And then the others were there—Gabe striding in with grim efficiency, Ronan and Niz arriving with a rush of wind as the large wyvern landed before shifting. Around us, the world surged into action; wings snapped open and soldiers filled theskies. Still the quick kiss and promises each of us gave to Kieran surged through our bond.
Stay alive.
Don’t do anything stupid.
Call through the bond and we’ll come.
With one last lingering look at the woman we were all fighting for, I burned her face into my mind and launched into the sky after Ronan and Niz. Beast Tamers and their creatures fanned out below and behind us, the full force of our aerial unit rising toward the nightmare barreling down on our city.
My blood pulsed with so much power I could barely feel my hands. That deep, thrumming energy I’d spent days building inside me? Yeah, it was awake now.
Good timing, because the war just rang the fucking doorbell.
From above, Alfemir didn’t look like a city preparing for war—it looked like a full-blown trap, just as we intended.
The inner rings shimmered with more than just polished stone now. Elemental wards flared along the rooftops. Magic mines glimmered like starlight under every shadow. The quiet grandeur of Alfemir had been weaponized—refined into something sharp and deadly, waiting for the right moment to explode.
That moment came the second the Seraphim touched down to the ground of the city.
Craters bloomed beneath them as roads liquefied under the heat of their descent. Even from above, the heat slapped my face, stealing the moisture from my eyes. The fires around their forms didn’t dim—they expanded, searing every surface they brushed. Entire buildings buckled from the blast radius, hurling debris through the streets in a storm of glass and stone.
I hovered high above the chaos, wings steady, power coiling in my blood like it wanted out. Ronan and Niz flanked me in thesky, watching for any threat that strayed too close. It was their job to keep me alive while I focused on how to unleash my power to protect those on the ground who would be facing off with these creatures.
My palms were suddenly slick with sweat as I thought about unleashing my power the way I needed to. The last time I let that much power loose, a mountain range crumbled to dust and my brother’s life was extinguished with it.
This was the first time I stood on the edge of that same moment again, but this time it would be my choice to take off the lock I’d placed over the power rolling within me. What happened afterwards couldn’t be excused with my incompetence the way it had that day my power exploded. This time I would be fully responsible for any deaths that came from it if I couldn’t control it.
“Bastian.”Kieran’s voice licked through the bond—gentle, grounding, and damningly aware.“Don’t shy away from thinking about your brother and what happened. Do thisforhim.”
The ache in my chest wasn’t soft, it was twisted and painful, but only because I’d been running from it for so long.
“You’re right,”I thought.“For him.”
I let the power rise—and when it did, ittorethrough me.
The blood in my body answered the call like it had beenwaitingfor this—for something worthy of it. It burned under my skin with molten promise, a tide too vast to stop now.
I drew a blood dagger into existence and sliced deep into my palm. The pain was sharp, but it grounded me from the emotions writhing within me. My blood spilled into the sky, droplets suspended midair for a half-second before I flung my hand out wide and spoke the command:
“Go forth, blood soldiers.”
The blood answered. Each drop split and twisted midair, thickening and stretching, shaping itself into wet limbs that hardened into armor, warriors born of crimson and will. They descended, weapons drawn, landing between angelic forces like summoned guardians. Dozens. Then hundreds.
The Seraphim ignored all elemental attacks launched at them as their heads turned, burning eyes surveying the city like gods at the heart of the storm. I didn’t flinch as one of their gazes settled on me. The blood soldiers I’d summoned struck the ground forces in perfect formation, faceless but loyal. They surged forward as a wave, blades drawn, shielding the angelic forces moving into position behind them as the Seraphim unleashed spirals of blistering fire—hot-white orbs that detonated like miniature suns on impact.
My soldiers took the hits first. The fire seared through them, igniting their forms in a flash of red and gold, and then—just as I’d designed—they exploded. They absorbed the energy of the attack, processed it, and detonated outward in shrapnels of blood for me to use once again. They splattered into puddles, their sacrifice enough to buy precious seconds for the real fighters moving in behind them.
Elementalists darted through the chaos like streaks of lightning—air and fire weaving together as they forced the Seraphim lower with the bombs that shook the inner rings of Alfemir to its bones. The air stank of ozone and burning stone, screams cutting through the thunder of collapsing buildings. The sky fractured in color, streaks of green wind magic slicing across the skyline, fireballs erupting from rooftops in synchrony. Every explosion narrowed the battlefield, pinning the Seraphim toward the zones we’d set—the kill zones. The place where I’d need to contain them.
Around me, Ronan and Niz flew in tight formation, defending me from the Dominions flying through the air aroundus like shadows waiting to strike me down. The bastards were enormous and unrelenting as they shot down the beasts and their Tamers from our aerial force, eyes glowing with self-righteous fury. Screams echoed through the clouds as angels fell from the sky, struck down, bodies vanishing into the smoke below. It was easy to see that all angels were struggling to face them, turning quickly to defensive maneuvers, but when the wyvern soared in with their powers, venom and fire cutting arcs through the sky, the battle began to even out.
Niz’s wyvern form was a flash of black and green against the clouds, his wings slicing air as he looped behind the Dominion and sent a stream of venomous acid slicing through the sky. It hit with a sickening sizzle, burning straight through the Dominion’s wing membrane. The sharp scream that followed was like knives against glass, a sound that made my skin crawl.
But Ronan didn’t hesitate as the opening presented itself. He was already on him, swords flashing in silver arcs, slashing across burning skin as he summoned shadow beasts to fend off any Dominion drawing close.
I should’ve been scared, but instead, I was euphoric.
We knew the might of our joint forces was formidable, but no one knew for certain if it was enough to truly fight against the triad. Watching it unfold felt like a high. Every ragged breath I dragged into my lungs filled me with delight as I focused back on my part in this.
