Page 109 of Descent

Might as well be on the other side of the world.

Bearing down and harnessing ice cold, steely rage, I make it to my feet, locking my legs out. Head spins. Don’t puke.

Ciro hands me a canteen, half full. Good call.

“Lead the way, Ciro.”

“Ero…” His eyes soften with concern. Pity.

“Don’t say it. I know.”

The apparition nods, shutting his mouth. This really is a fantasy.

One step. One more step.

Hours pass. Delirium sets in. It’s all I can do to keep my eyes on Ciro’s back. Keep moving.

Keep hanging onto that frail tether of hope. Circe.

Night closes in on me. I keep to the dirt road, tailing the dim silhouette of my guide. At some point, I stumble down into a ditch, through a gap in a chain-link fence.

Lights in the distance. Was I supposed to go there? Or is that death, beckoning me on.

As if on cue, Ananke appears ahead of me, leering at me. Taunting me.

I never stop, trudging onward. Right through her.

No fear. Not a wink of the terror that used to grip me at her presence. Like it’s been burned out of me. Torn away with the heat of a bullet. Scoured from my mind with rage and hatred.

In place of the fear, determination. Disdain.

She’s hurt countless people. Destroyed innumerable lives. She’s nothing but a hollow, soulless tyrant. But even tyrants are human. Ananke is just a woman. Killable.

My foot slips, I almost take a dive.

“Speaking of killable humans…” Ciro mutters. He’s suddenly at my side, his arm looped under mine.

“Weird.”

“Don’t read into it too much.”

Cyrillic letters manifest out of the fog. A sign. One kilometer left.

Fuck.

“I’m s-sorry, Zero.” My knees wobble. Ciro lets me down slowly, resting my head on his lap.

“I got you, brother. I got you.”

I feel my heartbeat slow. Putter out.

It’s the last thing I know.

31

CIRCE

This is the part of the story where the highlight reel unfolds, where the sinister plot of the villain takes shape. Then the heroine is supposed to overcome all odds, save the day.

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