Nightfall (Pact Arcanum Integrated Serial Edition) Read Online Free PDF Page A

in fire. You will commit your people, and all of their descendants, to this alliance. And you will do so now, knowing full well that you have stolen their free will.”
    “You speak for the Light, my Lord. How can you ask this? Have you no mercy?”
    “Every bargain has a price, Sister Narissa. Magic requires sacrifice.”
    She hesitated. “You ask too much.”
    “Then your world will succumb to darkness. It is of no moment. Choose wisely.”
    She closed her eyes and swallowed. “I agree.”
    “The pact is made.”
    The room was awash with music, and she wept at the beauty of it. Time moved forward again. Rory saw the other people in the room collapse to the floor, unconscious. A burst of light filled the chamber, exploding the walls and ceiling, spearing into the sky above as rubble rained down on the city.
    The voice spoke again. “You will be the Wind of Earth, the master of that element, and you and your successors will lead your people into the future. You are granted power over steel. You may designate three lieutenants to serve as the masters of the other elements in your service.”
    Blinking the tears from her eyes, Narissa pointed out three unconscious spectators. “Guildmaster Kareen, Brother Gadash, and Sister Edarrim.”
    “Guildmaster Kareen shall be the Wind of Fire, wielding power of magic equal to any of the Firstborn. Brother Gadash shall be the Wind of Water and have mastery over his form. Sister Edarrim shall be the Wind of Air and have primacy over the realm of the mind. The rest of your people shall answer to them, and through them, to you. Fight well, Sister Narissa of the Order of Light. Your fealty is accepted. Go now, in peace, the way you came.”
    The translucent image of Narissa disappeared, and her body on the floor opened its eyes. Rory watched her rise slowly to her feet and probe her injuries with her hand, finding nothing. She looked around at her colleagues lying insensate on the floor and then faced the sunlight that streamed through the broken stone walls.
    “Creator, forgive me,” she said softly, tears falling down her face. Then she looked directly at Rory. “I am sorry.”
     
    * * *
     
    Rory woke, blinking at the familiar surroundings of his room lit by the streetlights below his window. A dream, he thought. It was just a dream. None of it was real.
    “Then why can I still hear your voice?” Takeshi asked.
    Rory turned his mind’s eye to Take. He could see the full moon through the Asian man’s senses as Take gazed out the window on the other side of the city.
    Not a dream, thought Rory. A nightmare.
    “If it is,” said Ana, clearly heard even from across the bay in Sausalito, “I don’t think it’s one we can wake up from.”
    Rory threw back the covers and climbed out of bed. He walked to his dresser and rummaged through a small box of jewelry until he found his confirmation cross. Holding it in his palm, he spoke the word of power that came to his lips unbidden. The cross burst into incandescent blue light that cast harsh shadows around the room and made even innocuous childhood mementos seem sinister. Rory closed his fist around the cross and sighed. He spoke a second word of power, and the cross faded back to silver. Slipping the chain over his head, Rory walked out of his room and down the stairs to the garage.
    He could feel Take and Ana watching through his eyes as he made his way to the set of free weights he kept there. Resting on the steel frame of the bench press was his weight bar, set up with the maximum he could usually lift. Reaching out, he lifted the bar off the frame with one hand. Yesterday, I could barely do a handful of reps with this load. Now it required only the smallest amount of effort. What else has changed, he wondered, now that I’ve become something other than human?
    “You’re not alone in this, Rory,” Take’s voice rang in his mind. “We’ll get through it together.”
    Rory carefully placed the bar back onto the frame.