Page 121 of Bright Soul

Keshora was the one to answer.“That’s right. I watched for an age as more and more of my people came here, before the true end came…”

Cutting herself off, she released Braza and stepped toward me. Her pupils narrowed as she lowered toward my shoulder, inspecting the mark there.“You have mated my male. Who are you?”she asked suspiciously.

“Oh…”I stammered some nervous laughter. Maybe Myuna’s stomach acid didn’t have to kill me. Keshora, for all that I was promised that she was nice and gentle, looked ready to tear my throat out.

Braza put her hand on her arm.“Mother, please,”she coaxed.“You have been dead quite some time. This is Cress, his new mate from the world we traveled to.”

“It’s nice to meet you. I’ve heard…well, I haven’t heard much,”I said, apparently deciding to put my foot further down my mouth.“Braza speaks well of you. And Phaeron had a very difficult time overcoming your death.”

Keshora’s eyes gained facets as she made a sound of pain deep in her throat. A set of hands seized mine, feeling as soft and pliable as jelly.“What about me?”Ravai blurted.“How is he? I’ve missed him so much!”

“He’s…”I didn’t know how to answer her questions, considering my impending death.

“Take a look at her soul,”Braza whispered to their mother, in the meantime.

I squeezed Ravai’s hands. She had infectious energy and I wished I had more time to get to know her.“Your death is something he still can’t bring himself to talk about. I think he’s missed you just as much as you’ve missed him.”

It seemed I was here just to cause his old family pain, as she made the same dimensional noise that I’d started associatedwith their way of crying. She pulled me into a hug while she wailed.“I’m sorry,”I said, squeezing her jellylike body tight.

“Thank you for bringing him comfort. And being a good friend to my sister.”She glanced toward them.“She wouldn’t speak up for just anyone.”

At this point, Keshora and Braza were deep in conversation. It seemed the older dimensional was relaxing, at least, listening and nodding as Braza fell into the tones of explaining something as quickly as possible.

When she was done, Keshora breathed out slowly and squared her shoulders. She turned to me.“You are still alive,”she stated.“Your soul is made of light, just like the creature I once revered as a goddess. For the ages I have rotted here, she has used up every bit of what made me who I was. I had no choice in this because therewasn’ta choice.”

She stepped forward, putting her clawed hand over my marked shoulder.“But now there is one, and I choose you.”When nothing happened and we just blinked at each other, she put pressure on my skin.“You may be a strange being yourself and not a goddess, but you may use what is left of me all the same. Make me anew in your light.”

The spark within her dimmed a fraction, while I started giving off a hint of a glow. I glanced down at myself with a gasp.

“Oh, me too!”Ravai exclaimed, putting her hand on my other shoulder.“Make me anew in your light!”

Another soul’s hand landed on Keshora’s shoulder and she flinched. But power flowed from her, into me. Yet another soul joined him and then a dozen more, and then a hundred, a chain reaction spreading through the lost souls as they gave me what they could in the name of salvation.

I filled from within with light, growing stronger and stretching the limits of my magic to find them a well filling itself with pure power. These people gladly fed me what they could. Itwasn’t that they knew me, but as a unit they decided that I was better than Myuna and more worthy than the monster that’d originally consumed them.

I became strong enough that my skin healed of its burns and blisters.“We have to get out of here. And the only way out…is through,”I said, pointing at the wall of Myuna’s stomach. The chain of souls moved with me, all of us beginning to hammer at her from within. The material of her skin stretched and morphed around our fists like wet clay.

A force slapped the other side of her belly, sending me tumbling backward and many others flying. That must’ve been her hand. So, she felt us in here. I hoped it was painful to have a roiling sea of spirits hitting every wall of her stomach. The Iorsio tribe souls even took flight and slammed bodily into the sloping roof of this inner chamber.

A terrible, distorted noise vibrated her skin. She must’ve been saying something, but for once those she’d damned did not scream out through her mouth, but hit her with more ferocity than ever.

The only thing that stopped us momentarily was when the whole chamber rolled. Myuna must’ve flopped onto her belly, as she pitched all of us forward. The spirits weighed no more than a feather each, but I still felt crushed until they started regrouping and hitting her again. It was working, it had to be. She wouldn’t be reacting at all if it wasn’t.

Soon she was rolling around pretty constantly, churning us in a whirlpool. Many spirits brushed past me, only adding their magic to mine in the process. There was no pain when I was flung into one of her stomach’s walls anymore. The material was bound to tear eventually under our onslaught.

My marked shoulder itched intensely. I felt Phaeron when I touched it…he was close? But that was impossible. Auricwould’ve sealed the way behind Myuna, not risking any chance of her returning again.

With our next onslaught, I had the sensation of movement. We could’ve been curving Myuna’s spine or tugging her around…or, I don’t know. There was nothing to see in here but the furious souls now given the freedom to do something against their murderer. All I could tell for sure was that she wasdefinitelyscreaming.

We were flung one more time. I got up and launched myself at her again, just to see the tip of something sharp breach the top of this chamber and drag down. There was a sheen of darkness between us and…more darkness beyond. But a pulse of urgency in my chest had me reaching through the darkness for the spray of cold beyond the humid depths of Myuna’s guts.

A leather-clad hand wrapped around my own and pulled. I drew in a breath of chill Void air and met Phaeron’s gaze. He was in full shadowborn form, practically vibrating with the fury that came along with it. The sudden surge of my mating circle’s heightened emotions hit me like a punch to the gut.

They were all here, and a few of my friends besides, all gaping at me as I emerged like the sun, fully naked and blazing with light from within.

42

CRESS

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