Anundulatingswarmofblack screamed as it passed by Emmeric and Iyana, leaving stars dead in its wake.Iyana glanced at him with no further enemies in their immediate vicinity.
Was that the Lurra?she asked him.
Emmeric shrugged.It had to have been.
He looked over towards the opposite flank where the wailer had been, but he could no longer see the monster.Hopefully, somebody had taken it down.And hopefully their friends were still alive.
Taking a second to breathe, Emmeric checked Iyana over for any wounds.She’d been healing both of them of the small scrapes and cuts they’d received, but gratefully they hadn’t dealt with anything more serious.Emmeric was in awe of her; she had been doing amazingly.Striking with her dagger when she needed to and using her magic in a beautiful display of power.He had never loved anyone more than he did her right then—covered in blood, with a blade in her hand.
A small surge of hope jolted through Iyana as she watched the destruction the Lurra wrought.It seemed to be killing stars only and leaving the humans untouched.Emmeric went to her and intertwined their fingers, simply needing to touch her.He could tell she was tiring, and if they could allow the Lurra to rid the rest of the stars, he would happily let it.But then disappointment rattled through them both as the stars began to catch on to what the black swarm was, and they were throwing magical shields around themselves.The dark cloud would bounce off of the shields and scrape at them, trying in vain to get in.
“Damn,” Iyana whispered.Emmeric squeezed her fingers.He would fight beside her for as long as he needed to—until they won, or until they were dragged into the Everlands.
“We may need to use Khollo’s Downfall,” he said.Iyana worried her lower lip between her teeth.“I know we don’t know what will happen, but there may not be another choice.Yrza hasn’t arrived to help us, and while the Lurra has thinned the herd, it appears they’ve figured out a way to protect against it.”
Iyana sighed.“You’re right.”Emmeric beamed, and she narrowed her eyes at him.“What are you smiling for?”
“Oh, nothing.I just think that’s the first time you’ve told me I was right about something.”
When she only grumbled in response, Emmeric placed a quick kiss on her lips.Nodding towards her bag, he spoke into her mind,Might as well get this over with, Mouse.
He felt Iyana shudder when her fingers brushed over the orb.An ear-splitting roar rent the air, and Emmeric’s neck snapped up towards the sky.
Something that looked like a rip had torn right through the normally blue sky, leaving only a deep black void behind it.And flying through it was—
“A dragon,” Iyana whispered, awed.
The mythical creature was a pearlescent white with different colors of blue, pink, and purple shining off its scales as they hit the light.Its body was long and thin, with large wings that shone like pure moonlight.Whiskers on its snout flowed behind it as it flew.It curled out of the tear, which closed as it crossed into their world.Emmeric had no idea where it could have come from until he saw a rider on its back—a woman with bright silver hair and pale skin.Yrza.The goddess had come at last.
With another mighty roar, the dragon spit white fire across a legion of stars, burning them all where they stood.
A black leopard bounded into their space, and Kaz shifted back mid-skid, her chest heaving with panting breaths.Iyana stepped closer to her friend, a concerned look on her face.
“Is everyone okay?”
“Everyone’s fine.I saw Zane and Talon take down the wailer before they opened the Lurra.”Something eased in Emmeric’s chest when he heard the two were fine, and had killed a wailer, no less.Talon was going to be insufferable about that.
“Your brothers?”
“Fine.”Kaz waved away Iyana’s concerns.“Listen.Yrza is going to create a barrier around you two, and the rest of us will keep the other stars busy.Use the artifact to call to Rigil and banish the stars.”Her brown eyes were the most serious Emmeric had ever seen them.“Finish this, Iyana.”
Then she shifted back into the large cat and ran off.Yrza and her dragon circled above them.Iyana and Emmeric both stared upwards at the magnificent animal.Wonder was a welcome reprieve from the fear and desperation that war brought.Em let himself bask in the feeling for only a second, but then the dragon breathed fire, encircling them in dancing white flames.They were in the center of a large circle of magical fire that called to him as the Kanaliza.
Ready?he asked Iyana.
As I’ll ever be.Her caramel-brown eyes looked up at him with such an open expression of love he’d only ever seen in his dreams.I love you, Em.
I love you, Iyana.He tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear.Through death and beyond.Nothing will ever keep me from you again.
A single tear rolled down her cheek, and Emmeric brushed it away gently.Framing her face in his hands, he kissed her fiercely, pouring all of his love and dedication for her into the way his lips and tongue danced across hers.Iyana kissed him back just as hard, the ferocity of her love for him unbelievable.
“Let’s do this,” he whispered against her lips.
At her nod, Emmeric siphoned a large amount of magic from the fire surrounding them, from the stars he could feel on the other side, and from Yrza herself.Then he channeled it all down their bond and into Iyana until her hands began to glow brightly with silver light.She pulled Khollo’s Downfall out of her bag, the light of her magic actually reflecting off the deep black surface instead of being absorbed by it.
Iyana held it aloft and shouted to the sky, just like she had the first time Emmeric saw her, back in that first instant when he realized that everything in his life was about to change.
“You know you want this, Rigil!Come take it from me!”
