“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” Solace sang. The blood in my veins, once pumping so wildly and hot, froze at her tone. My breath sawed unevenly as I tried to shove the terror down that was quickly clogging my throat.
This was it, the moment she’d pass the dilapidated structure, and I’d come face-to-face with death itself.
I wish I’d had more time. It wasn’t supposed to end like this, I lamented. It was as if my life flashed before my eyes in that moment; all of the good and the bad strung together in a series of barely cohesive images, leaving me with a faint bitterness against the back of my tongue.
A tear leaked unbidden from my swollen eye to track down my dirty cheek to land in the muck between my legs.
I heard it then, a faint buzz that only grew in intensity, reminding me of the same whisper the first time I’d set foot on Meru, begging me tocreate.
My brows furrowed, and I opened my lips on a gasp as I saw the tips of Solace’s alabaster toes, blackened with soot, dirt, and blood.
“There you are,” she whispered, her eyes wide and unseeing, hands poised to strike me dead where I sat.
I didn’t think, just responded to the sudden call pulling at my Creation Magic.
In one breath, my hands were braced against my body, ready for my final breaths. In the next, I’d slapped them against the soil, instantly releasing the entirety of my Creation Magic on the ground beneath my palms.
Chapter Seventy-Four
Ellowyn
Iscreamed as I channeled, the rushing release of my power borderline painful as it innervated the earth. Solace staggered back a step, confusion writ in her expression, as the dirt slowly began to glow an iridescent green.
Cracks splintered away from my hands, running along the desecrated earth in a spindly pattern that connected the entirety of the Valley.
“More,”the voices seemed to whisper.“Give us more.”
With a shriek of pure determination laced with unbridled pain, I felt for the last of my Creation Magic, desperately pushing it toward the disembodied voices.
“This is all I have,” my efforts seemed to say.
The voices hummed in response.“It is enough.”
With that, I slumped back against the wall, my braids catching against the rough-hewn stone and ripping hairs from my head. The bite of pain was momentary, and nothing compared to the torrent of green fire I’d just released on the land.
Panting, sweaty, and near exhaustion, I watched as the bright light pulsated almost as if the earth was given a heartbeat. Even Solace was frozen, watching.
After a moment, the green faded, leaving only blackened marks where the bright veins once carved across the surface.
Solace slowly pulled her gaze from the ground to focus on me once more. I found I had nothing left to give—my body wrecked and exhausted, pushed beyond its breaking point.
“Fool,” Solace whispered, her mouth stretching into a terrifying smile that seemed to swallow her entire face.
I shivered, causing the spear of wood to lodge itself even further into my side. Luckily, I was past feeling; even the warmth of tacky blood against my side did nothing to dislodge me from my stupor.
Solace took a menacing step forward, and I closed my eyes, refusing to give her the satisfaction of seeing death come for me.
I tilted my chin higher, exposing my neck, resolved that if this is how and when I would die, I would at least do it with some dignity. I waited for moments, my heart thumping erratically.
But the final blow never came, the feeling of magic crawling against my skin, tearing my body asunder, never began.
I cracked open an eyelid, expecting to see Solace’s face peering into my own, but was shocked to see nothing.
The Valley was gone—the desiccated buildings blanketed completely in a nearly opaque white film. Diaphanous strands of varying shades of white and grey shifted in the heavy smoke, and I reached out a hand to touch one. It was surprisingly warm, even as the air around me cooled considerably.
It was strange—sitting in this thick white fog, separated completely from the scene that was sure to hold my death.
Unless . . . thiswasdeath.
