Chapter 96: Chapter 96
My brother’s scream tore my guts out. I saw him walk slowly towards our mother’s killer, his eyes filled with fury. I felt his thirst for revenge in my entrails. He glared at Ludmila and froze her with a wave of his hand. Immobilized by his power, Ludmila was already holding her abdomen. A hole was starting to form and was sending spurts of blood all around her like someone was drilling into her navel. She screamed in pain, and the others saw too late that Ethan had just punctured her abdomen. She fell to the ground before their startled eyes. A horrible death. If the now Three hadn’t been able to intervene in time, it was because they were distracted. My grief at seeing my mother’s death happen before my eyes had weakened my defences considerably. Althea prevented me from moving, and I was nothing more than a statue in the middle of the nave, so aptly named at this moment. Witnesses of my difficulties, the telekinetics who had come as reinforcements a little earlier, understood that it was time to flee. Althea had just taken control of the dust hurricane, sending it flying in my direction. I could only avoid it thanks to my shield. But my pain had altered my invisible wall, and Marion, further behind me, was killed under the impact. Sonia was dragging herself along the ground and Henry was struggling to get up. The image of my mother reduced to ashes never left my mind. Then came those of Eric stabbed, of the servant burned, of Amelia and Marion both dead, and of Carmichael whose body was still safe, thanks to my mother’s sacrifice. The hatred that radiated in the blood in my veins awakened all my senses, a tremendous fury fried my brain as I struggled to push back the mental force of Althea. Connor chose just this moment to come to my aid, mad with pain to have seen his father die before his eyes. He helped me get rid of Althea’s invisible claws and I managed to throw myself to the top of the statues, protecting myself from each projectile launched in my direction, my shield now fully charged. It was time to end this.
I closed my eyes and was joined by my brother, who was levitating in front of me, his face bathed in tears. His fury combined with mine, it seemed that nothing could resist us. He held my hands, and when he did, our powers doubled.
His eyes locked on mine as we focused on every element, every rock, every atom of the mountain. Hate, pain and bitterness became one with our bodies. The ground began to crumble under the feet of our enemies, creaks in the walls threw up dust, an alarming noise came from the depths of the earth, and the ceiling split into a thousand cracks. Suddenly, I saw my brother’s hair slowly turning white from the roots. Mine whipped my face and I noticed that it had turned white too, each strand combing its new colour, all the way to the waist, where it cascaded down. The strength and power we put into our concentration had pushed our powers beyond their limits, and with tremendous momentum, we were looking to go even further.
Near the collapsing entrance, Connor, Sonia, and Henry, who had both risen from their injuries, were carrying the bodies of the injured, realizing what Ethan and I were about to do. Relieved to see Carmichael leave the scene in Henry’s arms, I knew he would be able to rise from this death. Prisca was also going to recover, but, for Marion and Amelia, there was nothing more to do, and no doubt that, outside, we were still mourning other deaths. This thought made my anger redouble. The earth shook.
Sonia, who was the last to come out, made the entrance crumble behind her before disappearing. Now locked in the Nave of Statues, the Three attempted to attack us with the dust tornado, now that they had taken full control of it. But nothing stopped us. The statues crumbled one by one and the pieces came to reinforce our shield. The walls gave way, and a din underground made us understand that we were nearing the goal. A few minutes later, the top of the mountain collapsed on the temple, and thousands of huge boulders rained down above our heads.
A silence fell on the island of Eos. A thick cloud of residue had formed over what was left of the mountain, and surrounded the land. The view from the ships must have been stunning. Sounds of groans reached my ears, the wounded cried out for help.
Protected by our shield, Ethan and I hovered above the rubble, but in the dusty haze, it was impossible to locate the Three. So my brother and I gathered the strength of our spirits, so connected at that moment, and called the cloud to come to us. Nebulous columns formed and sucked in the thick fog that we were able to send towards the sky.
Rubble from the mountain stirred before our eyes. The first to emerge from the rubble was Soban, then Priam, followed by Althea. With her dusty complexion and dirty dress, the false goddess had lost her lustre. She took a step back noting my new hair colour, as well as that of my brother. And it all came together. The still-living telekinetics of our camp gathered among the powerful ones, and formed a circle around the false gods, immobilizing them with the help of Sonia and her brother Samir. Further on, I could still make out a few fights, but the fall of the mountain had shaken more than one, and many surrendered. The Three were alone now. Henry lunged at Soban as my brother raced towards Priam. The powerful united and overwhelmed them. Soban breathed his last, and Priam struggled to maintain his shield, which had been damaged by the succession of multiple attacks.
Only Althea managed to escape them. She soared into the air. Faced with her forces in disarray, she fled. I sneered fiercely as I dashed after her and stretched out my arm in her direction. I struggled with all the strength of my mind to hold her back. She slowed down and had to admit her failure because she came down in front of me to finally freeze in the air. I rushed at her, but she escaped me, while with each charge, I got a little closer. She tried to throw the stone blocks on the ground at me, but I managed to explode them all before they reached me. My shield was erected, and my strength increased by rage, she had no chance of reaching me at this moment. Our fight felt like a dance in the air, and as we climbed even higher into the sky, a man’s scream was heard. Althea looked down at him. On the ground, Priam struggled with all his might, but fifty telekinetics surrounded him. Some of his allies had joined our troops and were now assisting us. Immobilized, the false god screamed at the top of his lungs as Connor slowly advanced toward him. With a powerful telekinetic force, he brought Priam to his knees. And, after long seconds, Connor planted his hand in Priam’s chest and ripped out his heart. The powerful took it upon themselves to dismember his body.
My brother-in-law was now avenged for his father’s death and dropped the organ on the floor. His eyes then went to the sky as Althea realized that her brother and husband had died for good. Distracted, she didn’t see Ethan who was throwing himself behind her and didn’t have time to counter him. My brother grabbed her legs. The surprise I read in Althea’s features told me it was time. I rushed towards her again, she held out an arm which I dodged, and, in a fluid gesture, I manoeuvred behind her, as my mother had done to seize Magnus, a little earlier. I put Henry’s training into action and gave her an armbar and broke her arm at the same time while throwing us even further into the heavens. A scream escaped her throat. My right arm wrapped around her ribcage, her only good hand gripped by my tenfold strength in that instant. From my left pocket, I took out a small dagger and plunged it into her stomach a dozen times with all the rage that inhabited me. She screamed in pain but managed to send a shock through her skin that ripped the flesh from the arm that encircled her. My brother felt the same effects on his own and fell into the void as the suffering was unbearable. Despite mine, I held on, the noose around her was tightening. The pain strengthened my resolve as I realized that her injuries had weakened her considerably. She no longer had the strength to generate a shield strong enough to protect herself. So I let go of my dagger, clutched her with both my arms and, suffocating her with all the strength I was overcome with, I took a step back and rushed headlong into the sky, her body imprisoned by mine. I felt her terror in my veins. Hundreds of metres above sea level, I knew the fall would be fatal without the power to soften the impact. Althea tried to free herself from my fatal embrace, but I didn’t release my grip around her. Our bodies rocketed towards the sea, at a hallucinating speed. Althea grew more and more agitated. I knew that if I didn’t let her go in time, we were going to hit the surface with such force that I was certain to suffer a second death. The timing was tight, and as I saw the water getting dangerously close to my head, the Hanlons shouted in my ear with one voice.
“Now!”
So, suddenly, I let go of Althea’s body, hoping I could shield myself before crashing to the surface. My body sank like a stone, but once submerged in the waves, I let out a smile of victory. I had succeeded! The seawater caused untold pain to the flesh of my injured arm, but the frenzy of the fight prevented me from feeling all the suffering. I then rushed quickly towards the inert and dislocated body of Althea and encircled her neck with my hands. I released the pressure only when the last bubble escaped from her mouth.
She was dead. Floating in the waters, I observed her lifeless body. A new smile permeated my lips. We won. So I took control of the corpse of the false goddess and levitated until I emerged above sea level, Althea lying in the air in front of me. On the beach, and on the rest of the mountain, the survivors watched the spectacle. So, in front of everyone, I made a final concerted effort, clenched my fists, and Althea’s lifeless body exploded before my eyes and those of everyone. Blood squirted over me before spilling into the sea. My hair and its new colour still dripped as I flew to the top of the temple steps, half of which had been destroyed by the collapsing mountain. I posed. A silence ran through the island of Eos. I turned to face the sea, now dominating all the castes present in this devastated place.
Then all bowed down, they only had one queen now.