Dekker’s lips moved, but there was only the colorless silence of Nox’s new world. A place without Luca’s smile, voice, laugh. A place without him. A place Nox did not want to remain.
A void of life.
The Anubis coursed through Nox, flowing down his arms, devouring his bones, drinking away the last of what was human.
Rage became physical.
Madness shredded his conscience.
Violence pumped through his veins.
He didn’t try to maintain a connection to the world. With Luca gone, there was no reason to. The Anubis tore free so violently, Nox’s skin ripped and blood covered the strands of black. His massive form filled the tiny cubical, and he slammed against the glass. Thunder boomed and the entire sheet rippled.
Nox bit at the surface, breaking off his teeth, clawed until the razors at the end of each finger snapped. Nothing left a mark. And the smoked glass absorbed every impact.
Ichor and blood painted the surface mapping each attack. Saliva smeared over Nox’s muzzle, and his world narrowed down to the man on the other side. The man he would kill. Rip to shreds. Devour.
And Dekker watched him with a smile.
Nox flailed in his prison until his already taxed body gave up the last of its reserves and his legs buckled, leaving him on the floor drowning in despair. His deep chest rose and fell. His growls faded.
If Nox was lucky, he’d die. In the least, he hoped to disappear. But the Anubis couldn’t comprehend the idea of death, and it would continue to exist even when there was nothing left of Nox, and he was too weak to breathe.
Dekker walked up to the wall of smoked glass and crouched beside Nox’s head. “Don’t worry, Mr. Kelli. I’ll get it out of you. Unfortunately, for you, it’s going to take a very long time for you to die.”
All Nox could do was watch as Dekker stood and headed to the door. Along the way, he stepped over Luca’s body as if he meant nothing.
He was wrong. So fucking wrong. Luca was everything. A purpose, a fortress, a star to Nox’s night.
And the only thing binding the Anubis to this plane, keeping it from slipping into the darkness it had crawled from.
The remaining guard followed Dekker out shutting the door behind them.
Nox’s pulse replaced the silence. Numbness replaced the pain leaving behind raw emotion until that also ceased to exist.
Nox had thought the thing inside him was proof of hell. He realized at that moment, it was far worse. It was the thing hell had been carved from. With nothing left to constrain the Anubis, it reached for its origin towing it across invisible barriers into the world it now resided. A neutron star to the planets, becoming a black hole to the galaxy.
Light brightened, shadows deepened, particles split, painting the world in billions of stars.
His spine stretched.
The darkness of the Anubis expanded until the space around Nox fish-bowled and time slowed.
Nox’s claws resharpened, his teeth regrew.
Power washed in, filling him up and spilling over.
The lights overhead flickered. The hum of electricity pulsed. Sparks snapped off the ballasts. Trails of blood pulled from the puddle surrounding Luca on the floor, moving in Nox’s direction.
His bones snapped, thickened, realigned. Energy billowed from Nox’s body, dancing in super-heated waves. Moisture pulled to the surface of the concrete, and steam rose as the air all but ignited with his exhale.
He rose to his feet. Just like the images of his predecessor painted on stone walls hidden under the desert. And just like them, he would rule, he would destroy, he would bring forth the underworld to obliterate those who dare harm the life he’d been created to protect.
A river of strength crested within, overpowering the boundaries of the Anubis, spiraling into existence, warping into a sound.
Nox reared back and sang in anguish.
And the very earth called back to him, writhing in pain. Plates in the bedrock shifted below the vibrating grains of dirt. His howl an invisible hammer bludgeoning the air.