Page 3 of A Simple Truth

“No,”I mumbled, barely able to move my tongue, my mouth turning as dry as a desert. “No,” I repeated. This time, my voicewas louder, stronger. “You arelying. This…” My eyes dashed around the large tent lined with thick carpets. “This is all a lie,” I uttered, bile burning my throat. The General rose from his chair, letting out a long, heavy breath.

“Finn…”

“No…” I shook my head, snarling at him, my eyes darkened as rage scorched within me. “You are a bloodthirsty child-defiler. Not a rebel.” I pointed my finger at him, my wrists still bound tight with the harsh rope. “And if you are…” I paused to gain control of the nausea roiling through my gut. “If somehow, in this twisted universe, youarea rebel…theirleader, then I don’t want to fucking join a cause run bya monster. Ifthisis what Rebels stand for, if they are together with the Destroyers, then this world is doomed. And I am never going to be a part of it!” My lips pressed into a thin line as pure and unadulterated hatred boiled within me.

This couldn’t be, and yet, here I was.

Somehow, the world had shifted on its axis, spiraling into an abyss past the point of return.

“Careful how you speak to my General,” Zora hissed, taking a step closer. Her already-narrow eyes turned into sharp slits as she glared at me. But I didn’t back down as my eyes stared back at the General.

“You can call me a Destroyer, your slave, or whatever else your sick mind conjures, but that sure as hell doesn’t make me one. If I could summon fire,which I cannot,I would have turned you all to ashes a long time ago.” The walls of my inner fortress fractured, as if rocked by a violent earthquake; its foundations shaken, on the brink of bursting.

“How about we all take a big, deep breath,” Xentar started calmly. “I think there is a bit of a misunderstanding—”

I let out a wrath-filled scoff as I sent a piercing glare in his direction. “Youhave the nerve to call this a misunderstanding?!ACreatorwiththem…betraying your own people? Joiningthem? Where were you when Destroyers burned mages, tortured them, and hunted them for sport? Where were you as Creators were forced to watch their children die, only to be killed after? Was that all a ‘misunderstanding’ too?!”

All of this for nothing.

“Perhaps, I can help,” Orest offered kindly as he took a half step closer to me, but the General gestured for him to stop.

“Finn, if you would just listen to us, it will all make sense.” The General, orGideon, or whoever else he pretended to be stood up. My skin prickled; crawling with disdain at his nearness. The pressure in my veins was rising so high, they were about to burst.

The world believed in the Rebels.Ibelieved in them. Peoplediedfor them, hunted by none other than theDestroyers. And it was just a cruel, twisted lie?

I couldn’t breathe.

My head spun and my vision darkened.

It was all too much.

The hatred I felt could no longer be leashed. The creature within me roared as I shouted.

“Burn in fucking hell!” With that, I threw the last poisoned pin that I held tightly between my bound hands, sending it straight at the General’s figure.

But it wasn’t the pin that made the dust in the air freeze; it was the golden streak that followed. The General ducked just in time, letting the flame land on the tent wall behind him, immediately dissolving the canvas with its heat, evaporating it to pure dust. Startled soldiers gaped at me through the giant hole from the outside; their faces were perplexed, as my trembling hand remained hovering in the air.

My entire body trembled uncontrollably. My eyes locked onto the charred ends of the tent’s roof, now ruffled by the cold,northern wind. The General hastily motioned with his hand, extinguishing the remaining fire before it spread.

Like a breath of fresh air, something inside me felt sodamn free.It was a feeling I had never felt before; entirely unfamiliar. No more shackles, no more chains, no more cage.

Free.

As if my soul became whole again.

But my entire mind burned in shock, my thoughts withering into ashes, just like the canvas walls of the tent moments ago.

I gasped for air, my heart filled with undiluted terror, my body struggling to hold onto consciousness as my lungs sealed shut.

But I could not deny the truth any longer.

I was a Destroyer.

2

GIDEON

“Gods be damned. Raw fucking fire.” Zora paused, running her fingers through the chain of her weapon, as she stared at the now-scorched tent. Her brows lifted, and the corners of her mouth followed suit, forming a pleasant yet shocked expression.

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