Page 144 of Storm of Fury
A single tear slid down his cheek, as Marduk reached out to squeeze his shoulder, and that alone nearly fucking broke him.
“Mother?” It was a voice he’d never heard before.
Green light flooded the world. Sirius looked up as Ishtar reached out, a ball of pure power blazing around her hand as tears ran down her cheek.
“Wake up,” she whispered.
His heart sank like lead. “She’s not going to—”
Her power touched Zorja’s chest, and the light sank into the ravaged wound there, flesh searing as her skin swallowed that glowing orb whole. Zorja jerked, her spine arching and green power spilling from her lips and eyes and nose. And then suddenly there were two Zorja’s. The one in his arms, and the green spirit form of her body hovering just over her flesh.
It was like watching everything in reverse.
Sirius’s gut roiled as he sensed the world blurring around him.
Zorja’s spirit form lurched to her feet, wrenching her body along with it. He could almost sense a shadowy form kicking her in the chest, and then she was jerking forward, into the shadow’s arms. A sharp inhale, and then a spear of actinic green formed in her hands, and she stepped back, into a defensive position, while the shadow faded—
And then the two Zorja’s came together, the spirit form sinking into her flesh. His mother cried out, falling to one knee, the glowing spear fading in her hand as she shuddered and clapped a hand to her chest.
Sirius scrambled to his feet, the heat draining from his face. “Mother?”
Zorja sucked in a soul-ravaged breath and looked up, her eyes wild and lit with Chaos magic. They were no longer blue, but an unearthly green.
“What happened?” Zorja rasped, looking down at her shaking hand.
“Ishtar—” He had no answer for her. This wasn’t healing. It wasn’t anything he’d ever seen before. Zorja had been dead, her soul preparing to launch itself into the skies to ride the horizon forever.
“I reversed Time,” Ishtar said.
Sirius gaped at her.
“Chaos magic has no bounds,” whispered his tutor’s voice in his head. “It is the magic of the Goddess herself, as wild and untamed as she was.It is outside Time and Space, and though certaindrekican wield barely the most minute levels of its power, the possibilities for what a true Chaos-wielder can do are endless.”
But there was one more thing his tutor had said that struck him.
“That does not mean that such magic is without consequence.”
He looked around. The circle still shivered, waiting, lurking. And there was no sign of either Void.
But he couldn’t hide the feeling of dread premonition that itched down his spine.
He reached out to draw Zorja to her feet, squeezing her hand when he felt the warmth of blood pumping through her veins. This shouldn’t have happened. It was a miracle.
Or was it?
Ishtar staggered against Marduk, rubbing her fist against her temples. “I want to sleep now.”
And Marduk caught her as she slumped unconscious in his arms.
But Sirius couldn’t help looking around.
Because if Ishtar had invert Time itself, then what else had she reversed?
Twenty-Seven
Everything hurt.
Everything.
