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PROLOGUE
Molev,before the earthquakes…
I staredat the source’s pulsing blue light and felt the familiar surge of conflicted emotions.How many times had I returned to the source to recharge my crystal?So many I couldn’t count them.The wonder and joy I’d felt had long ago faded, but not the memory of that very first moment waking in these caves.How the source crystal had surrendered pieces of itself to us so we could navigate our dark world.
With a weary sigh, I sat on a stone near the source and ran my finger over the dim crystal on my wrist.We’d learned time near the source’s energy would recharge our crystals.It became part of our routine to return here often.No one had questioned whether the crystals we wore had another purpose.Not until Olem.
My thoughts turned to my brother.Gone now for endless resting periods.Yet, the ache of his loss sat just as heavily in my chest as when I first heard the news.
A distant howl echoed not far from the source cave.Likely the hound that had followed me here.
“I’m tired,” I said softly.“And angry.I can’t sleep at night because I am so filled with anger.I am angry at Olem for leaving us, and I cannot forgive Merdon and Thallirin.
“I see a hopelessness spreading through my brothers.With each resurrection, we lose more of ourselves.How much longer until they think as I do and wonder if they should stop wearing their crystals as well?”
I rested my arms on my knees and bowed my head.
“I resent the responsibility I feel toward my remaining brothers.If not for that, I would have already joined Olem.”
Another howl rang out.
“Please let the suffering of this endless existence end.I do not know how much longer I can endure.”
The light surged brightly, and I looked up at the source.
A sense of comfort washed through me, and I sighed.It was always like this with the crystal.When I spoke to it, it gave me what I needed to carry on.But I could no longer bear the burden.
“Drav is strong.He hasn’t lost as much hope as some of my other brothers.He will be a good leader.”
The crystal surged again even brighter, and I felt a faint rumbling in the stone beneath me.
“I am grateful for your protection and patience, but it is time.”
My fingers went to the leather cords tying the crystal on my wrist.
The tremors became more pronounced, and the crystal’s light grew blinding.Shielding my eyes, I stood and stumbled down the path as a chorus of howls rang through the caves.
CHAPTERONE
Five weeks post-earthquakes…
“Jesus fucking Christ.”
Patrick wasn’t an eloquent man, but his mumbled cussing summed up our current circumstances pretty well.
“Andie, do you see the size of that?”Cody asked from beside me.
It was hard to miss.The hand-shaped dent around the tank’s gun was as big as my head, and the thing that had crushed that metal had been even bigger.Grey-skinned and built like a Viking bodybuilder, the creature had moved with the speed and fluid grace of an apex predator.
And he’d watched me like I was his prey too.
“We need to move,” Patrick said.
I tore my gaze from the wrecked tank gun and glanced at the rest of my team.The ten of us hadn’t stood a chance against the creature, which is why I hadn’t resisted and was still conscious.Unlike Roni.I went to check her pulse, but as soon as I touched her, she flipped to her feet and kicked out at me.Only quick reflexes on my part and disorientation on hers saved me from a concussion.
“Easy, Roni,” I said, holding up my hands.“They’re gone.”
Her hard brown gaze swept the area, and she swiped a hand over her shaved brown hair as she noted the five prone men on the ground.Our men.When she looked outside the fence, I followed her gaze to the mounds of beheaded bodies staining the snow red.Not a single one of those deaths was due to us.
