The Overlord Trilogy: The Light

25 • Deception

Kali

My eyes well with tears, Julie yelling at Eclipse to block the stairwell. The world spins as Logan grips my hand tightly, trying to help me through this. Zoey's hair falls loosely around her body, blue scales covering a small portion of her face, a portion that was always covered by the large hat she wore. I keep down the small feeling of betrayal that we never found out about this, Zoey being close to all of us.

"Where's Nii-san?" My head snaps up at the sound of his voice.

"She's over with Kali but you s-" I hear him begin to move towards the door, Julie quickly rising from her position beside me and moving into the hallway.

"Xileth, stay ba-" He pushes past her, his eyes widening when he sees Zoey in my arms, the screwdriver in her eye. Julie looks at me quickly, pulling out three stones from her pockets as Eclipse runs into view.

"Who did this?" His voice is low but menacing as he looks from Zoey to me, turning to look at the others as he waits for his answer. I clear my throat and stand up, my hands shaking as I lay Zoey down on the floor.

"Xileth..." His head whips around to face me, his hands clenching into fists as he moves towards me. "Thana killed Zoey..." I motion to Thana's mutilated body on the floor, bile rising in my throat at the site of her smashed in face. The tears that spill down my face are real, my grief at the loss of Zoey hurting more than anything before.

"We're sorry Xileth... We didn't get here in time." Julie puts hand on his shoulder, wincing as Xileth pushes forward and kneels down next to Zoey. He picks up her hand, completely enclosing it in his own. He doesn't say anything, soon standing up and walking past me and over to Thana's body.

"Xileth what a-" I fall into silence as Xileth sends me an icy glare before bending down and picking up Thana's body. His brown hair falls loosely over his face as he stands again, his silver eyes boring into mine as he turns to look at me. It suddenly hits me, the glowing crystal hanging from his neck confirming my thoughts.

The blood drips onto the floor from Thana's destroyed face, leaving a trail as he walks out of the room and turns towards the stairs. The world becomes filled with the sounds of Xileth walking above us, barely any sirens still going off.

"You li-"

"We should get out of here. Who knows where Kuro and Shiro are and we need to find them if we are going to continue." I nod and follow Julie as we begin to make our way upstairs, Eclipse not saying anything else on me lying. Logan grabs my hand as we walk, sending me a reassuring glance as Julie opens the door.

The bright light and extreme heat feels like it is burning my face from my position on the stairs, it soon dying down as the fire goes out in the room. Xileth stands in the center of the room, another flash of light stopping us from seeing him before the brown hair returns to his head as he turns on the crystal.

He doesn't turn to us as we walk into the large storage room, a pile of ash in front of him. Some of the ash glows red, casting shadows on the ground as we get closer. I begin to feel sick as Xileth turns to us, his silver eyes seeming to glow in the dim light of the rising sun.

"We have to find Kuro and Shiro... What do you want to do with Zoey?" Julie's voice cracks at the mention of Zoey, her eyes glassy.

Xileth doesn't respond as he walks past us and downstairs, warning us not to follow him before shutting the door behind him.

"I'm going to tell him." I pull out of Logan's grip and walk towards the door. I am turned around as my hand touches the door knob, my face burning as Julie slaps me.