Page 289 of The Ascended
"You think to unmake me?" Moros's voice shattered through the temple, and blinding light exploded from Olinthar's skin.
He raised both hands, and the temple filled with searing radiance. Light became solid, forming chains that wrapped around Thatcher's throat. My brother gasped, stumbling back as they tried to strangle him. Then there was a crack, and Moros doubled over.
Elysia used my distraction to break free. She rolled away and came up with another blade—where the fuck did she keep getting these? I barely got my arm up in time. The edge sliced deep into forearm instead of throat. More poison. More fire in my veins.
She circled me, predator stalking her prey. Her broken nose had already healed, though blood still painted her chin red. "We’ll look so wonderful together, don’t you think?"
"Too bad you won't live to see it." Light pooled in my palms, and I punched the bitch.
She shot back before lunging again, blade singing through air.
I caught her wrist, twisted, and drove a blade of pure starlight up through her ribs.
The world paused.
Elysia's eyes widened, more surprised than pained. She lookeddown at stellar fire protruding from her chest, then back at me. Blood bubbled from her lips as she tried to speak.
"I was... supposed to matter," she whispered, genuine confusion in her eyes. As if she couldn't understand how all her ambition had led to this moment, dying on a temple floor.
"Everyone matters," I said quietly. "You just chose to matter in the worst way possible."
She hit the ground hard, red blood pooling beneath her.
I spun around.
"You simply prolong the inevitable," Moros murmured through Olinthar's throat, raising both hands. Invisible forces slammed into Thatcher like a battering ram, hurling him across the temple. He hit the far wall with a crash, sliding down and clutching his shoulder.
I launched myself forward, star blades screaming through the air. Moros whirled, golden light erupting from Olinthar's hands to meet my attack. The blades shattered, but I was already forming more.
"You’ve decided to join in?" Moros laughed, and that same crushing force caught me mid-leap. I slammed into a pillar, ribs cracking from the impact. "How touching. Siblings united in death."
Thatcher pushed himself up, wiping blood from his chin. Our eyes met across the chaos-filled temple.
Remember what Sulien used to say?Thatcher's mental voice carried a ghost of a smile.
"The storm's only as strong as it is alone,"I finished, another blade growing in my hand.
"But two winds together can tear the sky apart."
We moved as one. Where Thatcher twisted left, I struck right. Where his power warped flesh, my fire carved through defenses. We'd spent our whole lives as two halves of a whole, and now, facing corruption incarnate, we finally fought like it.
He sustains everything we throw at him.Thatcher groaned down the bond.
Maybe we need to try a different approach.
"You think your bond means anything to me?" Moros sneered, trying to track both of us at once. "I am eternal."
"So were the rest of the Primordials," Thatcher said calmly, his power making Olinthar's knee buckle mid-strike.
"Until they weren’t," I finished, shooting three star blades into Moros's exposed side.
The Primordial's scream of rage shook dust from the ceiling. "You are insects. I have devoured civilizations! I have?—"
"You talk too much," we said in unison, and then we were on him.
Thatcher's eyes blazed brighter. Olinthar's arm suddenly twisted backward with a wet crack.
Moros is corruption itself. Like a parasite,I sent down the bond.
