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The demons were gone too. The blood moon had passed. And yet, I was still tethered to Clem, Bracken, Kiar, and Hadi.
And everything I had ever known was a lie. My entire life, my sense of self, everything I believed in, all a joke.
“Well… that was different,” Bracken exclaimed, brushing himself off, then shaking out his wings.
“That is an understatement,” Kiar said, rubbing his bruised fists. “That was worse than when Clem summoned our spirits. My stomach’s still churning.”
Clem, for his part, just stared at all of us in open wonder.
As for me? I didn’t know how to react or what I was going to do until I was falling to my knees, slamming my fists until they were raw in the snow.
But I never let go of the stones. I couldn’t, even though I wanted to cast them aside and fling myself from the peak.
The world’s fate hung in the balance within the palms of my hands. Victory. That’s what the stones represented. And vengeance. Up until now.
I was born into a world without nocs, and I thought I would die in one that was rid of them.
But now… now, I didn’t know.
Without thinking, I stood and ran, like a child. I stumbled down the snowy pathway, ignoring the warning bells ringing in my ear, because I was unable to tell where I was going.
No matter. My shadows gained ground and approached me as I descended the mountain mindlessly.
My family cried out to me from their graves. My men. My people. My friends. Even my damned horse neighed for my attention, all screaming inside of my mind!
I could not allow myself to be swayed. Tsuki had to be lying. Why would the emperor set our patron and patroness against one another? Why? It made no damn sense! And yet, as I faced my nocturnal court, coming to a stop halfway from the peak, I could feel myself spiraling into the blackest, deepest pit of despair.
Hadi grimaced before murmuring the words that were my undoing.
“Cease your futile retreat. Your emperor is no better than us nocs. He is worse. So, stop running away like a child and face the truth. He’s a scourge on humanity who summoned us on this course of mutual destruction we have walked for many years. He must be eradicated.”
And there it was, the truth laid bare so plainly I could not summon any more defenses to deny it.
It consumed me, so much so the world began to melt away. Bracken and Kiar’s eyes widened in shock, mouths gaped, and Hadi hissed before falling silent.
They watched me as I sucked in a shuddering breath, understanding still fleeting.
“Are you alright?” Clem asked, blinking, his skin shining green and then blue.
I shook my head yes, determined to hide the turmoil inside. Until it hit me. Clem’s glassy black eyes reflected my face.
I was crying, sobbing, really, and allowed myself to crumble to the ground as I succumbed to my disgrace.
What champion was I? I served a crook, a monster worse than the ones descending on me now.
The source of all my despair, the totality of my losses, began and ended with a man I swore to serve to the grave.
Chapter 21
Sun
Ihad watched my friends die. I had been captured and tortured. I had experienced more hardships in my life than any man should.
And somehow, this was the thing that brought me to tears.
The betrayal was too strong. The disappointment was too overwhelming.
All these years, I had sacrificed my life and the lives of my fellow soldiers on the orders of the man who had done this to us all. He had brought out the monsters and then made us fight them. I just... I couldn’t fathom it or make sense of it.
