Page 43 of Between Soul and Vessel
Stars peppered my vision, blinking in and out. I shook my head, and they cleared somewhat, then I moved.
I reached the ward, and I pressed my hands against the cold stone. My teeth cut steel as I shoved with all my might, forcing it ahead. The statue began to move.
Holy shit, I was doing it—
My scalp screamed in agony as a hand grabbed my hair, wrenching me backwards, pulling me against my attacker. I sent my elbow into their abdomen, an audibleoofsounding from her, and she wobbled backwards. The hand let go and I shot toward the ward.
Roaring, I collided with it, shoving it over the edge. The fish statue fell from its pedestal, rotating in the air untilit smashed into the ground, breaking into hundreds of pieces.
I grinned in victory.
The moment was short-lived.
Hands shoved me forward, back into the arena.
The wind tugged at my hair as I fell toward the ground, spiraling faster and faster. Frantically, I reached deep down, searching for my powers. A breath before I turned into a silver splatter upon the sands, my water beast came roaring to life. My hands shot out as a hurricane of water swirled from my palms, blasting against the ground beneath me, against the remnants of the shattered ward. The force of it was so strong I was released from gravity’s pull.
I landed on my feet, on the drenched sands, water dissolving from my hands.
I was given less than a second to think, because the giant was already coming for me, her ax swinging back behind her head, ready to deliver that final blow—
But Iwould notlet her have it.
An animalistic roar tore through me as I harnessed my power. Like a runaway horse, it came stampeding to the surface, and I unleashed it.
Fire erupted from my hands, blasting toward her.
She dropped her ax and crossed her arms, trying to shield herself from my flames, but it was of little use. Fire chewed into her exposed skin, and she let out a horrific scream that shook the entire amphitheater. Her metal armor began to glow orange, as hot as a pyre, searing into her skin. The scent of burning flesh, like meat cooked in a pan,permeated the air. She tore her chest plate from her torso, ripping off bits of cloth and skin with it, revealing a gruesome truth—
What my fire had done to her butchered, charcoaled chest.
My flames cut off, and I dropped my hands. I peered down at my palms, mortified at what I had done.
I realized at that moment, I had lost a piece of the person I used to be. There had been a time when the girl from Edenvale would stand amongst the crowd, watching as the Cursed were burnt at the pyre. It had made my stomach heavy, like an undigested meal.
Now, here I was, doing the exact same thing I had once despised—burning someone alive. Was this the price of—
No. She was going to kill us, the goddess within argued.
But the noble part of me, the hero part, was having a hard time listening.
People yelled and screamed, darting out of the way as the giant stumbled back into the stands. She fell into one of the sections, crushing the platforms, benches, and stairs underneath her. A second passed, maybe two, and they started to catch fire. The wood benches were so old that the moment the fire touched them, they lit like a torch soaked in oil.
I watched as my flames engulfed the amphitheater.
Piercing cries sounded from above, the noises unnatural and distorted, haunting and chilling. They were hard to explain, forged from high-pitched screams that seemed to echo around me. But they weren’t just sounds,they were a warning—
I jerked my face skyward, eyes stretching wide.
A wraithlike creature, double my size, descended from the sky like a nightmare come to collect screams. Its talons, the color of pale milk, stretched out toward me, the curved nails as sharp as knives. Underneath a hood, cut from shadow, it possessed a bird-like skeletal face. A vulture, perhaps. Where its eyes should have been, there was nothing—only bottomless, empty holes.
And yet, they bore into me.
I forged an azure blade, pointing it at the creature. With a snarl on my lips, I warned, “Get back.”
“I mean you no harm,” the creature screeched, her voice about as pleasant as metal against tooth. It slid across my bones in the most eerie and unnatural of ways, causing a shiver to race down the length of my back.
Hundreds of others, just like it, began to emerge all around the blazing amphitheater. They seemed completely unbothered by the flames as their fearsome beaks picked at the dead giant, snapping her charcoaled skin from her bones and gobbling it down. Others attacked those who were trying to find their way through the flames, toward the exit—grabbing hold of them with their talons and carrying them off.
