Destroyer Rising by Eric Asher

Author:Eric Asher
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: vampires, demon, civil war, fairy, fairies, necromancer, vesik

***

We crossed two more chasms bridged by the stuff of the Old Gods before Mike spoke again.

“This is the final chasm. Beyond it waits the Sea of Souls and the eighth fortress.” He turned and looked at the rest of us. “They won’t come for me again. It will be one of you.”

“They already tried me,” I said. “So I’m off the hook, right?”

My mom used to say that. “Take the phone off the hook.” We’d be on the old green couch and she’d shoo Sam or me to do it. Why was I remembering that now? We’d sit down to watch a movie and she’d tell us to take the phone off the hook.

A sudden pain felt like a dagger in my eye.

Take the phone off the hook.

The world shook again, and we stood on a suburban street beside a quaint home. The vision was a part of me this time, the house where my parents raised Sam and me. A shadow stalked through the yard before casting a glance over its shoulder.

Silver fangs flashed in the moonlight. Even though I knew it wasn’t real, it wasn’t really happening, I moved forward.

The earth rumbled and split, and what had been a distance of only a neighbor’s yard became a chasm of fire. It rose up to become a mountain, spouting ash and flame into the air. A memory flashed through my mind. Sam and I had watched footage of a volcano burning a city to cinders.

This nightmare was born of it.

Take the phone off the hook.

I had to cross the mountain. If I didn’t, everyone would die. My parents would burn in their beds and Sam would join them when she tried to help. I’d seen it happen a hundred times.

“Forward!” A distant voice shouted.

I turned my gaze to the left and saw another shadow. This one was small and scared and glowed with a golden light. “Damian! Don’t leave me!”

The voice pulled on me, and my mind reeled. Something was wrong here. Something was unhinged. I needed my parents. I needed my sister. I’d never feed her toys to Jasper again.

I ran toward the mountain. It was easy climbing, especially for a seven-year-old who was practically a monkey. Mom liked to call me her monkey, too. I scrambled across a loose gravel slope and paused at an outcropping of rock.

Strange animals came up through the fiery vents, rabbits with fangs and snakes with fur. A gray cloud with teeth the size of my hand swallowed them all. It didn’t make sense, but they didn’t matter. I ran past them, focusing on my house. I could see the roof in the distance.

Take the phone off the hook.

The phone rang.

The world boomed and the mountain cracked open. Heat from molten lava seared my face as it flowed past. My arm blistered in the passing steam. This wasn’t right. There should be rocks here to jump across. I knew this place. I turned away, and when I turned back, the rocks were there, jutting up over the river of fire.

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