Book 3 - Chapter 18
The world was wrong.
Not broken-wrong. The air shimmered like a heat haze, bending light into jagged shards that carved the darkness into pieces. The tunnel was gone, folded into a void that pulsed like a living wound. The gods stood scattered, their towering forms rippling with fury and fear, their voices hushed for the first time since this nightmare began. The supers crouched at the edges, their glowing eyes wide, their claws scraping against stone as if they could feel what was coming.
And then the laughter came.
Low at first, curling through the void like smoke. Then louder, sharper, slicing through the silence like a blade. It wasn’t the gods. It wasn’t Jasper.
It was him.
The entity stepped forward, and the world bent around him.
He wasn’t like the gods-no elegance of flame, no purity of shadow. He was a contradiction given flesh. A silhouette carved from midnight, its surface rippling like molten glass, veins of silver fire crawling across his skin in jagged patterns that pulsed like a heartbeat. His limbs were long, jointed wrong, moving with a grace that screamed predator. His face was both a mask of beauty and horror; whilst smooth and flawless, it split at the mouth, which smiled too wide, full of razor-sharp teeth. The smile was knowing, too knowing.
His eyes, Oh. My. God. His eyes burned with a light that wasn’t fire. It was cold, merciless, like the sun was dying, and the void that you were staring into was a black hole that would swallow you whole.
“Well,” he said, that silken voice dripping like venom and a hint of sarcasm. “This is cozy… Almost like a family reunion …. I wasn’t invited too.”
The gods hissed, their voices slicing through the air.
“Why are you here?”
“You were bound.”
“You cannot interfere.”
The entity tilted his head, and the motion was wrong, too slow, too deliberate, like a predator savouring the moment before the kill.
“Bound?” He echoed, his tone mocking. “Oh, sweet summer children. I wasn’t bound. I was bored.”
He spread his arms wide, his smile widening into something monstrous. “And look, my patience paid off. She woke up.”
His gaze locked on me, and the world narrowed to that single point of burning light. My breath hitched, my chest constricting as power surged through my veins, raw and feral, curling around my bones like chains.
Jasper moved between us, his blade burning like a star, his body a storm of light and shadow. “Stay away from her,” he snarled, his voice raw, feral.
The entity’s laugh was soft, almost amused. “Adorable,” he murmured, his tone curling with mockery. “You think you matter.”
His gaze flicked to Jasper, and the air bent, pressing against my chest until every breath felt like drowning. “Protector,” he said, his voice curling like venom. “You shouldn’t exist. And yet here you are. How quaint.”
The gods surged forward, their voices curling through the chaos like silk and steel. “The promise must be kept,” they said, their words slicing through the storm like blades. “The blood must bind. The blood will bind.”
The entity laughed a sound like glass shattering, beautiful and cruel, “Oh darling,” he purred, his tone dripping with sarcasm, “you had your chance. Fourteen days every cycle. Fourteen days to play nice. Fourteen days to pretend you still had control. And now?” His smile sharpened, his voice curling like smoke. “Now the game changes.”
I felt it, then the truth at the edges of my mind. My body wasn’t mine anymore. It was something else. Something older. Runes crawled across my skin like living fire, pulsing in rhythm with a heartbeat that wasn’t mine. My eyes burned brighter, molten silver searing through the black. And when I spoke, my voice wasn’t my own.
“What do you want?” I whispered.
The entity’s smile widened, too sharp, too knowing. “Finally,” he said softly, his tone curling like silk. “A sensible question.”
He stepped closer, his voice slicing through the chaos like a blade. “What do I want?” his tone dripped with sarcasm. “Oh, nothing dramatic. Just the thing your kind promised and failed to deliver. Balance. Harmony. The cute little pact you broke when you decided to play God.”
His voice sharpened, curling like smoke around my mind. “You are the key. The blood that binds the worlds. The heir of the broken pact. And now…” his smile widened into something monstrous. “Now you choose.”
“Choose? Choose what? You know this would go faster if you just answered the question, not the constant cryptic nonsense that you are spouting.” My voice blasted out with confidence that my body surely wasn’t feeling.
“Which world would you burn completely?” He said simply.
The gods hissed their voices, whipping through the dark. “She is coming with us,” one snarled, its form rippling with fury.
The entity laughed, a sound of silk tearing. “Oh, darling,” he said, his tone dripping with sarcasm, “You had your chance. And you wasted it.
His gaze flicked on me, and the world bent around that single point of burning light. “Choose,” he said softly, his voice curling like venom. “Your world or theirs.”
The tension thickened the air like a furnace, thick and choking, filled with screams and howls and the thunder of claws against steel.
The supers surged forward, their glowing eyes wide, their claws scraping against stone. The gods roared, their voice slicing through the chaos like whips. Jasper moved to me, his blade flashing, his body a wall of light and fury.
“Don’t listen to him!” Jasper shouted, his voice raw, desperate. “You’re not what he says!”
The entity’s laugh was soft, curling through the chaos like silk. “Oh, golden boy,” he purred, his tone dripping with sarcasm. “You really think that she is yours.” He said softly, his tone curling like venom. “She’s mine, always was, always will be. You are just a blip that will soon be forgotten.”
“Burn,” I yell. I didn’t expect the flames to race up and cover the entity’s form like a living, breathing thing.
The entity laughs manically whilst covered in flames.