Page 41 of Visions of Darkness

Tempting him.

A man who was in her room, who Pax knew in an instant shouldn’t be.

“She won’t know if you touch her. She’s asleep.”

Images flooded Pax’s vision.

The vile.

The foul.

The seed that had been planted and its ultimate progression.

Pax’s knees weakened, yet he somehow became more determined.

He rushed toward it, gathering the light as he bent his mind to wrap it around the Ghorl.

It startled, detecting him before he had time to contain it.

It shattered into a million pieces, the shadow breaking apart and darting along the ground in every direction.

Hopelessness took his chest in a fist.

He would never be able to bind every fragment as it fled.

The light had to be focused on the shadow as a whole to completely extinguish it.

It would speed along the barren floor, hiding within the rolling fog, and then regather. In its regeneration, it would grow stronger.

A roar broke from his throat. “Aria!”

He couldn’t let this happen.

He couldn’t.

And all logic was lost.

Every warning he’d been given ceased to exist.

His purpose forgotten.

His blood pumped with fury, his mind frenzied as he searched the soiled ground for the nearest Kruen.

One he knew would lash out.

Pax rushed up behind it.

It whirled around and reared in defense, its eyes wild and vicious.

“Pax!” Ellis cried out when he realized his intention. “Do not do it!”

Pax didn’t slow. He lunged forward, and he propelled himself through the air with his arm cocked back in a fist, loosing a misleading threat.

It lashed out, just as Pax knew that it would.

Satisfaction billowed through Pax when it struck him across the chest, the burn searing through him and sending his spirit toppling back to humanity.

Because if he was going to get to Aria in the day? Every second counted.

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