My jaw went slack as I processed her words. The chaos of the attack seemed to slow as the truth in them hit me like a punch to the gut. I couldn’t save them all tonight. How many could I save before my power guttered out completely? Until I used up the entire amplifier Bayne had so carefully crafted for me? I could feel it already, singeing the undershirt beneath my tunic. It took too much energy to lift my gaze to the matron who continued her butchering.
The amalgamation of events that occurred over the past several weeks spun through my mind. Choices… Changes…Who will I be?
My hands fell to my side as I realized she was right. The irony of the two powers was not lost on me. Why the two had such a difficult time coexisting within one body. A power to destroy and a power to create. Transcindiel didn’t just transform. It couldcreate, could save. And it was forced to exist, side by side with shadows of pure death.
That beautiful, golden flicker of hope that had sparked within the chasm of darkness trembled against the choice Xenelpha so clearly laid out. Her words from a week ago echoed in the emptiness filling my chest, the void that had begun to spread in my soul all those months ago when I began my slaughter.
Choices shape us.
Decide who you want to be.
A child’s scream ripped through the night, mingling with the chorus of snarls that rose from the village, followed by the answering roar of amatohks and the warriors they carried.
“Decide, Lyvia!” Vulcan screamed at me. His wild, hazel eyes found mine as his dagger plunged into the neck of an ashen flying through the trees.
My soul was the sacrifice.
My heart stilled at the realization. To do what needed to be done, to save the Realm of Vael. These choices would hover, haunting my existence until my last breath.
“Take me to the horde,” I shouted to Xenelpha, the words suffocating the little flame of hope that had burst into life mere moments before. I would make this choice, and I understood… Iacceptedthe damage it would do to my soul if it meant saving the others.
She reached a bone-covered glove to me and hauled me atop her amatohk. Vulcan ripped through two ashen before he leaped onto the back of the dune runner and squeezed in behind me, careful not to rub against the sharp, spine-like scales.
“Take me as far from the village as you can,” I said into Xenelpha’s neck as we flew through the village. The words caught in my throat at the danger I’d be putting the rest of them in. The blood that still coated my hands after that fateful day in Odessa and the damning piece of steel that stuck out of the field of ash… Oslo…
“Find Nerissa,” I said to Vulcan, his body shifting as he nodded in response.
A growing pressure of shadows built beneath my skin as an air-splitting screech echoed through to the west, followed by a blast of the whitest light. I sent a silent prayer up to Aelius for Nerissa as his power flowed through her on the battlefield. Vulcan leaped off the dune runner mid-stride in search of my fellow Bellator.
Xenelpha cursed as a silver arrow bounced off the shining scales of her amatohk. I ducked, making myself as small as possible without slicing my chest and face on the scales. Thedune runner snarled in response, and we broke free of the forest where hundreds of ashen crossed our abandoned camp across the frozen lake.
The amatohk’s stride lengthened as he stretched his massive paws over the ice and let himself glide in between steps, quickening our flight. We neared the edge of the lake when a huge white form hurtled toward us from the side, echoing a booming roar across the distance it quickly closed.
Silver, fortissa chains wrapped around the bear’s monstrous chest as he slammed into the side of the amatohk. A small whimper escaped its reptilian-like maw, and Xenelpha’s scream of fury reverberated off the ice. My head slammed into the bank of the lake, scraping against the icy snow. Warm liquid pooled down the side of my cheek as I struggled to stand.
The bear bellowed as he stood on his hind legs before hurtling himself at Xenelpha and her mount. It ripped into the amatohk’s ice-like hide, slicing through it with massive claws.
Xenelpha’s magic erupted from her as she called the wind, throwing large chunks of ice and slamming them into the bear’s head.
“Go!” she snarled at me.
I winced as I stood, slipping on the wet ice. Gods, I was so tired. My limbs dragged as if moving through tar. I risked a glance behind me as I let the Obscura race to my palms, the only thing about me that felt normal, aiming them ahead of me toward the oncoming ashen.
A dark silhouette of a soldier loomed above the massive bear. A rider. Xenelpha stilled for a moment before she began to quake, drawing in as much power as she could.
I snapped my attention back to the danger ahead of me as I summoned the darkness, doing everything I could to hold my arms out in front of me and let it fly. A wave of euphoria accompanied the release as the Obscura ripped free.My breathing slowed as I obliterated the undead army tens at a time, a small amount of horror seeping into my chest.
Yet a sickening sense of satisfaction formed as the white-blue plains, illuminated by Renova on the horizon, turned black with ash. Despite my exhaustion, I had no need of the amplifier for this. This darkness was more a part of me than the power of transformation. And what did that say about me?
My thoughts drifted as their numbers dwindled, but I kept hold of my mind this time. The darkness yanked at the reins like an unruly stallion, but I held firm, my control never faltering. Never again would I take a life I didn’t intend to take.
Nerissa appeared as the numbers died down. I closed off my fists, halting the flow of the darkness, and it rumbled slowly back into that chasm. A small remaining horde rushed toward us, and a brilliant white light shot free from Nerissa, the white fire catching them as they slowed, still staggering, swiftly burning alive.
She gave me a slight nod. Swords clashed in the distant village. My eyes snagged on a small, unmoving form. Xenelpha.
A smudge of violet spread across the frozen lake as Ganmira rose in the west. I scanned the snowy plains and the dark trees in the distance. No sign of the massive bear or its rider.
I shivered against the cool breeze floating over the plains as I knelt in the dark, wet snow next to Xenelpha. Little gasps of air escaped her chest in hollow, shaky breaths. I reached for the bone-covered hand that rested on a spear protruding from her chest. Dark eyes found mine from the shadows of her large mask as her fingers curled around mine. I reached to remove the spear when the mask shook side to side.
