Zodiac Academy: Fated Throne

by Caroline Peckham

  The vision fell away and the voice spoke again. "You wish for love with the girl who denied you. But fate has other designs in mind."

  I was thrust into a series of visions, one after another, some just flashes and others lasting longer as I saw the people I loved most in this world engaged in a battle at the amphitheatre in the palace grounds. My heartbeat thundered desperately as I saw each of the Heirs hurt or dying, Orion skewered on the probes of a Nymph, Darcy screaming as Clara tore her apart with her teeth and blood flowed hot and fast, too much for her to possibly survive losing. I saw my brother dashed against a stone wall with a blast of magic and finally Roxy fighting to save my Father's life against her will, only to have him stab her in the back the moment the fight was won.

  The vision lingered on her face as she dropped to her knees, my name on her lips as the brightness dulled from her eyes and she collapsed to the floor beneath him, red blood staining her white dress as my entire world was torn away from me.

  "What would you give for them, Darius Acrux? What would you sacrifice to see them survive?"

  A Nymph fell beneath the might of my sword and I twisted around, seeking out Darcy to check she was alright, but my gaze caught on Clara racing toward us. Shadows burst out from my sister, swallowing me and Blue and my pulse hammered in my ears.

  I couldn’t see. I’d lost sight of the battle, my girl, everything. Whispers filled my head and all sound was lost to the dark magic consuming the world around me, the only light the glittering fire burning on the edges of my sword.

  “Clara!” I called into the dark. “Show yourself.”

  The darkness swept out around me so I found myself standing in a dome of shadow arching over me. Clara was kneeling at the centre of it, clutching her chest and sobbing.

  “Clara?” I breathed hopefully, stepping closer to her cautiously.

  “Oh Lance,” she said, her voice cracking. “Please help me.”

  I reached for her shoulder and her head whipped around, her eyes as dark as pitch as she lunged at me with her fangs bared. My heart lurched and I threw her away from me with the strength of my Order, but a tendril of shadow caught my legs and flipped me onto the ground on my back.

  She jumped on my chest and I snarled, throwing her away from me again so she went tumbling over the sand. I leapt up to fight, raising my weapon in defence, but how could I strike her when I knew my sister was in there?

  “Lance!” Darcy’s voice reached me from somewhere out in the shadows and my chest tightened.

  “Blue. Stay away!” I roared, but she called my name again like she couldn’t hear me.

  “I could crush her, little brother,” Clara said lightly as she rose up on a tower of shadow ten feet above me, glaring down with venom in her eyes. “I could squeeze her in the shadows until her head went bang.”

  I clenched my jaw, running forward and slicing the sword through the shadows beneath her. She shrieked, falling down and hitting the ground. I lunged for her, trying to grab her hair but my hand passed through nothing but darkness.

  “You can’t hurt her, she’s stronger than you,” I snapped and she waved a hand.

  Darcy’s screams rang in my head and fear sped through my body.

  I ran towards Clara, but she shot away into the shadows and I took chase, running as fast as I possibly could to catch her.

  “Blue!” I bellowed, but no reply came. I was lost in the dark again, running through an endless sea of it, unable to find my queen or my sister.

  “Blue!” a mimicry of my voice sounded off in the mist and my heart lurched in panic.

  “I’m coming!” Darcy’s reply came.

  “No! that’s not me!” I shouted, but the sound came thundering back into my own ears, not seeming to go anywhere at all.

  Clara’s high pitched laugh filled my head and I ran faster through the shadows as I searched for Darcy.

  “You’ve been very mean to me, little brother,” Clara’s voice followed me everywhere as I sprinted, my arms wheeling back and forth beside me as I ran harder and faster. “And now you’ve chosen this dirty little Vega over me and my shadows. They were a gift, how dare you let her get rid of them?”

  “Shut up!” I bellowed. “You’re not my sister. You’re Lavinia. A Nymph princess.”

  “Ohhh!” she cried in glee. “Lavinia, yes, yes, yes. I’d forgotten my name. How pretty it is. La-vin-ia. I love it, I love it. Thank you, little brother.”

  “I’m not your brother,” I snarled viciously.

  “Yes, you’re right I suppose. But Daddy isn’t my daddy and I rather like calling him that. I think your sister liked it too once,” she chuckled cruelly. “Clara is here. Do you want to say hello?”

  My breathing stuttered and I slowed my pace. “Yes, let her out. Let her be free, Lavinia. Please. She has nothing to do with this.”

  “Lance,” Clara sobbed. “Please end it. Save me.”

  I growled angrily, turning as my sister’s voice sounded right behind me. Two familiar eyes met mine between the shadows and I lunged for my true sister, reaching for her hand, but she immediately dissolved into the mist.

  Lavinia’s dark laughter sounded once more, rattling through my skull.

  Darcy screamed somewhere off in the fog and panic tore at me. What do I do? How do I find her?

  “Daddy wants you alive,” Lavinia cooed at me. “But you can’t be alive and not be punished. So I’m going to make your life hurt, little brother. You’ll suffer and suffer and suffer until you beg me to take away the pain. You’ll want to return to the shadows and be by my side forever. You and me. Family. Doesn’t that sound nice?”

  “Fine,” I snarled. “Hurt me, punish me, do whatever you like, just let Darcy go.”

  “And why would I do that?” she chuckled. “Pain makes you suffer in the now, but I want you to suffer in the always.”

  “Blue!” I called again in desperation and my voice echoed everywhere.

  No reply came and fate seemed to close in, narrowing down until there was only one path to follow. And it wasn’t going to end in my favour.

  “Let her go,” I demanded.

  “Alright,” Lavinia chuckled. “Which will it be then, your sister or the Vega princess?”

  “Both,” I hissed, my heart beating fiercely.

  “Ah you little witch!” Lavinia screamed suddenly and the shadows tightened, suffocatingly thick. I was being dragged forward, guided toward something as tendrils of shadow bound me and I slashed at them over and over with my sword to try and free myself.

  “Fuck you,” Darcy snarled and Clara shrieked again.

  “Ow ow ow! You’re hurting. All that fire is ouchy,” Lavinia begged then started laughing and laughing. “Stay in there in the dark, I’m talking to your lover boy.”

  “Lance!” Darcy cried but the sound was muffled and as she started shouting again, her voice faded away.

  I battled the shadows holding me, more and more of them wrapping around my flesh and several locking around my arm as they tried to prise the sword from my grasp. But I wouldn’t let go.

  Lavinia appeared before me, peering at me from behind my sister’s eyes, her head cocking to one side as she regarded me and I tried to lunge at her, finding myself unable to move.

  “I need a little something,” she said with a smirk, drifting toward me and gripping my chin. “You’re a clever thing, do you know much about shadow curses?”

  “No,” I said, my voice thick as the word curse sent fear dripping down my spine.

  She reached out, grasping my throat and I fought harder against the shadows, trying to tear myself free of them. Her touch was ice cold as her hand slid down my skin then her fingernails drove into my flesh. “It requires some blood. And I’m fresh out.” An icy blade slashed across my arm and I snarled in pain, shoving her away, but not before she coated her hand in the blood from my wound.

  “Clara,” I breathed, trying to get my sister’s attention, seeking her out in this monster’s eyes. “I’ll save
you. I’ll find a way.”

  She sneered, but then her expression shifted and I was sure I was looking at my true sister. Her ebony eyes were filled with endless pain and it broke my heart to see her suffering.

  “I’m here, look at me. You can fight her off, I’ll help you. Darcy will help you,” I promised and she released a sob that hurt me.

  “I can’t come back,” she choked. “Please free me.” Then she disappeared into the dark once more.

  I shot around the balcony for what felt like the hundredth time, my magic beginning to wane as I threw it at Lionel time and again.

  But Tory got between us more often than not and even when she didn't, his shield deflected my blows as he focused on maintaining it. Every time Tory was exposed to fire, her magic swelled, but Lionel's had an expiry on his just like mine did. And though the golden crown on his head would have been offering him some power, I knew that Dragons couldn't gain a lot fast from a single piece of jewellery like that.

  I just needed to wear him down and outlast him. Then I’d prove to him that the Acruxes weren’t any more powerful than the Altairs.

  Tory's eyes were full of pain as she was forced to fight me over and over again and I silently apologised to her as I just kept coming. This was where I needed to be in this fight and even if I’d wanted to spare her from having to go up against me, I couldn’t turn back now I was here.

  Lionel roared as he threw a fireball at me with so much force that I chose shooting away over trying to deflect it, only realising it was heading straight for Xavier's unconscious form at the last second.

  I shot in front of him, throwing a wall of dirt up to surround the two of us and heaving him over my shoulder as the flames crashed overhead.

  The moment they died down, I ran away, leaping from the balcony and casting a few wooden spears over my shoulder to keep Lionel back while I ran.

  I shot up the stairs of the amphitheatre and cast a concealment spell to hide us from the Dragons and Nymphs fighting on Lionel’s side of this battle. I laid Xavier down on one of the stone benches and pressed my fingers to his head to heal the bleeding wound there, my power waning as I drew close to the end of it. I needed blood, like right now.

  An explosion of fire and lightning clashed overhead as one of Lionel's purple Dragons went up against the Storm Dragon and I couldn't help but tip my head back to the sky as they clashed in a furious tangle of claws and teeth.

  Dante roared ferociously, sinking his teeth into the other Dragon's neck just as he released a blast of lightning from his jaws which drove into his opponent, barbecuing him from the inside out.

  Xavier yelled in alarm as he came to and spotted the purple Dragon tumbling from the sky right towards us and I snatched him from the ground again before shooting out of the way of the crash zone.

  The dead Dragon slammed into the stands with enough force to make the whole structure rattle and I paused as I turned to look around at the body as it shifted back into Fae form in death and a naked man was left in its place.

  There were rebels everywhere now and my cousin shot past me, running in the opposite direction with a whoop of triumph for the Storm Dragon as he roared his victory to the sky. Dante dove low as he heard her calling out to him and she used a shot of air magic to propel herself up into the sky so that she could land on his back, the two of them racing away into the fight again.

  I ran on, still holding Xavier then skidded to a halt at the edge of the pit, glancing down into the raging fight below for a moment before giving my full attention to him.

  "I need to get back to Tory," I told him.

  "Come on then, let's-"

  "No. You should get down there and show these motherfuckers why they shouldn't underestimate a Pegasus. But first - I'm gonna need a drink." I lunged at him and he swore as my fangs sank into his neck, the rich combination of the power in his blood sliding over my tongue as I swallowed greedily.

  "Asshole," he muttered as he gave in. "I heard you were horny for the horn, but I never knew it was true until now."

  I almost yanked my teeth from his neck as I snorted a laugh at that before growling to cover it. I hated that fucking rumour - but in this one instance it might have been funny.

  Xavier Acrux tasted damn good. But he was no Alpha Wolf and I drew back as quickly as I could, needing to get back to the fight with Lionel.

  "Come on then, shift," I commanded and Xavier nodded firmly.

  "Good luck, Caleb," he said seriously, tugging his shirt over his head as his skin began to glimmer with lilac glitter.

  "I don't need luck," I teased. "I'm invincible."

  Xavier's brow pinched like he was going to tell me off for tempting fate like that, but I just laughed and shot away to take on his father.

  He was just an evil Dragon overlord with control over dark shadow magic and two powerful Guardians working alongside him after all.

  I could totally kick his ass.

  Maybe.

  “L ance!” I cried for the hundredth time, using my fire to burn away the shadows as I sought him out in the endless ring of darkness I was lost in.

  “Lance, Lance, Lance!” Clara’s voice mocked me and I growled, raising my palms and burning back more of her power.

  I couldn’t risk tearing right through the fog of shadows in case I hit Orion, but the second I saw that bitch again I was going to burn them right out of her.

  “You’re pretty, just like she was pretty,” Clara cooed somewhere behind me and I wheeled around to try and spot her. “But all Vegas are nasty, nasty. You’re just like she was, that foul queen who cast me into the dark.”

  “I saw what you were,” I called. “I know what she did to you.”

  “Oh you know, do you? So you know the Nymphs were persecuted by that evil fire queen?”

  “She was just trying to end the war,” I growled.

  Clara snarled furiously. “She ruined my kind, made us into monsters and turned the entire world against us.”

  “What do you mean?” I demanded, keeping a ring of fire tight around me to hold back the shadows closing in.

  “We’re sisters, see?” she said forlornly. “Sisters are so very precious. But the queen betrayed all of her sisters.”

  “I don’t understand. You were related to her?”

  “Not in that way, oh don’t you see, little Vega princess? How very naive you are, and how arrogant too.”

  “Lance!” I called again and she laughed shrilly.

  “Lovers in my spider’s web,” she sang. “Well I’d best get on with it before this blood dries upon my palm. It’ll hurt a little now, then later it will hurt a lot.”

  “What are you talking about?” I snarled, pushing my fire further away from me as I tried to carve out a space to see ahead of me.

  Time was dissolving in here and I feared what lay beyond this, my sister, my friends, what was happening out in the battle?

  “I’m going to do to you what I wanted to do to her,” she cackled. “I spent so long learning this spell, but I never got a chance to curse her like I wanted. It’s rather exciting actually. How many, many, many years I’ve waited for revenge and I’m going to draw it out slow and long and oh so sweetly.”

  I pushed my fire deeper into the shadows, my pulse accelerating at her words.

  “Come out here and face me,” I demanded, readying to fight for my life.

  “I’m going to put a little fun twist on it too,” she went on like I’d said nothing. “Oh, it’s going to be so much fun to watch you both break when you find out what it is. I’m going to make sure you live long enough to see me rise. Daddy will be mad, but I am to be his queen, and maybe it’s time I started making my own rules.”

  “Fight me!” I roared, letting fire billow upwards to carve a hole in the shadows above. I cast air beneath my feet, racing toward the sliver of sky that opened up, but it closed away again as the darkness pressed down on me, forcing me back. I hit the ground and snarled as I started running, sending flash fires out
ahead of me as I carved a path.

  “Lance, where are you?!”

  “Darcy!” he cried somewhere close by and far away.

  I ran harder with frantic, desperate breaths, needing to get to him. As soon as I was near, I could blast away this net of shadows and free us.

  A heavy magic licked my skin and Clara started chanting words that made the hairs on my body stand on end. I couldn’t understand the dark language she was speaking, but I’d heard it spoken in the shadows before and it sent chills right down to my core.

  “Ambres tenus avilias mortalium avar,” she hissed. “Irexus tu neverendum.”

  I burned through the shadows that tried to cling to me, running faster and faster as the curse pressed down on me, enveloping my body then pushing deeper and deeper as it tried to take root in me.

  I urged my Phoenix fire through my veins, trying to burn it away, but the dark magic slipped past it and I couldn’t stop it as it buried itself deep inside me. This was something I couldn’t fight and the thought of that terrified me.

  “Novus estris envum magicae,” she breathed. “Avilias avar!”

  An ice cold hand pressed to my arm and I wheeled around, blasting fire toward Clara before she disappeared into the dark once more with a shrieking cackle.

  I looked down at my arm in fear, finding a bloody handprint wrapping around my bicep. The mark turned black and my head spun as the power from it rushed into me like a tsunami.

  I stumbled, my vision darkening as the power gripped me and I found myself unable to fight off whatever was happening. I forced my Phoenix fire against it with everything I had, but it did nothing to stop it. And in the deepest regions of my heart, I knew nothing could as I fell to my knees and an ocean of darkness stole me away.