Shattered Soul (Assassins of Illumination 2): A Fantasy Epic of the Illumination Cycle) by JMD Reid

Author:JMD Reid [Reid, JMD]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dreaming Between Worlds Publishing, LLC
Published: 2023-10-02T16:00:00+00:00

“YOU MUST KILL KADAYN!”

“I must kill Kadayn!” roared Carstin-Needle.

The Voice screamed at him from the outside, resonating with the note of Diamond. The calming, soothing diamond that had given such clarity to the assassin. Carstin-Needle shook his head as Phelep and Bran continued to fight in his soul.

Ōbhin, Garnet, and General Kadayn all attacked Carstin-Needle. The resonance blade drove him back to the end of the balcony. He was running out of space. He had to fight back. The Voice pounded on him. Weak-Carstin sobbed.

This isn’t me! he cried. It can’t be me! I’m not a monster. Vinexa believes I’m human.

She’s wrong! Carstin-Needle roared. That’s what we are. We’re monsters. You hear that Voice?

“YOU MUST KILL KADAYN!”

That’s the beast in us wanting to—

Distracted by yelling at the weak part of himself, Carstin-Needle wasn’t prepared to ward off Phelep. The bastard grabbed a hold of Carstin-Needle’s crumbling soul and yanked him back. He lost control of his body. It slipped away from him and suddenly Phelep was in charge, the shapechanger’s form shifting into that of the dead guard.

“Ōbhin, we’re trying to stop him!” Phelep shouted.

“Smiles?” gasped Ōbhin, his attack pulling short.

Carstin-Needle slammed back into control, hurtling the illusion of Phelep back into the depths of the shapechanger’s breaking soul. He flowed into Carstin’s appearance now. He wanted to be himself as he killed . . .

His friend.

I am a monster!

“Sorry!” growled Carstin as he thrust his rapier at Ōbhin’s guts.

Ōbhin slashed his tulwar in a circular arc, a classic parry. But a resonance blade would just cut Carstin’s rapier in half, sending the tip hurtling like a spear into Ōbhin’s guts. Once he was down, Carstin would kill Kadayn, then he would . . .

Yes, yes, I have to enjoy Avena and Garnet, that sick, infected part of him growled.

That’s not us! Weak-Carstin roared.

“YOU MUST KILL KADAYN!”

The Voice battered back the feeble Carstin.

Ōbhin turned off his tulwar at the last moment. Metal rang as their blades impacted. The rapier thrust out to the side. Carstin felt Ōbhin’s strength. Here was a man who could match the shapechanger in brawn.

But not speed.

Carstin turned his deflected momentum into a roll, tumbling past Ōbhin in a heartbeat. Bare feet smacking on the wooden flooring, he came up in a thrust. His rapier lanced for General Kadayn’s guts, triumph surging in Carstin.

He obeyed the Voice. He had to obey Astophin’s Voice.

Garnet’s cutlass slashed down and deflected the rapier’s plunge again. Carstin-Needle roared his fury as his thrust went wide. He turned and rammed his rapier in a burst of rage at the filthy bitch, but she was already backpedaling to safety.

General Kadayn’s foot slammed into Carstin-Needle’s left leg before he could recover from his lunge. Though the shapechanger was strong, the booted foot struck his knee at just the right angle to twist it inward. No amount of strength could stop the joint from snapping and his leg folding. He collapsed, hands smacking into the wooden floor to break his fall.

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