A heavy pressure building inside my ribs.
A liquid warmth trailing down my chest.
Then pain.
Why was thereso muchpain?
My chin dipped as my gaze fell to my body, where the bloody point of a long, glittering black blade had erupted from my flesh.
Straight through the center of my heart.
“Doriel has their way of getting rid of problems,” a low voice hissed. The sword jerked deeper. “And I have mine.”
Dying feels different than I thought.
The thought floated idly through my head.
Death was supposed to be cold, wasn’t it? Lonely. One’s life flashing before their eyes, perhaps last-minute regrets of loves lost or choices made.
But this felt... warm.
Painful, yes. Searing agony splintered through every nerve. My heart felt like it was being shredded in half—which, by the slowing throb in my chest, it probably was.
But there was an unexpected pleasure in it, too. A peculiar rightness. A feeling like I’d just gained something I desperately wanted.
Then, the throbbing stopped, replaced by a strange kind of calm. A comforting, eternal peace.
“You were an interesting opponent, Lumnos, I’ll give you that.”
The blade slid out of my chest with a nauseating slurp, and my body collapsed to the ground. A boot nudged my side, knocking me on my back, and through a hazy vision veiled with shimmering gold, the smirking face of the Ignios King stared back.
“But the flames always win in the end.”
To be continued...
