Chapter 21: The Guardian’s Game
Lyra laughed, her body starting to glow with a black and purple aura. The aura of my dagger.
"Finally!" she exclaimed. "The power of the Void is mine! I’m no longer just a guardian. I will return to the Abyss and take the throne! I will rule the world!"
She looked at me with contempt. "Our people have worshipped the entity of the Abyss for generations," she said, pointing to the cave walls. "But I won’t worship it. I will replace it!"
I watched her triumph. And I started to laugh. A sincere, mocking laugh.
She stopped boasting, surprised. "Why are you laughing, insect?"
"You?" I said, wiping away a tear of laughter. "Rule the Abyss? Do you really think it’s that simple?"
"Shut up! I can feel its power inside me!"
"No," I said, my smile turning cold. "What you feel is your own energy being devoured."
She frowned. Then her face changed. A look of confusion, then panic. She looked at her hands. The aura around her was flickering. She suddenly felt... weak.
"What... what’s happening?"
"It’s the passive effect of my dagger," I explained calmly. "It’s a part of me. It can’t be controlled by someone else. It just feeds. It’s absorbing your life energy. Your Aura. Your soul."
The panic on her face turned to pure terror.