My head whipped toward her, but her gazeremained focused on Kobal. “I will not be kept in hiding!” Iretorted. “If we can’t go through here then we will find one of theother ways to reach the seals.”
Around me, the other demons and skelleinsshuffled nervously. Kobal and Bale remained focused on each otherbefore he looked at me. “No,” he said after a minute. “She willremain here.”
My shoulders sagged as I inhaled a harshbreath. Bending, Kobal rested his lips against my ear. “You wouldnot have stayed in the forest anyway, Mah Kush-la.”
I gave him a tremulous smile. “You’reright.”
Kobal squeezed my hand before releasing it.Taking a step forward, he lifted his hands and rested them againstthe slab. Beneath his palms, an inner light radiated outward. Itshone across the rock to illuminate it like a light placed behind adiamond. The glow spread steadily over the solid surface.
Awe filled me as I took a step back to lookat the slab, now aglow in a striking umber color that reminded meof the leaves in October. My breath became trapped in my chest asbeneath the spreading light, intricate carvings within the surfaceof the rock were revealed. Carvings strikingly similar to the oneson Kobal’s right arm.
Then I spotted the mark of Ziwa. It wasetched into the stone amongst the others, and I knew these carvingswere the ancient language of the demons. More than that, I knewthey were a part of Kobal.
Against the rock, the muscles in hisforearms and biceps bulged. His head bent as his shirt strainedacross his back. The rending of the material giving way was theonly sound in the cavern aside from the crackling of the torches.Sweat slicked his bronzed skin, making it shine in the light fromhis hands.
I’d always known Kobal was a force to bereckoned with, but watching him now, I knew the well of power inhim ran far deeper than I’d ever realized. He’d once told me therewas much the demons could do, more than they’d revealed. How muchmore couldhedo? Would I ever know everything he wascapable of? Would he? Because I was beginning to think he may noteven know the depth of how deep his powers ran.
I resisted the impulse to rest my handagainst his arm, to feel that flow of power and add my own. Therewas no way to know what that influx of power would do, and Icouldn’t take the chance it would have a devastating effect.
My breath caught in my throat. I bit my lipas the symbols on his arm all turned and twisted toward the rock.His arms took on the same hue as what was emanating through therock. As if the symbols on his body had been a set of keys slidinginto a lock, I heard a clicking of something on the other side ofthe slab before it started to vibrate beneath Kobal’s palms.
I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the starkbeauty of him as the slab slid to the side. Thrusting his shouldersback, Kobal tossed aside the ruined remains of his shirt beforeturning to me. He didn’t say a word as he held his hand out.
My gaze ran over him once more before Islipped my fingers into his. Power jolted from him and into me. Hisfiery scent flooded my nostrils; it had increased from hisexertion, but he appeared unaffected by what he’d just done.
Pulling me closer against his side, helocked me there possessively as he stepped forward. I braced myselfto be magically thrown back, to spontaneously combust, or simplycease to exist, but none of those things happened as Kobal led meinto the large chamber.
Glancing over my shoulder, I saw the othersstanding at the edge of the doorway, peering cautiously inside.They all looked so small as their gazes ran over the massive room.Corson was the first to take a hesitant step inside, followedswiftly by Magnus and Bale. When I saw they weren’t going toexplode or be tossed aside either, I turned to focus on oursurroundings.
I somehow managed to keep walking asastonishment shook me. Instead of the black rock of Hell I’d grownaccustomed to, what surrounded us now were rocks that shone likequartz in the light of the chamber.
There were white, nearly see-through rocks,purple and pink ones, some were red and others were an orange colorthat reminded me of the glow that had released from Kobal and litthe slab. Firelight danced over the crystals and rocks surroundingus, causing them to sparkle and reflect colors the likes of whichI’d never seen before. The vast color should have beenoverwhelming, but it wasn’t.
The source of the firelight came from a holein the center of the chamber. No flames appeared out the top of thehole as sparks danced in the air from the center of the circle. Wewere too far away for me to be able to look into it, but I felt anirresistible draw toward the hole.
The chamber was easily atwo-hundred-foot-wide circle with a high, crystal dome in thecenter of it. The dome arched over where the fire danced within thehole. As we moved closer to the circle, I had to crane my head allthe way back to peer into the upper level nearly a hundred feetover my head. A tingle ran down my spine when I saw the top of thedome was charred and burnt. Smoke stains slid out from the center,obscuring the beautiful, quartz-like stones above us.
Sparks burst to life at the tips of myfingers when power rushed up from the ground to flood me. My eyeswidened when I realized the light at the end of my fingers wasgolden-white once more. I curled my fingers into the wall of muscleon Kobal’s chest as I sought some stability. “I can’t stop it,” Iwhispered.
He enclosed his hand around my head andcradled me protectively against his chest. “This is a place wherelife is created. There is much power to be found here.”
“Yes,” I murmured. I felt as if my body werebeing zapped with little electrical currents as the sparks on myfingers grew to encompass my wrists. “Kobal,” I whispered. “Willwhatever created you think I’m the enemy if I can’t stop this?”
“You are my Chosen. You could never be theenemy.”
As if in response, a low rumbling filled thecavern. I jumped and nearly fell when I tripped over my own feet,but Kobal managed to keep me up. My head shot toward the source ofthe noise as the slab settled back into place, effectively closingoff any retreat we might have made.
“Easy, Mah Kush-la,” he murmured in my ear.“You will be safe here.”
“How do you know that?” I demanded.
“There are more than rocks guarding thisplace. I may be the key to getting in and out of here, and I may bethe only one who knew what lay beyond that rock, but if someone isnot welcome here, they will not survive it.”
I didn’t think he realized those wordsweren’t exactly comforting.
The clicking of the skelleins bony feet onthe quartz surface drew my attention back to the others as theycontinued to creep forward. Their mouths gaped open as they triedto look everywhere at once. I’d never seen anything amaze thedemons, until now.
Kobal was the only one who strode forwardwith barely a glance at our surroundings. He kept his arm around mywaist, drawing me onward. Walking past the circle in the center ofthe dome, I dug my feet in, pulling him to a halt near the edgewhen I realized the black around the circle was actually lava rockssurrounding the open pit.
