Chapter 489

• They both froze, and the world flashed white. Images hit David hard, and his head reeled back as symbols crashed into him. They flared in his brain, redlike fire, amber like the veins of Hell, gold like the rays of Heaven, and they demanded he notice them. Somewhere in the dark matter of his brain, a piece of his brain told him he recognized the symbols, and once it did, his subconsciousness jumped on board and filled in the blanks.
• Runes. Those were runes, like the ancient language he'd read for Caera. The same, but different. Runes his brain struggled to understand, struggled to pronounce even inside his own imagination. Life, death, creation, destruction, Heaven and its nine islands, Hell and its nine provinces, so many more. Three stuck out, loud and bright in his thoughts: potram, royam, and batlam.
• He forced his eyes open and met Mia's. If his eyes were as wide as hers, he was probably scaring the shit out of her, too.