A WAR AMONGST THE STARS

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

As the magic of The Star inside brightly burns, and The Beast within claws its way to come forth, a certain part of me takes a step back, allowing the power of the other two, to emerge as one. "CAL'ELV WILL MAKE YOU, HIS SLAVES! IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT?" my beast and I roar, our voices blending as one monstrous warning for all to back down now, before he bursts free and consumes control. "DO YOU WISH TO BE ENSLAVED TO A MONSTER? TO BE BEATEN, TORTURED, AND FORCED TO FIGHTHISWARS UNWILLINGLY?"

I am fuming, panting, on the brink of losing what remaining control I own. As my fists ball and The Beasts' black talons grow sharp, I feel myself beginning to shift fast, and if I do not stop him now, he will emerge and he will kill them all.

All the stress. All the trauma. All the recent change. I cannot take it. I am barely holding on as it is. I am losing myself. I really am going mad.

"Give your pain to me. I can endure it,"he hisses.

"Commander!" Emerlum warns from across the room. I look to him, finding his penetrating gaze. "Calm," he mouths.

I nod my head and breathe. Multiple long breaths.

Him and my commanders know the signs. Witnessing me shift into the beast once before, they understand that must not happen, because if it were to, then all who dare threaten us,willbe sacrificed to the monster without a shred of mercy and once that happens... I will not be able to stop him. Not until his insatiable thirst has beenthoroughlyquenched.

"FREE ME!"he roars.

"FREE US! LET US GO! WE ARE NOT PRISONERS!" they all shout.

Too much. It is all too much. I need to calm. Just breathe. You are a king now.Actlike one!Serena. I think of my Serena. I imagine her touch, her scent, her skin, her voice.

Calmer than I was, I take a moment to observe the situation, calculating a careful strategy, but even as I weigh the options, I realize, there is no getting through to these beings. That leaves us with but one option. Death. These survivors must die or be imprisoned once more. It is the only way.

I look to the smug one above them all. "You do not want this. Order them to back down now!" I command.

He shrugs. "They'll do what they want. I do not control them."

"But you—" I start to say before he disappears into a dense cloud of haunting darkness. Magic. My mate's light within me dances in his presence.

Startled, I jump back when his shadows appear before me. Two beaming violet eyes pierce through the clouds and then its him again.

His solid form manifests from the daunting shadows, right before my very eyes. Omnipotent. A lethal, powerful deity. His aura... suffocating yet, dangerously alluring. There is a beguiling force about him. An inviting presence. A hidden darkness and not of the obvious shadows that surround him. No. This darkness burrows. That I can feel. That I know. That I somehow... remember.

He rises from its wake, his body levitating at my height.

Grinning, he floats, staring.

I stand my ground, showing him not a fleck of fear.

"You forget that we are but free beings. My presence here is to simply observe, to watch, to wait."

My gaze hardens. "And last night? I suspect it was you responsible for the darkness and illusions? Did you enjoy observing then when you forced us all to relive the tragedies of our lives?" I question.

My family. I saw it all. I relived it all. Every scream. Every cry. Every deep slice across the throats of their necks before they were beheaded, and then there was mother's eyes. The anguished eyes which found mine in the far sea of faces.