Chapter 26 #2
“There is no power without taking it from someone. A thousand lifetimes, and I have killed a thousand gods, but I have finally unlocked it. I have finally unlocked how to take that power into myself. Taking from your Bonded Group will give me everything I need to build the world that I want.”
A shiver runs down my spine, because I already know that the world it wants to see is one of pain and blood and madness. The same world that the Resistance has been fighting for because they were fighting on her behalf.
“I don't want to fight the god within you. I want to take its power and become it. I want to consume it.”
* * *
I know that things are not going to stay so civil between the Pain god and I for very long.
The more I try to keep the god-bond talking, the more that it snares me in its trap.
And the more that it pushes me closer and closer to the edge of the bridge, the more that it draws my eyes down to the water rushing beneath us.
The more that it gets me where it wants me.
I don't know how it intends on doing what it claims it can do, and the Pain god reads my disbelief with ease, a cruel smile curving over its lips as it bares its teeth at me like a true predator playing with its prey.
“Silas Davies figured it out, you know,” it continues on, and I shudder unconsciously at the mention of his name.
“He figured it out thanks to you, of course, because consuming people is your gift, after all.
I know that you all seem to think it was a misstep of mine to let him play with you for so long, to let him play his little games, only to have you disappear out of his grasp as if you were smoke.
It was never about killing you or the thing that lives inside of you.
It was about harnessing you. Of course, he thought that I wanted mass destruction, for you to kill as many Gifted and humans as possible.
He was a crazed being, one after my own heart, but we can't ever really befriend the Gifted. The wolf cannot befriend the sheep, but I suppose we can use the most creative of them to our benefit.”
Creative.
I suppose that's a word you could use for Silas Davies.
I also have to acknowledge that spending time with him trained me pretty well to have this conversation.
There's nothing but madness spewing out of the Pain god’s mouth right now, nothing but the sort of maniacal insanity of a nihilistic dictator.
There's no doubt in my mind that this is exactly where the Resistance started, from a group of Gifted worshiping the wrong god. One who had promised them power and convinced them all that they deserved certain liberties, when really all it wanted was cannon fodder for a war of its own design.
“We can't spend all night talking about such things, little girl. You’re not going to find a flaw in my plans, and I’m not going to convince you to join my side, am I?”
The wind rustles in the trees on the far side of the bridge again, this time louder, and it’s an ominous sound that echoes through the night.
I shake my head. “I think we both know that I'm not going to give you my bond.
I also think you know that you couldn't get it out of me even if you tried.
You haven't been able to push your way inside of my head in the ten minutes we've been talking, so I doubt you're ever going to be able to.
All of your convincing has been for nothing.
I'll stick with real power. The Eternal will win this.”
I watch as the senator’s face contorts, twisting and turning as the disgust and madness bleeds into the woman's features. I almost feel glad that the god killed the vessel a long time ago, that there hasn't been some poor Gifted trapped inside there with it all this time. It’s a fate worse than death, I’m sure.
“The Eternal would certainly like to think that, wouldn't you?” it spits out, its voice changing, darkening, deepening, and its eyes bleed to black.
My bond stretches in my chest again in retaliation, preparing and readying itself to finish what evil has been started here. We’re both ready to take back the life that we want to have with our Bonded, the one we all deserve.
The Pain god raises a hand, centering its power on me, only this time, I feel the full blast of it as it pulses out of the god-bond’s body.
It hits mine as though it’s a physical wave, crashing over me and flooding me with sensation.
I do feel the pain but not in the way that the Pain god intends, because my bond is shutting it out of my mind, taking it from me as it took Silas Davies’ pain.
It’s protecting me now as it protected me before, taking it all even as my body begins to shut down.
Protecting me now as it always has.
As my vision begins to blur, my eyes slowly begin to flutter shut. For a second, I feel myself panic.
What if it doesn't work?
What if everything that we planned was all for nothing?
What if we die here, and my last moment with my Bonded was back at the Sanctuary, back where Nox was the only one confident of this plan.
He was the only one pushing it, while the others were furious at us both for this.
What if all of this is for nothing and we're going to be forced to cycle again?
As my vision goes black and pushes me into darkness, those words echo in my mind, the last thing I think as the Eternal takes over… What if we fail?
What if I fail?