Chapter 70 #4
“What's happening?” My voice came out hoarse and fragile.
She stopped and looked at me, confused, then resumed running and shouted:
“Go back to your bed! The patient in the basement is dying, but the containment barrier is being attacked from the inside.”
My eyes narrowed. The barrier was being attacked from the inside?
How was that possible if he was dying? A chill ran through me and my legs faltered.
I was still so weak—my body wasn't in any condition to walk or stand for long.
When the nurse disappeared down the stairs, I closed the door and made my way back to the bed with the cart's help, the world spinning around me.
But halfway there, I heard screams from the lower floors, then a blast of power made the windows rattle.
I froze, so shocked I couldn't even move my eyes, paralyzed with fear.
“This has to be a joke.” I took a deep breath, trying to calm down.
The crash could only mean the containment barrier had broken, and whatever could break through a barrier like that had to be incredibly strong.
I looked around. Maybe it was fear, or maybe my mind was playing tricks on me, but the room felt colder.
Outside, the hallway darkened, and my stomach dropped, dragging my heart down with it.
I turned slowly toward the door. Then, like something out of a horror movie, I heard the click of an archemic globe going out. I'd never forget that sound—the light being snuffed out.
It was coming for me. I knew he'd return. When we first met, I knew he'd let me go. For some reason, he hadn't wanted to take me that day—because if he had, I wouldn't have stood a chance. And now he was back to finish the job.
Another globe clicked.
Only the globe in front of my door remained. My breath came in ragged gasps, and my hand was so sweaty it felt sticky.
Click.
Through the door's glass, I saw nothing but darkness in the hallway.
There was no other way out—I'd have to go through it.
How could I get past the thing already waiting for me out there?
The door opened slowly with an agonizing creak.
I felt the presence approaching, cold as a piece of the Abyss itself.
Before the door finished opening, the archemic globe above me went out.
In total darkness, I stumbled to the side of the room, groping blindly.
Some of my stitches tore open, and I felt the gown grow damp.
I stepped in the opposite direction, but my legs gave out and I dropped to my knees.
Terrified, I dragged myself to the wall and pressed my injured back against it.
I stared into the darkness, and there, in the depths of the shadows, a pair of eyes stared back.
Just that golden, incandescent glow against the heavy black.
“No,” I whispered in panic. “Don't come near me.”
I screamed in desperation. This couldn't be happening—it had to be another nightmare.
Mixed with the murmurs drifting through the hospital, I heard the machines of some dying patient beeping frantically.
The thing dragged itself across the floor, closer and closer.
When it got close enough, a hand closed around my ankle and yanked me to the floor with inhuman strength.
All my stitches tore open, and I screamed in pain.
“Let me go!”
I kicked and thrashed, but the presence was stronger. It rose over me, pinning me to the floor. It was cold and radiated raw power that made my heart race from the sheer weight of its aura alone. An aura I'd only felt in dreams.
“No!” I screamed, struggling against the cold hands, slipping in my own blood.
The presence crushed me against the damp floor, seeming pleased—like a cat that had cornered a mouse.
“Yesss!” it hissed.
The aura clung to my body as if trying to merge with me.
The presence covered my skin like a mantle of power.
As I struggled, the energy began forcing its way inside.
It pierced my muscles and settled over my bones, molding itself to my form.
I feared my flesh would tear—it was like being invaded by something hundreds of times larger than me.
“Yesss!” it repeated one last time. Its voice was glorious, immortal, and powerful.
Somewhere in the hospital, a heart stopped beating. The cardiac monitor flatlined, and when someone pressed the button to mark the time of death, the world erupted in gold.
It was so golden it looked like molten fire.
It spread in waves so strong and violent I felt myself disintegrating.
There was so much power my body trembled and convulsed, unable to handle the sheer insanity of the energy.
It echoed as it expanded beyond the hospital, through walls, forests, rivers, and stones.
It echoed to the four corners of the continent, rippled through cities, and found what it was looking for.
Glowing fragments.
It found the first one hidden inside an icy lake in a frozen city. It glowed like black onyx, its power spreading through the water, breathing shadows in every direction. Every molecule around it was charged with that energy, and the beings in that place were saturated with its essence.
It searched for another fragment at the peak of a mountain so high the clouds shrouded its summit. But the nursery of blue crystals was empty.
The third place it searched was a deep, dry well. The earth there was golden, and down at the bottom, a yellow stone glowed, radiating abundant power. The glow was so intense it merged with the soil like veins of gold, branching out in all directions.
It moved on to an arboreal city I also knew, but its protective sanctuary had been destroyed, and a castle had risen in its place.
An empty throne stood in the hall, and around it, bones and clothes were heaped together like some grotesque collection.
It was a twisted, corrupted nest. The walls reeked of horror and rot.
The energy searched for the fragment, but it wasn't there.
So it returned through the forest and found the false queen of that throne near the walls, mounted on a carnical.
She turned her face toward us when she sensed our presence.
Her face was a mask of hunger, hatred, and rage.
I knew her—that creature had killed my mother.
It was Ravena, and at the same time, it wasn't. She trembled and pointed a finger in our direction.
But before she could do anything, the power moved to another location.
We flew over a city of a thousand colors and dove into the ground, into a grotto full of crystals that illuminated a well where water seeped up from the earth.
The power searched but found nothing. Anxious, it rose through the crevices in the ground and pressed on until it showed me a man running through shadows in the forest. His essence radiated pure black power with hints of green.
The golden energy stirred beside him, but the shadows around him bristled like a frightened cat.
The man seemed focused on where he was going, but stopped when he felt the shadows grow agitated.
When he turned, he stared at me in astonishment.
Then his expression shifted—the chaotic determination giving way to confusion.
“Kyller?” he asked, his brow furrowed.
I could only scream as I was dragged back into my body.
“ZION!”