This isn’t a storm,Olienna replied before severing the connection.
My spine stiffened as a piercing shriek, deadly and familiar, cut through the whipping wind.
Ashen.
“Keep running! Don’t look back!” Vulcan called as another scream ripped through the storm.
Nerissa pumped her arms as she raced through the trees. Vulcan slowed his pace to match mine, stealing a quick glance back.
Behind us then. My lungs burned, either from the wind, the running, or the smoke that spiraled alongside the dirt and debris the air kicked up. As we raced through the edge of the woods, we slowed, the wind dying. My knee crashed to the ground as our footing angled upward at the base of a hill. Vulcan’s hand was on my collar, lifting me to my feet as we clambered up the rocky incline.
My breath caught as we stumbled over the edge of the hill overlooking the valley of ashen camps and the massive Onyx Tower of Kayj. My jaw slackened as I gazed at the uprooted trees and debris surrounding the flattened space in the center of the valley, where a wild, spinning wall of air shot to the sky. And through the massive tunnel of wind, two elves stood against the dark king.
A vice gripped my chest. Daimos’s sickly, yellow eyes glowed in the night, his face wild with murder as he sent blast after blast of deep blue light at them.
Bayne’s brilliant white light flared again. His green eyes were fixed on the dark king as he threw his shield up, blocking attack after attack. Isla’s petite frame stood back-to-back with Bayne’s looming form as she sent the surrounding air into the tunnel stretching to the sky, encasing the three of them in a cage of wind with unfathomable power.
I gaped at the display of magic as we stood atop the hill. At Isla, whose strength with the wind had grown to unfathomable heights. At Bayne, who threw himself at the dark king, his power stronger than I’d ever seen. A small, pathetic part of me wilted at the sight. At what distance would do to us both.
Light flashed from my left, snapping me from my reverie as Nerissa’s power flared not toward the dark king, but behind us. Bayne’s face jerked to where we stood, his mouth opening in shock as he took in the three of us. His green eyes blinked rapidly as they landed on me.
Isla screamed his name as that chilling screech ripped through the valley, and a horde of ashen broke through the trees, racing to where we stood. Vulcan was already halfway down the hill, cutting through the horde as Nerissa’s white flame engulfed the group to the right. I turned, rallying my strength as the first elongated claws and snapping jaws reached me.
I hesitated for just a moment, my powers at odds with each other, and the creatures raced toward us. The amplifier, heavy and warm on my chest, waited for my call when Bayne’s cry ripped through the air.
The Obscura took over as I whipped my head to where Bayne stood, his mouth parted as the dark king bellowed and threw a wave of magic that pierced Isla’s wind tunnel. Bayne and Islaflew backward, the channel of air vanishing as they crashed against the rocky ground.
“NO!” Nerissa screamed as she turned toward the dark king.
Vulcan grunted behind me as Nerissa pulled her powers away from the ashen and held her hands to the side, gathering swirls of bright, white light in her palms.
My heartbeat stuttered, as if tripping,staggeringin its desperate panic.
Choices.
Xenelpha’s words echoed in my mind. The ashen swarmed Vulcan as cries of agony erupted from the center of the valley where Isla and Bayne fell.
Vulcan’s cry rose from the bottom of the hill, and his blonde head dipped below the white limbs of the ashen. Another brother.
The dark king’s attention slid to Nerissa as her hands gathered white, glowing balls of light before raising them above her head. He smiled as he reached a hand of sinister blue light in her direction.
Choices.
Everyone screamed.
Fuck choices.
