Chapter 85: Rise So High
The monster’s sneer is pure contempt, her lips curling to expose fangs slick with blood. She draws herself up, tilting her head, and spits at my feet with a guttural hiss, voice echoing in that ancient, oily tounge of old: "Foetorem odoris tui sentio, abominabilis es."
["You smell foul, abomination."]
I smirk how ironic this filth is calling me the abomination. Ridiculous even. I smile back at her ignoring the insult. For the first time since my marks burned themselves into flesh and soul, I don’t fight the voices or fear their power. And in turn they don’t hijack my will, they don’t twist my emotions out of control to satisfy their hunger. Instead, we join together for one singular purpose and by doing so my senses, my focus, my entire being comes together with a clarity that is almost euphoric. The world is so much clearer, every heartbeat in my cohort I can hear, every shift of the monster’s weight a ripple through the air. I feel amazing. I feel unstoppable.
She moves faster than any human eye could track, her body dissolving in a flicker of shadow and light, the air around her distorting as she opens a portal, intending to strike me from behind, to toy with me before the kill. This is how she killed the others in a blur. But I can hear her, the subtle whine of the void tearing open, the pressure change in the air as it punctures the world. My sword is already moving, slicing toward the spot she’ll emerge less than a second before she reappears.
She materializes, claws swiping, but my blade is there first. She hisses in surprise, weaving away so quickly the tip only grazes her pale skin, not enough to draw blood but close. She flickers back, eyes narrowing.
"Quomodo...?"
["How...?"]
I ignore her. Her eyes go cold with hate, black as the abyss she crawled from. She bares her teeth and glances behind her, toward the huddled remnants of House Apophis my house, what’s left of it, wide-eyed and trembling all of them save Lucian who was still looking on with a look of pure hate. She means to slaughter them first, to make me watch.
I snarl, stepping between her and the group, my voice a blade. "You are fighting me, worm." I leap forward, faster than I’ve ever moved my hate and anger synchronizing with the fearmonger mark. There is a reason it manifests it’s self as a wolf, as a hunter it must be stronger, and faster then its prey. My blade sings through the air. Behind me, someone gasps causing me to smile in joy. Yesss see me in all my glorious glory as I save you all.