Page 99 of Midnight Reign
As I continue my grim march, more and more shadows join the crowd. They press in close, their ethereal forms brushing against me, sending skitters of revulsion across my skin. I can feel their pain, their anguish, their longing for release. It’s overwhelming. They want to drown me in a sea of borrowed misery.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?”
The voice comes from behind me, silky smooth and terrifyingly familiar. I freeze, my heart pounding in my chest. Slowly, reluctantly, I turn to face her.
Crimson stands there, a mirror image of myself, yet fundamentally different. She’s dressed as I am, in black leggings and a black tee, her dark hair flowing loose down her back. Her face is pale, but her eyes are deep and pulsing red, like twin pools of fresh blood.
She smiles at me, a predator’s grin that sends chills racing down to my soul. “Hello, sister,” she purrs. “Enjoying the view?”
I find my voice at last, anger cutting through my fear. “How could you?” I spit out, gesturing at the sea of corpses and the shadow pets hovering around us. “How can you torment these souls? Turn them into pets?”
Crimson laughs, the sound like broken glass. “Torment? Oh, Adelaide, you misunderstand. I’ve given them purpose. In life, they were nothing. In death, they serve a greater cause.”
“A greater cause?” I echo incredulously. “You mean your insane quest for power? These were living creatures, Crimson!”
She waves a dismissive hand. “And now they have transcended all that. They are part of something greater than themselves. They should be grateful.”
Her callousness, her utter disregard for the suffering she’s caused, infuriates me, but it gives me drive, a reason to tear her down bit by bit with my bare hands if I have to. Nothing matters anymore except ridding the world of this heinous monster. If that means I don’t make it back to MistHallow, to my guys, then, so be it. “I won’t let you do this,” I growl. “I’ll stop you. Whatever it takes, I’ll find a way to end you once and for all.”
Crimson’s smile doesn’t waver. If anything, it grows wider, more amused. “Oh, Adelaide,” she says, her tone patronising. “There is no fight. You have lost.”
“What do you mean?” I demand, even as a cold dread settles in my stomach.
She takes a step closer, and I have to force myself not to back away. “This,” she gestures at the nightmarish landscape around us, “is the future. Our future. You are in the NetherRealm now, and you cannot escape.”
“What?” I croak and look at my hands and arms. They’re not fully formed. Almost translucent. I’m not so much a ghost as the pets, but I’m fading with every breath.
Crimson’s laughter rings out again, echoing across the field of corpses. “Oh, Adelaide. You still don’t understand, do you?You don’t have a choice. This isn’t just my destiny - it’s ours. We are two halves of a whole, light and dark, creation and destruction. You can’t fight what you are any more than I can.”
I shake my head vehemently, refusing to accept her words. “No. I’m nothing like you. I would never willingly cause this much suffering.”
“Wouldn’t you?” Crimson asks, her head tilting to one side. “Think about it, sister. How many times when you were younger did you want to punish those who’ve wronged you?”
Her words hit too close to home, and my breath hitches. I have felt those things, in moments of anger or frustration. “But I’ve never acted on them. I’ve never wanted to cause real-world harm to my bullies.”
“You, my dear, are cruelly beautiful, just as I am.”
“No! That’s different,” I insist, but my voice lacks conviction.
Crimson’s smile turns knowing. “Is it? Or is it just that you’ve never had the power to act on those impulses?” She raises her hands, and the shadows around us respond. They swirl around her, and then she…eats them.
Her mouth opens up like a monstrous hippo, her jaws extending wildly, and she sucks the souls into her.
“Stop!” I cry, but it’s useless. Crimson gorges herself on hundreds of souls while I just stand there and watch.
When her mouth closes, she shakes her shoulders back and preens like a peacock. She is hideously radiant.
I stare at her and form the thought, whispered into the dead world around us. “The souls give her power.”
“This is our birthright,” Crimson says, her voice low and intense. “This is what you were born for, Adelaide. You were born to give me a chance to live.”
“So now what?” I ask bitterly. “You intend to suck my soul up too?”
She gives me a curious stare. “No. You are no good to me dead, sister. You are tied to me now. You cannot escape the reign of darkness that is coming. You are needed.”
I want to deny it, to reject everything she’s saying. But a small, traitorous part of me wants to know more. “No,” I say, but it comes out weak, uncertain. “This isn’t right. It isn’t just. I would rather die than help you cause so much torment and suffering.”
Crimson laughs again, but this time, there’s a hint of genuine amusement in it. “Oh, Adelaide,” Crimson says, shaking her head. “You don’t have the luxury of dying. Not anymore. We’re bound together now, you and me. Two sides of the same coin. Randall made sure of it.”
