"The western regions…" the scout supplies, wincing with each word. "That's where they struck first. It's... it's gone, Your Highness. The entire duchy."
Three hundred thousand souls. Gone.
They have lives, families, futures. Had. They had those things.
I turn to Svenn. "Please, help me. My people are dying." I bite my inner cheek to keep the tears from flowing.
"Coinneach," Svenn says quietly.
His shadow ripples and takes form. It cuts through the air, carving a portal of pure darkness. I can smell smoke and death through the pathway.
The portal's edges writhe like living things. Coinneach is more than just a shadow. He is a piece of Svenn, a fragment of whatever darkness lives in his blood. Opening portals tears at him. I can see it in the tightness around his eyes, the way his jaw clenches.
"I'm coming with you," Aelfric says immediately.
"No, stay here. Protect Völundr." I turn to my knights. "Darstan, Aelfric, Garrett, the city needs you. Hold it until I return."
The three of them exchange glances, then nod in unison.
Darstan steps forward and places a hand on my shoulder. The knight who chose me when everyone else left. "Be safe, Your Highness."
I look at Rainer. "The city is yours to defend."
My uncle meets my eyes steadily. "As you command, Your Highness."
Something flickers across the hard lines of his face, softening it. I've seen that expression before. It's the look he saved for Aerin. I step forward and wrap my arms around him. His embrace is firm and steady. When I pull back, he squeezes my shoulder once.
I step toward the portal but a familiar rumble stops me. My little wyvern pushes past me and leaps into the shadow portal.
"Coral, no!" But there's no calling her back now. She's already through, swallowed by the darkness.
I turn to Svenn, eyes wide. Of all the times for Coral to be naughty.
"She's stubborn," I mutter.
Svenn doesn't say it but I can see it in his face. Like you.
I draw a breath and step into Svenn's shadow realm. The world folds in on itself. Three days of battling the seadragons has taken their toll on him. I can feel his exhaustion in every frozen pulse of the void. The place is colder than usual. It's disorienting, but I push through.
The void isn't empty. It's full of whispers, touches, and things that brush against my skin like cobwebs.
This is the Ysendral's realm. The space between spaces where shadows live. Every time I pass through, I understand a little more why Svenn fears what he is.
I find Coral in the darkness and grab her snout gently, forcing her to meet my eyes. "You stay close to me. Understand?"
She chirps once, soft and stubborn.
We emerge to a burning world.
The heat is immediate and overwhelming. It makes my eyes water and my skin tighten like standing too close to a furnace. I raise my arm instinctively, shielding my face.
Charred skeletons of homes collapse into piles of ash and ember. What was once a prosperous city is now a hellscape of blackened earth and smoldering rubble. The air scorches my lungs with each breath.
"Fifty thousand people lived here," I whisper, the number catching in my throat.
Svenn stands beside me, taking it in. The city spreads before us in ruins. What the fires didn't consume, they melted. We passbodies burned beyond recognition. The worst are the ones that are still recognizable, twisted in their final agonies.
A small hand reaches out from beneath a collapsed beam. I stop to dig and remove the rubble. But when I look closer, I see the hand isn't moving. It will never move again.
