Page 143 of The Divine Lies We Weave

Viperess!

Hush, mortal.

We can’t go forward.

We are here for a reason. These mountains are sacred. The rivers that used to flow through here were from the tears of our most beautiful Flame. Why do you think I want to plant the seed here?

Leela’s chest tightened. Her fingers trembled, all the memories of that night flinging back with vengeance. I don’t give a shit. Get us out of here!

I brought fighters for this reason.

Leela shuddered. Oh. They were all going to die. They had all been led into the mountains, and most were going to turn into skeletons to live in the Haunted Sands. It was the attack from the furybeasts all over again.

No… No… D—don’t do this! They won’t survive.

“We move on,” the Viperess said to the group as a collective gasp rose.

Leela wished she could see the Gilded Thorns and the rebels, to tell them to turn around and run. They were not going to survive the lustisha’s fist.

Please…

Leela’s walls shuddered, the darkness consuming her. Images of the lustisha and the village stifled her, invisible hands clamping around her throat. She sank to her knees, palms on her ears as she blocked the screams that tore open her memories. She knew she’d hear the screams first before the crunching of bones or tearing of flesh.

The screams always came first.

No turning back now, mortal.

Leela couldn’t do anything but watch, breath hitched in her throat. The Viperess neared the lustisha through the clearing as it stood at the end of the passage. Each step was agonizing. She had never wished more for the Viperess to have control over her as she did now. It was a sacrifice Leela was willing to make, now that she was facing her nightmare after years.

Pull it together! She thought.

How?

How could she?

At the end of the mountain passage, she would be staring up at the beady eyes of a lustisha. How many heads did this one have? One? Two?

Leela shut her eyes, blocking out the thick trunks for legs.

Steady, mortal.

Don’t tell me to be fucking calm!

Leela peeked and gasped. The Viperess stood at the end of the pass, on a ledge leading down into the pool of fog. Her people were behind her, weapons in hand, staring up at the lustisha.

The fog over the mountain pass lingered in the open air. Despite the legs seeming close, they were still quite some distance away, given their enormous size.

But the fog wasn’t what Leela was staring at.

Gray textured skin leered back at her, and Leela gawked as she noticed this lustisha had two heads. Panic seized her throat. Her emotions were all too consuming. Tears she barely registered burst over her hands, her lungs compressing, and suddenly, she couldn’t breathe. Her vision blurred. Hands shaking beyond control.

Please… Please…

Calm, mortal. I am the Viperess.

And how do you plan to bring down a lustisha?

You forget, I was forced to watch these things linger in the Netherworld. Watching as they played together in the sands, their fists the riversides and backs the mountains. This lustisha was the Scorpion’s making, drawing it from the Netherworld. But it is of my choosing.