All Chapters of Awakening of the Dead: Chapter 31
- Chapter 32
32 chapters
the mirror price
Chapter 31: The Mirror's PriceThe Flame Mirror pulsed with an unnatural light, casting shifting shadows across the ruined courtyard. Elior stood five feet from it, close enough to feel the heat radiating from the creature that had once been Liora's father. The thing's massive frame shuddered with each labored breath, flames licking from the cracks in its charred skin."Son?" the creature rasped again, the word distorted by a throat that was more furnace than flesh.Elior's stomach twisted. The monster wasn't looking at him with hunger or rage. It was looking at him with recognition. With something that might have been hope.Desmond raised his hand, fingers glowing with protective wards. "Elior, step back slowly. Don't let it touch you."But Elior couldn't move. The fire inside him was singing, resonating with the creature's presence like two halves of a broken whole. His mark burned hotter, the tattoos crawling up his arm beginning to glow."It knows me," Elior said quietly. "Not as
crimson voice
Chapter 32: The Crimson VoiceThe medical wing smelled like burned flesh and healing salves. Elior sat on a cot while a nurse wrapped bandages around his hands, her face carefully neutral. Across the room, Olivia was getting his own burns treated, wincing every time the healer applied the green paste to his blistered palms.Liora stood by the window, watching the courtyard where her father lay in a sealed healing chamber. The man hadn't woken up yet, but his vital signs were stable. That was something.Desmond entered, his expression grim. He closed the door behind him and cast a privacy ward with a flick of his wrist. The air shimmered, sealing them off from any eavesdroppers."We need to talk," Desmond said. "Now."Elior looked up. "What happened?""Keal is gone. Vanished from his office, his chambers, everywhere. But before he left, he took something from the archives. A text we thought was safely locked away.""What text?" Olivia asked, standing despite the healer's protests.Desm