Chapter 9 Snippet — Where the Sun Collects.
It doesn’t make sense. Nothing he’s seen or witnessed in the last few days does, but this least of all.
At the bottom of the cliff are ghosts in glittering ceremonial armor — black, red, gold — all caught in an endless battle. They clash like silent titans, tinged in a white, ethereal light that lags behind them like some reluctant shadow. There’s thousands of them.
The clearing itself is enormous and completely filled in with half-life. Several soldiers overwhelm a monumental iron gate that glitches in and out of existence — for seconds at a time it appears tall and impenetrable only to flash a sudden vision of the truth beneath; the gate is collapsed now, sunken into sand and crumpled beneath rock.
Rivin can’t remember how to breathe. It can’t be real, yet his steel eyes track the formations. He can’t help it — every clean stroke, every broken path, he logs away like a lesson.
It appears that gold is defending against black and red, led by a sheer commander wielding an enormous hammer. He strikes a blow that sends two phantoms lurching into dust — the ground kicks up but the grains are white and flash with static, leaving the true soil beneath undisturbed.
The commander then swings upwards and the force is powerful enough to eject his enemies head from its shoulders; the blood that spurts from the nub is perfectly silver but not of this realm either.
He watches the body fall, not unlike the Knight in the tunnels. The head rolls across the sand, kicked up by rushing feet and when it finally comes to rest something remarkable happens. It disappears.
Rivin’s gaze tracks the empty canyon but there’s nothing but ruin now. Skeletons mostly buried beneath dunes, caved-in buildings bulging beneath boulders and old debris.
He bites back a gasp as the sun is snuffed out. The world seemed to become still—not quiet but still, as though time itself had forgotten to tick forward. His stomach drops with it. “What’s happening?” His heart is hammering.
Roach’s fingers brush the tips of his own, curling until she holds him gently. Rivin grips her right back. It steadies him. Reminds him that he hasn’t suddenly died and slunk into the abyss.
He squeezes her hand a little tighter. “What does that mean?”
“Don’t worry. It never stays gone long.”
Like a switch — light returns.
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