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“Thousands of galaxies, millions of stars, and you get to see them all? That’s impressive.” I tipped my head back toward him and studied his odd form. “Can you see her? Where she is?”
“Your sister rests,” one head said, and then another continued. “Far beyond here and far out of your reach.”
“Good. Good for her. Finally, she is far enough away that I can’t hurt her anymore.” I didn’t mean for that part to come out, but I couldn’t help it.
“Is that how you feel? You think you hurt her?” Roccurem, the single head I believed was truly him, asked.
I shrugged a single shoulder. “Doesn’t matter now.”
One of those heads seemed intent on watching me as the others went about their business. “How have you thought of killing me?”
I exhaled through my nose. “I thought about cutting your heads off one by one, then maybe seeing if I can set fire to that weird floating skirt thing you wear. You don’t really have any actual limbs, so I can’t cut those off, but I wanted it to be slow and painful, unlike her death.”
“You truly blame me?”
“I blame everyone involved,” I snapped at him. “You saw. You knew what would happen to her, yet you said nothing to Samkiel or me while we were here.”
“I told you everything that’s to come. You did not listen. Instead, you clung to The World Ender with defiance on your tongue.” I squeezed a fraction harder, and the head that watched me joined the others, continuing to spin. “Now look at you. You have come fully into your own power. You could burn stars, conquer worlds, all of it if you should wish it. And all must happen appropriately to ensure what’s to come.”
Unease flared in me. Roccurem caught my apprehension, and his heads stopped spinning. I let him go and put my hands on my hips. “For what’s to come?”
“Your ascension.”
“My what?”
“I see different realities, one per second. No matter the reality, your sister was supposed to die in every single one of them. Some sooner than others. In this reality it is how it had to be for you to ascend to power. You were always the catalyst for worlds to burn.”
My heart dropped, and whatever was left of it shattered.
“So, you’re saying no matter what it’s my fault?”
My breath hitched. I really had killed my sister. The room threatened to swallow me whole. A blade ran across my already bruised and beaten heart. A cut so deep I wanted to scream, but nothing came.
“You mistake my words. Gabriella fulfilled her purpose just like you will yours one day. The universe will have its balance one way or another. That is how it has been and always will be.”
My eyes cut toward him. “You saw all of that?”
“Yes.”
A new plan flickered to life in my mind. One that may benefit me far more than his death would.
“Your mind is changing, planning, plotting. I can see the tides of your thoughts redirecting your path.”
I nodded, glancing around the room. “You are right about one thing. I have changed my mind.”
I raised my arms, flames shooting out and ripping at the walls of this prison. Roccurem jerked as if in pain, the swirling dark mass taking the brunt of my power. I pushed harder, the flames growing, lighting the place in shades of bright orange and red. The walls shook, and his heads spun so erratically I feared they would pop off. The room smelled of burning flesh and ash. Roccurem screamed, an aching sound that whipped like the wind, but I didn’t stop.
I pulled the flames back when the room turned a dull shade of gray, and ash filled the air. The glowing stars were dead, and whatever illusion this place held had died with them. I approached his hunched form, my heels the only sound in the silence. I kneeled beside him, his flowing mass shriveled and clinging to him.
“What did you do?”
“I freed you,” I said and stood. All three of his heads turned toward me in shock. “This place isn’t you. It is just an illusion to keep you chained. They locked you here for thousands of years because of Samkiel’s father. Well, he’s dead, and you are no longer trapped. No more prisons, Roccurem, for either of us.”
He seemed to register what I said. His form shook as he rose and floated once more before me. He looked around and then back at me. Long ago, I wished for someone to free me from my chains to Kaden. No one came, so instead, I grew claws and fangs and freed myself. Roccurem couldn’t, so I would be his claws.
His freedom.
“I don’t feel…” His voice trailed off.
