“BEG ME FOR ABSOLUTION.” The most intense catharsis of any of my lives rushed through me, and I sent the full might of my dueling energies into his body. Virram spasmed violently as his pleading cries devolved into shrieks and gurgles. I heard doors bang open at various points along the throne room, and a swarm of iron boots clanged across the stone floor towards me.
“YOU SHALL NOT HAVE IT!” Everything disappeared behind a bright flash of light as the void energy reached a crackling crescendo, sending flames spilling out in all directions. When the energy subsided, I saw the room in a new light; the cloth that had covered the broken stained-glass window was reduced to smoldering cinders, allowing moonlight to spill past the remaining glittering shards. Below it, the Golden Throne was a melted, misshapen pile of metal, still glowing cherry-red from the momentary blast furnace that had engulfed it. Seated at the center of the monument was a twisted humanoid figure made entirely of black glass; its face was upturned and contorted in agony, but the rest of its features had melted away and fused with the throne itself, leaving it a vague resemblance of the ruler it had once been.
As I stared into the infinite blackness of Virram’s remains, I felt a deep thrum of satisfaction reverberate in my chest. YOU HAVE BECOME WHAT YOU WERE MEANT TO BE. WE WILL BRING JUSTICE TO THIS WORLD AND EVERY WORLD BEYOND IT.
I turned to face the approaching army, but their charge had reversed into a headlong retreat at the sight of their king’s ruination. My brow furrowed as I watched them run; their mere presence in the throne room soiled what was an otherwise perfect victory. YOU WILL FACE JUSTICE.
Whipping lashes of darkness flew off of me and pursued the fleeing guards. A series of explosions rocked the hall as each one impacted its target and instantly incinerated them, blasting chunks of stone up from the floor where they had stood. I let out a roaring laugh as the chaos unfolded before me. WE WILL BRING RUIN TO KALDAN. WE WILL BRING JUSTICE. WE—
In a forgotten corner of my mind, I felt my consciousness surface from the void that had engulfed me. No. That’s not justice. I floundered in an endless ocean of darkness, thrust into a battle to keep the single remaining shred of my humanity intact against the rage driving my body. Slaughtering innocents isn’t justice. I didn’t know whether it was Virram’s death, my receding adrenaline, or some outside force that had allowed my consciousness to coalesce out of the void, but the answer didn’t matter; my sole focus was preventing the dark presence from swallowing me up again, regardless of how I had escaped its embrace.
THIS WORLD IS INSIGNIFICANT. OUR PURPOSE IS HIGHER. IF WE MUST REDUCE EVERY SOUL TO CINDERS, SO IT WILL BE.
No. I felt my fingers twitch as my fortitude grew. There are people I care about in this world. I won’t kill them. My body rumbled with an angry growl as I fought for control. Lia. Marten and Hana. Marin. Val. I’ll protect them.
YOU CANNOT PROTECT THEM FROM THIS. AS LONG AS WE ARE HERE, THIS WORLD WILL BURN.
With a desperate burst of resistance, I took charge of my arm and raised my hand, grasping at the air before me. Then I’ll leave. The throne room blurred as the dark energy stored in my core activated, and the world disappeared.
---
FOOLISH.
Every cell in my body burned as I listlessly floated through the void between worlds. Strangely, my head felt entirely empty of the dark presence that had possessed me, though I could still hear it thundering its displeasure at me from all sides.
YOU WILL REMAIN HERE UNTIL YOU ACCEPT YOUR FATE.
I guess I’ll be here forever, then. I’ll never hurt Lia again, even if it means I have to die to keep her safe.
YOU BELIEVE DEATH WILL SAVE YOU? I heard the vicious laughter that had once come from my own mouth echo in my ears. YOU TRULY UNDERSTAND NOTHING. A crackling spasm raced through my brain like lightning as a memory was forcefully pulled from its resting place and put on display behind my eyes. Amaya dozed in the shade of our favorite tree on the hill behind Ashedown’s forge with her golden, rabbit-like ears flopped down over her face.
Just as a smile began to form on my lips, the memory was ripped away in a searing burst of pain. I began to panic as I tried to retrace the neural pathways to the memory and came up with only hazy, dreamlike rememberings of the once-perfect scene. No. No, you can’t take those. Leave my— Another bolt of pain, and I found myself in Jaren’s study in Hedaat. My hand stroked gently through Alda’s hair as she slept with her head in my lap, both of us sitting on the floor in front of a crackling hearth. Jaren and I spoke quietly about the day’s successes and failures, making plans for our next round of testing.
My brain screamed in torment, and the memory vanished in a haze. Stop! You can’t—
BECOME WHAT YOU ARE MEANT TO BE.
The next forced memory flickered to life: I sat between Lia and Val at the Council Chambers, enjoying our freshly prepared dinner together in contented silence on the night before we reached Attetsia. The vision was ripped away in another burst of disorienting pain before I could beg for it to stay. Please. They’re all I have.
ACCEPT YOUR FATE.
I thrashed against the surrounding void and reached out with what little mana I had left, but I was entirely consumed by the suffocating space. Without my willing connection to the dark presence, I had no way of navigating the void to find my way back to the life I had made with Lia; I could find no indication of which was up, or if up even existed in the space
