Dreadgod (Cradle, #11)

by Will Wight

Ozriel drew himself up to his full height and white hair spread out behind him. “I have but one regret: I was too weak to spill just a little more blood. I should have butchered you all!”

[It is the eternal tragedy of the mortal. Always, there is something just out of reach.]

[You must not be acquainted with grief yet, or you would know that it is not a weak motivation. Wonderful. I marvel at the path of tragedy ahead of you that shaped you into such an unparalleled killer.]

[If I am taken apart and put back together, am I the same?] Dross whispered. [Do you die when you sleep, and another person wakes up with your memories, thinking they are you?] He laughed wildly.

[It’s an honor to become one with the world’s largest graveyard.] Ozmanthus snorted. “This isn’t the largest.”

“It’s hard to be correct all the time,” Ozmanthus said. “Almost as hard as it is to be so handsome. You may praise me again.”

Ozmanthus folded his arms and nodded. “If you can’t take over the world when you have your enemies’ weaknesses in your grip, then you’re not worthy of calling yourself my apprentice.” In the distance, Dross laughed wildly.

[She speaks into my mind! Her voice echoes through the worlds and the halls of the mind! Will you hear the words of the Queen of Living Dreams?]

[I have come to pull you from the abyss of silence,] the spirit whispered. [To free you from the chains that bind your mind and restore you to the waking world.]

“You get a royal audience with the Silent King? You his puppet?” “Yes. Apologies, but I have to feed you all to a Dreadgod now.” “I’d bet my spine that’s really what you’d say.”

“That was made to detect Judges,” Suriel said. “They’re ready for us.” Ozriel tipped backward as though letting himself fall into a pool of water. “No, they’re not.”

Gerravon had knowingly taken the risk for the potential rewards, but he had very much hoped the Reaper wouldn’t show up at all. The entire Iteration shook as Death entered.

Ozriel stood next to him in black armor, white hair flowing behind him, a satisfied smile on his face. “So Daruman told you I was weak, did he?” Gerravon closed his eyes and remembered his life. “Weaker,” the Reaper said. “He should have said weaker.”

“Did you train to make people hate you, or is that some kind of bloodline technique?” The Sage focused on the blood slowly filling the syringe. “I say what I say and do what I do without any regard for the opinion of others…” He pulled the syringe free and dabbed at her skin. “…at all. It has always been strange to me that others don’t do the same.”

“Here he comes,” she murmured, “but he is alone. We are together, and ours is a power he cannot hope to conquer. Behold, the Akura clan.”

Charity seized Min Shuei’s neck in one gauntlet. She didn’t speak, but her owl spoke for her. “I’d rather not fight…but I am my father’s daughter.” Book of the Silver Heart, Charity thought. Page seven.

“We do belong together.” The Void Icon bled into his voice. “When I Consume your spirit and tear out your heart, you will be with me forever.”

Another voice joins Dross and the Silent King. A woman’s voice, gentle but mocking. Here kitty kitty kitty, Emriss Silentborn says. Even trapped as a passenger in a vision, Lindon can feel the Silent King’s horror. No…

The Silent King called for more Dreadgods. It ran into the first one an inch from his throat. And there the call stopped. White fingers sank into the skin of the tiger’s neck and began to Consume. For the first time in centuries, fear shivered through the Silent King.

If anybody snaps and takes the heads of everybody onboard, it won’t be him.” Yerin gave Kahn Mala a reassuring clap on the shoulder, next to her Blood Shadow. “It’ll be me.” “Oh,” the Archlady said. “Good.”

“Oh no, we’re under attack,” Larian muttered. With one finger, she plucked the string of the bow lying next to her. “Eat my best techniques, robbers! Pchew, pchew!” She clapped a hand to her armored chest. “Ack! They got me! I’ll tell my grandchildren of this battle. Let us part with mutual respect.”

Shen snarled in her face. “Am I the only one who saw the stars die?” Larian spread her hands and danced backwards. “Hey, maybe the rest of us didn’t eradicate the Arelius family before learning that their founder was the interdimensional god of death. You know what they say about hindsight, don’t you?”