Page 31 of Sevan

Chapter Fifteen

“What do you mean she simply vanished?” Stegian asked, his jaw tight and his gaze hard. The urge to kill something was great. All that stood before him was one of the hags and Samson.

Samson shook his head, still appearing shocked by the entire affair. “Master, she simply closed her eyes and vanished.”

“She came into her full powers,” the hag said, looking back at him with milky-white eyes.

To his knowledge, the hags were all blind but somehow, they managed to see. The one before him smiled, revealing a mouth full of missing teeth. “It is the third eye, Master. It gives us the ability to see that which others do not.”

“And did this third eye prove useful when the prisoner was escaping?”

Her already pale, light green skin seemed to lighten even more.

Stegian couldn’t help but pride himself on the fear he could instill in others. “I await an answer.”

“N-no,” she said, shakily.

“I see.” Stegian took a step forward. “Would you please enlighten me as to why I should keep you around? Samson fights on the front lines, killing Shamenians and Tegmen. What is it you and your sisters provide?”

The hag tossed her head back and shrieked as Stegian thrust his power out and through her ragged body. Her skin began to sink in on itself as he drained her body of its power.

The cell door blew open and the other two hags appeared. Stegian smiled, licking a fang as he did. They stopped instantly. “Master, we have located the Janelle woman. She lies near the lagoons. An energy force is with her. We believe it to be both natural and unnatural.”

“Meaning?” He released his hold on the hag for a moment to hear the others out.

“It means the woman is somehow emitting extremely high levels of energy and that something else, we do not understand what, is aiding her.”

“The prophecy,” Samson whispered. “It’s coming true.”

There was a time when Stegian dismissed theories containing ancient prophecies. That was until he held the scrolls in which they were written and had a vision so clear that it did the unthinkable—it terrified him.

“I shall go to the lagoons, Master,” Samson said.

“Take several others with you.” Stegian stared at the converted Shamenian. “Do not think yourself better than an off-worlder.”

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