Torin lunges at the horseman who jerks hard on the reins, yanking the horse back, while the white orbs streaming toward him turn from a steady flow to a flood. I throw magic at the wolves, unsure if it’ll doanythingbut needing to stop them. They’re multiplying exponentially. Every person they attack gains the horseman one more soul to twist into an unstoppable beast. Thankfully, Torin is distracting the man as I throw the magic from the third notch in my pendant at one of the beasts. It does nothing, but this strange magic that invades me every time I get near the Door flares up each time I do. It makes my hands hurt, and I’m still stuck with absolutely no idea how to use it. I’m afraid to call upon it when it could decimate everyone around me if I use it incorrectly.
A wolf slams into me, and it feels like I’ve been hit by a truck, but why doesn’t it immediately do what it’s done to everyone else it’s attacked? Imani hurries forward, but the wolf simply turns to mist when she tries to attack it.
“Don’t kill that human. I want to take him back with me,” the horseman says, and I realize he’s referring to me, which is why the wolf must not have hurt me when it hit me.
“Focus on killing the Door crosser,” Imani tells me. “We’ll handle the wolves.”
“You can’t let them touch you.”
“I know,” she says, focusing almost all of her light magic into creating shields to protect those struggling to fight.
Using the undead to crowd around me and hopefully make me a harder target, I dash forward to where Torin swings one of his scythes on a chain before throwing it at the horseman. It arcs through the air and the horseman reaches up to block it while I use the opportunity of his distraction to throw ice at him. The elemental attack flies toward him but he throws his shield up with ease, causing my magic to ricochet off it and slam into the ground at the feet of people who are fleeing. They scream as they’re thrown back when the ice explodes, and I realize that I nearly killed multiple people.
The horse swings around and charges Torin while the horseman readies his bow and shoots off a spray of three arrows that Torin barely manages to cut down. One still nicks his shoulder when he rushes in just as the horse lunges at Torin, but one of my undead blocks it. The horse tears into the undead, ripping her arm right off.
I circle around to the horseman’s back, hoping if I hit him from behind with my magic, he’ll he unable to block it. I press a finger against the third notch as I draw up my magic and throw it forward at the horseman. He slides his shield around to his back with practiced ease, causing the ice to ricochet off and slam into the ground beside me, spraying me with debris that makes me stagger and nearly fall.
But it must have given Torin the opening he needed because he grabs onto the saddle and swings himself over the horse’s rump, hooking the horseman’s throat with the scythe before he drives him off the horse and onto the ground. The horseman must have done something to keep it from cutting too deeply because he seems to escape with minor bleeding. The horse, noticing its lack of rider, spins and charges Torin. I send myundead to block it from returning to its owner as a fleeing man slams into me.
All of the undead I’d called up to fight for me disappear, dropping back down into the ground while the necromancy power is ripped out of me and a different magic invades me. And I realize the magic is practically useless in a fighting situation.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck. I need a different magic. I need?—”
I see a woman create a barrier surrounding her family with earth that wraps around them. Is it just a shield or is there more to it? Anything has to be better than the power to charm small animals right now. I run to her, hoping that Torin can hold his own while I’m gone since Vinny and Imani are neck-deep in keeping the wolves from attacking any more humans. It looks like Imani is trying to shield people with a barrier while Vinny fights off any wolves targeting them.
I race toward the woman who is pulling her family to safety, so she doesn’t notice me until I’ve grabbed her wrist and her magic invades me. She looks startled, but I’ve already pulled back and turned just as the horse charges toward Torin. I set my hand on the ground and the earth rumbles beneath my touch, cracking and breaking as it rushes forward and opens up beneath the horse. The horse is thrown back and begins to scramble before the ground splits to swallow it. Pain tears into my hands, causing me to lose my connection to the magic, and I grit my teeth.
I hear the horseman let out an enraged scream, and then suddenly something slams into me, causing me to jerk back in pain. I turn to see what hit me, but everything is moving so quickly. The world shudders and the ground violently shakes, causing Kit and me to go flying. I can see myself through her eyes, but as she rushes to reach me, mist cuts her off before forming into wolves. She skids to a halt and backs away while she frantically looks for a way to get to me.
Pain from whatever hit me radiates through my chest, but when I touch it, I seem to be fully intact, just disoriented as something I can’t see grabs my heel and begins dragging me. I try to kick it off, but my foot goes right through what I know must be one of the wolves as I’m dropped into this dark world where I don’t know which direction Kit’s in.
I twist hard before throwing the earth magic I’d borrowed toward my feet, but I can’t even get up before they start dragging me again. I can see what Kit is seeing, but she’s so far from me that it’s disorienting and doesn’t make it easy to fight. She tries to dash over to me, but the wolves are keeping her back. Kit looks over to where Torin is fighting hard against the horseman. Without his power, he appears to be struggling, yet he’s the only one of us who is even engaging the horseman without immediate failure. I want to help him, but when I send the earth magic to where I believe he is, I see through Kit’s eyes that I miss by at least fifteen feet.
“Fuck,” I growl as I kick and scramble, fighting against the wolves.
And that’s when Kit looks right at the horse, allowing me to see it escape the confines I’d left it in. It rushes for the rider, who grabs onto the saddle and swings up onto its back before flinging an arrow without his bow. It tears right through Torin’s chest and out his back. He staggers back and my stomach tightens.
“No! No, no, no!” I shout.
Rage, fear, and pain race through my body while the horseman jerks his horse hard, yanking it to the right before he charges Torin who refuses to back down, but it’s clear that he’s grown weaker as the fight has progressed. He’s struggling, and what am I even doing to help him in this state?
I lunge up and am immediately barreled down by another wolf. I attempt to use the earth magic I’d borrowed, but it does nothing as the wolves pass through it with ease. I dig my nailsinto the ground, trying to cling to the earth I’d lifted to keep from being dragged. The wolves are relentless, grabbing me, sinking teeth into my arms and pulling me toward the Door. And with my arms trapped in their jaws, I can’t even access the earth magic. Kit’s eyes shift between me and Torin, and it’s disorienting being so far from what she’s seeing.
I’m defenseless as I feel my foot catch the edge of the Door before Torin turns and looks at me and realizes what’s happening. He jerks away from the horseman and rushes toward me, giving the horseman the opportunity to drive a sword right into Torin’s back. I’m left with the sight of the blade piercing through his chest, blood splattering me while I’m pulled through the Door where my ability to see through Kit’s eyes is torn away from me.
The grip on me immediately releases once I feel cold hard ground beneath me. The magic that invades me every time I near one of the horseman’s Doors hits me shockingly hard, to the point that I’m left gasping on the ground while my body feels like it’s burning from the inside out. I feel like I need to dig the magic out before it consumes me and kills me.
I can hear footsteps behind me, but I’m lost in this darkness and the pain of the magic.
“And what is this?” a man toyingly asks.
I lunge to my feet and rush straight forward, knowing the Door is directly in front of me.
“Don’t you dare run from me,” he snarls, but I slam into the Door. My hand slides down it, feeling all over it for the fucking handle. He’s getting closer; I can hear the sound of his footsteps echoing around me. My hand pats the cold Door as I question where the hell the handle is.
“You cannot hide from me. Iwillfind you,” he says when my hand bumps against the handle. My fingers are shaking so badly that I struggle to even clasp it before I feel cold fingers touchmy back, causing chills to creep through me. “You’re not going anywhere.” He jerks me back from the Door that will lead me back to my realm.
“You will not take another being from me,” I hear Torin growl as strong arms wrap around me and I’m torn through the Door and back into my own world.
