Page 28 of A Simple Truth

I will not be controlled.

I will not be afraid.

Not now. Not ever.

And then, for a flash of a second, I remembered my name. And I remembered who I was.

I was Finnleah, Daughter of the Dead. I was a survivor. I was a warrior.

I had endured this far, and I would endure more. Now and forever.

I would not yield.

With those words, I screamed in agony as I stood up trembling.

I took a step, leaving a trail of melting skin in my wake. But I continued.

I walked into the laughing inferno, step after step, breathing in the fire like a dragon, letting it encompass every cell, every thought within.

“Yield to your master!” I screamed, though no sound was coming out of me. “You will yield to me!” I roared again, though no air was filling my lungs. “Yield!” I shouted, and then I moved my fleshless hands, curling my fingers in a fire-summoning gesture, noticing a small tug of the inferno near me.

“Yield!” I screamed again, but the fire gathered in a flaming tsunami, ready to devour me whole. Still, I didn’t move an inch as it furiously rushed towards me.

Seconds more, and I would disappear, my mind and body forever shattered and destroyed. My fingers trembled as I attempted to move them, only now noticing that my hands were gone, my bones like sand in the wind, crumbling. I pulled the entirety of my slipping consciousness into one action. A simple blink.

Maniacal laughter erupted from me as my vision gradually returned, watching the fire succumb to my demand, to my stare.

Bloody tears poured out of my eyes as I stood there amidst my own personal hell, laughing. A sound so wild, delirious, wicked, and terrifying.

I was Finnleah, Daughter of the Dead.

I was the wielder of Justice.

And I did not yield.

18

GIDEON

Iran through the embers of what was previously an overgrown forest, my heart pounding hard against my chest.

“Where is she?” I seethed, pushing through the lines of exhausted Creators and Destroyers.

“Oh, thank the fucking gods! Took you long enough!” Zora shouted, calling me to her. The Ten were encircling the giant, burning sphere. Their heat shields were raised at full strength as they pushed against the raw fire, yet, step by step, they were losing ground as the flames devoured their surroundings.

I crossed the small ravine, the only indication of the previously wild river, flinching as I passed the threshold into Finn’s fiery cocoon. A copper inferno slithered down to my bones curiously peeking at my own powers holding it at bay.

“Finn?” I shouted through the blazing heat.

Fuck.

There laid her body, convulsing amidst the flames. She was unconscious, her mind burning up.

Unresponsive.

Fuck!

I ripped off my cape with one swift motion, wrapping her bare body, her skin now covered in a million blood-filled blisters.

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