Dark Empathy by Archibald Bradford (best books to read for women .txt) 📗

what comfort could he offer? Their hearts were as broken as his at the desolation around them.

Milly was white as a sheet as she lifted debris off of yet another victim, the stoic Nina at her side, no comfort to offer but that of her raw strength, though even she had tears standing on her cheeks.

Erica had broken down and was weeping into Ophelia’s arms, her pain nearly overwhelming Nameless as the sensitive Katje struggled to make sense where there could be none.

He spotted Baron just as the proud cadet had finished vomiting beside one of the ruined buildings, his Raiju around him in a protective circle; he had likely been drawn there along with his own training officer.

Baron caught Nameless’s gaze, his face was grey and hands shaky as he wiped at his lips.

Any hint of animosity between them was gone, with their eyes they shared nothing but hopelessness.

Here and there he spotted other people and monsters he knew, some on their hands and knees silently weeping like Ginger and Celeste, others gritting their teeth and gripping their weapons in impotent rage like Tiana and Myrina.

The young Empath’s foot caught on something, and he looked down to see that it was a bit of bunched up fabric, a woman’s nightdress.

She lay in a broken heap alongside the bodies of her children.

He swallowed the bile that came up in his throat at the tragic sight.

After the success of the Aegis raid, and despite their losses, he had felt that he had his feet solidly grounded beneath him.

But now, even with his training, even with all that he had been through, the horrors of the ruined village were too much for him.

Everything that had happened since the day he woke Jonathan from his coma, everyone that had perished, the weight of them all nearly crushed him to the ground.

But then his heart began to pound and his face felt hot when a will not his own tightened like steel, indeed, stronger than steel, stronger than Nina or Xalanth, stronger than anything in the entire world.

A Valkyrie’s resolve.

A flicker of light caught his attention and his chin tilted up almost involuntarily to look upon Volka’s glowing golden eyes.

In the time they had spent together he had felt her sorrow, her joy, her humour, he had even shared in her righteous fury.

But this...

This was something else, something ancient and vast.

“V-Volka-”

The lone angel turned her gaze on her bond-mate and his words faltered on his tongue at the expression on her face.

After a moment, she spoke, her clear voice cutting through the muted conversations around the village.

“The Aegis has been trying to safeguard the world by keeping people ignorant of the dangers they face. They have been trying to hunt a pair of mere fugitives.”

Drawn in by the power of her voice and the light of her soul, the others paused in their gruesome work and began to drift closer.

She turned slowly to look into each of their eyes as her words increased in volume.

“This was a mistake, and the Aegis is no longer enough for this task.” Her eyes grew distant and Nameless felt the weight of the world lift from his shoulders and settle on hers; “I have been far too passive, trying to convince myself that the world was different, that the battle was all but won and I could let others take the lead against this new threat... I too was mistaken. And it is long past time that I assume the mantle my mother once held.”

She drew in a deep breath and her glowing sword gradually materialized at her hip even as a brilliant nimbus permeated her form to light up the desolate village.

Despite the death surrounding them, hope burned bright as the last Valkyrie embraced something within herself that the others couldn’t comprehend.

Her head tilted up and the radiance increased to the point it was hard to look upon her as the air charged with power. Tears of blazing gold trailed down her cheeks and she let out a slight gasp as her arms and wings outstretched, the light lifting her feet a few inches from the earth.

An ethereal wind picked up, growing more powerful by the second until those nearby were leaning and hunching into it to stay on their feet.

Abruptly the charge building in the air was released with a deep whooshing roar and a brilliant beam of energy descended from the clouds above to collide with Volka’s glowing form, causing her to arch her back and cry out to the heavens as the divine might of her people cascaded into her.

Her face still pointed at the sky, she spoke into the torrent of golden power.

“By the will of my ancestors, I accept this burden! I am Volka, whose mother was Gundr, and I am Dominar of None!”

The proclamation reverberated through the air with finality, accompanied by the sound of ghostly trumpets as the light continued to pour into her.

Nameless, Booker, Grant, Miranda, Milly, Erica, Nina... everyone watched in stunned awe as she glowed ever brighter.

The light flooded into her for a full minute before the flow of it began to taper off.

As the last dregs of power fell from the sky to suffuse her being, a wave of golden energy radiated out from her, causing the humans around her, already struggling against the ghostly wind, to stumble back from the force of it, either losing their footing altogether or clinging to more powerful monsters nearby.

There was a shocked silence as the charged atmosphere gradually faded and the light slowly dimmed, leaving Volka pulsating with divine power as her feet settled back on the ground.

It took a couple minutes for everyone else to regain their footing and come to grips with what had just occurred.

The Amazons were