Page 133 of Damned and Broken Gods
My insides shook with the truth of those words, but my gut revolted because true peace came from a collective longing for it. From choosing to look deep inside oneself and finding the will, the strength, to break chains. If I forced people to behave a certain way, they would be performing for me. Their actions would never resonate, and a world built on performance would never sustain itself.
“No.”
No?
“I don’t want a world filled with actors prancing around on a stage. I want a world born of truth that comes from inside each person who lives in it. Truth that radiates and touches others and helps them to find themselves, because if memory is an infection, then so is truth, and truth blooms when people feel safe enough to face it. I won’t force it. I won’t bind anyone.”
You would…risk losing me?
“If gaining you means giving up my truth, then yes, I reject you.”
Silence followed my declaration, but like hell was I going to take it back. I meant it. Every fucking word.
A deep sigh filled my mind, and when the voice spoke, it was softer, as if wrapping me in phantom arms.
You are worthy. When you take seat. You hold with honor. Go. Free your heart. This tale has no end without it.
What did he mean,This tale has no end without it?I was about to ask when the floor beneath me vanished.
I fellpast stars into the bosom of night, but I wasn’t scared. I knew that nothing could hurt me. Not here. Not in this space. Below me waited a glowing, silver spiral, turning slowly, achingly, as if motion was an effort. As if it was attempting to break free of contrary forces. A knowing stirred deep inside me—the spiral was meant to flow. It was meant to burn.
It grew larger, spreading out until I was aiming for its center, the glow so bright it seared my vision. I turned my face away and covered my eyes.
The falling stopped, and solid earth met my boots as if gravity had pulled back to make sure I landed safely.
I cracked open my eyelids, pulse fluttering in my throat. The air shimmered with golden light cast by the veil around me while the stars hung above, witness to what was about to happen.
My stomach knotted as I searched for the others and Araz. Movement to my left drew my attention. There was a figure in the distance. I ran toward it.
Dharma?
Yes, Dharma was up ahead, and she was standing with her palms pressed to a bright amber pillar. It glowed, then dimmed. Dharma staggered away from it as another figure stepped out. It was Chaya. They embraced.
“Dharma!” I picked up pace, but the more I ran, the farther away she got. “What the…” I turned away, hands on hips. Maybe if I ran away from her?
I tried it, and Joe and Mahira appeared in the distance. They were walking away, hand in hand.
“Joe! Mahira!”
A glowing light brightened around them, then swallowed them. When it winked out, they were gone.
I stopped and folded, hands on knees.
I needed to find Araz.
I needed to find an amber pillar. Where was it? The landscape was flat. Grassland lit by golden shimmer and starlight. There was nothing in sight. No projections of any kind.
My heart sank. “Araz!” The throne had promised me that I’d find him here. “Araz!” I’d done everything they’d asked, passed all the tests, so where was my drohi? Where was my heart?
My chest ached with a deep exhaustion that was more than physical. I was so done with this test. So done with the hoops and the barriers. I wanted it over now.
I tipped my head up to the sky. “Enough! Give him back to me. Now!” The stars watched me without blinking, and a sob bubbled up my throat. I fell to my knees. “Please…Give him back to me. Please…” I closed my eyes, releasing hot tears that slipped down my cheeks and dripped off my jaw. I needed him for as long as I could have him. “Please…Enough now.”
The ground trembled beneath me. I wiped my eyes and stared at the glow seeping up out of the soil. An amber glow that made a perfect square.
I scrambled off the area, staggering to my feet as an orange pillar pushed up out of the earth. Four feet wide and eight feet tall, the structure was made of semiopaque, thick glass, but I made out a figure trapped inside.
“Araz!” I rushed to the pillar and pressed my palms to it. “I’m here!” I could just about make out his face, his smile, and the bright topaz of his eyes. “Okay, you can come out now.” I pressed harder against the glass, but nothing happened. “Let him out!”
