Page 74 of Reaper's Ruin
One minute I was flying.
The next minute I was falling.
As she touched down on the other side, I lost the last of my dwindling grip and landed with a thud. The impact drove the breath from my lungs. I tumbled across rain-slicked leaves and mud, eventually coming to a stop against the trunk of a massive tree. For a dazed moment, I lay there, assessing damages. Bruised, maybe a sprained wrist, but nothing broken.
You see, Soraya? If you’d listened to the Grim Reaper sent to erase you from existence and stayed put, you wouldn’t be lying in a heap in the mud in the middle of an electric rainstorm after falling off your magical flying horse.
With my mother’s voice still whispering inside my mind, I pulled myself to sitting. Silverstreak was nowhere to be seen, the sound of her retreat fading into the distance.
“Great,” I muttered, pushing myself to my feet. “Just perfect.”
I was lost, alone, in a storm, in an unfamiliar forest, in a realm I barely understood. Rhyker was going to kill me. Assuming I survived long enough for him to find me.
The lightning was easing as the worst of the storm seemed to be passing overhead, but the rain still came down in droves. I needed to find shelter and wait it out until I could get back to Rhyker or he somehow, magically, found me out here in the middle of nowhere. I brushed mud from my riding dress, trying to get my bearings.
But then, I heard something—a low, rumbling growl that was definitely not thunder.
I froze, my breath catching in my throat as I slowly turned toward the sound.
It stood at the edge of the clearing, rain dripping from its massive form. Larger than any bear I’d ever seen, with a thick coat of blue-black fur and a row of bone-like spikes protruding from its back. Its eyes glowed with an eerie blue light, and electricity crackled between the spikes and along its claws with each movement.
Now I understood why Silverstreak had panicked. It wasn’t the storm. Of course it wasn’t. She lived with storms every day. No. That wasn’t what had sent her racing. She’d sensed this... thing. And from the way she’d ran, I now realized it must have been chasing us.
And with her long gone and me standing alone, I was the only thing left as prey.
I had no idea what it was, only that it was watching me with the focused intent of an apex predator that had just found its next meal.
My mind raced. Which animals were you supposed to run from? Which were you supposed to stand your ground? I tried to remember all the nature documentaries I’d watched, but nothing had ever mentioned giant black badger-bears with spikes crackling with electricity down their back.
It roared.
I ran.
Branches whipped at my face as I sprinted through the underbrush, no longer caring about direction or stealth. Behind me, I could hear the creature crashing through the forest in pursuit, gaining ground with every powerful stride. Each step was accompanied by the ominous crackle of electricity. I would never outrun it.
I spotted a fallen tree ahead and scrambled over it, ducking into the hollow space beneath. The rotting wood wouldn’t stop the creature if it found me, but it might buy me precious seconds to think.
The creature’s roars grew closer, accompanied by the sound of snapping branches and the heavy thud of its paws. I pressed myself deeper into the hollow, making myself as small as possible.
A shadow fell across my hiding place as the monster paused, sniffing the air. I held my breath, terror turning my muscles to stone.
Time seemed to stretch as the creature circled my log, growling low in its throat. Then, with another ear-splitting roar, it reared up and struck the fallen tree with its massive paws.
The wood splintered like kindling, exposing me completely.
I scrambled backward, knowing it was futile but unable to simply wait for death... or whatever happened to me if I died again in this temporary body. The creature advanced, its massive form blocking out the light, deadly claws crackling with blue sparks extending toward me.
This is it, I thought. I’m going to die.
Again.
God I wish I knew what would happen to my soul when I got eaten by an electric badger-bear in this form.
The creature lunged, and I screamed. But just before those terrible claws pierced my skin, a dark blur slammed into its side, driving it away from me. The impact was tremendous, sending both figures crashing into the underbrush.
Rhyker.
He rolled to his feet in one fluid motion, positioning himself between me and the beast. For a split second, his eyes found mine—wild with barely controlled rage and something else.
