Page 52 of Loving Nightmares
Closing my eyes, I pulled from the very bottom of my magic, from a reserve I didn’t know existed. I thought about every single person counting on me to do this so they could go home to their families and live out their lives knowing they were safe. I thought about every moment with my mates and what a future without the hatred of humans could mean. I thought about how far society could go with just the removal of this one toxic being.
With every ounce of determination I had, I yanked my magic up from where it was buried, my eyes snapping open as I let all of it out.
War’s scream was full of pain, and despite the chaos erupting around us, the earth shaking and the sky thundering, I could hear it clear as day. I relished in it. The rainbow beam blasted into him, growing in size as it began to eat away at the magic surrounding him, not just rendering him useless but…killing him.
We were killing War.
We were killing a god terror.
Yet instead of regret I thought about every death he had caused, and as tears of fury leaked down my face, I watched his skin turn into a sallow gray that began to crack like dust. The flame of power in the center of his chest flickered, and with a final push of energy…
Blew out.
My magic cut off immediately and it snapped back through me and towards the cliffside where the othersis metaswatched on. I trembled, feeling dizzy and almost drunk on magic, as my knees broke. The hard ground didn’t catch me, though—no, Damian caught me, but he didn’t move me.
Instead we both watched on as War, who was staring glassy eyed at us, began to break apart, his skin like ash, revealing only bone underneath. The wind returned, and with it, War’s body began to fall. Saint was there in that moment, and I watched in awe as his power surrounded the ash and bone and from it pulled a weak flicker of blue light that he held between his fingers.
His silver eyes met mine, and just like he promised, with a press of his fingers he extinguished the life force of the man responsible for war between humans and nightmares.
As relief toppled over me, everything went dark.
I wasn’tin a dream or memory—I was somewhere I’d never been before, and it was beautiful. Not just beautiful, but tranquil. I was in a cave with white arched ceilings and lanterns that lined small alcoves on all sides of me. In front of me, my toes tracing the edge of the water, was a deep pool.
Despite not understanding what was going on, I didn’t hesitate to slip in.
It wasn’t normal water. It felt like…jelly. It was cold and liquid, but it ran against my skin differently than I wouldhave expected. I submerged myself completely, and when I resurfaced, I was no longer alone.
“Sis meta. Welcome.”
Blinking and pushing the liquid away from my face, I found a woman had joined me, sitting cross-legged in her robes at the edge of the pool. I couldn’t tell her age from here, and I wasn’t positive she had one, because despite her silver hair, she could have been anywhere from my own age to much older. I just couldn’t tell.
“Where am I?” I asked, my voice echoing through the space. “And who are you?”
“I am the firstsis meta—the first soother created to bring peace between nightmare and human,” she said softly. “I am where you come from.”
Wow.
“And you are at the ritualistic pool of awakening.”
“Fancy,” I murmured.
“You arrived here because you awakened your magic while fighting off the god terror with othersis metas. You used your ability to siphon magic to combine all of it and actually kill him,” she said proudly. “That is a feat rarely accomplished by asis meta. You came here because you faced the pool of awakening and chose to dive in.”
I looked around the peaceful water. “And what would have happened if I didn’t?”
“You would have died from the power explosion you went through.”
“What?!” I stared at her in horror.
“You’re fine, though.” She flashed a smile as if what she said wasn’t a big deal. “In fact, you are sleeping peacefully in the arms of one of your mates, although I’m not sure where.”
“Right,” I breathed out, looking down at the pool. “So how do I get back?”
“Submerge yourself, but make sure you feel well enough to go back into the land of the living. You will have to find a way to get rid of the excess power still churning within you. This would have gotten rid of most of it, but not everything.”
Hadn’t Damian helped me the one time Ashur’s dream messed me up…
“I’m going to go back,” I said, swimming backwards. “It was nice to meet you.”
