Page 47 of Damned and Broken Gods (Labyrinth of Gods #2)

Fever Dreams And Riddles

ARAZ

I stand amidst the ruins of my homestead where the fires have been dimmed and bodies lie lifeless and bloody.

They will come for me now.

This is where they take me away.

“Ah, there you are. I wondered where you went.”

I look up at the figure, a man whose face is a blur. “This is awful,” he says. “It should not have happened. But you know that, don’t you?”

I nod.

“You couldn’t have stopped it, though. You know that also, right?”

“I should have tried.”

“I suppose you could have. They wouldn’t have killed you. Too valuable. But they would have hurt you.”

“They killed my mother. My sister…”

“Yes, and countless others, and they will kill countless more unless we stop them.”

“We?” I look down at myself, expecting to see a body of a boy on the verge of manhood, but instead I see the body of a man, and I no longer need look up to see my companion. He stands abreast of me, his face a blur, but his eyes are bright with flame as they bore into me.

“Yes, ‘we.’ We belong together, you and I. You feel it, don’t you?”

I feel something, a strange warmth in my head and in my chest. My stomach tightens.

This is a dream.

I’m dreaming, and this is a memory, but who is… “Who are you?”

“Ah, now that is the question, isn’t it? What if I told you that I was you…Or that you were me? That we were one and the same?”

The first flicker of panic lights my chest, and I take a step away from him, instinctively wanting to put distance between us.

The homestead melts away, and I’m left standing on red earth beneath a red sky, and the man stands taller. Broader. Power radiating off his form in waves.

“You can’t run from this, Araz,” he says.

Laughter, high and slightly unhinged echoes around us, and a second figure appears. Male also, but athletic and slender where the first is muscle-bound and large.

“Oh please. ‘ You can’t run from this, Araz .’” He mimics the first figure’s voice.

“For the love of all things holy, will you please leave.”

“Really? Really you want me to leave now? After everything we’ve been through?” The second figure strolls over to the first and bumps shoulders with him. “Don’t you love me anymore?”

Their faces are blurry, but I swear I sense a frown.

The tightening of a jaw. I’m sure I feel the larger figure’s irritation before he speaks.

“Araz, a choice must be made soon. One that could doom us or save us, and you will be the ignition to it all. When the time comes, choose wisely as there will only be one opportunity.”

The second figure moves so fast toward me that I have no time to flinch before he’s standing right in front of me. For a moment, the blur on his face clears, and I see sharp edged features and eyes like moonlight.

“Time to wake up, Boy.”