(The golden platter pulsed with Lumina's still-beating heart.)
Each throb sent droplets of blood splattering across the immaculate tablecloth, forming patterns that uncannily mirrored the symbols carved into my monstrous arm. Vaelis extended the carved slice toward me, his hand perfectly steady.
"Eat, little brother. Unless...you'd prefer her to take your place."
A wet, slithering sound behind me.
I turned just in time to see Lumina rise. Or what remained of her. Her shoulder wound had split into a gaping maw, her shattered ribs reformed into chitinous appendages. Her cross-shaped eyes had tripled in number.
"Ren..." Her voice had become a chorus of whispers. "I'm...so hungry..."
My arm reacted before I could think—tendrils unfurling to push the monster-that-was-Lumina away. But instead of attacking...
They offered her the heart.
Lumina fell upon it with an animalistic whimper. Her new teeth—too long, too numerous—tore into the still-living flesh.
And I felt every bite.
As if I were eating through her.
As if something were eating through both of us.
Vaelis watched, eyes gleaming with perverse pride.
"First law of gods, brother: never refuse a sacrifice."
The banquet hall dissolved, revealing the horror beneath:
We floated in a cosmic stomach—pulsing walls lined with digesting human faces. Elyria strode across the fluids as if they were solid ground, notepad in hand.
"Subject 117 shows 89% compatibility with divine essence," she noted. "Significantly higher than 116. Pity he retains this...moral resistance."
Lumina, still devouring her own heart, looked up with hollow eyes.
"It's...good..." she stammered. "Why...does it taste so good?"
Vaelis snapped his fingers.
A chessboard appeared between us, its pieces carved from human bone.
"Second lesson, little brother: everything is a game. And these are the rules..."
His king piece revealed itself to be a perfect miniature of...
My mother.
My real mother. The one I'd left behind when I died.
She screamed soundlessly, pounding her tiny ivory prison with her fists.
"Check." Vaelis smiled. "Your move."
End of Chapter 5