And then they heard it.
Nyssa’s eagle.
Nadir ran.
"Nadir,stop!" Bala shouted at him. "You cannot scare it!"
But Nadir didn't stop. And they ran after him.
A hiss bellowed in the air as they crossed the dune. The three of them nearly crashed into one another at the sight of what sat there.
Black flames wrapped Nyssa's body. The sheen of it glowed against the last sliver of moons' light hitting the beach. Only the sight of her molten amber gaze and tiny streaks of the orange glow from the lightning form on her skin penetrated through the darkness. Her hair seemed to wave against gravity in the wind. She sat in the sand at the edge of the surf. The sea serpent curled behind her. Water glistened on its large iridescent black scales.
Shards of glass rose beneath her flamed body, and her hands held to the jagged forms of it.
Nyssa appeared settled into the breeze of her fire, the wrap of the void's abyss.
The eagle circled overhead.
A skeleton laid on the ground before her, and Bala realized what was in Nyssa's hand.
A heart.
The heart of one of the two Infi that had been following her.
"What is this?" Lex whispered.
Bala's heartbeat hardened in her ears. She grabbed Lex's hand. The pair stammered at the sight before them.
"Shadow fire," Bala breathed.
"Her true form," Nadir countered, and Bala saw the tear streak down his face. "Creature of flames and speaker to beasts. The first to harness both powers of Arbina's children."
"She's just a girl," Lex said, her voice shaking.
"No," Bala whispered. "She's the creature Arbina never meant to make."
Nyssa's gaze fixated on them, and her hand curled around the heart. Smoke poured around it, flames following. It crushed into black blood down her hand and turned to ash.
Nadir drew his sword. The sea serpent gave a loud hiss. For a moment, he stilled, and then he dropped to one knee. A swell grew in Bala's chest. Bala drew her own sword, followed by Lex, and together they knelt.
Knelt not before a Princess of Promise.
No.
Their Princess had died in that camp.
This was a Queen.
A Queen of obscurity and flame.
Of darkness and embers.
Of shadows and fire.
Bala blew her wind around them in an attempt to dwindle the flames. The longer they stayed in that spot, the longer Nadir seemed to get restless.
"She's been in there too long," he whispered. His breath visibly shortened with the rise and fall of his chest. Bala grasped his arm when she saw him move.
