Page 134 of Damned and Broken Gods
The shimmery light around me pulsed, and my gut clenched in warning.
“What’s happening?” I screamed the question to the powers that be, to whoever was running this fucked-up show. “Let him out! Now!”
Jade-eyed man’s words filled my mind:Araz’s time is running out, I’m sorry.
No. No, no, no! I hammered on the pillar, panic a fist around my heart as Araz thrashed against the shackles holding him captive.
The ground shook again, so violently that I had to grab hold of the pillar to stay upright.
Inside the pillar, Araz went completely still. Our gazes locked through the glass, and then he lifted his head, looking at something beyond me.
Ice pooled in my blood, my breath coming shorter, shallower.
The glass swallowed the sound of Araz’s warning, but I didn’t need it to know there was something behind me. Something bad. I sensed movement, felt the rush of air, and reacted, throwing myself to one side, out of its path.
The ground quaked as whatever it was slammed into the pillar.
I rolled to my feet, spinning to face my attacker, and froze at the sight of the monolith serpent. Its body, an awful patchwork of metal and flesh, was pressed up against the pillar, which hadn’t cracked or tilted with the assault.
It hissed, emitting a sound like metal sliding over metal.
My insides quivered, blood crystallizing in my veins as it slowly turned its flat head toward me. Its crimson eyes locked on to me.
Fuck!
It struck, maw open wide to swallow me.
Chapter 50
There Is Only One Choice. It Was Always Her
ARAZ
“Leela! Leela! No!”
I can’t see her clearly, but I see the shape of the beast chasing her. I see the sparks that her weapons make as they glance off its body.
I thrash and strain until my wrists and ankles are slick with blood, until the scent of it claws at my nostrils, but I cannot get free.
She will not survive the serpent.
The Authority has done this. They want her dead. I can’t let that happen. “You said you were mine to command. Then please, do something. Help me break free so I can save her.”
I can help free you. But I will need your body.
“What? What do you mean?”
You must invite me in fully, completely, and in doing so, you must surrender control.
My gut screams no, but Leela is in mortal danger. I can feel her distress. Her fear. “You’ll give me my body back once she’s safe?”
Silence stretches for several beats before he speaks.The transition is permanent. You will become a part of me. I will break you free, subdue the serpent, and save Leela. You will have time to say goodbye before you…assimilate.
“I’ll be…gone?”
Araz will become a part of Ilyarien. I cannot force you. I cannot take your body. You must consent. For her. She will die otherwise. You know this. Together we can save her.
But then I’ll be gone. No longer me. I need time to understand, time that I don’t have.
