Page 159 of Psycho Gods

The twins flanked my front, and the kings flanked my back.

I spun and thrust, dodged a flying projectile, stabbed, decapitated, slaughtered. I did it all and felt nothing.

Time warped around me.

It was quiet.

My chest heaved from exertion. I was drenched with sweat and covered in disturbing substances.

The battle was over.

“Do you need help standing?” Scorpius asked.

“No.” My voice was hoarse, and my lungs ached like I’d run for miles.

Sadie limped over and patted my back.

“Good work,” Malum announced to the soldiers. “Let’s stay together, exit the structure, and convene with our troops on the perimeters to make sure no ungodly escaped.”

I blinked, and I was laying in my bunk.

A sheen of ice covered me, and I couldn’t move.

I was frozen.

Part Three

Eccedentesiast

“Is it better to out-monster the monster or to be quietly devoured?”

?Nietzsche

Chapter 26

Aran

FUNERALS

Sepulchre (noun): a place of burial; tomb.

DAY 18, HOUR 19

The funeral processed in the war camp’s forest.

An enchanted camera flashed.

A line of witches stood off to the side and hummed a dark melody. Runes glowed on their skin. The ban on silence was temporarily lifted because an expensive timed enchantment had created a sound boundary.

Dick, Lothaire, and the cloaked man stood off to the side and watched with solemn faces.

Lyla performed the ceremony a few feet in front of us.

The rest of the soldiers stood apart.

Up close, the runes on Lyla’s skin shone with a much brighter light than the runes on the other witches. Lyla practically glowed like a star, while the rest were muted. She pulsed with power.

The left side of my face prickled under the weight of Lothaire’s attention. Unlike everyone else, he wasn’t watching Lyla perform the ceremony.