End of an Era (Project Chrysalis Book 2), John Gold [ebook reader online txt] 📗

squad covered the castle, and especially the control room, in case Talamei and his allies tried to pull a diversion.

Just one step stood between Leon and the glory and power he craved - the large pantheon.

“Sagie, you were my first step to power, and you will also be my last.”

***

Fem and I stand in front of the Airis Castle wall. There’s a small house with no windows, and just one door. My parents and sister are definitely in there, definitely alive and well. That means I can get them out of here. There are…several gods looking at me. Leon is on the wall; Talamei is on the undead side in one of their bodies. Next to him, a portal opens to release…Miridia. She’s wearing the same clothing she was wearing at the lake, only all that’s left of her head is a skull and long ginger hair. Her avatar is the same size as Talamei’s, a good hundred meters tall.

Wait a second, why do I sense death and the devil? Ah, they’re up in the sky! Evidently, they’re using invisibility. There’s also something enormous flying around up there. It’s ridiculous. I’m here with my head whirling around, and there’s nothing to see. Idiot. Ah, but there are even more gods than I first noticed. What are all the bastards doing here?

Talamei comes over to the very edge of the shield.

Group chat

Fem, I’ll distract him while you grab my parents and run. Your amplification will give you the speed advantage. Also, you’re the only one strong enough to carry them.

On it.

Talamei steps up to the castle shield and launches thousands of lightning bolts at it at once. A couple of seconds later, the shield is gone without a trace. A few more bolts go flying at the walls and the warriors on them, while thunder rolls across the battlefield to drown out the cries from the walls. Here we go!

***

Femida dashed toward the house as Sagie hurled his strongest fire ball at Talamei, willing him to turn in the boy’s direction.

“I remember you, worm. You dared wound me and run away,” Talamei said with a nasty laugh. “The gods keep their word though, and I’ll make you pay for your impudence.”

Femida was already at the house. Her amplification jumped by a factor of ten, and the door flew off the hinges. She was pulling the prisoners out of the house when Talamei sent an enormous meteor flying at them.

Sagie saw the whole thing. Femida took the blow for his parents, sending her flying a good fifty meters, though there was another explosion for his parents. Rosie was thrown from her mother’s arms and landed lifelessly on the ground. Sagie’s parents laid nearby, their health indicators empty.

Standing in place, Sagie didn’t react. It was almost as if his soul had left him. The roar around him grew louder. He no longer whispered, but the roar joined his thoughts and grew with each passing second. It looked like life had left the boy. His face was emotionless. Finally, he collapsed to his knees and broke down in bitter tears. The roar grew louder until it was joined by Sagie’s voice.

“I forgave you all! I didn’t want revenge! I didn’t give you a single reason to find me, and I even hid the fact that I was still alive. I went as far away as I could! But you found the people I cared most about…and…and…killed them.” Sagie shrieked angrily and ferociously. “Leon…I’m going to kill you! I will kill every god in this world. I’ll kill you all!”

***

Rage rumbles through me, forcing its way out. I want to kill them all. In front of my eyes, a bloody fog swirls, the whole world turned red. The grass, the ground underfoot, the people, magic - it’s all red. There is one sole thought surging through each of my streams of consciousness: kill. Kill. Kill. It’s like I’m in some kind of oblivion. I start to see semitransparent creatures appearing out of nowhere and flying around me.

Fourth-order resonance activated

 

No, I’m not going to die like this. I’m going to take you all to Hell with me!

“Meteor! Maximum!” I taste blood, the liquid pouring from my eyes, my nose, my ears.

The darkness overtakes me.

Critical health condition.

Forced disconnection in 3… 2… 1…

***

Femida was lying on the earth, just short of killed by the meteor’s shock wave. Not only had her armor spilled quite a bit of blood, pieces of wood had fallen on top of her. It was a piece of work getting out; each of the logs weighed a ton.

Sagie was talking to himself on his knees. A bloody mist had begun to envelope him, and it grew stronger with each word. She couldn’t get to him. The whisper and murmur merged into a chorus of voices that boomed out the words the boy was uttering. When Sagie fell silent, the mist rose to swallow the entire castle and part of the battlefield. The world was tinged with red. Semitransparent beasts Femida had never seen before appeared, and the more Sagie said, the more there were of them and the stronger they were, too. Bloody water, buildings, grass, walls, bloody gods, and people. It looked like the whole world was bathed in blood.

Talamei stretched out his hand toward the castle, dozens of fireballs shooting from his fingers. The citadel began to burn.

Miridia stepped closer to Sagie, who was still whispering something.

“Feel the despair I feel, you worthless nothing.”

Sagie droned on—kill, kill, kill—and remained fixated on the ground. His hood was thrown back, giving Femida a view of the blood trickling from his eyes and ears. He started to sweat blood. It poured off him in rivulets, soaking into his clothes. The droning turned into a dull echo. Words piled on top of each