She lifts her chin, eyes sliding to mine. All the armor in the world couldn’t save me from the devastation that crumbles any protection I once held.
“Little warrior, you’re going to have to be brave and fierce. This may not be our lifetime together, but the next will be ours, I swear it.”
She nearly jumps out of Caym’s arms when she registers my words.
“Caym, get her out of here now damnit!” I yell, knowing our time has come to an end.
Her eyes fill with panic, turning the blue orbs a brilliant shade that’s rimmed with unshed tears.
She screams. The sound is so guttural I physically flinch. I know this is the greatest pain I will ever cause her, because I’ve lived it for centuries.
“My love, you’re going to have to be strong. Now be brave.”
Caym wrestles her, turning his back to me and running towards the treeline with Rune. Her eyes bore into me, the look haunting. I allow myself one more moment to cement her beauty into my memory and then I turn my back to her. I face Orlin and Euron who have now begun to cross the courtyard.
King Euron screams, his eyes filling with hatred.
“Bring her back to me! Bring her BACK!” He repeats it over and over and soldiers peel from the castle walls and outskirts until they’ve all swarmed.
The next move will end up causing me to be punished more severely than I ever have. I begin to call my shadows, to bendthem to my will. They begin to rise off my arms in smokey, inky tendrils.
The first soldiers that draw upon me are met with the snakey hold of the shadows. I quickly snap their necks or stab through them with the shadow spears.
King Euron’s face blanches when he witnesses the shadow magic being beckoned.
“I have a confession,” I yell to the man.
He snarls as I stalk closer to him, Alora’s desperate screams filling the quiet spaces between the clink of swords and twinge of bowstrings being released.
“I hope you burn in the depths of Haldir, even if I have to take you there myself!”
I release my shadows,all of them, and a wall of the shadowy magic forms. It quickly encases the courtyard, creating a barrier betweenherand the rest of us.
Cloaked by the umbra wall, where no one but the king and his men can see, I call out to the monsters of the veil, the ones that consume the wicked. Their corporeal forms push through the barrier like oily phantoms in this realm.
Soldiers stop in their tracks as the daemons saunter closer to them, the courtyard now silent except for a few prayers that won’t reach any gods.
One man, foolish enough to get closer, draws his sword on one of the primordial beings. With a slash, the phantom vanishes, momentarily causing the man to exclaim in amusement.
My lip quirks up, knowing what’s coming.
The soldier turns to boast to the other. Before he can even brandish his sword again, the daemon is on him again and outstretches its phantom tendril and touches the soldier’s forehead.
He shrieks before his body turns to ash instantly.
More soldiers scream witnessing my darkest magic unfurl.
Though my death touch is fatal, the summoning of the veil is far more terrifying.
Pandemonium unleashes and I’m quickly the target for many, including Orlin’s full toothed smile.
Amusement flashes in his eyes as he manically laughs watching more soldiers perish under the touch of the daemons.
King Euron stands there, wickedness frosting his entire appearance. His eyes harden on me as he pulls out a gem that’s onyx with crimson etchings from his breast pocket.
So that’s where that ran off to.
My leirune, specifically the ward that was created with my blood and ancient symbol of my magic.
