Before we can claim victory, the air crackles with magic again.I gasp in horror at the next sight.The blood dripping from the man doesn’t fall down to the ground?it floats upward toward the magic in the air.
The man grins with blood between his teeth.The gauntlet bursts into flickering bits of gold flying around us in a whirlwind.His voice is inhuman when he whispers, “She hears us…she…hears us…”
The blood and gold coalesce into one jagged line in the clouds.
“It’s…it’s…” I can’t even finish my sentence as I attempt to interpret what I see.
“Guys, I’m detecting Other Side activity over there!”Cleo panics in our ears.“We don’t have any records of rifts in that location.”
“We got another potential rift opening,” Luther says.
If we had any doubt it was the Other Side, a white octopus-type creature with several eyes squeezes out of the sky.“And a special delivery!”I shout in my earpiece.
The monster, several feet in length, floats out.Like a demonic bubble, it gradually falls on top of me, and I’m frozen in fear.Before the thing can engulf me, it bounces off an orange wall before my eyes.
To my right, Luther has his hands directed at me.He protected me, and now the monster is flailing about on the ground.The thing with six-plus eyes skitters into the woods, and Luther takes off after it.
Finally finding my wits, I dash toward it as well, only to pause when Luther puts his hand out.
“Stay here!”
“What?!”I yelp.
“I have the binder’s jar.I’ll take care of this!”
“Luther, what about?”
“Secure the gauntlet!”To my left, the cultist lies limp on the floor, presumably in a puddle of his own blood.“Check if the perp is alive, and secure the relic!Be careful!”Luther hollers.
With that, he’s running in the woods after a white octopus beast.Once again, I’m relegated to the sidelines.I want to help my boyfriend wrangle the threat, but securing the gauntlet is important.After sighing in frustration, I walk toward the limp body in the center of the clearing.
Stepping around the puddle of blood, I grimace.“What do you see?”Cleo asks.
“Scars all over his body like last time.But no gauntlet.”His wrist?the one with no blood?is barren.
After I touch his neck for four seconds, I frown.“And no pulse either.Fuck.”
“Another dead wizard already?”Cleo asks.
“Could have been a mortal infused with arcana.Who knows.”
“And the gauntlet is gone?”
“Yes.It appeared to have dissolved as part of this dark spell.”
“According to Girish’s research, le gantelet des ténèbres can’t be destroyed, only change form.”
I stand up and wipe my hands on my trousers.“Well, lovely.Then it changed form and up and left us.Luther, how are you doing?”
“Almost…rggg…got it wrapped up…” he says, his voice filled with struggle.
“I’m coming to help you!Let me?”
That’s the last I remember before a gold light flies into my chest, knocking me down into the leaves.
I’m standing in a purple void.Islands of rocks float around me, with vines jutting out in every direction.
“You…are a wizard of much skill.”The hissing, high-pitched whisper seems to come from everywhere all at once.
