Without knowing their names, without ever having met them, I trusted these women implicitly. Something about the way they spoke—as if their words held the secrets of the universe—caused me to simply jerk my head once before inhaling, filling my lungs completely. I held my breath as I cast my consciousness outward, the motion as easy as breathing. Instantly, each speck of my lingering magic blazed to life, as if recognizing my life force.
“Come,” I whispered, and I withstood the shock as each one of those thousands of filaments refilled my well of Creation Magic until it was nearly overflowing, brimming to absolute capacity.
In the next breath, I heard the mists whisper to open my eyes.
I operated on pure instinct, my heart jumping in my chest with the anticipation of what I would find.
The fog still lingered, but it was less opaque than before. We were no longer cordoned off into our own pocket of reality; instead, the dilapidated homes were visible through the smoky fibers. My head whipped from side to side, desperately searching for the vengeful goddess who was certainly ready to smite me where I sat.
My body trembled with the anticipation of seeing her snarling, bone-white face, of the hate and death that would be writ in her expression.
“Now, Goddess! We cannot isolate her for much longer!”the wind whispered in my ear as a sudden breeze gusted through the ruins of the Valley. There was a bite to it, as if it were absorbing the emotions of the caster, and I shuddered as the cold sank into my bones.
Teeth chattering and hands shaking, I opened the fist that still clutched the crystal, wincing as my fingers spasmed from the elongated, tight hold.
My Destruction Magic leaped and danced within my soul, physically vibrating at the expectation of being unleashed. The same molten heat that had nearly consumed me when I first absorbed Kaos’ power thundered through my veins once more, momentarily stilling my actions. My magic roared in outrage at being contained, and I thought I would certainly succumb to the pressure that built within my veins.
My moment of hesitation cost me precious seconds of distraction, and I watched in horror as the mists receded nearly completely, revealing Solace in all her vengeful glory not five feet fromme.
“You will die. Painfully. Slowly. With all the might and force I possess,” she whispered, her vehemence striking fear into the core of my being. I sat frozen as if she’d cast me in ice, unable to move, unable to act, no matter how loudly the voices in my head demanded.
Solace gnashed her teeth in a terrifying snarl that expanded across her entire face as she raised both bone-thin hands in my direction.
“Die, godling. May your remains lie here with my traitorous bloodline, and may your soul never find peace. I’ll be sure to inform yourloverof your failings.” Her voice was cold and even despite the fury that sparked in her eyes.
It was the mention of Torin, the insinuation of violence and death that would rain upon him if I failed, that finally spurred me into action.
No matter what happened to me—if my magic consumed me or Solace ended me first—I would refuse to let my failings hurt another person I loved. Not again.
Solace and I simultaneously cried out—both laced with rage and pain, so similar in our emotions yet so different in our pursuits.
My Destruction Magic leaped into my palms with a whisper of a thought, a semi-formed idea that immediately called it into action. Ashes and embers filled my vision as the diaphanous strands immediately began to disintegrate the clear crystal. It pulsated with bright light and vibrated in my palm, immediately resisting my magic.
Solace’s first blast of Air pinned me against the wall, expelling all of the oxygen within my lungs. I gasped for breath, my muscles seizing and contracting around nothing, and I felt the hold on my magic flicker as my concentration wavered.
The crystal slipped from my palm and into the dirt by my feet. Ears ringing from the force of Solace’s blast, I couldn’t hear the words that slithered from her lying tongue, but I could see the triumph on her face, in the glittering of her eyes.
With one hand, Solace kept me pinned against the wall, unable to move my hands to pull on my magic and desperately trying to think of a solution. With the other, she guided the crystal into the air, slowly pulling it toward her. Each inch away from me and closer to its owner, the chipped crystal glowed brighter, anticipating being returned to its master once more.
Tears slipped unbidden from my eyes to run in rivulets down my face and neck.
I failed.
And Elyria would fall.
As the crystal touched Solace’s hand, I felt a tremor in the ground, as if the very rock we stood upon feared what would happen next.
Nothing else mattered in that moment. My focus zeroed in on the unassuming crystal resting delicately within her skeletal hand, and rage consumed me.
My mouth opened on a silent cry, the air still stolen from my lungs, as I simply let go of the dam that held back my Destruction Magic. It disintegrated immediately as a torrent of power left my body from every inch of exposed skin.
My pores oozed shadowy strands of magic as they shot from my body straight to the tether loosely gripped by a shocked Solace. When the first strands of my power touched her skin, she hissed at the contact, nearly dropping the crystal in pain.
But my magic never stopped, even as the attempts to consume the goddess failed. It attacked with reckless abandon, almost as if it were sentient and completely separate from my own wishes.
The crystal. Destroy the crystal, I thought weakly, feeling my life drain away with the blood that now flowed from my eyes and nose. A trickle ran from my ear as well to mix with the tears that now coalesced at the neckline of my tunic.
My magic listened to my instruction, diverting its devastating attack to the clear rock that now dangled helplessly from Solace’s fingers. I felt it as my power consumed the ancient artifact, felt the piece of soul that was tethered there be exposed and subsequently consumed by the raw ferocity of the Destruction Magic.
