Page 95 of Unleashed

You can do this, Nina. You can hold them. Take what you need from me.

Several of the beasts struggled forward, slowed as though moving through thick sludge. Nina growled. Another wave of energy pulsed from her, and the advancing beasts recoiled before stilling once more. For a moment, he heard her projection to them in his mind as clearly as though she’d spoken it aloud.

—your tribe. Don’t attack. Stay—

The sound of Vortok’s hooves hammering into the pyramid echoed off the walls of dark buildings nearby and carried across the night sky. He hit it again and again, and Aduun risked another glance back to see the crystal around the impact points crumbling inward.

Planting his thick front legs farther apart, Vortok rocked forward, heaved his flank off the ground, and threw himself back, slamming his hooves into the crystal with all his strength and weight.

The crystal pyramid shattered, the sound at once delicate and thunderous, like ten thousand icicles breaking on a rock at once. Its pieces scattered in all directions — chunks as large as Aduun’s torso falling away near the bottom, shards as long as his arm around the middle, the pieces smaller and smaller toward the top. All sparkled in the light of moon and stars, granted new reflective surfaces by the breakage.

A chill crept along Aduun’s spine. He shuddered from tail to nose, quills flaring, but the cold did not pass; it only intensified and solidified, becoming like an icy hand sliding over him. This was different from the cold he’d known in the winters of his old life, different from the cold they’d struggled through in the valley on their way here. It possessed a weight that was both terrifying and familiar.

Dread gathered deep in his belly. Baring his teeth in a low growl, he turned fully toward the platform as the pieces of crystal fell away to reveal a tall, lean figure and another psychic wave — stronger than anything Nina had yet released — blasted over Aduun.

The force of that power wove together with the cold and pressed down on Aduun. His mind trembled, his growl became a snarl of pain, and his shaky legs gave out beneath him. He fell to the ground, bracing his claws against the stone as though he could find strength enough from it to rise. Every muscle in his body strained against the impossible pressure.

Vortok was in a similar position near the platform, his legs splayed to the sides.

An old scent drifted to Aduun’s nostrils, made thin with the passage of years — a hint of alien spice and decay.

The figure’s horned head turned slowly toward Aduun, who learned the true meaning ofcoldin that moment.

Kelsharn wasn’t dead. Kelsharn wasn’t gone. He washere, in the flesh.

The remaining crystal on the platform cracked and crumbled away as Kelsharn stepped down. The flowing fabric draped around his waist hung to the ground, but it was tattered and dingy, faded and ancient.

Aduun struggled to charge forward, to attack, to taste Kelsharn’s blood on his tongue once again andknowthis time that the being who’d destroyed his people was dead, but his body was unable to comply. The power was too great, the pressure too much.

“No…” Nina rasped. Shock radiated from her, for an instant just as heavy as Kelsharn’s power.

—no no no no he can’t be alive he can’t be here no no—

Aduun’s eyes felt as though they’d burst from his skull as he turned them to look at her. Her hand was heavy and trembling on his flank, as though she were leaning on him, but somehow, she remained on her feet. Her skin was deathly pale and beaded with sweat.

Everything was silent except for their heavy breathing and the clinking of crystal shards that announced Kelsharn’s approach. Aduun turned his gaze back to his maker. Kelsharn’s head was tilted as though looking at the stone mounds beside him. His lean, corded neck didn’t seem as though it should be able to support those massive horns. His thin lips pulled back in a sneer to reveal sharp, yellowed teeth and gray gums.

—For centuries, I have been caged because of these pathetic lumps of stone—

Kelsharn’s mouth moved, but no sound emerged from his throat; Aduun heard the voice in his mind, vibrating through his skull to resonate in his very bones. The horned head once again faced Aduun and Nina.

“But you came.” The words emerged in a faint, raspy whisper from Kelsharn’s lips, as dry as his imprisonment must’ve been, still reinforced by the voice in Aduun’s mind. “You prevailed, as I’d hoped you would, and entered the most satisfying part of your punishment.

“I did not expect my failures to come until I sensedthat.” One of Kelsharn’s long-fingered hands rose, and he gestured directly at Nina, taking another step forward. She swayed against Aduun as though her knees had buckled but held her footing without falling.

“And what a strange, beautiful creature it is that has answered my call.”

Nina staredat the being in front of her, limbs quivering and breath shallow. She couldn’t believe what was before her eyes.

It…can’tbe. The Creators are gone!

But Kelsharn washere, in the flesh, speaking to them, probing her thoughts. She forced her mental barriers into place, but she couldfeelhim; it was like insects crawling inside her head, slowly working their way through every tiny part of her mind. He was too strong.

She sensed Balir behind her, felt the rage and hunger of the valos behind him, but no one was able to move. The weight of Kelsharn’s power — overwhelming, confident, and bolstered by his fury — was too great for any of them to shrug off.

Kelsharn took another step toward them, his stride stiff; he moved more like a corpse than a living being. The helmet that left only his mouth visible was even more terrible in person than she could have imagined — she could not see his gaze, but she couldfeelit.

“So much more potential than your people had, chieftain’s son,” Kelsharn said. “You were never anything more than beasts at heart. But this female…thishuman…”

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