Misspelled by Citlalin Ossio

Author:Citlalin Ossio
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cursed Dragon Ship Publishing, LLC

The nifeglass surrounding the mask turned matte gray in an expanding circle as the strange, sacrificial dagger wrighting did its work from where it lay buried in Victus's heart. The center of that slate-gray circle upon the glass had already crumbled to dust, and the crumbling ring was expanding outward.

Ashavid's mask, metal like everything else here, shone with prismatic color, like light upon an oil slick. The face was featureless aside from eyeholes. A cowl surrounded it, and it whipped in an imaginary wind like a corona.

The way was open, yet Casey still hesitated.

“Hurry.” Victus muttered this word, but he was nearly gone. It was not his word. It carried a resonance no human voice ever could.

“Why me?” Casey asked. “I wasn't even supposed to be here. That was his doing.”

“Are you so certain of that?”

“But I stopped worshipping you.”

“Yet here you are. Lapses can be forgiven.”

“Because I remembered a basic fact about you?”

“Because you will serve me well in the struggle to come.” The otherworldly voice grew stronger. “You, who carries no false pride. You, who will sacrifice for the comfort of others. It is through you that I will weld the gods together and avoid the mistakes of the past as we remake this world.”

Tired of worry, of imagining the worst, Casey's will gave out. She reached in and grasped the mask. As her fingers closed about it, the world fell away. She stood upon a promontory of rock above a vast abyss. There was a presence behind her, one she dared not behold.

“You were correct, child, that I am not like the others.” Ashavid's voice rang like bells in this non-place. “They crush life and soul both from their avatars, leave them nothing but a shell, the better to allow more of the god into them. I will not do such.”

Casey felt her worries drop away. A rush of relief and gratitude welled up in her. All her life she had not trusted her own judgment, and here was the final proof of why. She had not believed she should be here, and she had, once again, been wrong.

Then her god spoke again.

“You have shown me your true self today, but once-forgotten truths can be forgotten again. Lapses can be forgiven, but they must not be forgotten. Thus, your life will be spared, but your soul will not. This is my judgment. I cannot brook a willful avatar. Perhaps fate shall see you in command of your body once again, after my true freedom is achieved, but it will not be the you that I speak to now. For this, I am sorry.”

There was no time to respond. The shove was feather-light, yet Casey possessed no weight in this place. She went hurtling from the promontory's tip, falling into endless black. Looking back on her short life, she struggled to form a final thought before the oblivion below could claim her. Final meaning, understanding, eluded her, but mercifully, she was no longer aware of this failure.

Meanwhile, wearing Cassia Pontus's body like a glove, the god Ashavid rose and placed the mask upon her head.

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