THE BURIED GOD
Chapter 7: The Shadows
The shadows were cold.
Damon pressed himself against the wall, his back against the stone, his breath held in his chest. The priests stood between him and the heart, their black robes swaying, their silver eyes gleaming.
Vespera stood beside him.
Lyssa stood on his other side.
None of them moved.
None of them breathed.
None of them spoke.
The high priest walked toward the heart.
His crown of bones caught the silver light. His black robe trailed behind him like a river of darkness.
He stopped at the edge of the light.
He raised his hands.
“O Hollow King,” he said. “O buried god. O hungry one. Hear me. Feel me. Taste me.”
The heart pulsed.
The light blazed.
The priests screamed.
“The time is coming,” the high priest said. “The hour is approaching. The sacrifice is ready.”
He turned.
His silver eyes found Vespera.
“The priestess has returned. The one who buried you. The one who sealed you. The one who feared you.”
The heart pulsed again.
She is here, a voice said. Not the high priest’s voice. A deeper voice. An older voice. A voice that came from the heart itself.
I can feel her. I can taste her. I can hunger for her.
“Yes, my lord. She is here. She has come to wake you.”
She came to bury me.
“Then she will fail. As she failed before. As she will always fail.”
The heart blazed.
The light consumed the chamber.
The priests fell to their knees.
The high priest raised his arms.
“Rise,” he said. “Rise, Hollow King. Rise, buried god. Rise, hungry one. Rise and consume.”
The ground cracked.
The walls shook.
The ceiling crumbled.
Damon grabbed Vespera.
“We have to go. Now.”
“Where?”
“Away. Anywhere. Out.”
“The door is closed.”
“Then we make a new door.”
He ran.
Not toward the heart. Not toward the light. Toward the shadows.
Vespera followed.
Lyssa followed.
The priests did not see them. They were too focused on the heart. Too focused on the god. Too focused on the hunger.
Damon reached the wall.
He raised his shovel.
He swung.
The blade struck the stone.
The stone cracked.
He swung again.
The stone shattered.
Beyond the wall was darkness.
Not the darkness of the chamber. A different darkness. Cooler. Quieter. Older.
He stepped through.
Vespera followed.
Lyssa followed.
The wall crumbled behind them.
The priests screamed.
The heart pulsed.
The god woke.