Page 266 - TheRedSon_PrintInterior_430pp_5.5x8.5_9-22-2019_v1

me. The abode of the Dead Mother likely excluded such
creative, if ultimately practical, excesses. All of this was
perfectly acceptable to me, as I did not want to become
overly dependent on foreign influences for my victory over
the creature. I was glad for the opportunity to seek my own
path to its destruction.
The darkness of the White Gaia’s forest was entirely alien,
lacking the most basic loyalties of standard lightlessness.
Specifically, it was no friend to me and disallowed my want
to disappear into its inky depths, forcing me into the open
before the many keen eyes of the Gaia’s son.
Lacking even the most basic tools for a proper sneak
attack, I was forced to act in plain view. I moved quickly
to the side of the creature’s tumbling mass, running my
sister’s blazing smile across its impressive length, freeing
the septic fluids that served as its blood. I laughed as my
enemy cried out, reflecting upon my silence when the thing
had laid nearly unbearable pain into the flesh of my back.
Its throes of anguish gave me ample opportunity to rouse
my father and plunge him deeply into the quivering folds
of the unwholesome beast’s flesh, summoning forth greater
quantities of blood and much louder cries of pain.
The Eater of Idols realized I was no easy victim and
withdrew from my father’s thunderous laughter, which
rolled across the lifeless environs of my enemy’s putrid
domain, tearing out the hollow silence that lurked between
dead trees and underneath pale brooks.
I had taken the creature’s actions to be indicative of
a temporary retreat, but I was mistaken—it was a feint.
Something from behind me tore a channel across my back.
The pain was largely numbed by the dead nerves that
had fallen victim to the previous attack, but this newest
transgression created a sensation more terrible than riven
flesh. I felt a coldness—of mind and imagination—as if
all the dreams that had ever been had suddenly died of an
endless winter. I could feel the empty stare of sightless eyes
The Red Son | 269