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I break the kiss and place one on her forehead. My body fights to stand up and protect her. It can’t end like this. We have so much more to live for.
I have to meet my child.
Using her small body, I lift myself up from the floor. I take out the only weapon I have left. With my legs shaking and my insides gnashing, I face Karona as a proud dark elf.
Karona scornfully laughs. “You dare to keep your head lifted?” she bellows.
“She’s my mate. I will lay my life down for her. I don’t care what it takes,” I spit.
This disgusts her. She lifts her arms and every statue of the deities floats from their places. All the eyes glow and look down at us, the most blasphemous of beings. The room shakes and the ceiling cracks open. It’s only us three in this room now. The other handmaidens have long since fled the destructive scene.
I close my eyes, ready for the fatal blow. I can feel Karona preparing herself. The air’s thick with tension, no sign of our impending doom stopping.
Then, a sarcastic chuckle cuts through the air.
“Well, well, well, isn’t this a sight to behold?” the voice says.
I open my eyes, recognizing that powerful voice. Ishiraya himself materializes, his presence a sudden calm in the eye of the storm. He looks like her male counterpart, violet eyes and platinum hair. It’s a bone-chilling likeliness that makes me wonder if it’s his true form – or one to shake Karona herself. He walks past us, never breaking eye contact with Karona.
Taking advantage of her distraction, I pull Shana away. We hold onto each other for dear life as we hide behind a destroyed column. Shana fusses over my injuries, but I have to silence her while Ishiraya does what he intends to do.
“I can’t express how utterly ecstatic I am to see such chaos unfolding.” He looks around the room. Then he turns to her with a gleeful smirk. “I never expected such behavior from you, beautiful and merciful Karona.”
He’s taunting her with just words. It pushes her rage to new heights. A sudden surge of power I hadn’t seen before manifests, a mirage of colors and extreme heat coming from just her palms. She destroys half the ceiling to try and crush Ishiraya.
I shield Shana from the debris, trying to keep quiet as these two powerful beings confront each other.
“A wretched being like you isn’t allowed to step in here,” Karona barks.
She’s met with another chuckle. “And here I am. I have to admit, I didn’t expect that the day you lost your mind would be because of one of my own.”
Ishiraya glances over at Shana and me. He turns back to Karona, who looks like she’s ready to kill him.
“How arrogant of you. You step into my territory spewing nonsense. All for a rodent that infiltrated the sanctity of these walls.”
Ishiraya sighs. “Predictable as ever. I expected nothing less from a goddess who, despite being powerful, will run away from lowly demons.”
Karona grits her teeth as she walks towards Ishiraya. A standoff ensues as the two Rulers circle each other with barely restrained hostility. The threat of a direct conflict and its catastrophic potential hang in the air.
The chaos continues as before, with more strength and power. From his expression, Ishiraya’s having fun with this altercation. He swiftly avoids her attacks, and she gets more desperate. The walls crumble, and there’s distant yelling from outside the temple. The destruction’s reaching Aerasak.
This is going to wake up the gods.
“Your sacred temple’s getting ruined, Karona. Didn’t you spend so much time making it perfect?” Ishiraya taunts her.
Karona, her judgment clouded by fury, is checked by her desire to preserve her temple and its inhabitants. The cost of battle is weighed against her desire for vengeance.
She stops raging, realizing the damage she’s doing. The rest of her priestesses and handmaidens seek shelter outside, in complete shock at what their leader’s capable of.
She grits her teeth and looks over to where we hide.
“Shana,” her voice booms throughout the mess. The former shakes in my arms as she looks over at her. “You’re forbidden from ever stepping foot in this sacred temple. You are stripped from your duties and honor, as fit for a sacrilegious fiend.”
Shana’s cast out, exiled from the sanctity she's known. Her past transgressions are officially severed with a single merciless decree. There’s no response from her as she simply lays on my chest.
“As for you, Carus Ishiraya,” Karona says as I comfort Shana.
She raises her hand to strike me. I prepare myself to push Shana out of the way. But her last words of condemnation are interrupted by Ishiraya.
