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Light pulsed, showcasing the coliseum in light as bright as days as the high chancellor turned on the crystals from Avindar.
“It will make no difference. Shadows will always exist once there is light. If we doused all light, the moon would still cast a shadow. If there is no moon, she will have the darkness,” Acheron said.
***
Why do you fight me?
The whisper in his mind was as hollow as an empty grave. Ajali held himself still as he analyzed the voice that scraped along the inside of his head. Sinuous and dark. His gut tightened as something about the voice caressed his skin. Evil, yet familiar. He opened his eyes only to be met with the same unrelenting darkness. He could see nothing. Not even the flames that coated his body and sword. The void was unusual and oppressing. It weighed on him as if sucking at his soul. An abyss that no light could pierce. Ajali knew he was still in the coliseum; he flared out his chakra tracking the powers that were still present. The tension in his gut eased as he felt the chakra of Cadmus. He still lived.
Ajali walked forward, confident and battle ready. A presence stalked his footsteps. He felt it. The soft whisper of sound that moved with every step he made. The tingling at his nape. The void held him, trapped him. The trap was a beautiful one.
“Why do you have me here?” he commanded with a calm he ruthlessly held onto as the emptiness pressed in on him.
Why do you fight me, mate? I will free us both from our shackles. I am trying to understand this body that I am housed in. I simply stretch and bones break.
A feathery caress slid across his cheek. He did not startle. The malevolence through the chakra had warned him of its approach. He felt the push at his thoughts. Ajali resisted. Power pressed in as the thing tried to rip through his mental barriers—barriers that he’d fortified as he had a Serangite working for him. His vision tunneled in as darkness pressed against his mind.
Ajali roared at the intrusion. Flames washed forth in powerful waves, searing in its intensity. He barely saw a flicker in the abyss. It ate and devoured his flames as if they were nothing. Rage pulsed from the thing that rushed at him. He fought blinded as chains uncoiled from his hands and whistled through the darkness, seeking it.
Why do you fight me? Power punched through his barriers, permeating his mind with cruelty.
Without much thought he found the pathway the thing communicated on, unsure as to how it was possible.
You are the enemy! He lashed out, freeing his flames. Shock rooted Ajali to the spot as the soft glow of Tehdra’s chakra seeped into his mind.
Tehdra?
Is that what you call the body that houses me?” insidious evil growled. It matters not, I will free us, and we will begin our reign by burning this kingdom to the ground, my mate.
I am not your mate! He roared along the link.
You are ours! It screamed with such power Ajali dropped to one knee, holding himself up with his sword. Breaking bones reached his ears.
You threaten my kingdom with destruction.
I can feel the anguish in the air…I will devour them all.
Anger rode him, and he finally saw the thing in the dark as his Phoenyx pulsed flames of such intense beauty it started to slowly eclipse the darkness.
Ajali had never seen anything like Tehdra in his seven centi years of living. She was beautiful and absolutely evil. Black chakra churned around her in sinister movements. Her collar, shoulders and what looked like her hips were twisted at the oddest angle. Broken. Hair, matted with blood, hung in clumped strands. Obsidian eyes he had always thought beautiful held his gaze and filled him with dread. Only evil lurked there. With every breath it took the blackest of chakra escaped from its mouth in smoky tendrils, caressing her skin like a lover.
Tehdra was a Darkan. Betrayal burned through his blood. Then a hard smile slashed his lips. And he was her mate. He knew how Darkans felt about their mates. Possessive…she would not kill him. He hoped.
They observed each other in silence as evil intent simmered in the air around them.
What do you want?
Death.
He clenched his jaw until it ached.
Then it spoke again.
Burn with me…there are thousands of lives for our taking. I can taste their fear…so sweet.
No!
It laughed and he shuddered.
