Chapter 127: The Deity Under the Debris
Melissa’s POV
Power, heat, and pain.
It burned everything in its path as it raged through me like a wildfire. The ground shook furiously beneath me, and the air crackled, heavy with power. Waves of energy rushed from my body, illuminating the night sky with a blinding brightness that made it difficult for me to breathe.
Kane!
My heart thumping, I turned to face him. He was lying still, his dark veins gone, his body no longer twisted in pain. He was at liberty-
However, there was a problem.
I sensed it. He still had some darkness inside of him. It had shifted.
And it remained.
The earth split apart, and the ruins around us moaned. From the crevices, shadows squirmed, wriggling like living things, and curled around my feet. The air was filled with a slow, deep rumble.
With tiny intakes of breath, I stumbled backward.
No.
This was not the end of it.
I had unleashed power that was no longer solely mine.
It was someone else’s property.
I knelt next to Kane as he let out a quiet grunt. “Kane! Observe me.
His hazy, unfocused golden eyes flashed open. “Elissa…”
My eyes hurt with tears. “You’re all right. You are at liberty.
His breath was erratic as he blinked. “What did you do?”
The ground trembled severely beneath us before I could respond. Kane stiffened.
A guttural, booming laugh reverberated across the rubble.
It wasn’t a human.
I whirled around, feeling cold. Now, the darkness that had abandoned Kane was whirling into the fissured ground and disappearing into the chasm underneath.
No.
It wasn’t going away.
It was going home.
Kane found it difficult to sit up. “There’s going to be something, Melissa.”
I was aware. It was palpable in my bones.
I also doubted that we could prevent it.
Like an enraged beast, the wind howled and whipped through the remains. There was a change in the air. Heavy. Electrical.
With a moan, Kane took hold of my arm. “We need to relocate, Melissa.”
His strength wasn’t quite back as I helped him sit up. He remained feeble.
Wincing, he whispered, “We can’t stay here.”
However, I wasn’t certain we could go. No matter what was going on underneath us.
I was almost knocked off my feet by another tremor that rattled the ground. Kane said an expletive.
Then a voice emerged from the shadows.
“At last.”
It wasn’t noisy. It wasn’t necessary. My breath was taken away by the sheer weight of it pressing against my chest.
Beside me, Kane tensed up. “Tell me I didn’t just hear that, Melissa.”
I took a deep breath. “You did.”
The earth’s fissures became wider, extending like sharp cuts. Thick as smoke, the shadows twisted and shifted into strange shapes as they coiled from the depths.
Then there was a movement inside.
A huge, old shape started to emerge.
Kane took hold of my wrist. “We must depart. Right now.
However, I was immobile.
Under the weight of something older and more strong than anything I had ever encountered, I was frozen, imprisoned.
It was staring at me, too.
The wind picked up, roaring through the wreckage like a beast in anguish.
I lurched backward, barely able to breathe. The air was heavy and oppressive.
The ruins then burst into flames.
Dust and debris flew as the rocks broke. The earth’s fissures opened up considerably more.
And something huge sprang up out of the depths.
A shadow. A power that predates time itself.
Initially, it lacked a shape. It was utter blackness, swirling and undulating, shifting like smoke. Then, in the emptiness, two huge eyes opened, as deep and boundless as the night sky.
A deep, strong voice rumbled through the atmosphere.
“At last.”
The voice was the same. The one that had been muttering in my mind.
No.
This cannot be taking place.
With a firm grip, Kane drew me in. “We must flee, Melissa.”
However, I was unable to.
Not when its eyes met mine.
Not when it spoke again.
“You,” its voice said quietly, encircling me like a noose. “You are mine now.”
Something inside of me exploded the instant the words reached me.
My breath left my lungs as a searing pain pierced my chest.
I clutched my heart as I gasped. My body shook violently, and my vision became blurry.
“No,” I said. “I won’t-”
“You cannot fight me.”
I was knocked to my knees by a surge of power that struck me.
My name was called by Kane, but his voice sounded far away.
I was immobile.
I was having trouble breathing.
All I could do was listen.
“You are the vessel.”
No. No, no, no.
I tightened my fists in an attempt to resist the power that was entering my head.
A vessel wouldn’t be me.
They wouldn’t own me.
But the darkness remained persistent.
It was also refusing to let go.
The earth itself groaned with the weight of the power waking underneath us, and the ruins shook.
Kane shook me by grabbing my shoulders. “Hey, Melissa! Remain with me!
I made an effort. Yes, I did.
But the voice wouldn’t stop.
“Let go.”
No.
“You cannot escape me.”
I let out a cry as the shadows snaked up my arms and the blackness coiled about me.
Kane’s golden eyes blazed as he growled. “Avoid her!”
The shadows, however, paid no attention.
They tightened their coils, pressing into me and my skin.
With flashing claws, Kane lunged to pull them away. But the instant he touched them, the darkness lashed out-hurling him backward like a rag doll.
“Kane!” I let out a yell.
Coughing as he attempted to get up, he struck the ground hard. However, he was too frail.
The voice in my head grew deeper, seeming almost comical.
“You are mine now.”
A last surge of blackness swept forward and encircled me. I lost my vision.
Kane’s frantic voice yelling my name was the last sound I heard.
Then it was all over.