Around us, Selene’s idealized image of Aetheria is slowly being destroyed, reduced to rubble by her magic and my strength.Our conflict takes us down the streets, from one end of the colosseum to the other, destruction coming with us as we go.I borrow the slow, creeping power of a crocodile, the grace of a gazelle.I leap from one spot to another, then summon the gift of a storm leopard to throw a bolt of lightning at Selene that she barely deflects.
The destructive force of our battle seems to be rising by the moment, damaging everything around us.I spit poison like a snake, then slam my fist down to create a shockwave that has Selene dancing aside.She continues to target me with precise beams of power, slicing through everything around me as I dodge with the speed of a spider.I blend in with the walls using the gift of a chameleon to change its color, then.
“This fight doesn’t matter,” Selene says, her voice carrying.“I was going to do this neatly, but if you’re going to force me to take power more directly, I will.Have you seen what’s happening in the city, Lyra?”
I can split my attention easily now, looking out over Aetheria through the eyes of every animal there, so that I get thousands of points of view at once.
I can see the purple clad people marching in the streets, the violence whenever they meet members of the resistance.I can see the fires as houses burn, and the chaos as Selene’s people drag people out of their homes to murder them.
Selene is seizing power in a bloody coup, even as she tries to legitimize her rule in the arena.
Selene smiles cruelly.“You’re doing well against me, Lyra, but let’s see how you do when the whole crowd is fighting.”
She looks around at the crowd, and I can feel her psychomancy pulsing out.
“Lyra Thornwind is a traitor.She deserves to die, and so does anyone who supports her.You all want to fight.Kill your enemies.Settle your scores.”
Her magic pulses out to her supporters, and to mine.In an instant, I can see fighting breaking out in the colosseum’s stands.Worse, people are climbing down into the arena, and they’re coming straight for me.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
I only have a moment to snatch up my spear from where it’s fallen before the first of Selene’s supporters reaches me, attacking me with blind fury, thanks to her powers.I use the haft of the spear, rather than the tip, knocking the man down and spinning among the others, trying to keep moving.
“Kill her!”Selene commands, targeting me with blasts of power even as she yells it.She doesn’t seem to care that some of those blasts strike her own people, tearing through them as if they’re made from paper.People fall even as I keep dodging, forced to knock down another attacker as he comes at me.
Above me, the crowd is fighting, Selene’s supporters throwing themselves at mine, the two sides throwing punches or drawing knives.I see a man thrown from the stands, crying out as he falls to the arena floor.Nobles are fighting up in their boxes, ordinary people fighting everywhere I look.
And not just physically.This is Aetheria, after all, where people are more likely to have some minor magical talent than not.For some of them, it will be nothing more than the ability to sharpen a knife with a touch or to whistle two notes at once.But there are enough with greater talents that the stands are filled with flashes of fire and lightning, with terrifying illusions and clouds of poison.
“Stop this!”I cry out, throwing my own power against Selene’s.I try to undercut her control by awaking the emotions of the people in the crowd.I can’t touch their minds, but I can call to their love, their need for peace, even their fear of the fight.Anything to stop them from attacking one another.
Selene's followers slow as they come at me, hesitating as her influence wanes.I send fear towards them, and they turn, running back to the stands.They're halfway there when Selene throws out a hand in their direction, looking furious.
“No!Turn around.Kill her!”
Selene isn’t just throwing her power at the few figures closest to me.Her psychomancy is flowing out over the crowd, trying to control everyone there, trying to force them back into violence.
Through the eyes of the creatures beyond the colosseum, I can see the violence in the streets continuing.I see Thalia leading a group of the resistance, fighting against a group of what looks like noble bodyguards wearing Selene’s colors.I see guards marching through the streets, but some of them seem to be defending Selene’s supporters as they loot, while others are taking them on.There are fires everywhere I look, with even the grand temple of Aetheria aflame.
I can’t keep my focus on the city, though, because Selene is pushing back against my magic with everything she has.If she gains control of the crowd, she can send them all against me and the few who might resist her, swiftly overwhelming us.
I grit my teeth, throwing my magic against hers.This isn’t about flashes of purple force now, or abilities borrowed from the creatures of the city.This is a direct battle for control over the people within the colosseum.Selene is trying to grasp their minds, while I focus on their hearts, their deepest instincts.
Our powers are separate, but they are pushing against one another almost directly, trying to influence the people around us, trying to get them to do what we want.If I gain control, I’ll be able to stop the people around us from attacking, or even turn them against Selene.If she gains control, then she’ll be able to use them all against me, having them cut me down in a matter of seconds, because there’s no way I can take on so many at once.
For now, at least, our battle means that people aren’t attacking me, but many of them continue to fight in the stands, swept away by their hatred for one another.I see flickers of the fighting continuing in the streets, of blood and flame, magic and destruction.But I can’t keep my focus there, because doing so risks losing my grip on the conflict between myself and Selene.
I pour every scrap of magical energy I can into the battle for control over the crowd.The magical stones beneath the colosseum aid me, but they’re doing the same for Selene, adding to both our efforts equally.I can’t put any magic into anything other than trying to control the animal instincts of the crowd, but it seems Selene has the same problem.She’s concentrating furiously, hand outstretched as if she can simply reach out to grasp the minds of the people in the colosseum.
Selene starts towards me, her curved blade held ready, a look of determination on her face.
“I can still finish this physically,” she says.“And you don’t have anything stolen from the beasts to help you now.”
I spot my spear lying a little way away, on the far side of a pile of rubble that used to be one of the houses Selene raised from the colosseum floor.I run for it, even as Selene runs at my back.I dive forward, snatching up the spear and rolling, coming up in time to block a downward swing of her sword with the haft.I feel my grip on the crowd jarred for a moment with the impact, and I realize that this is about more than just a physical fight.Any wound, any distraction, might be enough for one of us to seize control over everyone around us.
We start to exchange blows with a speed and fury that surpasses anything we’ve tried in the fight so far.Selene has learned the lessons of the colosseum well, so that her blade is like a scalpel in her hands, darting this way and that, feinting high and low as she tries to find a way through my defenses.
I parry with my spear, keeping it in motion and trying to maintain the distance between us.We continue to press one another magically as well, my powers as a beast whisperer striving against hers as an Archon.I can feel the magic in the colosseum building to a fever pitch, seeming to hum in the air around us.
