A Paragon Forged (The Pantheon Saga) by C.C. Ekeke

Author:C.C. Ekeke [Ekeke, C.C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ShatterHouse Press
Published: 2023-04-24T16:00:00+00:00

Parasomnia

Karolina must have taken a geyser blast to the face, because everything hurt.

Brain, spine, skin, eyeballs, fingers, and toes were on fire.

Embers faded from her vision, the purplish afterimage smearing her world.

The last thing she remembered was Sunshine’s face…right before she’d cracked Karolina over the skull. Trying to recall anything afterward was an elastic band squeezing her brain.

Karolina blinked rapidly from the sharp headache. She slowly sat up, taking in unfamiliar surroundings.

“What’s happening?” she called out, louder than intended. “Where am I?” Her gaze raked over an auditorium with audience seats that were flattened, flung all over or melted.

Karolina did a wide-eyed double take. Charred and broken corpses littered the hall.

A massive crater ruptured through the center of a stage strewn with bodies dressed in ridiculous superhero costumes.

She recoiled. “Who killed these people?” she yelped.

This couldn’t be Goldwater. It looked too large, too modern and prestigious.

“Karolina?”

Her own name came from far away. She struggled to stand, only to slump down on one knee.

“Karolina,” the male voice repeated, unnervingly close, “what’s wrong?”

Karolina turned to whoever was calling her, only to shriek.

Another costumed type, this one alive and advancing. He wasn’t tall or menacing in physique. In fact, this guy was dressed like some DIY supervillain. A creepy golden mask concealed everything but his eyes, with a rather tattered trench coat and crumpled Kevlar-like armor beneath.

Faint smoke rose off the stranger’s body, curling up into darkened ceilings.

Karolina gaped yet again, realizing the smoke curls were actually energy tendrils.

Her blood turned colder than ice, and she scrambled back on all fours.

“Who the fuck are you?” she demanded, not caring how high-pitched she sounded.

The stranger stopped in his tracks and leaned upright. The brow of his mask knitted in confusion.

“Calm down,” the costumed man ordered. His rough voice didn’t fit someone of average

height. He pointed at himself, as if Karolina should’ve recognized him. “We’re on the same side.”

Karolina didn’t care. “Get away from me!” she yelped, scrambling back again to get more distance from this weirdo. She couldn’t stop shuddering, or wondering why she wore a greyish, odd uni-suit straight out of some futuristic superhero flick. She had no idea why she was in this expensive auditorium surrounded by dead bodies or why a nonstop elephant stampede had taken residence inside her skull. The only thought clearer than daylight was to get away.

The stranger in the golden mask glared back in irritation, maybe deciding how to dispose of her.

He stiffened and tapped the side of his mask, laser-like gaze locked on Karolina. “Yeah,” he grunted.

Karolina stared back, unsure how to respond. The stench of charred flesh clogged her airway.

“I reduced Fake Sentinel to ash,” the masked stranger stated, pausing to glance at a scorched-black wall on the other side of the auditorium. “Now everyone will chase the real Sentinel.”

He’s talking to someone else, Karolina realized while shivering. She had to teleport home…away from the bodies…and this masked freakshow.

Yet thinking of teleporting created a painful throb through her whole body.

A low yet growing roar filled her ears, startling the girl.

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