Chapter Three

My eyes open. Blackness no longer surrounds me. The opposite, in fact. I see nothing but blinding golden light, and I struggle to push myself to my feet. I face the source of the light, squinting something fierce.

Still in Acadia's throne room. At least I'm not trapped in my head in some kind of illusion. Win for Rey, right there.

Invictis does not wear the face of a human; he's in his metallic, golden body, six giant wings of metal floating behind him. His blinding light fades somewhat until I can gaze upon him with no squinting necessary.

Though he has no true face, a voice comes from him all the same, dark and low, unearthly, the kind of voice that sends shivers down your spine if you're not careful: "I must admit, Rey, I look forward to killing you. Ending you will bring me more joy than the entire decimation of Laconia." He stands on metal feet, though they're more like boots built into his figure. It's not like I see any toes or anything.

I grin. "Hate me that much, do you? Wow. Maybe I am something special after all."

"Your sarcasm is unnecessary and pointless. You are no more special than the dirt that fills the cracks in this room." Invictis holds his arms out, his clawed fingers turned up as if in offering. "Hate is beyond me—"

"Is it? So, just to be clear, hate's beyond you but annoyance and joy isn't? Or were you just bullshitting me when you said you'd take great joy in killing me?" I pretend to be lost in thought.

Running's no option here. He'll catch me. The only way out of this without magic to defend myself is to make him blindingly enraged and hope a miracle happens.

His hands curl into fists. "You take great pride in twisting words. It is the one talent you have. Beyond that, you are a pitiful excuse for a human." As he speaks, a giant ball of light forms over him, sparkling as it swirls and grows, an expanding orb of magic. "I am nothing more than an agent of destruction, but your undoing will be my crowning achievement, I think."

I ready myself. That ball is half the size of a small car now, so I doubt I have much time until he throws it at me. I don't want to die by running, but I also know that I might not make it out of this alive. If that means I have to bring the entire castle down upon us, then that's what I'll do.

Come hell or high water, I'm going to take this golden bastard down one way or another.

"Prepare for your death," Invictis speaks, his voice so low it threatens to choke me on its own. "Goodbye, Rey." His six wings flap, and the giant ball of magic shoots toward me at a speed I'm not expecting.

Turns out, leaping and rolling, parkouring with magic, actually got me used to moving like that, and even though I don't have any magical aid, I'm still able to roll out of the way. The ball of light collides with the stone ground, right where I was before, breaking the floor completely and revealing a hidden floor underneath.

"Oh, come on," I taunt him once I'm on my feet again. "You can do better than that, can't you?" I stand about fifteen feet away from him, on his left.

Invictis says nothing, but he does lift a hand and send multiple shoots of yellow lightning at me. The power sizzles in the air, surging toward me much quicker than the giant ball did—and still I manage to dart out of the way. The lightning bolts hit the wall and crumble the stone.

Does he know what I'm doing, or does he think I'm stalling for time, for an idea?

I now stand directly before the throne containing the skeleton of Morimento's son, nothing but regal attire and bones now, and I let out a laugh. "And you're supposed to be some ancient weapon? Gotta say, I don't see it."

His golden chest rumbles with what must be annoyance, and the light emanating from his faceless-head glows brighter. His wings flap and elongate, growing until they take up damn near the entire room. His metallic wings are now wide enough to stop me from running around him, blocking off half the room to me.

"Pitiless and pathetic," his dark voice whispers into my mind. "If you think you can defeat me, you are woefully more foolish than I thought you were. I am so much more than you will ever be, Rey."

As he speaks, the light within him shoots up, breaking apart the cathedral ceiling of the throne room, a beam of blinding magic that surely goes all the way to the sky above. I wonder what his goal is, but then a bolt of yellow lighting comes down through the ceiling just behind me, sizzling the air as it zaps the space a foot away.

"There is nowhere you can run, nowhere you can hide," Invictis warns as more bolts slam down through the clouds, busting through the ceiling. Some are so strong they crack the stone floor when they hit, and they all leave black singe marks in their wake. "You will perish here. Your body will be buried with the rubble, and now that I am whole again, I will finish Laconia."

I do my best to zigzag around in the part of the throne room I'm trapped in, but the lightning bolts come faster and harder. Soon the air itself, no matter where I go, smells of electricity, and I know there's nowhere to run.

He was playing with me, toying with me as I tried to bring down this entire room, and now he's done. The smaller bolts stop, and the moment they do, I know he's about to bring down the Mack Daddy of them all.

Invictis was right. I have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. This is it.

I straighten out and glare at the golden monstrosity, at the being who wears the shape of a man but is no man. How fast everything changed. The wound is still raw, and honestly I'm terrified of dying.

I don't want to die. Who does?

All that aside, my voice comes out steady when I tell him, "The people of Laconia are strong. One day—maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow—but one day someone's going to put you in your place. Even if you are a weapon, you should know sometimes even the best weapon fails."

And then I give him the finger, because what else can I do? No magic, nowhere to hide, the air around me sizzling so hard my hair has started to lift on its own.

Invictis doesn't dignify that with a response. At least, not one that I hear, because right then the area around me is blasted with his golden-white energy. It shatters the small skeleton on the throne, along with the jewels inlaid in the band around its skull. I'm enveloped in the light, and it's so bright I have to close my eyes.

It's warm. So warm. Everywhere on my body, from my toes to my fingertips. If I'm being blasted into eternity, at least it's not an uncomfortable feeling. I thought dying was supposed to feel cold, but maybe it happens so fast your mind can't comprehend it.

The throne room probably crumbles around me, on top of me, caving in on itself from the sheer force of the blast of magic. I hear stone buckling and falling, colliding with itself as it breaks apart.

Is this what death is? I'm not ready for it, but what other choice do I have?

I feel something touch my shoulder, and I open my eyes to a world of white. Pure, undiluted white everywhere I look, the only real thing me. Me and whatever's touching me. I'm slow to turn around, and when I do, I stand face-to-face with a woman I've never seen before. Not in person, anyway.

She wears regal blues and lush greens, her flowing dress speckled with jewels. A golden band sits on her forehead, sapphires laced with the precious metal. Some of her blond hair is braided in a crown around her head while the rest is pin-straight and falls well past her shoulders. Her blue eyes are a shade of the prettiest azure I've ever seen.

I might not have ever seen her in person before, but I know her. Her picture hung amongst the vines that started to overtake the castle in the entryway.

Unsure if I can speak, I try anyway: "Empress Morimento?"

Her lips are slow to curl into a smile as she gives me a slight nod. "Hello, child." Her voice is calm, like she meets people in this white place all the time, just another day's occurrence. Nothing special to see here.

I look around us, at nothing in particular. "Am I… dead?"

"No," she says, "it is not your time yet."

"Then how—I don't understand."

Empress Morimento gives me a solemn smile. "You will. Soon you will understand everything. But not today. I knew you would come. We all did. There is a feeling us empresses have when we know our time is coming to an end. We knew it a long time ago."

I try to make sense of what she's saying, but it's so vague I can't. "What are you talking about?" I lift a hand to my head. Everything is a little fuzzy. All I remember is… "Invictis."

Her expression saddens, and she turns away from me. "Yes. Our final failure." Suddenly she whirls upon me, urgency on her features. "You must take him back to Laconia. Make sure he stays safe. He can help keep Laconia safe while you return to us."

"Who… what?"

Empress Morimento lifts a hand to my face, gently touching my cheek. "Acadia, Pylos, and Magnysia. You will venture to all three and gain what wisdom each castle holds." Her hand falls away, and she takes a step backward. Her outline grows fuzzy, as if she's blending in to the whiteness that surrounds us. "Seek the undercrofts, but only after you return him to Laconia."

I have questions—lots of them—but I don't get the chance to ask them. Everything turns white again, until I can no longer see Empress Morimento or myself.