I push my mask back down, breathing hard, muscles tense and primed, senses working overtime. I can hear the drip of water in the distance, smell the musky rain scent of the giant, feel his energy beaming. I’m waiting for him to strike.
“Throw the knife at me,” he says. He sounds further away and everywhere all at once. I can’t pinpoint him.
“Last time I threw a knife, I didn’t get it back.”
“You didn’t have enough time with it,” he says. “Throw the knife at me.”
I take in a shaking breath and imagine where he is. My mind creates a dark room, and in the dark room appears a tower of light. I rotate my body so I’m facing that light, then I take the knife and hurl it. I see it in my head flying through the air like a shooting star, hitting the target.
I’m about to actually throw the knife in the same fashion when I realize the knife is no longer in my hand and I’m being pushed back again by a gust of heat. I stumble, trying to figure out what happened, and before I even can—SLAM!
The handle of the knife slams back into my palm.
Like a freaking boomerang.
Vipunen lets out an appreciative grunt.
“What just happened?” I ask, making a fist around my precious weapon.
“What I thought might,” he says.
“And what is that?”
Silence. More dripping from the corners of the cave.
I wait for him to speak. Keep waiting.
Finally, he says, “Take off your mask.”
My breath catches in my chest. I swallow. “What?”
“Take off your mask, Hanna,” he says again, deeper now, so that I feel his voice in my bones. “That is a command.”
I shake my head vigorously. “But I’m going to die if I do.”
“You have many tests in front of you. Tests in which death might be one of the answers. You have to start taking these tests, Hanna, or you’ll never be what you need to be. You’ll never advance.”
I gulp.
“Take off your mask,” he says. “Or I’ll take it from you.”
I don’t want that, my mask ripped off like I’m a stubborn child. I place my hands on the side of the mask. My fingers are trembling.
I lift it off, but I keep my eyes pinched shut, hard enough you’ll need a vice to pry them open. Immense light turns the flesh behind my eyelids bright red.
“Open your eyes and look at me, Hanna,” Vipunen commands.
“I can’t,” I whisper, the mask shaking in my hands now. “I’m afraid.”
“Remember what I told you about fear.”
I can’t fucking remember what he said about fear. The only thing I can remember now is pick up the sword and try again.
“Open your eyes. Or I can do that for you, too.”
I picture stubby giant fingers poking me in the eyes. No thanks.
Without much of a choice, I take in a deep, steadying breath, say a little prayer that my death, if warranted, is quick and painless, and with any luck I don’t end up floating in Oblivion for eternity.
I brace myself.
I open my eyes.
For a moment I’m not sure what I’m looking at. It’s just this light. A big, impossibly huge white light that is hundreds of feet tall and wide. The cave itself is auditorium-sized in order to fit the light inside, though I swear all this time the cave has been a fraction of the size. In the corners of the cave, where the light doesn’t fully reach, I can make out a glowing neon green lake with stalactites hanging above it. See, that’s what I had been expecting.
“What the—?” I whisper, trying to take it all in. I can’t really comprehend it because it’s more than just a light. If this is Vipunen, he’s definitely giant but, like…a being made of light beams. There’s no physical form here. I feel like I’m staring right into the sun, or rather, the sun is staring right at me.
He chuckles. The sound fills the room as if it wasn’t the size of a football stadium. “Just as I had thought.”
“Thought what?” I ask, trying to peer at the light harder, see if I can see a shape of some sort. “I didn’t even know you thought, I thought you always knew.” I pause. “Wait a minute. Am I dead? Because I’m seeing a white light…”
“You are not dead,” he says. “But many others have died by seeing me in my true form. They lose their minds. You, Hanna, you can gaze upon me and you’re not even squinting. Your eyeballs should have melted by now.”
Oh, great. But he’s right. I should be wincing. I know that the light is impossibly bright, and yet I’m staring right at it with no problems at all. Could be my vision will be absolutely destroyed after this.
“So, what does this mean?” I ask him. “The fact that I can look at you and not go crazy. What does it signify? Has it answered the question about the prophecy?”