“Stop,” she shouted.
The mythological landed, poised above her on all fours—his face close to hers.
His gaze went from her to the necklace she held in her outstretched hand. She didn’t let it go, even if it was still attached to Griffin’s cooling body.
“Back up,” she ordered.
The mythological bared his teeth at her. “I knew you were like all the other mice.”
He crawled off her, before standing and backing away over the bladed glass. His expression remote, showing none of the pain he had to be feeling from the cuts on his bare feet.
Shea climbed to her feet, biting back a moan of pain at the many, many tiny slices dotting her body.
A warm laugh reached out to surround her. During the struggle, the dark had become more solid, his features more distinct in addition to the bizarrely long arms and legs he now had. He towered over the two of them by several feet.
“Very good, my daughter. I only have need of the strong, and he was a weak vessel,” the presence said.
Shea watched it, her feelings numb and her heart cold. Even fear seemed remote and indistinct.
“You feed on anger and fear,” she guessed.
The creature didn’t confirm her claim, but she knew she was correct. It made sense. Their fight had done nothing but fuel it, giving it power to take shape.
It made her wonder how far its reach extended. Could it soak up those emotions from the rest of the Broken Land or did it need closer proximity?
She had a feeling it was a mix of both. She suspected their original trip to the Badlands had given it its start, soaking it with their fear and anger as one by one they died. Then Fallon with his army had probably bolstered it. Griffin had finished the job, bringing them to now.
“Give me the Lux so that I might fuel myself for the coming conquest,” the darkness said, lust in it’s voice.
Shea’s smile was ugly. She palmed the charm and tossed it at Ajari. “If I were you, I’d run while you can,” she told him.
“What are you doing?” the dark hissed. “We still have need of him. He will be your general.”
Shea snorted as the mythological backed away. “There’s not going to be any army.”
She bent and grabbed the Lux.
“You cannot escape here,” the dark warned. “Why do you insist on fighting?”
Shea set her fingers on either end of the Lux and turned from the dark toward the tree. “Do you know my family line extends all the way back to the cataclysm? We were among the founders of our guild. The first ones tasked with the Lux’s protection. It was a surprise to me too.” She gave him a sideways smirk. “Do you want to know why?”
“No,” he roared as she pressed her fingers down and rotated. Thin cracks ate away at the Lux’s shell, creating a spider web of lines.
Light cascaded out of the Lux, slowly at first and then faster. The light hesitated, almost sentient as if it waited for direction.
“Destroy the tree,” Shea ordered it. There was no hesitation in her voice, not an ounce of shadow in her heart. She needed that tree’s destruction along with all the power it contained more than she needed her next breath.
The light raged, a rioting inferno consuming everything it touched. A dull coldness crept up her arms from where she held the egg. Shea made a sound of pain as her essence drained into it, feeding the fire. She held out as long as possible, standing strong to give it those precious extra seconds as the light escaped.
Her mother had been correct. There was always a price to pay when dealing with the powerful weapons of the cataclysm.
Shea collapsed to her knees, drained of much that she was. In that moment, she would have welcomed death. She looked up, watching with dead eyes as flame licked at the tree and the dark screamed beside it.
“What have you done?” it roared.
“Simply what my ancestors would have wanted,” Shea said without remorse, watching as the flame consumed the tree.
The dark had visibly shrunk, whatever power it held disappearing as the tree burned. Destroying it seemed to significantly weaken the being.
