The Crystal Bridge

Chapter 27 - Rho's Foothold

Cold fire raced through Diresh’s mind as Rho touched the orb. The connection formed, and powerful energy ran along the invisible lines from her god, slamming into her frame. She screamed, white knuckles clasping the arms of her throne of ice as pain rocked her body and soul.

He is so much stronger than I expected. Never underestimate a god. But my safeguards are holding. Her shielding bled the initial pain from her, sub­siding to a dull ache in her bones, and she reached out to the god she loved. Rho fa’shen Tynen, great god of darkness. Do you hear me?

She gasped as the answer flowed back to her from the spaces between worlds. She had expected the cold and pain, but nothing pre­pared her for the deluge of pure thought, the inhuman strength of her ancient god’s mind. He burned through her synapses with thousands of images, emotions, and concepts beyond her understanding that flashed through her brain faster than she could follow.

Only a fraction made sense. Darkness, night, cold, flames, eating, hunger, pain, worlds without number, life burning on the other side of a veil, dark­ness, pain. His thoughts moved faster than anything she had seen in her long life, but also slow, cold, and calculating like the darkness Rho em­bodied.

With the images came sounds, grinding, like the movement of the deep stones of Ealdar, slow and patient. The grinding filled her, vibrating her teeth and bones, building into a deafening roar like the great Falls of Pelin until she thought it would grind her to dust.

Diresh fell to the ground, wrapping her thin arms around her head. She could hear screams from far away. They came soft and quiet, drowned out by the thunderous roaring of her god. A small piece of her took over, the part that remained calm behind the shields she had created. Those are mine. I am the one screaming.

The grinding noise ceased, leaving her in a silence that felt al­most as painful. Diresh whimpered as servants helped her back into the crystalline throne. Not one of them spoke to her or even gave her a questioning glance. They know what I have done and the price I may have to pay for my tres­pass into the mind of our god.

Diresh took a deep breath, forcing a calm veneer over her face as she steadied herself for another onslaught. I do not understand, my Lord, but I will attempt to do all I can to return you to your rightful place as ruler over this world and all those in it.

Rho remained silent for several minutes. Diresh feared that her connection might have been severed. She glanced at her servants who stood with black eyes fixed on her.

“I fear I may not have been worth—”

The rush overwhelmed her once more. She fell to the ground in uncontrolled seizures; images and sounds enveloped her, pulling her down into the darkness she worshipped. Diresh felt herself stripped to her soul as her god pushed his mind into her depths, cold fire licking at her center. The ecstasy of her god’s touch sent shivers through her icy heart. She secretly wished she had not put safeguards in place to protect herself. She longed for oblivion, to seep into the darkness with Rho and never return.

The servants held her twitching body as she screamed her throat raw and speckled the frozen floor with black blood, but she felt nothing physical as she rocked in the icy cradle of her god.

Five days passed while she soaked in the darkness and the grinding sound resolved itself into words in her mind. Triumph flowed through her and around her. She did not know or care if it came from her or Rho.

You will do.

***

The orb filled Rho with power, burning through thousands of miles of veins and pathways as the god of darkness absorbed every ounce, sucking at the glass shell until even that crumbled to dust and vanished into Rho’s squirming and bloated body.