Page 81 of Godbound
Its slick hide seeps through my dress, cold and foul. I twist, thrashing, but the creature only tightens, coiling, repositioning. It’s going to crush me.
Dark thoughts tear through me:I’m not strong enough. Not fast enough. Not… enough.
But instinct screams louder. My magic surges, wild and hungry, begging to be released, but I clamp down on it. I can’t let it loose. I can’t let it destroy more than the monsters ever could.
I have to be worthy of these people.Me.Not the corrupted power of a damned Goddess.
I shove upward, boots scraping over stone slick with grime and leech slime.
The creature presses harder, its worm-like body crushing the air from my lungs. I wedge my hands between its pulsing flesh and thewall, fingers slipping, nails splitting as I fight for a hold.
The chain clanks. The leech jerks forward with a wet squelch, its gaping maw snapping inches from my face.
The stench hits—rotting meat and old—sickly-sweet—blood that burns my nostrils. But the chain holds.
That’s it. The idea hits fast and hard.
Using its own weight, I brace one foot on the wall and the other against its slick hide, forcing leverage between us.
The mucus helps. It’s vile, but it makes me slide. I twist, shove with everything I have and suddenly, the crushing pressure breaks.
I wrench free, gasping, half-climbing, half-sliding over its glistening back.
The leech lunges again.
I leap.
The chain snaps taut, yanking it short. Its maw slams into the wall with a bone-deep crack that rattles the stone. I hit the ground hard, knees buckling, breath torn from my chest, but I’m free.
My hand still squeezed hard around the hairpin Eva forced into my hair earlier, her little stroke of genius. I thrust it forward, driving it into the creature’s eye.
The Fleshleech screams, a sound so shrill it tears the air. Its body convulses, twisting into its own chain, crushing itself in spasms of panic.
I stagger back, panting, shaking. My hands sting, coated in its thick, putrid blood.
But I’m alive. And I don’t have time to think about that. Because there are still three more.
And their chains are gone.
The dying leech writhes, its convulsions rattling the ground. A shudder runs through me as the stench of its rancid blood clings to my skin.
My ribs throb with every breath. My body screams at me to stop. But there’s no time.
Three more.
I whip around, yanking the hairpin from the twitching corpse. The metal is slick and warm, coated in oozing blood. My stomach lurches, but hesitation is a luxury I can’t afford.
My gaze snaps to the arena. The remaining leeches lurch forward.
Cold horror floods me. They’re not coming for me. They’re going for the people in my Sanctum.
Pleading screams tear through the air. Some cry for help, others scramble deeper into the shimmering space that was supposed to keep them safe. Kaelzar is there, steady amidst the chaos, trying to keep them as organized as he can, stopping anyone from pushing or trampling the rest.
The leeches surge, maws gaping wide, hunger twisting their movements into something frenzied and mindless.
Think. Think.
The hill. The clock.
