A staff went wide as a Celestial plunged with some sparkly bullshit magic. Zorn didn’t much care about the specifics. He puffed into his gaseous form. The fae in front of them likely couldn’t see him or track him now. The Celestials probably still could. He was a couple generations removed from anything fae, and human blood greatly watered down fae blood. They’d be able to pick him out. He’d revert as soon as the fae in front of them were dealt with.
Kieran’s magic slammed into the fliers in front of them, only three trying to block a group of six fae. Paltry numbers. Heavy fog poured in, clouding the sky overhead and cutting down their visibility.
Before they could even reach the group of fae, one and all fell bonelessly to the ground. Lexi really did make things boring for the rest of them when she just ripped out souls like that. Then, one by one, the bodies started to shake. They slowly got to their feet, confused, looking at their hands. Lexi had stuffed their souls back in and was controlling them like a Necromancer would.
A spear shot down toward them. Donovan, a Telekinetic, flicked his hand. His magic batted it away. Lightning spiderwebbed through the heavy fog, and someone screamed above them. A body came twirling down, unconscious, wings fluttering uselessly behind.
“Catch it,” Kieran told Donovan.
Sparkly magic speared Zorn, blistering within his middle. It was just pain, though. It wouldn’t kill him, and it had nothing on the sort of feeling Lexi could administer. He ignored it.
She didn’t.
“Really?” Lexi looked up into the sky. “That’s the game you want to play?”
Her jaw clenched, and screaming sounded within the heavy fog. The Celestials were hidden from the naked eye, but Lexi could feel their souls.
Another spear sliced through the air. Donovan set down the body he’d caught to bat that one away. Arrows met the same fate. Donovan could do this all day. Had, on occasion, when they’d had to battle a team of Ares-type magic.
“Shit.” Lexi knelt by the limp Celestial, a gorgeous male whose hair was starting to curl within the moisture. They clearly straightened their hair for the aesthetic.
“Should I shield us from sight?” Boman, a Light Bender, asked.
“Yes,” Lexi said, bending over the Celestial. “Do these things heal at advanced rates?”
Wind spun around them and up into the sky. The fog pulled back for a bit, exposing five Celestials readying weapons and looking down. They didn’t plan to get that close and certainly didn’t plan to land. No wonder fae were coming and going. With a barrier like this, everyone was wasting time.
“I believe so,” Zorn said, visible and waiting near Lexi with his weapon ready. He was useless until they got closer.
Rocks blasted into the air. Jerry had found some boulders. The first went so high and fast that the Celestial couldn’t dodge in time. The boulder slammed into its arm and chest, knocking it through the air and nearly hitting another of its kind. She grabbed her arm as she cried out, lifting higher into the air to put distance between herself and Jerry. That hit would’ve broken bones. The next boulder was anticipated, and the Celestial darted away in time.
“I can dock his soul. It’s fine,” Lexi said, wiping her brow. “He’s trying to live. He just needs a moment for his body to heal. I’ve got it.”
“Sorry,” Dylan said. “I didn’t account for the moisture in the fog. I made the lightning too strong.”
Let him die,Zorn thought, looking skyward. The Celestials fought against Kieran’s wind. One flung out her hand. A hail of magic sliced into their crew, the feeling like a whip. Zorn knew from experience.
He ignored that, too. Pain was nothing more than a reminder that you were alive.
Henry, a Reflector, threw up his hands in retaliation. He had the power to assume the magic thrown at him and use it on the attacker. It wouldn’t be as strong, though. Still, it would help.
“How much longer?” Kieran yelled at Lexi, constantly changing the airflow and messing with the fog, keeping them guessing.
“Just two more prongs,” Lexi said. “The soul will stay in the body if he can keep just two more prongs from deteriorating.”
Kieran labored as more magic crashed down upon them.
“I sure would like to help out,” Bria ground out, knives in hand. “If they’d come closer, I wouldn’t feel like such a freeloader.”
“Ditto,” Jack said.
Another Celestial swooped and two more came in after her. There were about eight in the sky, half of them staying too high to engage in the fight. Watching, it seemed. Magic rained down from the four, and a deep pounding of pain and agony felt like it was twisting Zorn’s bones.
“Do you want me to let him die?” Lexi roared, looking up from where she knelt over the Celestial’s body. She put her hands wide for showmanship, not needing them for her soul magic. They wouldn’t know that. “He’s barely holding on. If I leave, he’ll die, and we’ll make it through the gate anyway. You must know you can’t stop us. Is that what you want?”
Lightning again spiderwebbed across the sky, just barely missing everyone in it. Dylan’s control was incredible, and his warning was plain. He could fry them. Rocks tore from the ground and through the rifts in the ground that the fae before them had created. They blasted into the sky, more warning. Kieran stilled the air and pulled back the fog.
“What are you?” a Celestial called out.
