Page 62 of Damned and Broken Gods (Labyrinth of Gods #2)

Is This The Fade?

PASHIM

T he road stretches into forever. It cuts through forests and mountains, through barren lakes and crimson rivers.

I walk it alone.

Endlessly.

Tirelessly.

Stopping only to hide and drift.

When I sleep, I dream of Leela. Her laughter lifts my spirits. Her smile warms the icy core of me.

Those memories call to me now as the light dims.

The shadows will hunt soon.

I step off the road and into the forest at the edge of it. The trees hold hollows. And some house remnants—souls like me, crystallized and forgotten. I guess that’s the fate I’ve been staving off.

I find a hollow and climb inside. It’s cold, always cold, but fires don’t last here for long. They burn fast and attract hungry shadows.

There will be warmth in sleep. There will be Leela. Maybe I’ll stay.

Trapped in memories.

Maybe that’s what the remnants are doing.

There’s peace in that.

I slip into blessed darkness, but before I slip into sleep, my eyelids bloom pink.

I crack them open to soft amber light. It drifts past my nook, and I shrink back.

This is new. This is unknown.

The crunch of footsteps follows, then a woman’s face appears at the hollow.

“Ah, there you are,” she says with a smile. “Been looking everywhere for you. Come on, let’s get you out of here.”

It takes me a moment to put a name to the face, and then I remember. “Priti?”

The story continues in Restless and Insurgent Gods .