Page 140 of The Fake Divination Offense
I scramble around.
And realize the full breadth of my stupidity in one heart-shattering moment.
There’s a part of the ritual we haven’t emulated. A part the cultists hadn’t yet touched either.
Theblood.
Tem is holding a dagger as long as his forearm.
“Thio!” I shout, banging on the arcane wall, little zaps of electricity shooting up my arms. “Get me in there!”
Bel still hangs from the beam. His eyes are round, and when he looks at me again, that resignation flashes over him.
For eight years he’s run from this. For eight years he’s lived dozens of lies to stay safe from this very moment, and now it’s here.
A tear rolls down his face, and he tries to smile, wobbling and scared.
I love you, he mouths.
I bang on the wall again, panic clawing through me. He doesn’t get to give up.I’m not giving up.
The cultists chant and sway. Tem faces Bel, a feverish grin stretching his lips.
“The blood of Galaxrien will free him,” he says, lifting the dagger. Aiming for Bel. “The blood of Galaxrien will free him.”
“STOP!” I scream.
“YOU FOOLS!”
The voice booms around the platform, startling a shout out of Aaron across from me.
“THIS IS NOT THE TIME OF MY PROPHESIED RETURN!” The flames around us blaze higher. “YOU HAVE SHAMED ME!”
The cultists freeze. Even Tem goes rigid, his knife still up and aimed.
Bel’s fear dissolves in—amusement.
He packs it away into appropriate terror, yanking on his chains for good measure, struggling and writhing.
My shoulders arch, hands curled,ready.
“YOU DARE HARM MY DESCENDANT, MY ANNOINTED BLOOD!” Galaxrien/Seb bellows. “FOOLS! INGRATES! RELEASE HIM! IF YOU HARM HIM, YOU WILLFEEL MY WRATH!”
More thunder shakes the platform; lightning flares and bursts so bright I wince. Choking smoke wraps around us, shielding Seb and Thio even more, highlighting the arcane barrier wrapped around the cultists and Bel.
The cultists cry out and drop to their knees. Only Tem remains standing, his arm with the dagger going slack.
He stares around, jaw distending, perplexity making him wilt. “My lord—”
“CEASE THIS IMPRUDENT MISSION!” Galaxrien/Seb continues. “YOU HAVE BEEN LED ASTRAY! I… uh… SMITE YOU! SMITE THEE… with, um… MY GREAT AND VENGEFUL DEMONIC POWER!”
Okay, Seb, wrap it up.
“BEGONE FROM MY SIGHT, FOOLISH MORTALS!”
The fire, the lightning, the smoke—it all vanishes at once.
“There,” Thio says, then, “Orok,now!”
