“I am aware,” Ketheron responded. “Thank you.”
Unfortunately, the relief I was able to provide him was only partial. Winter, who was very much like a brother to him, was still in danger.
“You are certain there was no trace of deviant Celestial magic at the abduction site?” I asked.
“There is no doubt in my mind. That demon concealed his presence. Magical signature, scent, all traces. It read as though he had never been there at all. An unfortunate side effect, however, being that we were unable to track him and pursue.”
It was imperative that a being practicing a perversion of True Celestial magic hadn’t been registered, especially given that he’d abducted Winter.
I’d already had to devise a cover story, which I’d communicated to Ryker Morgan.
Within a very short timeframe, a great deal of power from several sources had erupted across the dark sands beach.
Ambrose’s high-intensity black magic. Sylas’ unleashed Necromancy in his bid to get to Winter. Ketheron’s panicked arrival, which had caused him to employ a sudden rush of power that would have been felt by other powerful beings in the supernatural world as unstable unleashing. And that didn’t even account for whatever Winter had let loose upon Ruxnoth. The three of us hadn’t witnessed that. But it had been enough to trip Sylas’ necromantic radar, causing him to hurtle down there, wherein he’d then seen Winter being taken. Ketheron had been alerted because Winter had been forced from his teleportation path as he’d been headed to him in Meforian Forest. We knew from that point that Ambrose had intervened—hence the location shifting to the beach where the entrance to one of Ambrose’s protected planes resided.
Until Ambrose roused, we wouldn’t know more than that.
What we already did know was bad enough. Especially the infection Winter had suffered from due to Ruxnoth’s twisted efforts, something Ketheron had conveyed to us.
But as far as Ryker was aware, Sylas had been conducting a high-level necromantic training exercise with Winter, assistedby Ambrose, with Ketheron also standing by as a last line of defense. Fortunately, Ryker had accepted that as it had already been known that Sylas would take Winter on as his apprentice in a more official capacity.
“Ruxnoth is not ready for his presence on this plane to be known to the wider world,” Ketheron commented. “Hence the glamoring.”
“I believe it’s more insidious than that.”
He arched an eyebrow. “How so?”
“He’s clearly been studying Winter and his place in the wider world.”
“I see. You believe Ruxnoth approached this the way he did to trap us, wherein he is permitted time with Winter without blowback or interference, because he knows we cannot report his abduction without causing mass panic and severe defensive responses against Winter? He is forcing us to keep it quiet, while he gets what he wants.”
I scrubbed my hand over my face. “In essence.”
I had my metal mask used to conceal my identity in the pocket of my coat, but it wasn’t needed here. Not with Sylas. Not with Ketheron. He was family. And Ambrose already knew my identity.
And we were currently on private ground inside a pocket dimension, one that had been created by Ketheron and Cassius two decades ago. It had also been used to detain both Velra’s brother, Sorin, for a time. And, more personal to me, Victor, my first sireling—before I’dunmadehim with some assistance from Sylas. He’d laid hands on my son. That alone had warranted such an irreversible sentence of absolute death.
Cease.
The fact I’d been able to register that emotional reaction didn’t bode well for my compartmentalization being stable enough.
I’d been far too relaxed these last several years. The burden of The Shadowed had been lessened due to Requital’s existence and Sylas’ presence, so I’d been able to spend a great deal of time with my son, his family, and his mother, the love of my life, Rhyza. So, perhaps, that had taken a toll on my ability to shut down so easily.
A mystical film enveloped me, the work of my magic-wielders that temporarily shielded me from the sun. They’d applied it within moments, enabling me to move swiftly when Ketheron had reached out to me without needing to concern myself with it being daylight. And although the sun couldn’t harm me within a magical construct like this pocket dimension, the shield remained. With the situation concerning Winter being fluid, I couldn’t currently predict when I’d need to burst outside this dimension and back into broad daylight again.
Ketheron started and I blinked as Sylas slammed his violently glowing palms together, then let out a snarl.
The crimson lightning lashing and snapping through the fabricated horizon shuddered, then stilled, before being dragged back to Sylas, folding back into him.
At the same time, every shredded tree, plant, and scorched scrap of earth wove back into being, into whole, stitching and regrowing, reforming, as the death magic retracted.
He threw his head back as his magic flooded back into him in a formidable rush that would have been overwhelming to most, yet which he absorbed with a mere shudder and flaming of his eyes.
“What on earth?” Ketheron exclaimed.
We weren’t afforded the time to process the near-impossibility of such intense rage becoming utter calm and unbelievable control so suddenly, before Sylas then teleported right in front of us.
He gestured at his Nexus Band ring. He, Lazriel, Velra, and Cassius all possessed a Nexus Band which enabled the four of them to monitor each other’s wellbeing. He’d informed us that he had muted his just before he’d teleported to Winter’s aid earlier, so as not to alert the other three and create a great deal of unrestrained panic.
