This is me.
My hair stood on end from the energy crackling through the atmosphere. My blood heated, pulse spiking, as I willed the storm to do my bidding. The crimson blast of light came down like an arc of justice, headed for the center of the Immortal Council.
And then my lightning struck Irrikus.
A sickening sizzle filled my ears. I swayed, my muscles weak from fatigue. Irrikus's sway had gone in the blast. I smelled something burning and jerked my head up to see the lush gardens caught in a partial blaze near the Immortal Council.
I searched for Irrikus in the confusion and struggled to take a step forward, just as my team did. Gina's hand shot out to grab my arm as I stumbled forward. The storm had drawn everything from me. I tried to protest against Gina's help, knowing the vision I saw of her. I needed her to be far away from this terrible place at this moment. The more involved she was at this moment, the greater the risk. I need to be strong to protect her.
But my body betrayed my effort. I collapsed to my knees, and Gina stepped forward to protect me from an oncoming guard. My head lolled, and it took every bit of concentration for me to force my neck muscles to obey my commands. Come on, body.
I finally glanced up to see Gina engaged with the guard, Rivo helping her. They moved together and struck with a speed that made my presently sluggish senses dizzy. I looked past them for a sign of what my damage had done. I hoped I’d managed to ground Irrikus. I knew he was powerful, but surely my lightning had accomplished something. Our warriors could at least move, now.
My shoulders slumped with disappointment when I spotted him scrambling up from the stone ground. He’d survived, completely unscathed. Electricity whirled around him in torrential ribbons, like a hurricane emerging from the blast. A cry of anguish lodged itself in my throat.
Irrikus was up, as strong as ever.
His cruel smirk said everything. He held his hand out, lightning swirling around him like a serpent winding down his arm. Whatever forcefield existed around him had completely absorbed the energy from my blast and tamed it for his use. His cackle passed over the battlefield, and again, our bodies froze. He used his sway to still everyone. Even his own guards were under its effect. If his pride could wait for a moment, he might've already killed us. He wants us to listen to him boast before he goes in for the kill. What a pathetic excuse for a leader. All he did was lead people to peril and death.
My anger surged again, but the clouds above were already dissipating. I begged them to come back. A weak crackle, only a mere fraction of the power from before, emitted from my storm. I was too weak to produce anything like the original bolt again. Hope drained from me completely as Irrikus laughed at the feeble attempt.
"It is amusing to watch you try, again and again, despite all the failures that came before yours," Irrikus said. "When will you finally learn that none of you can touch me? You're pathetic. I will crush you all, in the end.”
We're all going to die. Not just Gina and Laini, but all of us. My heart thumped wildly inside me. Somewhere in the corridor, chaos rang out with muffled sounds. Was Dorian still attempting to come to our aid? I wished I had the strength to tell him to run, but everything had slowed down. I couldn’t even reach my comm.
The gardens abruptly darkened. Irrikus's sneer quickly dropped as his gaze jerked to the side. I tried to look, but my neck would barely move. As much as I could, I glanced out of the corner of my eye.
Ruk flew into sight. His clawed feet sank into the beautiful stonework of the garden, easily crushing it under the weight of his dragon form. It was the same shape he took on when he escaped the sanitarium, but with more heft to reflect his new power. The sienna scales glittered beautifully in the light. He gave a leer, showing a giant mouth of sharp, elongated teeth. Irrikus's shock must've lessened his sway, because now I managed to turn enough to see everything. Sen came flying behind Ruk in the shape of a cranelike bird with a long, graceful neck. Her sea-green form glowed with a mystical beauty as her feathers rustled. Her form was half the size of Ruk’s, but she still looked formidable.
Shocked gasps left the Immortal Council members. They’d never witnessed beasts like this. Even if they had no knowledge of the Higher Plane, it was evident that Ruk and Sen were of a different type than the monsters that hailed from the Immortal Plane. Their forms were majestic, whereas immortal beasts looked scary or savage.
My eyes blurred with thankful tears. He came just in time. The tension flickering back and forth between Irrikus and Ruk singed the air. I wasn’t a big believer in fate, but I sensed the light touch of destiny in this moment.
Ruk snapped his teeth at Irrikus. The way his yellow-stained fangs scraped together produced a skin-tingling response of fear, even knowing that he was on our side. My blood rushed with excitement and awe. This was Ruk, back in his prime. There was no hint of exhaustion in him, like at the sanitarium. He radiated strength and energy. Powerful muscles bulged beneath his scaly skin, promising a fight.
"You claim to be tired of fighting those weaker than you," Ruk drawled. "Why don't I fix that for you? For old time's sake, dear friend."
26
Lyra
“Ruk, is that any way to greet an old friend?” Irrikus replied, recovering quickly. “I see you’ve gotten tired of assisting me and decided to be used by someone else. That seems to be your specialty. All those years must have driven you mad… I thought you were smarter than this.” His lips curled into a mocking smirk, one that infuriated me. His satisfied expression reminded me of his younger self. Worse, I understood his promising start as a young ruler after watching it through Ruk’s memories. I hated Irrikus all the more for his cruelty in the present day. How had he gone so wrong?
Ruk snorted. Smoke curled around his nostrils. "I was a fool to listen to you back then, but you were a different person. The being I see before me now is a shell of what you once stood for. Any honor or respectability you had has wasted away. I look at your glimmering buildings and see the great façade you were forced to build to hide it."
"Hide what?" Irrikus asked, his controlled tone giving way to anger. After all this time, Ruk is one of the few people with the ability to get under this madman's skin. Irrikus threw his hand out. "Look at everything I've done. You worried too much, and you held me back. You were overcautious of everything, you fool. I will bring Itzarriol into a new era of prosperity."
"Your voice bores me. You've wasted away to paranoia that will threaten everything you’ve built. Do you want to know your fate? It’s leaving nothing behind but brittle hatred and lost power for Itzarriol," Ruk thundered. Sen shook out her feathers, keeping a safe distance from Ruk. Irrikus glanced at her and scoffed.
"Did you bring another of your kind? Thank you. I'll tear the wings off both of you."
Sen cocked her head to the side, her cool eyes never leaving Irrikus's face. "I am a neutral observer, and you do not frighten me." Her cool voice made Irrikus narrow his eyes to slits. For a moment, I inwardly cheered her composure. Even though she wouldn't help us, she unsettled Irrikus.
Ruk growled. "Don't get distracted, Irrikus. You should be focused on me, and me alone. Or are you too afraid to finally face me? I had many, many years to think about exactly how I wanted to kill you." His clawed feet stretched out and buried themselves in the stone, crumbling it to dust beneath his powerful grip to showcase his strength. His lavender eyes held such anger, cold and hostile.
Irrikus scowled. For a moment, I thought he was going to strike with a gem blast from his gauntlet, since he had no other weapons on him. He steeled himself, and I saw his outer cloak move for the first time. Underneath, he wore trim fighting trousers and a sleeveless tunic to show off powerful muscles. Instantly, his shape reminded me of Inkarri with its powerful, sturdy appearance, but Irrikus’s muscles looked more decorative than functional. He was built like the statues he littered his city with.
Where was his weapon? It occurred to me that he’d never used one before, besides his voice and m
inions. I glanced down at his waist, but there was nothing. No weapons belt to be seen. Surely, he’s not planning to fight with his hands.
Irrikus’s crown began to glow fiercely. It lit up with a peculiar flame. The warped headgear turned dark purple at first, until the light warped to a poisonous green. Irrikus brought up his hand to touch the crown. To my astonishment, the material unraveled from its circular shape. The bands of light crawled down Irrikus's arms like possessed vines. They danced down his muscular arm to extend past his hand. I gasped in awe as the light formed a massive sword. It was nearly half his height with a gleaming handle that promised trouble.
It was just like Irrikus to be so theatrical. Ruk was unimpressed, giving an annoyed grunt as he crouched low to prepare for an attack.
Irrikus was fast, despite his size and the sheer weight of his blade. I gasped as he brought his sword down onto Ruk, creating a gust of wind that blasted through the garden. Ruk leapt to avoid him, landing on the opposite side of the courtyard. He was slightly too late; a strange, metallic silver dripped slowly from the cut. It was only a gash, though, the equivalent of a paper cut on his enormous body. Irrikus clenched his teeth, pulling his sword back up into a fighting stance.
"You'll have to be quicker than that," Ruk taunted. He opened his mouth, and suddenly, the air shifted. The particles around us grew heavier. As before my lightning strike, the hairs lifted on my body from the unsettled sensation. We needed to get everyone away, so these two could duke it out. Since I suspected his council members weren’t fighters, I held my position. The council members watched as if they knew this was something Irrikus had demanded to do himself. This is his fight with the only rival he’s ever had.
"Take cover," I shouted to my team. Gina helped me move along despite my exhaustion. Alan's maker guards took him quickly to our side of the garden along with a few other fighters. I crouched down with him and Gina behind the stone planters. As we all scrambled for safety, Ruk unleashed a fiery blaze. Radiant red fire spewed out of his mouth at Irrikus, who countered it with his blade. He planted his heels and pushed hard against the force of Ruk's attack. The ruler refused to budge. Whatever powers the arbiters had given back to Ruk, he was like nothing I'd ever seen, but Irrikus somehow dispelled the energy with his blade. As quickly as Ruk snapped his mouth shut, he and Irrikus lunged for one another again.
Ruk's large body crushed everything underfoot, but he too moved with shocking speed. They were evenly matched. Irrikus’s sword sliced through the air again. Wind buffeted us.
“Dorian and Bravi, are you there?” I whispered into the comm, not wanting to gain any attention from Irrikus. A dreadful silence followed. They were either unable or too busy to answer. I hoped it was merely the latter. “All teams, Irrikus and Ruk are fighting. We’re still on the roof.”
An awful rasping sound, like a laugh, came from Irrikus as he succeeded in slicing deep into Ruk’s clawed foot. My heart seized with terror, until I saw the wound heal completely. As it did, Ruk’s form shrank the tiniest bit.
Irrikus’s armor was strong, nearly impenetrable from the looks of it. Every hit or blast Ruk sent at him seemed to dissipate or get absorbed. I wished Reshi were here to watch this, to see if she could find a hole to poke in Irrikus, since it was likely maker magic that helped him forge such creations. Blood, tears, and energy from others is how he lives. Irrikus raised his gauntlet and let out a barrage of shots while Ruk recovered from a cut.
Ruk smirked, a gesture evident even in this form, as he battered away the blasts with a powerful gust of his wings. It sent the shots straight into the air like fireworks, earning a scowl from Irrikus.
“I have dreamed of this moment,” Ruk hissed. “Do you hear me, or are you unable to hear anything in that mad head of yours? I drew every day on the wall of my cell. The guards couldn’t tell what I was doing.” His lavender eyes maddened for a moment. I stared with numb astonishment, remembering how I’d first met Ruk. He’d drawn on the walls with fervent energy, ignoring me completely even as a fellow prisoner.
“I care little for your drawings.” Irrikus let out a bellowing cry as he arced his sword down over Ruk’s tail, but Ruk didn’t move at all. In fact, his grin grew wider.
“I was thinking of all the weak spots you pretend not to have.” Ruk’s hateful whisper sent a chill air over the garden. He leaned forward to smash his scaly head into Irrikus’s. “Wear a heavy crown for years, and it’ll throw you off balance.”
Irrikus cried out as he went flying. The imbalance from his sword in his hand, which he refused to relinquish, sent him tumbling across the stonework. The clatter of metal against stone was music to my ears as Irrikus finally went down. I heard gasps from the Immortal Council members, but Irrikus immediately rolled to his feet. Blood trickled from his temple where Ruk had struck him.
“I’ll silence you forever,” Irrikus roared. “You’ve returned, and your skills are no longer worth the annoyance. I’m disappointed.” With blood and dirt on him, he looked far from the cool and collected leader I’d seen. He and Ruk met again with blade and claws. Ruk’s tail regenerated as they fought, but their blows became desperate and fervent.
My hand tightened around the knife handle in my belt. This was Ruk’s battle, but I felt helpless that I couldn’t do anything to assist him. I was weak. My team was exhausted, but there were other options. I stared at the controlled revenants. They'd split up, half coming with us and Alan, and the other half with our other allies on the opposite side of the garden. We were all stooped down, trying to dodge the blasts of wind and flames. The vampires in our group growled, their guttural hunger growing heavy from what I imagined was the sheer amount of dark energy coming from Irrikus.
The revenants could make a difference. I turned to Alan, but as if sensing my question, he shook his head.
"The revenants will be destroyed too easily. We have to preserve them in case we need them to fight our way out of the city."
I didn’t like this at all. If we didn’t risk the revenants, then Ruk was on his own. Gina placed a gentle hand on my shoulder, meeting my eyes with kindness. “He’s right. Look at how they’re fighting.”
I reluctantly agreed with them. The fight was savage. A thousand years or more of unresolved tension will do that. Ruk’s strength being gone for so long thanks to the other arbiters appeared to make him rough around the edges in the fight, but he was battling intensely. I watched as he swung his mighty tail, now barbed at the end, into Irrikus. With boundless satisfaction, I spotted the disturbed tile edge of the stone ground that caught Irrikus’s heel and caused him to stumble back. A moment was all Ruk needed. He gritted his teeth and went for Irrikus’s head. Irrikus whispered something icily, something close enough to a name like Aurora. In response, Ruk blasted Irrikus with the flame. The building shook. I glared at the structure. Surely, the Immortal architecture could hold for a fight.
“Let’s regroup,” I said. It was the least we could do. I motioned for Zach and Rivo to lead the others back to us. They darted through the chaos, skirting around Ruk and Irrikus, while Alan forced the other revenants to protect them. On the far end of the courtyard, the Immortal Council bunched together in their own group. Their frightened expressions gave me some grim satisfaction, but we needed to plan. Ruk was growing winded in his fight. I wanted to let him handle Irrikus, but I saw him growing smaller. It was time to take action. Surely, if Irrikus fell, his council members would try to flee. We could attack the council members while Irrikus was distracted. These were not excellent fighters, not without their revenants. Our long-range weapons would work, and then maybe we could aim for Irrikus. With my concentration still slipping from exhaustion, I mumbled this to Gina.
My team tried to fire upon the council members, but Irrikus’s position blocked most of them. He moved so fast that he seemed to absorb it in his armor while Ruk countered him at every turn. They were both wearing down, but their movements were frantic. Ruk grew smaller each time he healed, and Irrikus himself di
splayed a number of cuts and bruises.
“We're just draining energy from the weapons,” Zach lamented as he ordered the others to stop using the gauntlets. “They’re too fast. We’d be crushed like ants if we tried to jump in.”
Reshi’s voice came onto the comm. “Lyra, we’re still trying to release the revenants, but our defenses are crumbling… They’re battering down the doors.” She gave a raspy gasp, likely working to reinforce the forcefields and unravel the controller spells at the same time. “I’d rather die than be captured.”
Fear and dread filled me; I might have to listen to her die over the comm. I didn't know if I could bear it. I respected her decision in the end, since I would’ve decided the same thing, but some part of me hoped we could make it to her for a rescue if it came to that.
“Reshi, don’t give up. We’re close to getting Irrikus, I hope, or at least we’re slowing him down. If Ruk can keep up his fight, then we might have a chance.” I heard my own voice breaking, sounding as if it was far away from my ears. The storm I conjured had cost me so much. I should’ve saved it.
A cold touch shocked me. My thoughts grew calmer. I glanced to see Sen, her birdlike form, gently touching my shoulder with her beak. A strange cool energy spread through my body. The fatigue vanished.
Sen closed her eyes, muttering, “This is all I can do.” She wasn’t supposed to participate in the battle, yet she was healing me. She pulled herself away from me and moved to Gina next. No, all of us. Gratitude overwhelmed me.
“Thank you.” It was a sneaky way of providing support, and we needed it. She moved around swiftly, often earning a sigh of relief from our fighters. I could’ve cried in appreciation, but I had to hold it together. It wasn't over yet. Ruk was looking worse for the wear. He was now close to the height of Irrikus. I sucked in an apprehensive breath. We needed to help him.
Darklight 7: Darkfall Page 24
