Megacosmic Rift [removed] Torth #4

Previously...

This is the 5th book in a series. For continuity, please start with Book 1: Majority.

2023 Update:  I've unpublished most of this book here. I may re-publish chapters as I release them on RoyalRoad. If you want to read this book for free, head over to RoyalRoad [user: AbbyBabble]. Advance chapters will be posted on my Patreon at /abbygoldsmith.

The following excerpts are from Book 4: World Of Wreckage. 

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Vy tucked the blankets around Ariock, trying to warm him up. She rested her head on his chest. Their breaths made ghostly puffs together. If Ariock was going to die lonely and cold, after all he had accomplished, then maybe she wouldn't mind freezing to death right beside him.

The room seemed too silent.

Perhaps that was what caused Vy to raise her head and look around.

A statuesque woman with a tangle of purple hair, and metallic wings as sharp as blades, stood by the nearest window. The Lady of Sorrow. 

She gazed outside at the raging space battle. She must be untroubled by the cold, since her opalescent gown barely clung to her curves. A lot of flawless skin was exposed.

Vy's skin raised in goose-bumps. She hardly dared breathe. This Lady—or whatever she was—could morph into a titanic monster. No doubt she could destroy this entire colony starship, if she felt like it. Why was she here?

Perhaps she wanted to destroy the powerhouse who had rescued so many slaves.

Vy could not shield Ariock, but she would try. She climbed on top of him.

The Lady of Sorrow placed one slender hand against the faux glass, as if to caress the Torth dreadnoughts. A delicate touch. Not monstrous at all. Graceful and human.

The Torth Homeworld exploded in a brilliant ring.

The shock wave vaporized streamships and shuttles like tissue paper in a furnace. An immense battleship blew apart into a billion pieces. Each piece careened at high speed, carried by the shock wave. Debris tumbled outward through space.

The shock wave passed well below the window view. Even so, the violent burst caused the metal world of the starship quake and shudder. 

Ariock was thrown like a heavy rag-doll. He landed hard, his head lolled to one side. Vy braced herself and landed atop him.

Outside, rocks flew past their ship. Some of those enormous rocks featured the melted remnants of skyscrapers and cave cities.

The Torth planet of origin was simply ... gone. A disintegrating cloud of debris floated in the dark space where it used to be.

The Lady of Sorrow slowly turned and looked at Ariock and Vy.

Waves of hair shadowed her face, but she had fine features. She looked quite composed for someone who had just destroyed a planet.

Vy did not want to meet her gaze, or challenge her. She watched the destruction outside. Now the Alashani would never return home. They had no home. Jinishta, Flen, Yuey, Orla ... their lamplit cities were gone forever.

The winged woman stood directly in front of Vy.

She had not taken a step. One moment, the Lady of Sorrow was standing by the window, and then she disintegrated to dust and reemerged whole. She had done it within a second.

Vy craned her head to meet the purple gaze of the goddess.

The Lady of Sorrow looked tired, but her gaze towards Ariock was unexpectedly tender. Almost kind. A lacy diadem glittered in her hair.

As she leaned down to caress Ariock's face, her body lost cohesion, becoming a cloud of glittering dust. The cloud poured downward into a winged figure again. The Lady of Sorrow was in a graceful kneeling pose, with one hand outstretched to caress Ariock. Altogether, her disintegration and reintegration was faster than muscle movement.

Her tired gaze shifted to Vy.

The tenderness was gone. That icy stare promised a brutal death.

Vy did not flinch. She expected the Lady of Sorrow to murder her, yet she returned the stare with her own defiance, be it mortal and pathetic. She could not shield Ariock. She could not revive him from his coma. But she would do her best, regardless, no matter what evil this world-destroying poltergeist intended.

The Lady of Sorrow held her gaze, as if expecting Vy to cringe, or look away, or blink in fear.

Vy did not.

After a few moments, the winged woman melted into a cloud of dust.

Instead of re-forming with a noose around Vy's neck, or a blade stabbed into Vy's back, the dust flitted away. It swirled into the dark recesses of the room, heading towards the air vent.

Vy let out a shaky breath and lay on Ariock's chest. She did not know if he had protected her, or if she had protected him.

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The enemy starship vanished, yanked out of sight by the temporal stream.

The Torth Empire sat in stunned silence.

War.

It began as a whisper amongst the low ranks in the Megacosm.

We are at war.

The Giant was a tank, the Shapeshifter was a wild beast, and the Imposter was a subtle knife twisting in one's back. But the Betrayer was their mastermind. He was orchestrating all of their enemies. He was a tactician, an engineer, and a commander, all rolled into one person.

Who could guess his chosen destination? He might be on the other side of the galactic disk. He might appear anywhere, and steal slaves, or murder innocent Torth.

WAR. The Majority glowed with rage, like lava. Even the Former Commander bared her teeth. Until now, the Torth Empire had never lost a single conquest. This challenge must be answered.

WE ARE AT WAR, trillions of minds roared.

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Author's Note: If you've read the previous four books in this series, you are amazing!!! My email and social media handles are on my website, AbbyGoldsmith.com. 

Megacosmic Rift Copyright © 2020 Abby Goldsmith. All rights reserved. Publication of this work to any other site or forum without written permission of the author is strictly prohibited. Brief quotations for use in reviews or other non-commercial use is permitted.