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"Lucian," I called, but he didn't move. "Lucian, wake up."
“He won’t be waking for a while,” I heard a familiar, nauseating voice say, and Cedric stepped around me. “Don’t worry, he’s fine.”
I took in the state of him with disgust. He looked like the Grand Canyon in Arizona from above, with lines covering every inch of skin, and the scar across his face had opened like a wound. His lips were black and his skin sickly pale, but I could see chaos moving around in him as if, at his core, that was all he was.
It was changing him.
Cedric held his hand out. "Come, let me show you something." I didn't move, and his hand dropped to his side. "You can come freely, or I make you, Natalie." The Goddess sat up, and Cedric glanced her way. “Don’t even think about it.”
He walked to the edge of the cave, and I stood up. I knew the Goddess wanted to attack him, and I wanted to do the same, but this wasn’t the time.
Standing beside Cedric, I saw what he wanted to show me, and I tried not to react. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction. But the sight of at least a hundred dragons at the base of the mountain, the corrupt few that sided with their mad king, was truly unnerving.
Thankfully, none of them were infected yet. But recalling what Tedara had told me—that Cedric wanted to pass on chaos to dragons—I knew these were the select few who would become new chaos users.
"It’s just a small group of dragons, but the changes we'll make together will be significant," Cedric said.
What a delusional, self-centered prick.
“What did you do to Rumir?" I asked.
He sighed. “I gave him the same power all these dragons will be given,” he answered. “He’s now blessed with more power than he’s ever known.”
“You bastard,” the Goddess spat.
"He's my son!" Cedric shouted. "My son, do you hear me? And I've stood by long enough while his potential wasted away. How about being grateful I told him to carry you here instead of killing you?”
He smiled grimly. "You're here to make a choice, Goddess—join me or die. And don't think I’m not aware of your little trip to the underworld. It’s okay, I’m not angry. In fact, my offer still stands—join me. Though I have little respect for you, you did play a part in giving me my son."
“Your son?” the Goddess said. “You contributed less than five minutes to creating my son!”
Cedric flicked his wrist, and the Goddess was hit by an invisible force that sent her flying. Rumir stepped aside, allowing his mother to slam into the wall.
“Rumir!" I yelled, and Cedric grabbed my arm. "Get off me!"
“Shut up!” he shouted, and our sire bond snapped like a whip. I couldn't speak, for my lips were glued shut by his command, and Cedric held his arms out. "This is the end, Natalie. You’re literally standing at the edge of a new era.”
“Oh, and by the way….” He smiled. “Welcome to Tedara’s temple.”
What?
He waited for a reaction, for me to say something, until he recalled he'd commanded me not to speak, then laughed. My energy had been spent on that damned transformation in Urgron City. Tedara’s pain had sent me into a spiral.
Cedric perhaps knew that as well, given his taunting. But with each second he spent boasting, I was replenishing my strength, pulling in the magic in the air.
He walked away, and I gritted my teeth, fighting his command. He joined Rumir, who I now realized, was standing in front of a wall that had red light streaming from small cracks.
Cedric pointed to the wall, the Goddess now lying unconscious by his feet. “Tedara was sealed behind this barrier, banished to another realm for eternity. This temple was once the most beautiful in existence, but now it’s just the entrance to her purgatory. How unfortunate for her, huh?”
Tedara had told me to find her temple and free her, but since releasing her hadn’t been an option at the time, I hadn’t really considered her words. If I had, I would have found Cedric long ago.
He laid a hand on the wall, and the rocky surface fell away, revealing a hole his hand could go through. A gush of power leaped out at us and a thin red layer, like skin, appeared inside the wall.
“This small opening was how this all started, Natalie.” Cedric’s voice became baritone, his fake cheerfulness replaced by the real him, the empty man I knew he was. “Trapped for so long, weakened and desperate for company and freedom, I was able to trick the Mother of Chaos.”
“She lent me her power to free her, but, then, you know that." He turned to me, his face emotionless. "You've spoken with her, too. It didn't take me long to realize she was going to slaughter everyone and remake the realms as she'd planned, but this time, she’d do it slowly, taking revenge for her banishment. And that got me thinking… Why couldn’t I do the same?”
My lips parted, still fighting his command, and he noticed. He clenched his fist, and I was yanked towards him.
“You don’t see my vision, Natalie,” he growled, holding my head with both hands. "You don't see it, but let me show you. Then you’ll understand.”
The cave vanished—Rumir, Lucian, and the Goddess too—and Cedric pulled my mind into his.
