Page 36 of Bright Blinding Ruin

“Thank you.” I don’t know what else to say to the woman. I already told her I was sorry about what happened to her son. So far, it’s two for two; no empress has had a good ending. With Krotas still alive, it does make me wonder just how insane she might be, trapped in her own castle.

I watch as Morimento fades before me, turning into wisps of light that slowly fade away as they drift apart. In less than thirty seconds, I stand there alone, with even more magic at my fingertips. I don’t really know what kind of magic she had; based on the memory, I can summon vines out of thin air, but there has to be more to it than that.

Eh, I’ll play with the magic later. Right now, I need to get going.

Turning on my heel, I hurry to the open door and race out of the undercroft. The moment both of my feet step on dirt, the undercroft seals itself behind me. I step out into the garden, past the shade of the flowering tree above, and I swear, I see it with new eyes.

The colors are brighter, more vibrant. I can differentiate each flower’s smell from the others. I can practically hear eachand every leaf rustling with the gentle breeze, like I’ve suddenly become a part of the garden itself.

Must be from Morimento’s magic, a side effect or something. It’s not the worst feeling.

I want to stay and enjoy the garden anew, to bask in the unfamiliar sensations of being surrounded by so much life, but I can’t. I must leave Acadia and go where I haven’t gone before: Magnysia’s castle.

Only… I don’t exactly know how to get there, so I might as well sit in the garden while I plan my route, right?

I find a nice spot near a bush overgrown with bright blue flowers and take a seat. I tug the map out of my bag and unfold it, holding it over my lap as I study it. Never been much of a map person, for obvious reasons—phones for the win—but I’ve gone all over Laconia so much that I’m starting to get the hang of it.

I think.

The wind picks up, which I’m not expecting; I don’t have a good enough grip on the map to keep it in my lap. The wind picks the parchment up and carries it off, and by the time I get to my feet to try to catch it, it’s already landed in one of the topmost branches of the tree draping over the undercroft’s stone door.

Great. Guess this means I’ll be testing out some of Morimento’s magic sooner than I thought.

I start toward the tree, but I only make it two steps before a shadow appears overhead, blocking out the sun’s rays… a shadow with the shape of a man and six wings.

Invictis is here.

Well, shit.

Chapter Fourteen

Silly me thought I’d have more time, but if I’m honest with myself, it’s a miracle I made it this far before he showed himself again—this time not in a dream, but in the flesh, so to speak. Not sure if the guy has any flesh when his ascended form is made of human-shaped metal.

I’m slow in turning away from my route to the map, and I angle my head up to look at him. Invictis floats about twenty feet above me, not needing to use his wings to keep himself in the air. He just… stays there like he’s hovering.

With the sun shining off him, around him, through him, it’s difficult for me to look at him without squinting. With the natural light combining with the light radiating from his faceless form, it’s almost too much. Makes my eyeballs hurt.

“Well, well, well,” I say loud enough for Invictis to hear, “fancy seeing you here.”

He does not address my sarcasm. Instead, he says, “Have you learned everything yet?” His voice is the low one, the one that crawls up your spine and takes hold of you no matter how hard you try to fight it. Unnatural, unreal. Mechanical, almost. “No, I don’t suppose you have. It doesn’t matter. You will bow to me before you fall, just as they all did.”

Invictis cuts right to the chase. He lifts a golden hand toward me, and a ray of white magic shoots from his palm. Six smaller rays come from the tips of his wings, combining with the palm ray to make one really big beam of energy.

I react instantly, using Gladus’s magic to help me leap back with inhuman speed while Morimento’s magic creates a vine-like shield in front of me. Together, it’s enough to block the beam.

“Ah,” Invictis’s voice growls out in the sky, “I see you have learned some new tricks after all.” He lowers himself to the garden, his metallic body so heavy he lands with a thud. He looks out of place in the garden, and the absolute power ebbing from him makes the plants around him shrivel and dry up, the petals on the flowers to curl up and fall off.

He really is a beautiful death.

“Come, Rey,” he taunts me, stopping when he’s only ten feet away. “Show me what else you’ve learned.” The way he says it, I can tell he doesn’t believe anything I’ve learned will make a difference. In his eyes, I’m already dead, a dead girl walking, and this is some sick game he’s playing. He hates me so much he wants to make it last.

His mistake, really.

My hands curl into fists as the magic inside me surges to the surface. “I’ll do more than that. I’ll show you what I’ve learned and I’ll kick your golden ass from here to hell as a bonus.”

All he does is laugh, a bizarre sound with his unnatural voice, but that laugh serves its purpose: it pisses me the fuck off. A bolt of lightning forms in my right hand, and I heave it at him, throwing it much like I imagine Zeus would, if the Greek god was real.

The bolt hits Invictis on his golden chest, but it’s not strong enough to penetrate the metal—although, I don’t know that penetration would do any good. It isn’t like he has a heart in there, beating. He has no brain, so why would he have a heart? That body is either solid or hollow.

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