Page 79 of Blood Sacrifice

Multiple voices spoke in my head at the same time, the noise becoming too much to endure. I held my hands over my ears to try and fend off the intrusion.

Suddenly, pain pierced deep into my abdomen, making my legs weak, and me to fall to my knees. Memories from my life flashed before my eyes, the pain from my torture creating a map on my body. Four hundred years of experiences coalesced into this moment, fusing my physical, emotional, and mental experience together.

It was too much. I had endured a huge amount in my lifetime, and forcing them into one moment was an overwhelming agony. A scream echoed around the room, torn from the depth of my soul.

I had believed the lords of karma would ask me questions. I had never expected this.

They didn’t evaluate a soul with questions and queries, they weighed the pain you lived through, and it felt insurmountable. Voices screamed in my head, visions of past, present, and future swarmed together until I couldn’t separate them.

Then suddenly, I was devoid of sound and sensation, floating in nothingness. I tried to remember who I was or call on a memory, but there was nothing. I hung for what felt like eternity, but could have been a few moments.

I searched through the limbo world, reaching out for something, but I didn’t know what. The first image that flashedthrough my head was dark chocolate brown eyes that seemed to have the ability to see into my essence. The image expanded slowly until the eyes were set in a handsome face surrounded by black hair that contained a natural wave.

Salvator.

My eyes flew open and I found myself lying on a floor in a room flooded with white light, surrounded by golden spirits.

“You have been judged,” a male voice said to my left. “The karmic council will now rule.”

Faulkner appeared beside me and held his hand out to help me up.

“A long time ago, when the worlds were one, balance existed,” a female said, her form materialising from one of the golden spirits as she walked toward me. “Then, the deadly sins corrupted souls, and the worlds began to move apart to form the realms.”

She stopped in front of me, stealing my breath with her beauty. Her golden hair reminded me of the sun, and her blue eyes of the sky on a perfect day.

An angel.

“The magical realm nourished and grew, but to light there must be dark, and that is the void. Chaos exists there, locked away for a millennia, and allowed to evolve without restraint. Every void witch that has been born in the last thousand years was killed at birth.” Her gaze bored into me. “Yet, none of us knew a witch was born under a blood moon. She was hidden from our sight, and shielded from our visions.”

I opened my mouth to speak but she shook her head.

“We have viewed your life, and even when faced with torture and anguish, you never once tapped into what was inside you to destroy your enemy.” She turned and walked away, a window appearing to the side of the room for her to stand and watch out. “You are a conundrum.”

“What does that mean?” I asked, wrapping my arms around myself as I felt naked and vulnerable after they plundered through my memories and emotions.

“It means the void is ready to open, and nothing we can do will stop that. Dark magic users found the location to the entrance a long time ago, but it refused them entry. It has been waiting for the chosen one who will protect it.”

The more she said, the more confused I became.

She turned to face me, her eyes glowing bright blue, but she wasn’t looking at me, more beyond me. “The black knight protects his queen as he moves across the board of destiny. Enemies gather at the doorway and a sacrifice must be made.” She blinked several times and the glow dissipated from her eyes.

“You have to go,” Faulkner said, tugging my arm. “Your body grows weak.”

“But I came here for a key,” I said, looking between him and the angel at the window.

She smiled, moving toward me to place her hand on my chest. I felt a warmth there that I hadn’t noticed before. “The key was inside you from the moment you were born. You just needed to accept who you were and learn to stand in your own power.”

I went to speak, but the floor opened and the bottom fell out of my world. Faulkner and the woman stared down at me as I frantically tried to stop myself from falling.

“Trust yourself,” the female angel’s voice sounded in my head. “Follow the golden cord back to your body.”

I closed my eyes and fell, my focus only on Salvator, because I instinctively knew that he would be waiting for me.

Fate had designed a long and troubled road for us, but Salvator was the prize. War was brewing, and I would protect him with my life.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Salvator

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