Page 78 of The Cruel Dawn
That black hole in the dirt widens until the ground crumbles away.
I’m pulled toward it, my breath catching as the air around me thins. “Stop,” I whisper.
The shriek wavers for just a moment, but then it resumes, louder than before.
I squeeze my eyes shut.This isn’t real.Wake up, Kai.Wake the fuck up!
Cold, white fingers pry my eyes apart.
I slap at the hand on my face and glare up at the giant.
He tilts his head back and roars. Behind him, a mass of equally pale-skinned giants swing their curved swords at Fihel’s remaining houses and trees. All of it catches fire. The few humans who’d been hiding within those houses dash behind rocks and logs.
Are these giants the new gods of the golden tree?
Their chests are bare, their skin smooth and white as sandstone. Their feet look like marble, cracked and glowing faintly from within. With that unmarked skin, they aren’t Mera Destroyers, despite the precision of crescent-shaped blades, each swing leaving faint trails of flame in the air. Their eyes are as black as that spreading hole. These giants move in unison, silent as shadows.
The air around me grows frigid; my breath puffs from my mouth in a white cloud. Frost forms on the tips of my fingers.
One of the giants tilts his head toward me, a predator’s gaze locking onto prey. He bares his teeth at me, teeth flecked with armor, taffeta, splintered pine trees and giant cedars…
No, he isn’t a Mera Destroyer; he is adevourer. This Devourer swings his blade at me.
I duck, but the pommel of his sword smashes into my back, knocking me off my feet. I scream as I slam sideways into the thick trunk of a tree. My back burns as I fall to the ground, numb, unable to move. I taste my own blood, and I want to vomit.
“Go to him and surrender,” the Devourer demands.
I spit blood on the ground before him and growl, “I obey no one.”
“Then you will die.”
“I willnot,” I snap. “I’ve broken my chains.”
I weakly thrust my hands in front of me—but no power bursts from my fingertips. No flame, no wind, no lightning. The world turns gray around me, my arms weighing as much as the realm. I drop my hand as the world spins…and spins…
I collapse, face-first, into the dirt.
“Kai!” A woman’s voice.
I open my eyes to dirt and brightness…
A red cardinal flies so close to me that his wings brush my nose. I blink, shaking.
A hand appears. A gloved finger brushes my cheek.
Someone’s shouting.
Gray suede boots.
The ground beneath me quakes. I look up and see those marble-skinned giants stalking toward the horizon.Devouring.
“Kai,” the woman behind me shouts again. I lift my head, look back—
Elyn, in those gray suede boots, raises a sword of pure light. Her golden armor gleams against the darkened sky. Her eyes are as cold and sharp as her blade.
Jadon stands beside her, holding a giant broadsword—Chaos, with its silver blade and massive basket hilt. Beyond them, Elyn’s guards strike down the Devourers with their pikes. But the slain giants rise again, their deafening cries echoing across the ruins of Fihel.
I cough and shake my head in a futile attempt to clear it. I swipe away the blood dripping into my eyes.
