Tomias dropped her wrist. “Ready?”
Kirheen nodded, ignoring the fear and uncertainty threatening to chain her in place. “Ready.”
She reached deep within, to that well of power that she’d tamed, that now answered her every beck and call. Sliding down the embankment, she joined her friends, forming a loose semi-circle around Elfrind. The corruption had fallen to his feet, a pool of shifting color and light that blended in with the glittering sand. He surveyed each of them in turn, lips curling into a snarl.
His power felt different from before, an erratic melody that had completely lost its haunting beauty. Power roared against his walls, spilling out against his control, the corruption along with it. Could he even contain that much power?
“Elfrind, we know what you plan to do,” Samira said, circling him, her power building. “You’d destroy them, wouldn’t you? Those without our gift.”
“It is what Zekar desires,” Elfrind replied. He went to take a step forward, but a look of pain crossed his face and he fell forward onto one knee, hand clutching his chest. Through his splayed fingers, his crystals began to glow so bright that Kirheen had to look away. When the glow finally faded and she was able to look back, corruption was spilling over his hand in waves, adding to the puddle at his feet.
“It’s too much for you,” Samira noted, circling him slowly. “Nobody is meant to hold that much power and you’re nearly bursting with it. How much longer do you think you can go on?”
“Long enough,” he replied and then he was melting, his body slipping into the pool of blighted land beneath him. The corruption shot forward, danced between their feet, and headed straight for the boy on the outskirts of the ruins.
It took a moment to process what she’d just seen. One moment he’d been there and the next he’d slipped through the earth. She turned in time to watch him reappear, dragging himself from a pool of corruption to stand before Keha’ro. The boy looked up, eyes wide with fear, but he was too weak to drag himself away. If Elfrind took what he had left…
“Oh no you don’t,” Samira shouted, her power flaring. Ethereal blades swirled to life around her outstretched hand. With a snap of her wrist, she sent them flying towards Elfrind’s back. As they were about to strike, the Darkness rose, blocking the impact of the blades. Unphased by her attack, he moved closer to Keha’ro.
“Run, kid!” Tomias yelled. His power flared to life and she felt him reach out with his mind, energy honed to a fine point and aimed straight at Elfrind’s barriers. She seized upon his power and focused with him, adding strength to his attack. They came crashing through his barriers like a cannonball, materializing inside his mind.
They stood in Val’shar. She could recognize the buildings, the spires of the castle towering high above, but it was a nightmarish version of the city she’d left behind. Corruption oozed through great cracks in the streets, rushing up from the ground like a geyser. Buildings appeared as shadowy apparitions, surfaces slick and swirling, painted with stars. From the sea beyond, waves rose high above the city walls, suspended in time, never moving. The water itself had been corrupted, turned black by the Darkness. All around her was silence, dreadful and overwhelming, the sound of a city devoid of people. This is what he’d do to the world, Kirheen thought, looking in horror at her surroundings.
From a nearby wall, Elfrind stepped out of the corruption. They were inside his head, but his image was distorted, a strange blend of the man she’d found, skeletal and weak, and the prince he’d once been. He wore all black, the clothes hanging loose over his thin frame. He was terribly pale, black hair hanging to his chin, contrasting with skin so utterly devoid of color. Corruption oozed from his eyes, settled in the hollows of his cheeks. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
Kirheen glared. “This is what you’d do with your power? You’d destroy an entire city of people and for what?”
“Because it must be done,” he stated simply. “Would you not do the same?”
“Never,” she replied.
“And this is why it was I that heard him whisper. And that whisper will change this world, reshape it as it has time and time again.”
“You truly believe he speaks to you? That Zekar is the one making you do this? You’re insane.”
His lips curled into a smile. From another well of corruption, a second image of Elfrind appeared. “He weeps from the great beyond, from his seat amongst the stars. They were his greatest creation, until they withered, the power dying inside them like a stifled flame. Frail, fleeting, mindless creatures. Their numbers grew too quickly and when they began to turn on those with his gift, his rage wiped this world clean.”
A sound like thunder rumbled through the city, the great waves on the outskirts rising higher, slowly depriving the city of light. “You can’t keep this up much longer,” Kirheen warned, putting herself between the mirrored shades of Elfrind and Tomias.
“I won’t need to,” Elfrind said, but his voice came from behind. Kirheen turned just in time to see a tendril of corruption burst through the front of Tomias’ chest. He gasped in pain, the light fading from his eyes.
“Tomias!” she screamed. She knew it wasn’t real, that the physical harm she was seeing was all an illusion, but the sight still took her breath away, gut clenching as she forced herself to stay calm. The blow was enough to force Tomias out and in a distant reality, she heard him shout, but his words were lost in the sound of squirming corruption, and the heavy silence of death.
Kirheen was alone inside his mind, a solitary intruder swimming in very dangerous water. Her barriers buckled under the strain as he pressed against her defenses, testing her weaknesses. More forms of Elfrind burst to life from behind her, pressing in close, cutting off her escape.
She reached for her power, let it flare to life in the palm of her hand. She lashed out, cutting through the two nearest images of Elfrind. Wounds bubbled, oozing black, but they did not stop their advance. Her exit was blocked, the way back to her own mind hindered by the weight of his power pressing down on her barriers.
Trapped.
“Stopping this is pointless,” the closest Elfrind spoke. “He’ll come back again, and again, and again. It is futile.”
“I refuse to believe that,” Kirheen said, glancing nervously over her shoulder. They were almost upon her. She lashed out again, striking with more power, but no matter the harm she inflicted, they kept advancing. A chilled hand clamped around her wrist, another gripping her shoulder. She struggled against those cold blighted hands, but found herself unable to move, her power drained drop by drop.
If someone on the outside didn’t disrupt him, he would bleed her of every drop of power she had left. Where hands touched, corruption bloomed, her skin blackening beneath his pale grip. The Darkness slid up and down her arms, across her body, feeding on her power as it went. She was sinking into it, drawn further and further into the madness of his mind.
Down.
Down.
Down.
An explosion of pain forced her back to reality, her mind slamming back into her body. Disoriented, she looked around for the source. Mirin stood at her side, gray eyes piercing, hand held aloft, ready to bring it down on Kirheen once again. She winced as she lowered her hand and Mirin hesitated. “Ah, you’re back. Good. Now move!”
Stepping in front of Kirheen, Mirin conjured up a barrier, blocking needle sharp threads of corruption as they came bursting from the sand. Her barrier held firm, flashes of light sparking to life where the Darkness struck.
To her right, Tomias was helping Keha’ro stagger across the sand, his arm draped across the boys back. With their backs to Elfrind, they could not see the corruption snaking through the sand, rising to strike like hundreds of serpents. Still disoriented, Kirheen forced herself into movement, ears ringing from her short time spent inside Elfrind’s head.
Too slow. She’d never make it in time. “Tomias!” she shouted, trying to catch his attention, knowing it was useless. The Darkness ro
se, sweeping into the sky, and then it came crashing down towards her light, her love.
It would have been the end of him had Samira not thrown herself in the way. Her barrier only half formed, blocking those at her back but her left side took the brunt of the impact. She screamed in pain, dropping to one knee as dagger like tendrils tore through muscle and bone. She maintained her barrier, giving Tomias extra time to shuffle up and over the ridge, dragging Keha’ro along with him.
Letting power flare along her arm, Kirheen dove across the sands, sending a blast of power at the vine like corruption ripping into Samira. It retreated from the energy, slithering back beneath their feet and moving towards Elfrind. He stood in the center of the ruins, the sky around him a flurry of whirling corruption. Beneath his feet, a pool of corruption grew, mirroring eyes that had gone terribly, terribly dark. Vacant and empty, a trail of ebony tears cut lines down his pale face.
“Samira! I’ve got you,” Kirheen huffed, landing at her side with a barrier prepared and ready. Samira shook, her pained cries slipping between her clenched teeth. Her left side was a patchwork of holes, blood spilling into the sand beneath her. Her crystals flared, but the healing was slow, much too slow for the agony she could see written clearly on her face.
Elfrind stumbled forward, his legs wobbling beneath him. He folded forward into the sand. “It’s not enough,” he shouted, his hands cupped over his ears. The darkness lost its chaotic fervor, falling like rain to pool on the gritty sand. “It has to be. It has to be.”
“Go!” Samira commanded. “Attack him while he’s down.”
Not wasting a moment, Kirheen dropped her shield, flooding power into her fingertips. She didn’t know what would happen, if Elfrind could even die, but she had to take the chance. Sliding down the sand, she leapt towards her target, power coalescing into a razor-sharp edge. She was silent as she descended on him, her power crackling like lighting as she struck. Her hand slipped through crystal and flesh, jagged rib bones grinding against her skin as she tore into him.
All went silent, her power fading as she reclaimed her arm. His vacant eyes had gone wide, his mouth hanging open in shock and pain. A sharp breath escaped him, and he looked down at the hole she’d put through his chest, at the shattered crystal shards glittering in the sand.
What remained of those crystals flared to life, but if he was healing, it was too slow to see. She took a cautious step back, then another. Dead eyes rose to look at her and she got lost in those endless depths, the swirls of color lurking in pools of black, the glint of distant stars.
“It was always too late,” he whispered.
She didn’t feel the Darkness at first, too lost was she in that void. Pain flared to life, echoing through her bones as the corruption wormed its way up her body, enwrapping her and crushing her with a force that took her breath away. She was lifted off her feet, held aloft like some prized trophy. Elfrind rose, head tilting up to look at her.
“You should have listened.”
There was a sickening sway, a gathering of momentum, and then she was flung away from him, wind tearing at her dress and hair as she sailed through the sky. There was a crack as she collided with a pillar jutting from the ruins, the force of the impact shattering the ancient stone. Bones snapped as she crashed against the ground amidst stone and sand, her body as broken as the rubble surrounding her.
She could taste blood on her tongue, pain a song that drowned out all others. She could scarcely move, the slightest twitch of her finger sending waves of agony throughout her body. From where she lay, she could see Elfrind gather the shadows at his feet, watched him melt away, disappearing into the Darkness.
The world fell silent, save for the sickening thud of her own heartbeat pounding in her ears, the grinding of shattered bone with each breath. Had they really thought they could stop him, that they could stop a man with the powers of a god?
Grief warred with her pain, fighting for dominance, her heart a hill that both fought to lay claim to. Warmth flooded her chest, crystals flaring to life, but her power was a dying flame, a mere trickle doing little else but keeping her heart beating.
When the first golden orb rose from the dark sand, she thought it an illusion, some strange vision conjured by her pain, by her lifeblood spilling out into the desert. But as more rose all around her, filling her with warmth, with a strange comforting heat, she realized it was more than that. Closing her eyes, she let that heat fill her, and in that radiant light, a voice called her name.
CHAPTER 34
Garild walked down city streets devoid of people, ears perked for any sounds that might lead him to survivors. What he heard was empty silence, the strange endless hum of the ocean from the far edges of the city.
Val’shar looked like a strange, shimmering dream world. The Darkness had spread further into the city, covering roads and buildings, ever searching for life to snatch out of existence. He hoped those that had remained in the city had fled, that they’d had the sense to retreat far beyond the city walls before the corruption had had a chance to find them. With that eerie silence settling over the city, the alternative was too much to bear.
He had little need for a barrier, but he kept one around him regardless, the blue glow giving him a small measure of peace as he combed the city looking for supplies to bring back to the castle. It also kept the overwhelming feeling of peace brought on by the Darkness from consuming him. It angered him that those with powers were allowed such peace, while those without faced such devastation. They don’t deserve this.
Despite all he’d seen, the crimes he’d witnessed against his own people, seeing those without power just taken out of existence was a heavy burden on his soul. He didn’t deserve peace, not if he couldn’t stop what was happening in Val’shar.
The sun was starting to dip lower in the sky, turning the horizon a burnt orange. He didn’t have much time left and he didn’t intend to return without supplies. On his own, he’d been able to venture out further, scavenging buildings that had been left untouched. He ducked into one such building, nose wrinkling as a rancid smell greeted him.
He had found himself in a bakery and he dreamed of distant days where it might have smelled of warm, yeasty bread. He focused on that memory, trying not to gag at the rancid smell of spoiled milk as he stepped into the back room. He had to squint to see, the dying light outside basking the room in a reddish glow.
His heart leapt as he found what he’d been searching for. Loaves of bread, hard as rocks but still edible, lined a counter and he quickly shoved them in the bag slung over his shoulder. He stuffed it as full as he could. It would keep them all fed a little while longer, but he was starting to worry it wouldn’t be long enough.
If the others didn’t return, they might be forced to leave Val’shar, but there was no telling if they’d make the journey across the city, not with how weak and exhausted everyone was after days of maintaining an ever-widening barrier. Those without powers were relying on them to keep them safe. They’d placed their trust in people they’d been fervently taught to hate, and he wasn’t about to discard that for his own comfort and safety.
Before leaving, Garild took a moment to tear into one of the loaves of bread. Biting into it rattled his teeth, but the effort it took to chew was worth the pain. His stomach growled, a pleasant ache as he consumed the first bit of food he’d had in days. He paced himself, taking small bites and letting it settle before going for more.
Hoisting the bag over his shoulder, he made his way out of the bakery and back onto the streets. He was glad to be so used to the Darkness now, that shifting pool of color, and stars, and emptiness. Before it might have stolen his appetite, but not anymore. He continued back up the road, taking measured bites of what remained of his bread.
He was halfway back to the castle when it struck him, an overwhelming feeling of sickness. His stomach clenched tight, throat constricting, and he hunched over, expecting to lose the food he’d finally gotten to enjoy for the first time in da
ys. The feeling spread from his stomach, locking his limbs and forcing him to his knees. A pressure was building inside his head, growing stronger with each passing second.
Something dripped off his nose and he raised his hand to his face. When he pulled it back, his fingers were blackened, corruption coating his fingers. He stared at it, too stunned to comprehend what he was seeing. All around him, the Darkness began to rise, hovering off the ground and the buildings. It floated lazily in the air, moving in the direction of the castle.
Garild looked up slowly. Far above, a figure floated, arms outstretched, the Darkness coalescing in the empty space beneath their feet. It looked like a god had punched a hole through the sky, opening a door to some other world. There was only one person that could have that kind of control over the corruption. Elfrind.
They’d failed.
He hadn’t allowed himself to think too much about what would happen if Kirheen and Samira weren’t able to stop him, but Garild was witnessing it with his own eyes. He was seeing the beginning of the end of all he’d known, his worst nightmare bleeding into reality.
He struggled to his feet, drawn to that endless void of power just as the corruption was. His barrier flickered and he let the energy slip away, too numb to focus on maintaining it. As more and more corruption slithered past him, he was flooded with an overwhelming feeling of tranquility, a tranquility he could no longer fight and no longer wanted to.
The sky was growing dark, corruption spreading across the horizon, the spires of the castle lost in the spreading void, in an endless sea of stars. And then it all began to fall like rain, dripping down onto everything he’d tried to protect. They’d be overwhelmed, the barrier would fall, and those people they’d struggled so hard to save would be snuffed out like a candles flame.
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