Ghost Undying Read Online Free

again, as I traveled. But why? Why is this so?”
    “It has always been thus,” said Sicarion. “Even in nature, the animals are divided into predators and prey.” He had been a predator, reveling in his kills and growing rich from them.
    Then the Moroaica had found him and taken his sword hand.
    “Bah!” said the Moroaica with disgust. “You are like a pig rooting around in its own filth, too blind to see the greater world beyond the walls of your pen. Why is the world a prison of pain? Why?”
    Sicarion shrugged. “Men make it that way.”
    “No.” Her voice was a furious hiss. “I came to understand the truth at last. The gods made this world, Sicarion, and created mankind. They made this world to be a dungeon, and mankind to be its prisoners. They set us up to suffer, to watch and laugh as we despair and die, generation after generation. They are the real enemy. The gods themselves.”
    He felt an uneasy prickle. “Then…you shall declare war upon the gods?” Sicarion doubted any gods existed, that they were anything other than lies concocted by priests. But if they did exist…
    “I shall shatter this world and remake it,” said the Moroaica, “in a new form, one free of suffering and pain and loss and death. Everyone shall be immortal, and there shall be no more death, no more tears. And then I shall throw down the gods from their thrones, as I once overthrew the pharaohs of old Maat, and I shall make them pay for their crimes against us.”
    “That’s,” said Sicarion, “that’s…”
    “Mad?” she said, stepping closer to him. “Is that what you were going to say? Mad?” Adina’s lovely young face had never carried an expression like that, a mixture of fury and hatred and centuries-old insanity. 
    “Yes,” said Sicarion, uneasy. There was no point in backing away. If he tried to run or attack her, she could kill him in the space between two heartbeats. “If you do that, if you try to wield power on that level, you won’t accomplish anything. You’ll only kill the world…”
    He frowned.
    “Kill the world…” he whispered. 
    The thought of that thrilled him. Killing was a pleasure. It had always been a pleasure for him, ever since he had been a young man. The pleasure had only increased as he had grown older.
    What would it be like to kill the entire world at once?
    He shivered at the thought. 
    “I will destroy the world and reforge it in a new and better form,” said the Moroaica. 
    “No,” said Sicarion, pushing aside his musings. “All you’ll do is destroy yourself.”
    And anyone near her.
    “You are wrong,” said the Moroaica. “It has taken me centuries of work to get this far, and centuries more lie before me. But I shall be ready. Once I gather the tools I need, once my spells are ready, I shall complete the great work. And the world shall be remade, and the gods thrown down.” 
    “Or you will destroy yourself,” said Sicarion. 
    Her smile was eerie. “I have been killed many times, assassin. Once by your own hand, if you recall. What is death to one who has died so many times already?”
    Sicarion had no answer for that. 
    “Go to the slaves in the kitchens,” said the Moroaica. “I have not eaten for two days, and this body requires sustenance.”
    “Yes,” said Sicarion. “Sustenance.”
    And, perhaps, his chance to get away. He had hoped to kill the Moroaica, to take revenge for his lost hand, but he saw that was madness. Even if he killed her, she would only take another body. Better instead to rouse the local chapter of the Magisterium against her. Likely they would destroy each other in the fighting, and Sicarion could use the chaos to slip away.
    Just as Maglarion had thrown him into the Moroaica’s path, and used that distraction to make his escape.
    Sicarion left the cellar without a backward glance and climbed to the mansion’s main floor. Dorgan stood guard at the door, and sneered as he saw his former master. 
    “Are you fetching