Hive Knight: A Dark Fantasy LitRPG (Trinity of the Hive Book 1) by Grayson Sinclair (poetry books to read TXT) 📗

shifted, going through each color of the elements. Most stuck with only one element. This one, though, had already gone through five of them and didn’t seem to be stopping.

At this rate, it would be the most intricate spell I’d ever seen. It shifted from icy blues to fiery reds, every color of the rainbow. As the spell went through the different colors, it slowed and settled on one I’d never seen before.

The spell shone with the light of the moon. Soft, soft white light illuminated the hazy square. As the spell chose its final color, the circle glowed even brighter, and it grew so bright that it hurt to keep looking. I averted my gaze and tried to follow what was happening through squinted eyes.

It condensed on itself, flowing in until it turned into a single blinding point. A small glowing white dot—a miniature moon suspended in the courtyard. It started to grow from a small dot the size of a marble to the size of an apple. It grew until it was well past the size of a full-grown man.

The queen stared at the minuscule moon above her head, her eyes still gripped within her madness. I even saw Eris lift her head to gaze weakly at the sight of it.

It pulsated, tendrils of pale light pierced through the smoke that drifted through the courtyard. They struck the ground with abandon. Indiscriminate beams of light that melted through the very street wherever they touched. One beam lanced out and shone upon the queen. She was bathed in the pale radiance that stopped just before her face, sparing her bare flesh.

As the light hit the chains, they bubbled and hissed, succumbing to the intensity of spell and melting under the gaze of the moon. It quickly worked its way through the shadowsteel and even burned away the powerful binding magic that held her. The light shifted, moving from her pale skin before it could burn her.

Her chains dissolved in an instant as the light faded.

She was free.

Even in her insanity, she took advantage of the opportunity to lunge out of the discarded remains of her bondage. Through her mania, she held a look of victory, hope having sloughed away some of her madness. As soon as she was free, she changed.

Black chitin formed from beneath her skin, pouring out like oil to form and shape itself to its master’s whim. In an instant, she was wearing a full suit of armor. Glossy black and oozing malice. She formed plate armor that seemed to be painted on, as her curves were still plain to see. It was a little bulky and firm over her chest to protect vital areas, but light and flexible enough that she could move without hindrance. With a breath of viridian magic, the armor shifted. Black spikes rose across her frame—jagged edges across her arms and legs. Her armor formed itself in under a second, and both of her hands formed massive swords before she rushed the helpless mages.

She never made it.

A burst of moonlight rained over her as she lunged, guided by fate or perhaps a less fickle hand. When the light faded from her, she was in pieces.

Bisected neatly at the waist, the searing heat from the moonlight cauterized the wound, boiling away what little blood escaped. The queen fell to the ground and tried in vain to rise to her feet. She didn’t seem to comprehend why her feet weren’t responding. Her body didn’t seem to understand it was no longer whole.

Having been cut off from half of her mana stream, the black chitin armor dissolved back under her skin; she no longer had the mana to maintain her devilish form. Her remaining mana would now be trying to repair the sudden damage that had been done.

The queen finally realized the severity of the situation and looked down to find her neatly hewn legs, several feet from where they should be. Even though no more light rained down from the moon, the spell was far from finished. It seemed once the spell touched a living being, it started to work its magic from the inside.

The luminosity from the spell was bright and hot enough to melt through one of the most durable materials I’d ever found, but it seemed to have a second even more insidious method of destruction. Bright white light started to drip from the severed halves of her body. It seeped into her blood and began to work its way up through her veins.

It burned as bright and hot as a star as it crept steadily toward her heart. Burning her away from the inside.

The pain, it seemed, was more than even her madness could contend with because she screamed. A twisted, tortured scream that pierced through the vacuum of silence. The first sound I experienced in this vision grated against my ears and throughout my mind. A sound no living being was meant to make. She ripped her vocal cords from yelling, and I was thankful to be returned to the silence.

This was a pain that went beyond mortality. It was a purifying light of the heavens, which brought the torment of Hell.

The white luminescence reached her heart and started to glow radiantly. All the while, the queen kept screaming wordlessly in utter agony. At the sound of her mother’s cries, Eris seemed to regain a sense of herself. She railed against her chains, trying desperately to free herself. Complete misery was plain on her face.

No child should ever have to witness a parent go through that. Being made to watch as her mother was burned alive in this manner was akin to cruelty beyond measure.

Her mother may have deserved her fate, but Eris had done nothing to deserve the pain she was being forced to endure.

We both stood transfixed at the horror in front of