World Eater

82

“IT'S ALL GONE,” JUDAS WHISPERED, WRAPPING HIS ARMS AROUND HIS CHEST.

It was as if the Earth itself had opened its maw. Beyond the small clearing Sariel stood in, a massive sinkhole had opened, consuming the entirety of the city of Pulaski, no inch of the carnage left behind.

Sariel knew this was no natural disaster. The spines that had emerged from the earth told him that.

“This isn't good,” Sariel murmured, “It's maturing quicker than I thought it would. We're running out of time.”

“My Lord, look at this,” Judas’s voice come from behind. He stood by two corpses, bodies already showing signs of decay.

Sariel hovered over the bodies, an ache in his chest. He was meant to protect these creatures, and now they were dying en masse. Crouching down, he examined the corpse, turning it on its back.

“This was definitely the Mother. I've seen these wounds before.” On the children at Alzar’s school, Sariel thought, gritting his teeth.

He drifted from the corpses, searching for any other traces that the World Eater had been present. A scrap of cloth caught his attention, clinging to a chunk of concrete. Kneeling down, Sariel’s heart skipped a beat.

It was Alzar’s shirt. He remembered it vividly.

That was the shirt Alzar was wearing on the night he disappeared.

My child is alive, he thought, elated.

Sariel paused, shaking his head. No, Alzar wasn't his child. Sariel wasn't a human. It was a trick, the past seventeen years had been cruel ruse by the World Eater.

But why had Alzar even been with the World Eater? He thought of the infant the World Eater was incubating, and of the night she had defeated him. Sariel’s heart was beating violently.

“The sooner we kill the infant, the better,” Judas mumbled, staring off into the sinkhole.

Sariel shoved the cloth in his pocket, swallowing fear back down his throat. “I agree.”

He didn't want to consider that option.