Page 160 of Let It Snow
Destruction.
It spreads out of me in a wave… a wave without borders, without any limits.
It reaches farther and farther, more and more buildings collapsing in its path. The port is already flattened like a pancake, and now the wave of destruction is devouring the city itself. Even the ocean is retreating, its water sucked back as if terrified.
Yes. I know people are dying right now. Innocent people. Children. The elderly. But my rage cannot be stopped, because they took something precious from me.
My light.
A gigantic black cloud expands outward, dust and debris, sand and ashes rising like a storm. It climbs into the air like a nuclear bomb detonated right where I stand.
I feel the earth vibrating deep beneath me. Underground pipes are bursting, geysers of water and gas exploding skyward. Tremors rip through the entire city, and I know more buildings are falling, skyscrapers in the center collapsing, farther andfarther away from the place I stand. From the epicenter of this apocalypse. Of me.
Suddenly, I look down at my hands.
They’re completely black.
My wings are spread, but they are no longer iridescent, no longer dazzling with rainbow, gold, and violet light.
THEY took thelight!
My wings are black now. Black like the wings of demons. And they unfold wider than ever before, hundreds of feet across.
And then…
Wait.
I see something.
Something breaking the perfect, flat symmetry.
The destruction spreads around me in a flawless circle, a storm of dust and ruin. But one place—one single place—remains untouched.
It’s about a hundred yards from me, where the second hangar stood.
A piece of wall stands there, strangely unbroken.
I fix my gaze on it, and then I see a man step out from behind it. He’s carrying someone in his arms.
He walks toward me, a person in his arms, the long pale-golden braid hanging almost to the ground.
I die inside. I failed him too. I let his son die.
My body freezes even though the wave of destruction keeps spreading, because my rage refuses to subside. On the edges, the storm still boils, still devours.
The sound of the apocalypse I unleashed crashes in my ears.
The figure keeps coming closer.
He walks through dust and ruin, through the black haze swirling around us.
And then I recognize him.
Bay.
The shock is so intense it sobers me instantly.
I freeze. My wings slacken, unfurling loosely.
