Page 135 of Scorching the Alien Empire
My smile deepens as hundreds of space-knights echo Jazzy in unison, their knees striking the metal floor, heads bent in absolute submission.
“Divine Daughter!”
A beautiful cacophony. The best-selling Lexie smash hit to my ears. My breath comes fast, frantic, my chest rising and falling in dizzying gulps. This is it. The moment I’ve craved my entire life. Hundreds of soldiers, tears in their eyes, love in their hearts—all for me!
Me.
I could die now the happiest woman alive. Just a young, breathtaking corpse, lips frozen in joy for all eternity.
But I want more. Not hundreds. Thousands. No—millions. As many souls as exist in this universe, all kneeling in my name.
Are you watching, Divine Mother, Aenarael?Are you proud of me? Do you see the adoration I bring to your mercurial domain? It is because of you that I have awakened. Because of you, I now see myself clearly.
The bold, impossible dreams are now a searing reality.
I love her. I love this.
“Protect the Revered Mothers!” Sarkoth’s roar slams into me like a hundred parking tickets, shattering my warm, fuzzy glow of triumph. “If we must all die for one to live, then that, my brothers, is a bargain!”
The space-knights move like a single living entity, shields snapping into place, forming a bristling wall of shimmering blue energy around me and the women. But my mind lags behind. Protect them from what? My eyes sweep the open expansive hangar, searching, hunting.
And then, I see it.
The void above pulses with movement. A swarm of murder-orbs churns in the darkness, their red lenses gleaming like malevolent stars.
They dart through space, moving with frantic, erratic speed, blurring at the edges.
Some break away from the battle raging above, hurtling toward us through the shimmering blue barrier like meteors of destruction.
Hundreds of blazing bolts tear through the darkness, sizzling, whizzing, filling the air with heat and fury. The sheer power of it presses against my skin, delicious, reminiscent of Dracoth’s attentions.
Some bolts miss, streaking into the void. Many hit. The murder-orbs’ shields flicker to life, absorbing a hit or two, only to wink out of existence as more shots slam into them, overwhelming their defenses, turning their forms into blueberry Slushy.
Delicious!
But more are coming. Breaking away from the dogfight above. They’re streaming from the distance like a red-brick road of murder. What’s now a slow trickle will soon turn into a downpour of murder-orbs. A vast galaxy of red lenses gleam like malignant stars coming to sweep us away.
I freeze.
My blood turns to ice. My hand reaches instinctively—For Todd. But he isn’t there.
Fuck.
“To the shuttles, quickly!” Jazreal’s voice cuts through the chaos, rising above the screaming zaps and thunderous detonations.
Murder-orb wreckage crashes into the hangar, bursting into flames, shaking the floor beneath us.
My thoughts scramble like eggs with extra butter.
There’s too many. Above, nearby, streaming in from all directions. I can’t keep track of them all. Even if we make it back to the ship, there’s no escape. My heart hammers against my ribs, threatening to burst from my chest—traitor heart!
How do I get out of this? How do I win?
“Get down!”
A hand grabs me, yanking me down as a streak of blue energy screams overhead, the air rippling with searing heat.
“Return fire, for void’s sake!” Jazreal’s voice roars over the fray, his weapon flashing.
