“Now, now. No need for that,” Demon Egg-Head shows placating hands. Yet, I can’t help but notice he’s now using the green-haired mini-Dracoth for cover. “Reneth, ask Keth to get these lights on,” he commands, squinting at us, looking like a creepy senior citizen choosing a new pair of glasses.
Whoever Reneth is doesn’t speak, but the dim purple lights of the ship flicker on, regardless. I glance around, my revulsion growing. Now the full extent of the bloody carnage is lit up in all its grisly glory. My stomach churns as the grotesque sight of blood and entrails splattered across the room becomes painfully clear.
“Oh, my... young Dracoth was true to his word,” Demon Egg-Head mutters, his blackened face wrinkling in awe as he surveys the massacre.
“Where has that boy got himself?” Demon Egg-Head wonders with a frown. I almost laugh.Boy?That’s the most ridiculous name to describe the giant perv. And that the demon must be half-blind if he hasn’t noticed the massive red titan sprawled out right in front of him.
“Demon Egg—um, I mean, Ignition,” I interject, gesturing down toward Dracoth. To be fair, Sandra and Kazumi are partially blocking his view.
“It’s Ignixis,” he corrects with an amused chuckle as his eyes glance downward, widening in shock, finally noticing the red elephant in the room. “What has that foolish boy done now?” His pleasant demeanor now melts into a venomous snarl as he rushes toward the fallen red titan.
“Can you save him?” Sandra questions, concern in her voice.
“Out of the way,human,” Demon Egg-Head spits the word like it’s a heinous curse, pushing Sandra out of the way to kneel beside Dracoth. With a sharp slap across the unconscious titan’s face, he growls, “Wake up, Dracoth. You cannot fall yet!” before turning back to glare atus, the intensity forcing me to take a step back. “What happened here? What injuries did he sustain?”
“Nothing!” I blurt out, feeling personally attacked, like he’s accusing me of doing this to him. “We were just talking, and then he collapsed. But his skin is really hot—like, literally on fire.” I wave a hand in frustration at Dracoth’s massive form. “We tried carrying him, but he weighs a ton!”
“Weak human females, carrying him.” Demon Egg-Head scoffs, turning back toward Dracoth. “The day such weakness can lift the son of Gorexius is the day Arawnoth once again strides Klendathor!”
I was only trying to help. Rude asshole!
“You are right about his temperature, however,” the cheeky Demon Egg-Head concedes. Leaning forward, he pries open one of Dracoth’s eyelids. His eye burns bloody crimson with a hint of green and the strange mist still leaks, swirling like venting flumes. “Gods!” Demon Egg-Head hisses, recoiling slightly. “Bloodroot poisoning.”
He straightens, shaking his head in frustration, his dark robes swishing ominously. “You three,” he barks at the mini-Dracoths, “get him to the medical lab, quickly!”
The trio of mini-Dracoth’s rush to obey without a word. Their obedience sends an icy shiver down my spine—almost like watching machines come to life. Even these hulking soldiers struggle to lift the giant perv, making me feel better about our less-than-impressive attempt earlier.
“What about me? I mean... us?” The words spill from my lips before I can stop them.
Demon Egg-Head whirls around to face me, his lips curling into a sneer. His pointed yellow teeth and menacing fangs make my stomach churn. “You?” he snarls, leaning in closer, his words dripping with disdain. “You are going back to your cell. All of you—until...” His eyes sweep over the gory scene with an expression of disgust. “... this mess is dealt with.”
“Hijo de puta!” Carmen’s voice cuts through the tense air as she raises her gun, pointing it straight at Demon Egg-Head.
“Shoot them,” Demon Egg-Head declares, as icy as my mother’s heart.
I could cry, I could laugh, I could do a lot of things, but it happens so fast, I barely register the command before blue bolts of energy streak down the corridor. The mini-Dracoths drop the actual Dracoth’s limp body as they raise their weapons, firing in unison.
My heart leaps into my throat, and I scream—uselessly—turning and running down the corridor. The sounds of Carmen’s defiant gunfire echo behind me, but it’s drowned out by the deafening buzz of energy weapons.
Then it goes silent. Or maybe I can’t hear anymore. A sudden blue flash envelops me, the world tilting and blurring. I feel myself falling, the cold, unforgiving metal floor rushing up to meet me.
Fuck Carmen, and fuck that Demon Egg-Head!
And then, nothing.
Chapter 13
Dracoth
Crash
Myhazyunconsciousnessfadesto a blazing blur. I stand immersed in a living inferno. The tongues of the flames coil and lick across my skin like a lover’s caress. But I do not burn. No, instead the heat sustains me. It’s part of me, perhaps born from my heart—a heart that pumps molten fury, an insatiable wrath that can never be satiated.
A searing, too-bright white light stings my eyes, irking me. It’s cast not from a sun but from something unnatural.Is this a vision of my future? A universe in flames, the galaxies consumed by my wrath?
Then they rise from the ashes—the four human females. I groan at their intrusion into my domain, perplexed by how such frailty endures in this place of endless fire. Yet they grow,becoming immense, towering over me and the entire flaming landscape like the Peaks of Scarn. Their once-pretty faces twist with contempt, daring to judge me. I strain to discern their colossal, ashen identities amidst the roaring flames, but the fire consumes all.
They converse among their colossal selves, each syllable a tornado, a hurricane, threatening to blow away my conflagration of rage. I know they speak ill of me; I feel their barbs pricking my skin, unraveling the fortress of my mind, pouring doubt through its gates.
