Hope's Light

Chapter 30

by Erisian

Book 6

Chapter Thirty - Diplomacy

With everyone watching, I stepped to the table, filled a goblet, and downed it in one go.

Ugh. Whatever vintage Horatio had brought out this time, it wasn’t Asmodian. Nor I’d bet of the wines Vance had spoken highly about a long time ago, those crafted by the elves of Nidavellir. I’d forgotten how bitter were most of the offerings in Hell - heck, I’d even have preferred that Chardonnay from the dragon soiree I’d attended with Isaiah.

Dangit. Isaiah.

What was I going to tell my friend? That his greater spirit would eventually decide whether I should be allowed to exist? And if decided against, Azrael would be forced to destroy me.

Would that mean Isaiah would have to try to kill me too?

Chapter Eight: Unveiling the Truth

David stared at the sneakers in the box, the deep purple color gleaming under the light. “Great,” he muttered, lifting one up for a closer look. “These will match my scales.”

“Your what?” both his mom and Kelly said in unison, their voices sharp with confusion.

David froze, his mind racing. Crap, why did I say that out loud?

“My dragon… oh, umm… these are really pretty.” He trailed off, trying to backtrack, but his mom wasn’t having it. Her expression hardened, and she crossed her arms.

Hope's Light

Chapter 29

by Erisian

Book 6

Chapter Twenty-Nine - Need

“You good?”

Ignoring the immediate prostration of the giant and reptile-skinned elephant (who this time had forgotten to first bang the gong), I steadied Camael as he attempted to stand. The sudden shift had certainly unsettled him, but at least he hadn’t thrown up.

Though maybe that was because he hadn’t eaten in a ridiculously long time.

Worse of all, Ozzie had to admit that there was something at work here
that he didn't understand. He didn't understand it at all.

Hope's Light

Chapter 28

by Erisian

Book 6

Chapter Twenty-Eight - Questions

There, hovering before what only pretended to be the blackest of clouds, lurked a sinister metallic sphere. How, one might ask, does a smoothly specular ball floating within an emptiness pressing against the true Void of Voids earn such a moody description?

The answer is simple: it emanates a hum of resonance filled beyond the brim with barely restrained violence, like a coiled spring which required industrial machinery to press into place and then held back only by a worn and rusted clasp on the brink of snapping. The tension so mighty that, if unleashed, the sphere would launch itself across a cosmos and plow through any stellar object foolish enough to happen to be in the way.

Rules of physics literally be damned.

Chapter 4: The Rest of the Show

When we were finished with breakfast, but before we left to start the second day’s activities, I found a moment alone with Paul.

“How much do you remember?” I asked.

“About your gift? That it made you pretty convincingly look like a woman.”

“I gave it away.”

“What?”

“Last night, I roomed with the one who introduced herself as a trans-woman during our icebreaker.”

“I don’t remember that.”

Chapter Seven: Returning Home

The drive home was quiet, the tension in the car palpable. David leaned against the window, watching the familiar streets roll by, but his thoughts were far from comforting. The doctor’s words echoed in his mind, and though his parents tried to keep the conversation light, the weight of the unknown loomed over them.

Hope's Light

Chapter 27

by Erisian

Book 6

Part Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven - Pursuits

Entire chapters spin past.

A terrible encompassing war visits destruction’s touch to every level of Creation - slaughter and fire, anguish and ruin, all spreads ahead. Victories and losses pile on, culminating in the great rift cleaved across the tapestry, and a Gate forever locking one side from the other.