The snake didn’t attack and Roana urged them to run, and for a moment Jigano felt hope that they might all survive this (oblivious to Kristopher’s body hidden in the water behind him).
One shining moment.
And then Roana charged the light.
What.
The.
Fuck.
But her body didn’t sizzle or burn. Her charred corpse didn’t fall back to the ground. The light continued to burn, clean and bright, and Jigano’s watering eyes widened as the familiarity of the shape sank past his fear, adrenaline thrumming brightly in his veins and spurring connections in his brain.
Oh.
Lucas fled behind him, Rory and Amalia following swiftly. The gas burned his eyes, his skin, his lungs, even through the mask he had fashioned, but he had withstood worse. The snake had been angered by Lucas – by an Ascended – and also by his fiery lantern… but it had not been hypnotized. Even through his tears he could see the intelligence in its white eyes.
His habit of asking too many questions was finally going to get him killed, wasn’t it?
Setting the lantern down behind him, Jigano drew in a careful breath behind his sleeve as well as his mask – and then held it as he bowed to the serpent, steeling himself for what he was about to do.
”Guardian of the Light,” he said in the speech of the Attuned as well as out loud, ”what must we do to be allowed to pass beyond the Barrier?”
One shining moment.
And then Roana charged the light.
What.
The.
Fuck.
But her body didn’t sizzle or burn. Her charred corpse didn’t fall back to the ground. The light continued to burn, clean and bright, and Jigano’s watering eyes widened as the familiarity of the shape sank past his fear, adrenaline thrumming brightly in his veins and spurring connections in his brain.
Oh.
Lucas fled behind him, Rory and Amalia following swiftly. The gas burned his eyes, his skin, his lungs, even through the mask he had fashioned, but he had withstood worse. The snake had been angered by Lucas – by an Ascended – and also by his fiery lantern… but it had not been hypnotized. Even through his tears he could see the intelligence in its white eyes.
His habit of asking too many questions was finally going to get him killed, wasn’t it?
Setting the lantern down behind him, Jigano drew in a careful breath behind his sleeve as well as his mask – and then held it as he bowed to the serpent, steeling himself for what he was about to do.
”Guardian of the Light,” he said in the speech of the Attuned as well as out loud, ”what must we do to be allowed to pass beyond the Barrier?”
