She sobbed, flailing to get loose. “I can heal her!”
“It’s too late,” her grandmother replied, her voice breaking. She tried to drag Dyna back to the cottage. “We can’t be out here.”
An array of brilliant light flashed below the hill. They stopped, watching as the village council members surrounded the Shadow. The rare few who could wield magic threw out their hands, glowing with the color of their Essence. A volley of attacks forced the demon back from striking any more children. Her father hurled powerful spell after spell, lighting up the sky.
Lady Samira stood watching from a distance, gawking at the demon and the devastation it wrought. The powerful councilwoman had refused to believe the Shadow would come. Now she did nothing but stand there with her hands over her mouth, shaking her head as if this were not real.
Her father waved out his arms in a circle, and a roar of green fire exploded from him in a rising wave. It barreled into the demon, launching it across the field, but it rolled to its feet and released a piercing shriek of rage. Dyna slapped her hands over her ears, cowering against her grandmother.
The Shadow raked its razor-sharp claws through the air and black blades of smoke shot forth. Her father and the councilors threw up shields, but the blades sliced through those not quick enough to react. Dismembered body parts scattered like bloody puzzle pieces on the frozen ground. Grandmother Leyla covered Dyna’s eyes from the carnage, but she could see through a slit in her shaking fingers.
Councilor Cairo turned and vomited. Councilor Pavin backed away, round cheeks bouncing as he shook his head, eyes wide with terror.
“Don’t you dare!” Her father’s shout reverberated over the village.
Pavin ran away. The others moved back.
“Fight with me.” He continued to throw spells. “I need you!”
Councilor Mathis shook his head. “We cannot defeat a demon.” He cast an invisibility spell and disappeared from view. Ciro and Xibil did the same.
“Those inconceivable bastards,” Grandmother Leyla hissed under her breath. Dyna didn’t understand. They abandoned him.
“Samira!” her father bellowed at the councilwoman. “I need a containment dome.”
His cry for help instantly snapped her free from the shock. Dyna gasped as Lady Samira’s silhouette lit in a golden light, white hair flaring, as she raised her wooden staff and slammed it in the snow. Gold light encircled the Shadow in a ring. It rapidly expanded and rose in a glowing dome, trapping the demon inside.
Furious, the Shadow clawed and beat against the dome with a monstrous roar. With each strike it cracked, and Dyna’s fear grew as fractures spread across the surface. It wouldn’t hold it for long.
Her father’s entire profile glowed green as he chanted in a foreign tongue, startling her with the strange words. Her father didn’t need to speak spells. But this … this wasn’t a normal spell. His Essence lost its color and filtered into a murky brown, bleeding to pitch black. Skin crawling, every hair on her neck stood on end.
Black magic.
Dyna pulled her grandmother’s hands, gawking as a red line formed in the space between him and the demon. The light rose as he chanted, developing into pickets made of bone ending in sharp spindles. Once it reached a towering height, it blazed and solidified into the Netherworld Gate.
A miasma filled the air, twisting everything inside of her with terror. The gods created The Seven Gates with a power no mortal could withstand and by opening it, her father would sacrifice himself to cast the Shadow back to the realm of demons.
Pushing out of her grandmother’s arms, Dyna sprinted toward him. Her grandmother cried out for her to return, but she couldn’t lose him, too. She needed to stop this. She rammed into her father’s side, and his chant cut off as they crashed into the snow. The Gate vanished, and the dome shattered in an explosion of light as Lady Samira collapsed.
Rising to its full height, the Shadow demon’s attention snapped to Dyna. She immediately turned away, knowing if she looked into its red eyes, it would transfix her with its power. She held still and quiet. If she didn’t make a sound, the demon wouldn’t notice her.
“Dynalya,” her father whispered. His wide gaze locked on the amulet laying a few feet away in the snow. She reached for her neck and found it empty of her protective charm.
The Shadow lunged. Her father hit it with a weak blast of Essence, but it barely made the demon stagger. Sweat shone on his pallid face, his breath heaving. He had no more power left. He’d drained himself when attempting to open the Gate.
Dyna stood on shaking legs and faced the Shadow. She called on her Essence. It sparked uselessly in her hands as she desperately tried to form a spell in her hands, tried to fight. But she didn’t have any power or the means to save anyone.
The Shadow sprang. Her father pushed her out of the way of its claws and they caught him instead, spearing him through his chest.
“Papa!” she cried in a gasping sob.
He smiled at her sadly as blood dripped from his face. The single claw protruding from him swirled with smoke.
“Run, Dynalya,” he begged her. When she didn’t move, he shouted desperately, “GO!”
Dyna sprinted into the thick snowstorm. Her numb, bare feet sank in the icy hill, tears freezing on her cheeks as she headed for the glowing white tree in the mountains. She fled from the demon’s roars and her father’s screams. Away from the horror her actions caused. He urged her to run, his voice echoing over and over across the frozen valley.
Until he, too, fell silent.
