The Final Redemption by Michael Manning (little red riding hood ebook free .txt) 📕

grief is too great to worry about it anymore.”With that she withdrew, leaving him alone with his thoughtsagain.

Holding the knife up ateye level, Peter stared at the green stone imbedded in itspommel. Do I dare kill the man I’ve servedand loved all these years? Will I still have a place here? Penelopewould never forgive it.

He shook his head, as ifto knock something loose inside. I’m beingselfish. I’m afraid of losing my new family, when I should bethinking of what I can do to help them—what he wants me to do. Mypersonal consequences should be secondary.

Lifting the blade into the air he heldthe pommel downward in his fist, toward the stone he sat on. Hethought of his grandfather, who would have never approved of hisold dream of vengeance, but this was different, this was amercy.

”I’m sorry grandfather,” he saidsoftly, and tensing his arm, he brought the knife down with all thestrength he could muster.

Chapter 47

Too much time had passed.

Since our merger, we only had one bodynow, my old beat up corpse. Brexus/Mal’goroth had transferredalmost all of our power to Millicenth and Doron. I was sure thatMal’goroth alone would have kept it, hoping to annihilate the worldwhen he was unmade, but my demon twin seemed to have kept them onthe path I had plotted.

When I died the world would goon.

Gareth had been given the knowledge tocontrol the Shining Gods, and I trusted that he would do the rightthing. He had been the one urging me to rethink my harsh methodsall along. The ex-dragon would find a way to store their power, andthen he would free them from their unwanted immortality.

All of this hinged on Peter doing whatI had asked, and with each passing minute the hybrid being I wastrapped within grew more anxious, more agitated, andangrier.

At least he didn’t do itas soon as I had asked him to, I thought.If he had followed my original instructions, my existence wouldhave ended shortly after Mal’goroth had stripped me of my power.That would have prevented mefrom destroying the world at least, but it wouldhave left them with an enraged Mal’goroth to deal with.

This way was much better—if Peterwould just do his part.

What if he reclaims thepower and Peter does it afterward?

Brexus/Mal’goroth heard my thought,and I could feel his inner smile. There wouldn’t be enough of ourworld left to bother with in that eventuality.

I could feel the Dark God’s decisionforming, to do just that, when it happened.

I felt a snapping, as though a stringhad been under tension and suddenly broken, and then the spellweavethat surrounded me began to unravel. I was disconnected, no longertied to anything, especially my long dead body.

In my mind’s eye I could see Brexus,or Mal’goroth, I wasn’t sure what to call him anymore. He radiateda sense of amazement and wonder as he began to fray anddisintegrate around the edges.

I loved her as much as youdid, came one last thought, and I knew themessage came from Brexus.

He faded from sight, and I drifted inthe darkness. My soul was free at last, and the void called. I feltno fear, for I had been here once before, with Walter. At that timeI had been struggling desperately to pull him back from the finalcrossing, to keep him anchored until I could heal hisbody.

My body was far too long dead forsomething like that. Even if there had been someone to catch me.This was better.

I couldn’t guess what lay before me,but I suspected that our world lay atop another. After learning tohear the voice of death, I had later theorized that it was anotherform of aythar, simply with a reversed time dimension. The otherworld would have a negative entropy, counterbalancing our own.Death there might be a rebirth here.

Or I could be completely mistaken.There was no way to get a glimpse beyond the veil, even though Ihad been closer than most. It was a one way trip.

It made sensemathematically though, I told myself,grinning mentally. Even on the way to the great beyond, I couldn’tstop pondering wild ideas.

A rushing sound approached, and I knewit was the boundary—the final crossing. My mind presented it to meas a waterfall, but I knew at a deeper level that it had nophysical form.

Mordecai!

The shout came from someone else. Itfelt familiar.

Mordecai!

It was Walter. Like a golden lamp, helit the darkness around him, shining like some kindly spirit. Hewas a beacon and a comfort to me. I tried to move toward him, butit was impossible to do. I had no strength left.

I fought to stay still, and he grewcloser, pushing himself to meet me, since I couldn’t reachhim.

You shouldn’t behere, I told him. You know what this is.

His light enveloped me, pushing backthe cold emptiness.

You won’t be able to makeit back, I warned, although it was alreadytoo late. It’s too hard, you aren’t strongenough.

Shut up,was his only reply.

He held onto me with everything hehad, and then we began to move, drawn on what seemed to be a goldenrope, back toward the world I had thought lost for good. As we gotcloser, my perception sharpened, and I realized it was Millicenththat was helping him, feeding him a steady stream of aythar tobolster his strength and lead him back.

I don’t want to go back tothat body, I told him, remembering mycorpse. Let me die instead.

Don’t worry. Your body iscompletely impossible, heexplained. Mine will have tosuffice.

I liked the sound of that even less. Ihad been through the shared body situation for far too long. I wastired of having a roommate. Plus, Walter was really old.

I don’t want to be adecrepit old man! I protested.What will Penny think of me?

I have a wife too, youknow, he reminded me.

So which one would we bemarried to? Both? I asked. Mentally Iimagined being with Walter’s wife, Rebecca. She wasn’t an uglywoman by far, but…

Really? I bring you backfrom the brink, and the first thing you do is start fantasizingabout my marriage bed?! Have you no shame?

In truth I hadn’t beenthinking positively about it, but I didn’t want to hurt hisfeelings. Instead I took the misunderstanding further.And you wouldn’t enjoy a chance