Discordant Note | TBATE

Chapter 73: Twinsoul

I felt the pushback from within weaken with every blow, the serpent's bones breaking with every strike.

I could end it immediately. Considering I had control of the beast, I only needed to clench my fist, and a ton of force would concentrate around the monster's head, pulping it at my command. But I wanted to hurt it.

I used the monster's body as a noose, wrapping it around a hulking, bearlike aether beast's throat. The bearlike beast snarled, clawing deep, bloody gouges into the thick meaty hide of the snake. On its own, those attacks would have sent the serpentine beast swimming away, its entrails trailing behind it. But I tightened my grip, forcing it to stretch like a garotte.

The bearlike beast's eyes widened as the air was pressed from its lungs. Its struggles weakened, the sharp, glinting claws far from enough to free itself. It was covered in the serpent's blood, a gruesome fate for any monster.

I hovered the mangled body of the serpent in front of me. It was still breathing weakly, strangled hisses and wines echoing from its mouth. Its scales were torn and battered from where I'd used it as a club against the monsters approaching me.

I looked into its eyes, remembering the pity I felt for the skaunter so long ago after shattering its leg. I could feel none in my soul right now.

"Do not become them, Contractor," Lady Dawn whispered across my thoughts.

I turned to the side. My bond was sitting on a low branch of a burly tree, watching the scene with an almost sad expression.

"You hate them, too," I said with a snarl, feeling defiant. "They'd happily do the same to me. To all I care for in this world. Why should I be merciful toward those Vritra-blooded monsters?"

My bond seemed to center herself, taking a breath. "I hate what they represent, Toren. A heartless union between asura and man. One of apathetic science and heartless desire for power. Instead of love and life. Instead of something wonderful and new. That is why I hate the Doctrination."

I felt my appetite for carnage wane slightly. The beast I held in my telekinetic clutches no longer struggled against my control. Its aether no longer pushed to free it.

I drove Oath through its skull in one quick motion, putting the serpentine monster out of its misery. Then I threw the corpse into the water with a heavy splash.

"But why?!" I said, turning on my bond. "Why shouldn't I just say goodbye to my principles? This world seems happy to keep telling me I'll fail if I don't. The only people who succeed in Alacrya are those who sell their souls."

It was ironic, wasn't it? I'd already sold my soul to the asura in front of me. What right did she have to chastise me when she acted just the same?

My bond seemed unaffected by my anger, which only pushed the flames higher. But I let her think of a response. "My brother," she began, "Was disgusted by the Indrath Clan's butchery of the djinn. Late at night, he would ail over the question of what he should do. Expose their crimes? That would never work. Look what happened to Agrona. Lead a revolt against the dragons? For all Mordain's strength, Kezess's mastery of aether put him beyond all of our fighting forces. Simply let the massacre slide?" The phoenix shook her head. "So my brother found a different path. He left, just as Agrona did. And he sought out the remnants of the djinn, providing them sanctuary and protection for centuries. If not for that act of idealism; of principle? I would have never met my husband. My Andravhor."

My shoulders slumped, much of my anger draining out of me. Every day, I felt more and more of myself from my previous world become diluted and distant. The peace and future I experienced on Earth was becoming harder and harder to remember. How long until nothing of me remained, and Alacrya took its place?