Darklight 7: Darkfall
Bella Forrest
Contents
Problems reading?
1. Lyra
2. Lyra
3. Lyra
4. Lyra
5. Lyra
6. Lyra
7. Lyra
8. Lyra
9. Lyra
10. Lyra
11. Lyra
12. Lyra
13. Lyra
14. Lyra
15. Lyra
16. Lyra
17. Lyra
18. Lyra
19. Lyra
20. Lyra
21. Lyra
22. Lyra
23. Lyra
24. Lyra
25. Lyra
26. Lyra
27. Lyra
28. Lyra
29. Lyra
30. Roxy
31. Lyra
32. Lyra
33. Lyra
34. Lyra
35. Lyra
36. Lyra
37. Lyra
38. Lyra
39. Lyra
40. Lyra
41. Lyra
42. Lyra
43. Lyra
Darkwilds
BONUS Chapters
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Read more by Bella Forrest
Copyright © 2020
Nightlight Press
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Problems reading?
If you experience any problems reading this ebook—such as pages skipping, etc.—it’s a Kindle glitch. Just delete the ebook from your device and re-download it, and the problem should solve itself. If not, contact Amazon’s customer support; they’re helpful and efficient.
1
Lyra
It was surreal to be back inside Un’s estate. Only this time, Dorian and I were here as guests.
Strange. We seemed to have a knack for turning organizations over to our side. The arbiters were not unlike the human institutions we’d had to convince in the past.
About half of the arbiters who had been at the cliffside after the dramatic end of our final Games were here. We sat around a long table inside a fancy dining chamber. One of Un’s many rooms, it boasted gold crown molding and pastel pink wallpaper. The cherub proxies floated aimlessly in the background. One plucked a strange instrument that looked like a tall, incredibly elongated harp. Xiu gave the devilish cherub a weary look.
“That’s quite enough,” Xiu said. Un snapped his fingers, and the cherub stopped its plucking. “We’ve gathered here, thanks to Un’s generosity, to further discuss our plans for moving forward. It’s considerably more comfortable than staring at the vortex with gnawing dread pushing us to the verge of irrational thought.”
Dorian, Ruk, and I sat at the head of the table beside Xiu. Sen sat across from us, along with Un and Pik. Xiu had kept her humanoid form. Her ethereal beauty and firm voice made every arbiter, orb, and humanoid at the table pay attention. Some appeared to have been shocked into silence by what we’d witnessed at the edge of the Higher Plane.
It was incredible to me that we’d managed to transition from a near-death victory to a seat at the head of the table. The arbiters had refused to listen to us for so long, but we’d finally managed to demand their attention and convince them of the terrible state of the interdimensional tear. It was a vortex that grew with each passing moment. Even if time moved strangely in the Higher Plane, the tear melded all the realms together. The Higher Plane could no longer ignore it.
Dorian’s hand squeezed my knee reassuringly under the table. This was worrying. Even though we had won the Games, solved Ruk’s debt problem, and gained the promise that the arbiters would send us back to the lower planes in order to stop the Immortal Council… we still needed to iron out the details of returning home. I’d been so focused on our trials in the Higher Plane that the actual task of defeating the Immortal Council loomed larger than ever as it came back with a vengeance.
Xiu spread her arms.
“We need to discuss the support that we’ll be offering the mortals,” she announced. “Starting with these.” Two small trays materialized before us. They floated a few inches above the glossy surface of the table. On each tray sat a necklace, a metal cord that fastened with a sturdy-looking clasp. They looked more akin to collars, judging by the length. I raised a brow at Xiu, though she probably wouldn’t even understand why that was insulting.
"You've learned to harness extraordinary abilities in the Higher Plane as lower beings, but those powers will slip away when we send you to the lower planes. We've all discussed how best to support you in your effort to quash the brewing war in the lower planes while still maintaining our position in the Higher Plane. We’ve come up with a few ideas." I eyed the other arbiters, wondering if they’d decided all this at the cliffside, or just now. “We can’t all go down there ourselves, due to the Separation, but we can send part of the Higher Plane with you. We can only spare enough energy to allow one arbiter to go with Ruk.”
Dorian rolled his shoulder, flexing his newly healed body. They’d fixed us up good as new after the Games. “Ruk, these aren’t secretly shock collars, right?”
Ruk gave an amused smirk. “Not a chance. Xiu speaks the truth, from what I can tell. It’s excellent craftsmanship.” He looked right at home with his fellow arbiters at the moment. Indeed, he crossed his arms and gave the necklaces a look of approval.
“You’re welcome,” Krysh said with a secretive smile. “I had copious amounts of study notes to draw from after watching you in the Games.”
Sen leaned forward in her chair, still in humanoid form with a bald head and sea-green skin. “Put them on,” she urged. I reached for mine. If Sen and all the other arbiters were excited, my interest was piqued. I snapped it around my neck. The metal was cool against my skin, but there was a certain comfort to it. I glanced at Dorian.
“Everything okay?” I asked, as he fumbled with the clasp. His clumsiness seemed more about reluctance than dexterity, to me.
He gritted his teeth and shut the necklace. “You’ll forgive me if I’m not keen on necklaces after our experience in the sanitarium.” He directed his comment more to Xiu and the others. I nodded, understanding completely, but the necklaces gave me a far different vibe than our old shackles. My muscles twitched excitedly as I brushed my fingers over the metal.
“The size is not meant to be restrictive,” Xiu said smoothly. “Just difficult to lose, and difficult for an enemy to try to pry off you, unless by decapitation.” I grimaced at the idea of losing my head. Arbiters were unskilled with human social skills such as… well, not mentioning the potential loss of body parts before sending people off into danger.
Sen eyed me with a dreamy look. “We thought it best to give you each the power you mastered best. Lyra, your use of universal energy seems especially powerful when it comes to your emotions. We want to give you the power to call down weather in the Immortal Plane. You’ll be able to use lightning and wind. We imagine the results will be less colorful than they are here, but equally powerful.”
A rush of exhilaration ran through me. The idea of actually being able to use my weather powers in the Immortal Plane? It was like being handed a new, high-powered gun, except I was the gun.
Dorian smirked. “Not bad.”
“I’m sure you’ll be more than happy with what we’ve gifted you, Dorian,” Xiu said. “You will have the a
bility to jump distances quickly, the same way you did during your time here in the Higher Plane. It will likely feel akin to teleportation, but there are limits on how far you can travel, just like in the Higher Plane.”
He nodded. “I appreciate it. Thank you for providing us necessary support. It’ll help in our fight against Irrikus and the Immortal Council.”
We need all the help we can get. It was nice to finally have their backing, after our harrowing journey in the Higher Plane. I’d thought this moment would never come.
“We’re satisfied with what we’ve been able to do with these necklaces. It’s of utmost importance that you end the war in the lower planes and restore the balance while we get to work on our problems,” Xiu added. “It’ll be a relief to know that we can count on you. We’ll be able to work on our own vortex tear and the damage to the afterlife entrance from here. I must warn you, there are some limitations to the necklaces. The accessories allow you to gather universal energy while in the Mortal and Immortal Planes, but the powers will be drastically reduced compared to what you’re used to. Furthermore, they will drain your own energy when used, so reserve them for emergencies.”
That made sense. But why not just use their amazing powers to alter us directly? “Is there a reason you don’t want to change us? Like you mentioned, it seems a little risky to put these kinds of powers into something that can be taken from us.” I paused a beat. “Not that I’m ungrateful. I just don’t understand.” The last thing I wanted to do was offend them now that we were all on the same page.
Ruk answered this time. “My kin and I fine-tuned those alterations over the course of many, many years in your lower timeline, and we don’t have time to repeat that process. And there’s a big difference between providing you with a helpful tool and changing your bodies.” He spoke gravely. My mind flashed to Aurora, floating above us in this very castle. My skin pricked with goosebumps. That was another issue we needed to address. I wanted to help reunite Ruk with her. Hopefully, she could still be saved after all her time in stasis.
“Alterations are hard to take back,” he finished. So, we don’t get to keep them? I frowned but said nothing as Xiu shifted in her seat. The arbiters wanted to keep their powers as close to the Higher Plane as possible.
Xiu’s face tightened. “Yes, using an item means that we don’t have to waste energy modifying you. Such an undertaking requires truly massive amounts of energy, and we would then have to revert you back to your normal form when your task was complete. This is just a temporary fix, until you stop the council.”
My hands fluttered to the necklace tight against my skin. Modification. It wasn’t so long ago that Dorian and I learned that it was the arbiters who’d created the curse that Dorian and I had suffered. For our entire relationship, we had searched desperately for a cure. Being together without pain meant that we could fight alongside each other… and love each other without worry.
Dorian’s hand was still on my knee. My fiancé’s hand. My heart quickened as I recalled his proposal, which had come mere moments before we’d fought for our lives and freedom in the Games. Pushing away the sensation that the memory brought, I remembered the cold, hard reality that awaited us in the lower realms. No stasis, no curse protection.
“If you’re giving us these necklaces, I’d like to point something else out,” I said. “As soon as we set foot in the Immortal Plane, Dorian and I will feel the effects of the curse that you placed on vampires and humans. We cannot fight well, or even be near each other, with the curse hanging over our heads. Can you help us?” I hesitated, debating whether to push my luck. “It’s hard for me to understand why you would create something like that to begin with.”
Un stirred for the first time. “We had good reason.”
Dorian inhaled evenly, but his eyes narrowed on our unlikely host. “Good reason caused the Separation, too, as I understand it,” he pointed out. He placed his hands on the table, splaying his fingers in a display of forced calm. “Lyra and I have suffered immensely from this curse. If you want us to fulfill our duty, then you need to give us a workaround.” Bodies stiffened at the tables. Orbs grew darker in color.
“Temporarily, we might be able to,” Xiu offered, but she hedged away from a confident promise.
“We desperately need it.” I leaned forward over the table. “The only current workaround for the curse is dangerous to my body, and the rulers are highly aware of how detrimental the curse is for Dorian and me. They’ll use that against us. They certainly are ruthless enough to pit a couple against one another.” It was impossible to forget those awful moments with Zeele in his lab. Over and over again he’d dragged us closer to one another. I blinked away the memory. Zeele was gone now, but Irrikus and the others remained.
A muttering of disapproving whispers broke out at the end of the table. Un said nothing, but his frown said everything. How could I forget the way Un had reacted and courted public opinion during our trial, when he asked Dorian and me if we were a couple?
I heard the faint tinkle of a bell as Bi rustled indignantly. He must have kept one on him at all times. “We can’t approve a vampire-human relationship. In fact, we can’t even entertain a conversation about this.”
Pik cocked her head to the side. “Why not? Our logic is clearly not as perfect as we think. Perhaps it’s time we revisit some of the old issues.”
“Bring up your proxy debate again, and I’ll lose it,” Un muttered bitterly. I glanced between the arbiters. Clearly, many of them had reservations and sided with Bi and Un. Some, like Pik and Sen, appeared more open-minded. Xiu was in more control now than the others. If we could convince her, that would go a long way.
“We at least deserve an explanation,” Dorian said, with palpable restraint.
“Indeed.” Xiu nodded, her long braid swaying as she did so. “Essentially, vampires are meant to check everyone else. It was decreed that this should be their purpose from the beginning. In order to maintain the balance, vampires had to be impartial.”
I felt a flare of anger, but by now I’d grown used to their arrogance, even if their logic continued to annoy me.
“Our decision was based on the need for vampires to have clear judgment,” Sen added. “We wanted to eliminate the potential for a conflict of interest.”
A tight knot formed in my chest. Their reasoning gave me little comfort, causing my irritation to grow. They have no idea what we’ve been through, since they can’t experience emotions. How could they know best about relationships between species?
“We had to think of the consequences such a pairing might produce,” Xiu said, “beyond the vampire’s purpose as judge. You two are of disparate species. If you had a child, we do not know how your genetics might combine. It could be disastrous. It could result in something weaker than a human or… stronger than a vampire. It disturbs the natural order.” Her brows knitted together with worry. “Offspring can result in confusing combinations. Chaos has no room in our logical system. The hybrid species might have ended up staging their own uprising. What if the combination gave them the unique ability to hide among humans? There’s no guarantee that they would remain bound to the same duties we set up for vampires. They could turn dark more easily, possibly more easily than humans, making them highly dangerous to the balance. It was simply too much to consider, so we decided to prevent a problem before there was one.”
Tears blurred my eyes for a moment. Angry, furious ones filled with lots of salt and memories of my hardest moments with Dorian. I blinked them away with difficulty. I needed to focus.
“I understand you had a concern,” I said stonily, “but you have to realize that you’ve already failed.” We had already heard rumors about other humans and vampires being together. Surely, they knew that.
Xiu stared hard at me. “Failed?”
Dorian met my eye. He nodded warily. “There have been other human-vampire relationships, long before this war ever started. The curse in general is something you should reconside
r, but especially for the duration of our mission.” He dropped his voice to a low, rumbling tone. “It’s imperative that we are able to work together to end Irrikus and his Immortal Council.”
We need them to know how serious this is.
Un sighed. “Are all lower beings so bold?”
“No,” Ruk answered for us. “And we should count ourselves lucky that these two are. I advise that you heed their warnings, Xiu. Give them what they need to fight.”
Xiu leaned back in her chair. “I will confer with all the arbiters. Give me one moment.” She closed her eyes. Her facial muscles flexed tensely. I couldn’t imagine how many voices she was processing in her incredible brain at that moment.
A minute passed, maybe an eternity, before she opened her eyes. Her angular face turned toward us.
“Very well, Lyra and Dorian. We will grant you a temporary cure to this ailment for your mission. I will discourage you from asking for a more permanent arrangement.” Her face said not to press our luck. “We will build a workaround into the necklaces. Just take them off, and we’ll fix them quickly. It won’t affect your energy level, like the use of your abilities.”
Un shifted. “The curse is not something that we’re open to negotiating. Vampires should not be allowed to have cross-species relationships, given their role.”
Darklight 7: Darkfall Page 1
