Page 108 of Shadow & Stars
“You cannot hurt me!” he roared at it.
A large piece of rock struck him in the side of the head seconds before the dust cloud hit. I saw him go flat on his back, and then the flames collapsed, exposing me to the dust.
Oh. Shit.
36
XAVIER
There was pressure on my back, the right side of my face was flat against the ground, and dust in my lungs. I coughed but kept my eyes closed against the choking particles. Everything ached, a heavy weight pinning me awkwardly to the ground. Yet, by the grace of some miracle, I’d survived.
Roman…
Working against the throbbing in my limbs and the cloying dust, I pushed against the thing crushing me to the floor. It resisted, only moving a few inches.
I took a pause, drenched in sweat and determination. I would not die here, and Roman would not die in those flames. We were meant to be together, our bodies and souls designed to be as one.
I loved him.
He loved me.
Death could not compete with that.
With Roman’s face burning in my mind, I pushed and pushed and pushed. Failed and tried again, straining every muscle, never breaking my focus. If I stayed here, I didn’t get to see him. If I stayed here, it meant giving up.
And I would never give up.
On the fiftieth attempt, I gained some ground. The thing pinning me not only moved but kept going. It galvanized me into the final push, using everything I had to be free. It slid off my back, tearing through what was left of my top, scraping some skin off with it.
I stretched out some of the ache from my body, the dust beginning to clear. Gold flakes fell past my face, the parade coming back into view.
What was left of it.
A sea of debris lay before me, chunks of the sky scattered everywhere. Every building was crushed under the fall, their remains scattered amongst the broken ruins and flickering pixels. Blue stars shone in the gap above, the remaining part of this realm’s sky full of pixels. No human or demon moved. Everyone was dead.
Apart from one man.
He stood there in a small, miraculous circle covered in dust. It was as if fate smiled on him.
Ismael. A trembling, terrified Ismael.
His eyes found me. “Xa—” He coughed violently, hunching over.
My hands balled into tight fists at the sight of him. It was just him and me now, the final showdown here.
Ismael regained composure, shaking some of the dust from his hair. “Xavier…”
“I told you this would happen.”
“I…” He looked down at himself. “I…” His hands became fists too as he returned his gaze to me. “You did this.”
“Sorry?”
“You did this to me.”
My forehead creased into a frown. “Butterfly did this.”
He began navigating across the debris, stumbling every other step. “Do you loathe me so much you would deny me my dreams?”
