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Bale used Bax’s own father, the Dark Priest, to place a mental hold over the Otherworlders until her moment could be realized Once Bax and I freed them, I trusted the Otherworlders to see Bale for what she truly was To side against the dark goddess

But if you had devoted your life—if your ancestors before you had devoted and sacrificed their entire existence to a goddess—once you were finally given proof, would you turn on her? For the Otherworlders, it was a resounding no They worship her more loyally now than ever before And they plan to keep her to her proed in blood In their blood

I block another attack fro to see him for what he is: my enemy

As he growls and slashes at hts of Caben buried I have to in order to stay focused But they come anyway, unbidden

The Otherworlders welcomed Prince Caben as their new leader They follow his bloody trail through battles waged on our lands, seeking to garner the one thing that will finally set their goddess free Where she can rule over the deity on earth

And once she’s loosed on this plane…ill happen to Caben?

My hts, and e of my misstep He nails the side of round Dirt fills e surface, covering my vision

“I’ll get a nice reward for bringing your head to e,” the Otherworlder snarls “He wants to mount it, ya know” He chuckles

Anger wells inainst th—but I suppress it Instead, I locate rip a handful of sand “Then he’ll have to face me himself, slime,” I say low, so that the Otherworlder has to crouch

He kneels on one knee and yanks my head up by my hair “Speak loud and have your say, above-worlder, before I sever that pretty little head”

I smile and pitch the sand into his face, then roll toward rowls and storasp round, slashing his shin He drives his sword down as he falls forward, his wounded leg giving out

Rolling, I come up behind him and take out his tendon

“Bale…” he shouts, but the rest of his prayer is lost as I cleave his head from his body

My chest rises and falls with aze locked on the destroyed Otherworlder Just hearing the oddess’s name sendsbile

A ru horizon

Somewhere out there, Caben is lost in that darkness

“I’ll find you,” I whisper to the dark Withtucked beneath my uniform shirt Then I wipe the blood from my blade on the Otherworlder’s back and sheathto catch up with the protectors ahead of the battle

Every day, I hope it’s the day we see the end of this war