Page 96 of Of Withering Dreams
Of not fighting back.
Enough.
Dazzling light exploded from my palms, radiating iridescence overtaking my icy eyes. In this moment, my ember and I were one. I felt at peace—confident as I flung its tethers away. My power stretched before knotting its cloying puppet strings around my soul.
A sense of unease bubbled along my nape, but it was too late. My will, sinking deeper within the corners of my mind, was no longer my own. I’d willingly given the leash to the thing inside me.
Fractured rainbows twirled between my outstretched palms and then latched onto Breena’s aura. Cherry hues swirled into the emerging orb, its power thrumming against my palms.
My power drank and drank.
More.
Breena stumbled, her aura dimming as she tried to jerk away from me, daggers still slashing at the spider with determination.
Kaden thrust his blade into the monster’s maw as it lunged toward him. It squealed, collapsing. Kaden pulled his slime-coated weapon free as Breena dropped to her knees.
“Seryn, stop!” he roared, catching Breena as she tipped over, convulsing.
I couldn’t, and the Ancients weren’t responding to my desperate pleas.
My unleashed ember consumed hers, her golden, olive-toned skin turning sickly and ashen as she convulsed in his arms.
More.
It was too late. My arteries ripped from my bleeding heart, tying around it. Strangling it. My mind raged against its chains.
But I couldn’t stop it.
Breena’s eyes fluttered closed, her back arching like a bow.
And then she ruptured into fiery ashes, coating Kaden in gleaming dust.
My heart dissolved along with her. Unshed tears choked me as my body moved against my will.
From somewhere trapped inside my skull, I watched helplessly as Rhaeger fought the alpha spider. It lurched forward as his axe swung behind him, its leg piercing through his heart.
Silent cries ripped through my mind as he jerked, blood spilling from his lips. With a thunk, his lifted axe cut off the monster’s leg. The fiend screeched, jumping back as my friend fell to his knees. Rhaegar tipped forward, his form bursting into cinder as it smashed into the ground in a glittering cloud.
The limping beta spider Sebille had injured earlier scurried toward us, its gait lopsided. My hands pushed forward, flinging energy at it. Slamming into its side, smearing across its body. It spread, seeping into every crevice and wrapping around every limb. Light blazed, contracted, and then exploded—the being crumbling like the gritty sand beneath our feet.
The crowd was hysterical. People jumping and yelling. Whooping and laughing.
Piles of dust and steaming gore scattered over the black sand.
The ashes of my soul sank into the earth with Rhaegar’s.
With Breena’s.
I slipped deeper into the dark void I was imprisoned in. Adding my own shackles and nestling within my ember’s chains.
Even if they survived the Stygian Murk and escaped to Midst Fall, the vileness of my true nature was already exposed. I was a vicious monster. Brutal, aching pain seared through me as the images of my friends’ destruction replayed in my eyes.
I did that—I destroyed them.
My aura shimmered, petting my skin. I recoiled deeper within myself.
Something was broken inside me, and now my gift would also devour me.
