CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
I’m worried about Bayne’s fixation on his growing power.
—Journal of Isla Jasira
As we ran, I began to dig. I shoveled my way down, deep beneath the chasm of darkness that had so easily, so quickly filled my entire being when the Obscura had taken over. Isla’s warning echoed in my ears months later.No one can handle this much power.But I dug deeper anyway, elbowing my way past that darkness and listening for that quiet tune that always shrank beneath the shadows.
The warmth of Bayne’s amplifier bounced on my chest beneath my tunic as we hurried through the snowy woods. Shouts of terror ripped through the night as sounds of battle echoed through the icy air. Swords clashed with the armor of the Bone Warriors, and I caught sight of silver suits in the distance as Nivis soldiers sprang from their hiding places and attacked the village.
Wild screams rang from the east as a thunderous herd of ashen plowed through the trees. Vulcan closed in to my left, and I reeled in the darkness that pounded against my palms.
I had to try.
A small group of ashen broke free from the herd as they trampled saplings in their wake and veered toward us, their elongated nails and teeth slashing at anything within arm’s reach.
Quiet. It was so quiet in my mind as I strained to hear the Transcindiel. I latched myself to the amplifier on my chest, thinking of Tiberius, as I commanded the darkness to silence itself. A blade rang beside me, followed by a soft warning from Vulcan as we ran toward the onslaught.
Where are you?I whispered into my mind.
“Lyvia!”
Vulcan’s shout pulled me from my trance, and I skidded to a halt as an ashen pulled ahead and reached for me. I ducked low, letting the hard, cold body of the ashen trip over me in time for Vulcan to take off its head.
“Now isn’t the time to experiment!” he shouted.
Xenelpha’s words from the Maadon ceremony crouched in my mind.To change, to truly transform, takes sacrifice…. that our essence may benudged, one sacrificial bit at a time, before evolution takes place.
One sacrificial bit at a time. I’d been forcing too much change into the ashen. I’d been focused on its body, the physical change.
Marian’s words from months ago on board theEvectawhispered in my mind like a chilling clue. We’d been in her room below deck, examining Oslo’s severed hand.
Perhaps, she had signed,the part that makes them human or elf has died…
But it wasn’tdead. The soul, whatever remained behind, had merely beenchanged. It had been nudged toward corruption,the body following its vile intention. I needed to focus the power on that single, critical part of what made us human and elf.
The soul.
Remember who you are.
The haunted faces of Kayj watched from my memories as I shouted the furious demand into my inner self.
A tiny, barely perceptible string of notes flitted up from the chasm my powers called home. I reached for it as I held on to the warmth of the amplifier on my chest, linking the two and throwing my palms to the next set of milky white hands reaching for me, directing it to that crumpled, corrupted bit of soul sitting at its center.
A blast of beautiful, glittering golden light lit up the night as the Transcindiel shot toward the face of nightmares. Wild, snapping jaws went slack as the golden rays spun, encasing the creature in a glittering web. Its pale eyes widened before it fell a mere foot from me, its limp body slumping to the ground.
My knees barked in pain, hitting the icy ground as the expenditure of power gripped me with claws of exhaustion.
My lungs burned as shaky breath tried to escape. I was utterly spent.To change, to truly transform, takes sacrifice.The amplifier burned against my chest like a living flame as my eyes scanned the dark-skinned body in front of me. Her back softly rose and fell.
Itworked.
Despite my fatigue, a newfound determination emerged, fueled by the glimmer of hope. The Transcindiel sang within me, elated by the chance to undo the corruption commanded by Dark King Daimos.
Vulcan leaped over the body and into the onslaught of ashen that followed. I moved to kneel next to the body when the zing of an airborne spear flew past my head, finding its mark in the face of an ashen reaching for my neck.
Xenelpha’s snarl followed as her amatohk leaped, its massive, clawed paws landing on another ashen’s chest as she ripped the spear from its face.
“You can’t save them all tonight!” she called from beneath her mask. “Decide now. Save a few of the damned or hundreds of my people.”
