Page 121 of Damned and Broken Gods
Dharma pressed her lips together and looked away. “Now we go inside.”
I tracked her gaze to the epic doorway looming several meters in front of us. The frame was made of stone pillars, ten feet wide and twenty feet tall, and the space between was pitch-black. It stood alone. Not part of any building or structure. Just a stone door.
A gateway.
“Slightly ominous, don’t you think?” Bina said.
“Let’s get it done.” Dharma hoisted her gada onto her shoulder and strode forward. I followed, and the others fell in behind me.
The air crackled and pricked at my skin the closer we got, and the scent of ozone spiked, burning my nose.
“Yep, this is definitely not a simulation,” Joe said.
I glanced at him. “You thought that too?”
“Yeah, felt like I’d been plopped into a digital avatar and thrown into a game world when I landed.”
“What are you talking about?” Bina asked.
“Don’t worry about it,” Dharma said. “Mortal world things.”
The doorway had looked like it was close, but it took a minute or so to reach it, and yep, it wasmuchbigger than it seemed. We were ants standing in front of a void.
“I say we go in together,” Dharma said. “Hand in hand.”
“It doesn’t guarantee we won’t be separated,” Alia said, her voice small and unsure.
She had a point. “Maybe not, but it sure would make me feel better.”
Bina let out a bark of laughter. “Me too.”
Dharma hooked her gada into the holster at her back and held her hand out to me.
I took it, and Joe’s to my right.
“Ready?” Bina said once we were linked.
“Ready,” we echoed.
We walked into the void. Together.
Chapter 44
The Voices Rise
ARAZ
Ican’t move.
My vision is blurry, and it takes a moment to realize that I’m trapped behind thick, distorted glass. I look down at the golden shackles on my wrists pinning me against something hard and cold. More shackles hold my ankles and legs. Another at my torso.
What the fuck is happening?
The last thing I recall is being summoned to a courtyard by Umbra. Then…nothing.
Leela! Leela needs me.
Are you sure it’s you she needs?The voice is a masculine drawl that has goosebumps prickling my skin. I know that voice. I’ve heard it before.
