World of Wreckage: A Dark Sci-Fi Epic Fantasy (Torth Book 3) by Abby Goldsmith

Author:Abby Goldsmith [Goldsmith, Abby]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Podium Publishing
Published: 2024-05-07T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 6

WHAT WAS FORGOTTEN

Thomas gave Garrett an incredulous look. How was he supposed to shield them? Sure, he could shift temperatures, but that would not protect anyone from a collapsing floor, or from thousands of blaster gloves or any sort of major disaster.

Ariock radiated visible waves of power. He stood in the now-deserted center of the lobby with a dangerous glint in his deep-set eyes.

If any Torth tried to slow Ariock down . . . if they attacked him at all . . . perhaps even if they did nothing . . . well, Ariock must want an excuse to slaughter Torth, after the atrocities he’d seen in the Isolatorium.

The bargain was hanging by a thread.

“I would protect us if I could.” Garrett glared at Thomas, perhaps ashamed of his own helplessness. “Just . . .” He trailed off in a frustrated growl. “Agh. Just use common sense and keep us alive!”

Fissures split the floor in a crazy quilt.

“I’ll do my best,” Thomas said, “but we have to get the Torth out of here and make sure no one is harmed.”

Jinishta yanked her scarf-veil over her nose. She leaped to her feet and brandished her spear, shouting, “Get out of the way, Torth! Out of the way!”

Her warnings had no effect. A few Torth aimed disdainful glances toward the noisy Alashani premier, but the rest continued to shuffle toward various exits. Some of them even continued to wait for elevators.

A deep rumble shook the lobby. Stone blocks shifted, and dusty pebbles rained down. The very walls gained a grinding, relentless voice.

“MOVE. TORTH.”

The lobby cracked in a jagged ring around Ariock. A moaning wind arose from darkness below.

Torth began to run.

Garrett jammed their hovercart toward the nearest exit archway. Ariock balanced upon a levitating chunk of floor, like a floating island topped by a slab of quartz. The floor was crumbling, caving in, unsupported by anything below. Tension had held it in place for millennia. Now that tensile strength was gone, and connective sections of the floor tumbled into the jagged abyss.

The void looked infinite.

Red Ranks shouted, trapped on falling slabs. Glass elevators zoomed upward, packed to capacity. One Torth threw himself toward the crowd on solid ground, but his comrades did not bother to catch him, and he clung desperately to a crumbling ledge until it fell, tumbling and taking him downward.

Thomas could only watch with horror. The bargain was breaking. There was no way Ariock would take risks just to save a bunch of . . .

The fallen Red Rank levitated out of the abyss on a slab of quartz.

Another batch of Torth soared over the crowd, and another.

This was not the bludgeoning action of Ariock’s first few battles. This was . . . well, it was masterful. Even Garrett gawked. It seemed he had not anticipated Ariock to be so dexterous with his powers, and so unflagging.

Thomas sensed a reluctant glow of pride in Jinishta’s mind.

No doubt about it, these were her lessons paying off. She had challenged Ariock’s weaknesses and built up his strengths.

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