My heart shot into my throat. There was no way to save him. No way to stop this.
The air around him shimmered, and before the second threat could land a blow, Keyton vanished.
What the fuck?
Boom!
The air shook with a sonic impact that rippled Pakshiraj’s feathers and made my head ring. For a moment, everything went still. Everything slowed down. Sounds and movement, and my heartbeat.
And then with a click, it all came back online with awhooshthat hit me in the chest and knocked the breath from me.
Energy rolled over the domain, razing buildings and any structures in its wake.
Whoosh.
A second wave disintegrated bodies—chaysavar, Asura, and Danava who had their feet on the ground vanished.
Pakshiraj climbed higher, out of the blast range. My head whipped side to side. Where was Araz? Where were my friends? The vise around my chest eased when I spotted them in the distance.
Whoosh.
A third wave hit, and the ground blazed in a wave of flame. The fire died quickly, leaving red earth scattered with bone. Ash fell for long moments, covering the world in a gray sheen.
Silence settled, the only sound the beating of wings.
A lightning crack sounded, and the Asura hurtled toward the earth, surrounding the mountain in dense defense.
He made it through,Pakshiraj said.He went through the doorway.
The world groaned as if it knew it was doomed.
I gritted my teeth. It was time for plan B. Time to go through the doorway after him. “Attack!”
Part Six
If at first you don’t succeed, try again
Chapter 37
THE NIGHT BEFORE THE DAWN
The campfire crackled and spat as if in disgust at our efforts. I barely tasted the meat handed to me, but I ate it regardless, filling my belly in the hopes of fueling my mind to come up with a solution to our stalemate.
We’d retreated to the upper ring. To the fields that lay between the palace and the guest house. The light vortex was gone, disrupted by the unraveling. Now the only way to get here was by wing or transference. Thank goodness for the thunderbirds and remaining chaysavar and their riders.
Tents had been erected, more fires lit, more meat roasted. Groups had gathered. There was a Danava camp to my left. The demigods and drohi who’d awakened after their anchor nests were destroyed by the unraveling had gathered somewhere to my right.
Around me, my comrades talked in hushed voices.
I ate in silence, and no one attempted to engage me in conversation, which I was glad for. No one brought up the predicament we were in, and I was glad for that too.
I needed a moment. A few moments of quiet. Of food and fire and the buzz of conversation where I could pretend that everything was going to be all right.
Right now, surrounded by the people I cared for the most, Araz at my side and Blue asleep in my lap, life was as perfect as it was going to get. But as soon as someone asked the dreaded question—the question that I wanted to avoid for as long as possible—the fake peace would shatter, and reality would come rushing in.
So I held to the silence. Because the silence heldlife. It held possibility and hope. Things that the conversation would destroy.
“So what now?” Joe asked.
