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“Put your weapon down, you fool,” Blue admonished him. “Kali is reborn. Arcadia has fallen, and we will reshape it again. Do not get in our way, Pan. You know this is how it must be.”
“Adora, wait, this isn’t you—” he started, ignoring the peacock all together.
I held up my hand.
“You don’t command me, Pan,” I said through clenched teeth.
The righteous smirks from the priestesses made me swell with pride. They were my truest followers. My first worshippers.
The waterfall curtain around the tub called to me. Stepping into the spray, the water washed away the blood from my body, clothes, and hair. Red-tinted puddles pooled at my feet, the last remnants of my past lives.
This was the beginning of another.
I stood there until the water ran clear. Turning, I faced them. The peacocks ... and Pan.
A glint of steel shimmered from an altar, catching my eye. It was the very blade they’d used every time I was reborn, forged by the priestesses themselves. But it was my blood forged into the metal. That was what gave it its power. Not them.
Me.
I felt it coursing through my veins. Electrical currents buzzing with excitement. This was my world. I had everything. I had the power I craved after living such a powerless life. The ability to protect myself. To protect my sister. To end those that had harmed us.
“Come, Kali,” Gold said, approaching me. “Your return is long overdue.”
Taking in her form, my gaze shifted to Blue and Green. I gestured for them to come stand next to their sister. It wasn’t a request. Kali didn’t make polite suggestions to her followers. I made demands ... and I would make them bow before me.
Pointing to the ground, it was clear what I wanted. They kneeled, bowing their heads down in reverence. I glanced up to see Pan, and his features hardened. He shook his head, his eyes glazing over.
If he didn’t kneel, it was no matter. I would get what I wanted in the end.
“Thank you for bringing me back, my priestesses.” I spoke softly, but in the vast silence of the cursed tomb, my voice echoed in the chambers.
Green smirked, though she kept her gaze down. “As we said, Kali. You always forgive us.”
Grabbing the Gold priestess by the hair, I jerked her head back and stared into her wide eyes. Leaning in closely, I whispered, “I never said I forgave you.”
I threw my hand out and called to the sacrificial dagger. My magic reached for it, pulling it to me as easily as I might tug an invisible string attached to it.
Faster than they could react, I slit her throat, whispering an ancient chant—old magic that only I knew, and it would ensure her death.
Green and Blue drew back in response, shouting and pleading with me to stop.
I walked toward them slowly while they crawled away. Memories of that decimated temple and the bones of countless children flashed in my mind. I threw the dagger, and it landed with a sickening thud in between Blue’s shoulder blades. She crashed forward.
Leaning back, I kicked out hard, concentrating my power into the ball of my foot and breaking Green’s femur as she scrambled away. The crunch of her bone was like music to my ears.
Screams filled the room as she tumbled to the ground, curling herself into a whimpering, broken ball, and all I did was laugh.
I called the blade back to me, and it slid out of Blue’s back as she cried out.
“Kali, no,” she mumbled, her eyes shifting to see me as her cheek pressed against the stone floor. “I ... I can’t ... move ...”
“What you can’t do is control me.” I leaned over her, smiling as I yanked her head up by her hair, exposing her throat. “I am not yours to command.”
Blood poured from her neck after I sliced across her delicate skin and the life drained from her eyes.
Green gasped, crying out for mercy as she rolled over onto her back, trying to back away from me while her mangled leg dragged behind her.
“We can rebuild this world, Kali,” she begged.
