Maybe even counting on.
“Already replacing me, my love?” the Corrupter whispered in my ear.
I spun, but he was standing beside Vex, who had moved back a foot to give me room to work. Before I could shout a warning, the Corrupter manifested two dark swords and lifted them above Vexen's head.
A memory sparked in my mind—that of the first time I met Rath. He had been fighting the Corrupter. Rath fought two-handed. As in, a sword in each hand. And he used magic to enhance his talent. He had thrown everything he had at the Corrupter and still, the Corrupter would have killed him if I hadn't interfered.
And now, he was about to kill Vex.
“We are with you, Ember,” Air said even as I lifted my hands, calling to the Elements. “We're all with you.”
I didn't have time to connect with Aranren and pull all the Consciousness of Death into him. I needed to stop him instantly. So, I rushed ahead to the caging part.
The magic came quicker to me this time and blasted outward without the need to gather strength. When the Elements wanted to help you, you didn't have to gather them. I merely had to encourage them to do what they did best. So, I urged Air to swirl around the Corrupter and glory in freedom of it. I summoned Fire to grow within that fueling storm and heat Water, who I bid to flow as it willed. Earth rumbled through them, just as I asked, shooting up into the boiling, churning mass to offer it more solidity.
Mud encased the Corrupter and lifted him off his feet. The dark swords disappeared. Pieces of Death were inside Aranren, but not all of him. With the Corrupter contained, I could try to pull Death through the cage before I empowered it with Spirit. I hadn't trained this way, but it was my only option.
I reached for the fragile bond between Ara and me and sent my Spirit Magic—my wraith—shooting down it. My soul shuddered as it sank into the Corrupter and then into what made him the Corrupter. Death.
A shiver of ice ran down my spine the moment my wraith encountered Death. Before I could pull the rest of Death into Aranren, the world went dark and sounds dulled. From one blink to the next, I went from Fress to standing before Aranren in the astral plane. There, I could see Death's hold on Ara as a cage of bones, covering the man I loved like armor. But Death wasn't a protector. He was a jailer.
Around the bone-covered Aranren was a cloud of pulsing, colorful mist. Red, blue, yellow, and green. The magic of the Elements. But there was one more color hovering around them, sparking purple. Spirit.
“Ember!” Ara cried. “Ember, run!”
“No. I'm going to free you, Ara. Hold on, love.” And with that, I yanked through our bond, going further than Aranren, into the bone cage, and then into Death.
A shrieking came as a churning mist of bone-yellow and rotting green gathered above Aranren. I pulled harder, and the mass condensed into a spear that shot down, through Spirit and the Elements and into the cage around Aranren. The bones grew thicker and turned a sickly green.
It had worked! Even without going in the proper order, it had worked. Death, all of that evil consciousness, was within Ara now.
Holding tightly to the bucking beast that was Death, I urged Spirit into the mass of elements hovering around it. They merged, their colors becoming pure white. I sent that magical mist down to cover the bone cage, coating it even more thoroughly than it coated Aranren. It was easier to conduct magic there, on that spiritual plane where I could see it. I knew immediately that it was working. I saw the white mist settle and form a sheen over the dull bones. We had him.
Death shrieked. The bones shuddered. The Elements held firm, strengthened by the magic of the Goddess.
“Now, pull him away from Aranren,” Air said. But he wasn't just a voice anymore. In that place, Air had a body. He stood beside me—a slim, graceful man with eyes like a summersky and short white hair that sparked with magic. He nodded at me. “We've got him, Ember. Remove him from Aranren.”
“Slowly,” Earth said.
I glanced at the dark-haired, burly man who stood on my right. Behind me was a pair of women—one a curvy redhead and the other a slim blonde. They all nodded at me.
It was finally time to end this.
I tugged at the magic, urging it to rise and take Death with it. The white sheen shimmered. Thrummed. The bone cage shuddered.
“Ember?” Ara's eyes widened within the sockets of the skull.
I couldn't answer. I was too focused on working with the cage over his cage. And then I felt the spiritual representations of the Elements lay their hands on my shoulders and back. Just as my lovers would have done.
Suddenly, I wasn't just Ember. I was Air, wild and free. Blowing violently or gently depending on my mood. I was Water, cool and reviving, but also raging when necessary and stronger than anyone knew. Deep within me, I held currents of power that I hid from everyone except those who dared to delve. I was also Fire—a roaring inferno as well as a tiny spark. Even when I was small, I could still light the way. And the way was made smooth because I was Earth, sure and strong. Thunderous and bold. I could offer support or I could set the world to trembling.
And I did. I did all those things as I yanked on that cage. The bones separated. They didn't break or disintegrate. They came apart at the places where the sinews should have been. Afull skeleton hovered in the air around Aranren as if it had been carefully pulled apart.
Ara didn't move. He knew better than to interrupt a spell. But I could feel his hope and his stare.
Shaking with power that wasn't mine, I tried to keep control.
“No!” Fire snapped. “Ask. Don't demand.”
