Naveer descended closer to the battle, her eyes now completely white with stolen power.
“Feel the weight of all those willing deaths,” she snarled. “Each one chose to die. Each one fed my ascension. You cannot fight destiny itself.”
The psychological pressure intensified. I felt the despair of every contestant who had entered these trials thinking they could win, only to find themselves trapped in Naveer's web of manipulation. Their final moments shoved their way into my consciousness, trying to overwhelm my focus.
“Lore, no,” Reyla cried. “Eyes on me, sweetums. Don’t look away.”
Thatnickname. I loved this woman like no other. My smile barely lifted, but my will strengthened. I shoved Naveer’s power out of my mind.
“Together,” I shouted.
Working as one, we created a resonance between shadow andelement that neither of us could achieve alone. The bond we shared became a shield against Naveer's assault.
I raised my hands, calling not only earth and metal, but wind and water from the castle's ancient plumbing. The elements swirled around us in a protective vortex while Reyla's shadows wove through the storm, creating pockets of absolute darkness to confuse Naveer's death sense. Dorion added his flames, his fire dancing with my winds to create a roaring tornado of destruction.
Naveer's confident expression finally cracked. Her bone soldiers crumbled in our elemental storm, unable to maintain coherence against our magical assault. She raised her own defenses, but fighting three of us at once while maintaining her animated army was draining from her stolen reserves.
A woman’s cry of pain from the side corridor made us all freeze.
“The queen promised you to me,” a man’s voice boomed from the shadows, and we saw him dragging Laphira toward an open doorway.
Desperation flashed across Dorion’s face.
“Go,” I yelled, sending icy spears at Naveer with Reyla’s shadows riding along to mask them.
He broke away from us, flames gathering around his entire body.
Fire erupted from his hands in a torrent that turned the air incandescent. The man’s scream cut off as the flames consumed him, his body crumpling to ash in seconds. Dorion caught Laphira as she fell, cradling her against his chest.
Naveer used our distraction against us. Bone spears materialized around us with renewed fury, forcing me to raise multiple barriers while Reyla's shadows lashed out at the queen. A crow cawed, circling overhead before disappearing down another hall.
“Prager was watching,” Reyla breathed, rage flaring in her eyes.
The queen’s confidence wavered, but her rage about the man’s death only intensified her power. “You think breaking one little curse will save you? Prager's power runs deeper than you can imagine. She’s been preparing for this moment before you drew breath.”
Her form began to shift, her skin turning translucent, revealing the network of consumed souls writhing beneath. She was becoming something beyond death itself, and I worried we wouldn’t be able to fight her off.
I caught Reyla's gaze. We moved as one mind, our magic flowing together, love and desperation giving us strength. Her shadows wrapped around the queen’s legs and arms, binding her in place while lightning crackled from her fingertips. The electrical current ran through the shadow bonds, creating a cage of energy that even Naveer's new state couldn't escape.
I shaped metal from the castle's iron fixtures, drawing every nail, every hinge, every decorative element into a swirling mass of weapons. The metal responded to my will, forming itself into razor-sharp spears while Dorion returned to us, his flames burning hotter than ever before.
“Now,” I bellowed.
My metal spears became conduits for Dorion's fire, the iron heating white-hot as they pierced Naveer’s chest. She screamed. Her stolen power hemorrhaged away in waves of escaping souls. Once they’d escaped, she aged rapidly. She’d claimed their souls for many years, but the fates were calling the debt due.
Her body crumbled to dust, leaving only the faint scent of mildew behind.
A clink rang out as something golden settled among her remains.
Reyla gasped and we ran forward.
The featherdorn pendant gleamed on the floor, its tiny wings fluttering.
Reyla lifted it, her hands trembling. “The third talisman. We have them all.”
I pulled her into my arms. “Finally.”
We had three days to break a curse that had lasted for centuries.
