Sins 02 - Sins of Violance

just a touch above sinking, and as the last rays of fiery warmth reached them, Ari saw her.
    Elyse was tied to the altar on the edge of the platform, with nothing but air between her and the Goddess. Her limbs were lashed down and she struggled weakly, her blonde hair spread out on the carved wooden shrine to his foul god. At the four corners of the altar were dark angel figures, but now Ari saw that they were metal sculptures, not real men. Those jagged wings had haunted her nightmares for half a lifetime, but now she saw through the artifice. It was manufactured by the hallucinogens the girls were forced to take, their minds corrupted while he took his malevolent pleasure.
    The Minotaur stood on the edge, looking out toward the burning plains as the sun lit the earth with its dying ruby light. It seemed as if flakes of fire rained down upon a river of blood that weaved across the ruined landscape below, a breath-taking moment of beauty that Ari knew the Goddess had sent as a promise. He was reading aloud from the book of human skin, its patchwork of colours catching the light, transforming its curses into a parody of sunburst.
    As he spoke the final words from the book, he lifted the great horned helmet upon his head, horns that Ari still saw in her fevered nightmares. The Furies gazed toward him, mesmerized, as his body was lit by the dying sun, his bronzed, muscled skin alive with fire, and Ari knew what she must do.
    She spun out from the grasp of one Fury, pushing her away into another. As they stumbled back, Ari felt the bite of a blade into her arm as one of them slashed down, but she was out of their grip. Time seemed to slow as she saw the Minotaur’s eyes widen at the sound of struggle, and she saw human frailty there. He was but a man, lord of this nest of malice, but still only a man. Ari ran at him, her legs swift from the fitness of the Corps, the years she had spent training for just this moment. At the last second, she jumped, using the corner of the altar to give her extra leverage against his bulk. As his arms wrapped around her body, his roar of anger exploded against her face, and together they toppled over the edge into the void.
    As they fell, Ari looked out toward the dying sun, into the very face of the Goddess, his screams of rage her final prayer.

@ 2013 Joanna Penn
    Ebook design: Brady Type
    If you liked this, check out J.F. Penn’s
Arkane
series, available at the Kobo Bookstore