, at least it’s not an uncomfortable feeling. I thought dying was supposed to feel cold, but maybe it happens so fast your mind can’t comprehend it.

The throne room probably crumbles around me, on top of me, caving in on itself from the sheer force of the blast of magic. I hear stone buckling and falling, colliding with itself as it breaks apart.

Is this what death is? I’m not ready for it, but what other choice do I have?

I feel something touch my shoulder, and I open my eyes to a world of white. Pure, undiluted white everywhere I look, the only real thing me. Me and whatever’s touching me. I’m slow to turn around, and when I do, I stand face-to-face with a woman I’ve never seen before. Not in person, anyway.

She wears regal blues and lush greens, her flowing dress speckled with jewels. A golden band sits on her forehead, sapphires laced with the precious metal. Some of her blond hair is braided in a crown around her head while the rest is pin-straight and falls well past her shoulders. Her blue eyes are a shade of the prettiest azure I’ve ever seen.

I might not have ever seen her in person before, but I know her. Her picture hung amongst the vines that started to overtake the castle in the entryway.

Unsure if I can speak, I try anyway: “Empress Morimento?”

Her lips are slow to curl into a smile as she gives me a slight nod. “Hello, child.” Her voice is calm, like she meets people in this white place all the time, just another day’s occurrence. Nothing special to see here.

I look around us, at nothing in particular. “Am I… dead?”

“No,” she says, “it is not your time yet.”

“Then how—I don’t understand.”

Empress Morimento gives me a solemn smile. “You will. Soon you will understand everything. But not today. I knew you would come. We all did. There is a feeling us empresses have when we know our time is coming to an end. We knew it a long time ago.”

I try to make sense of what she’s saying, but it’s so vague I can’t. “What are you talking about?” I lift a hand to my head. Everything is a little fuzzy. All I remember is… “Invictis.”

Her expression saddens, and she turns away from me. “Yes. Our final failure.” Suddenly she whirls upon me, urgency on herfeatures. “You must take him back to Laconia. Make sure he stays safe. He can help keep Laconia safe while you return to us.”

“Who… what?”

Empress Morimento lifts a hand to my face, gently touching my cheek. “Acadia, Pylos, and Magnysia. You will venture to all three and gain what wisdom each castle holds.” Her hand falls away, and she takes a step backward. Her outline grows fuzzy, as if she’s blending in to the whiteness that surrounds us. “Seek the undercrofts, but only after you return him to Laconia.”

I have questions—lots of them—but I don’t get the chance to ask them. Everything turns white again, until I can no longer see Empress Morimento or myself.

Chapter Four

My first thought as I wake up laying on dirty stone is that I’m not dead. What would normally be cause for a celebration is nothing more than a fact as I sit up and groan. I open my eyes as I hold onto the side of my head—kind of pounds, by the way.

I’m no longer in the throne room. In front of me is a pile of rubble the size of a truck, blocking off the hallway I lay in. The air is thick with dirt and dust, and it takes my eyes a few moments to adjust to the darkness.

I’m not in the throne room any more. If I have to guess, I’d say I’m somewhere underneath them, my body intact and my bag still clinging to me from the strap around my shoulder.

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