Page 92 of Pet: Torment
His desire to kill is directed toward Ezra alone.
I take a deep breath, for the first time in a long time, focusing intensely on the battle about to ensue. Before I can move, however, our attacker comes at me. He appears right next to me, and I am barely able to sense his presence as he goes for Xion. I quickly block his attack, forming a weapon of energy in my palm to counter. He dodges, leaning back and giving Xion the opening we need. She lunges at him from below, forming her own weapon. It barely scrapes the underside of his jaw as he goes for her once again. This time, however, I am ready.
I intercept his attack, gripping, giving him just enough space that I can grab hold of his arm, holding him firm as Xion moves quickly past us to get Ezra. I tense as a massive surge of energy washes over me, making my flesh crawl as I realize where it’s coming from. It’s him.
I’ve never felt energy like this before. It’s painful even just touching him, and I can’t understand it fast enough. I take my attention away from him, panic settling in my chest as Xion reaches for Ezra.
“No! Don’t touch him—hck!” My words hitch in my throat as our attacker’s fist easily rips through the protective field I keeparound myself, the scorching heat covering his fist making it easy for him to break through my lower back.
It’s too late, though. Xion touches him, her scream of pain ripping through the tent as her body is thrown back. She’s unconscious.
My eyes widen as I make a desperate attempt to siphon his energy, but he senses what I am doing, ripping his fist from my back just as I heal myself enough to form a weapon, swinging it behind me to aim for his throat. He jumps back, and I don’t bother to see where he lands as I use what little power I can to close the distance between me and my unconscious siblings.
I don’t have time to waste on our attacker. My fingers are inches from touching the energy beam when excruciating pain radiates from my side, and my body goes flying from the force. I crash into a column; this time, the force is so much that I go straight through.
My body travels at high speeds, crashing out of the opposite end of the venue, the ground crumbling and splitting upon my impact. I groan in pain, standing out of the crater created by me, flinching as sharp pain rips through me. My hand flies to the source of the pain, and my eyes widen when I feel blood.
The fabric from my clothing is gone—disintegrated with a portion of my flesh, causing blood to flow freely.
“Remus!” I shift my attention to the panicked sound of my name to see Iris running towards me with tears in her eyes. She has no fear, even though dirt is streaked on her face, and she has blood trickling from a wound on her head. She has multiple bloody wounds on her arms and legs she got from our attacker’s grand entrance. And yet, she runs towards me in a panic, her worry for me outweighing herself.
I try to place a field of energy in front of her to stop her approach, but nothing happens. I am weak, I realize, his lastattack draining more of my energy without me even realizing. He is a powerful enemy that I have little understanding of.
“For aCelestivinewho has yet to mature fully, you are very intuitive.” I look away from Iris as the attacker who claims to be my father approaches. His expression is blank as he takes me in, holding his hand up. The air around it ripples, twisting slightly. Even in my injured state, I can sense how dangerous it is. Luckily, I touched him before Xion got to Ezra, or she would have been wounded severely from the foreign energy coursing through the weapon.
It all centers around thisCelestivine.
I briefly look past him to see Iris has stopped, her expression filled with terror as she watches him approach. So she isn’t completely witless. I try to heal the wound he gave me, but I can’t. It’s as if my body won’t connect to itself. His attack has disrupted the connection.
Just as my mother’s did that day.
I tense as the memory flits over my mind. It’s brief, but I see the ripple of energy as she drove her nails into my chest, severing any and all connection I had. I ignore the vision, forcing myself to focus. Now isn’t the time to get distracted.
“What do you want?” I ask, hoping to stall him to give myself time to come up with a plan.
He looks shocked, stopping in his tracks as he studies me.
“Isn’t it obvious? I want my heirs to return to their home,” he says.
I fight the urge to laugh.
“If what you say is true, why would I ever return with someone who ended my brother’s life so cowardly. Without even giving him the chance to fight for it,” I say, hoping the way I phrase it will force him to reveal whether Ezra is alive.
He laughs, however.
“Brother? Ah, you’re speaking of the bastard Me’Rite brought into this world,” he says, using my mother’s name again. “I would never allow such a stain on my name to exist.”
I can feel the venom in his voice as he speaks of Ezra’s existence, and if what he’s saying is true, then also our mother’s betrayal. The way he speaks of Ezra makes my blood boil, my anger fueling me as I push aside the pain that I feel. He’s made his intentions very clear. He doesn’t want to kill me and Xion, which is why his attacks on her were focused on weakening, as opposed to being deadly enough to kill her. But he has no room for Ezra. No intention to keep him alive, that is, if he isn’t already dead.
He watches me carefully with eyes that shine so similarly to my mother’s, making me wonder where she is during all of this. Where is the woman who put this all in motion, who stole memories from her children and carted them across galaxies to one day face the consequences of her actions?
I shift my attention once more to Iris.
Her knuckles are white from the intensity with which she clutches the front of her dress. If he has no intention of keeping anyone but Xion and me alive, she may very well be his next target. And though I don’t know her in the way she knows me, I see now that she was telling the truth. I pull in a deep breath, focusing on my father, who watches me carefully.
“Then you’re going to have to kill me,” I say.
I ignore the sick feeling the hits me as the world tilts. Teleporting takes a lot of focus and energy. It is something that never should be done especially when this injured. But I am desperate.