I dove to the side just as a force slammed into the boulder I hid behind, the rock blasting apart.
My hands flew over my head as I ducked into a roll and sprinted behind another. I tripped over a charred body, and my head slammed against the ground. A gush of hot liquid rushed from my temple. White-hot pain lanced through the space behind my eyes.
Warm, rough hands appeared on either side of my face, and Kellan’s voice sounded beyond the ringing in my ears. I blinked through my tunneling vision. A dark wall crept through the sides. Burns lined one side of his neck, and the thick Votruvian paint was smudged across his eyes. They narrowed as he rubbed my cheekbone, and his lips moved. But I couldn’t hear what he said. He looked up past the top of the boulder before ducking and rolling over me.
A wave of leather and cedar wind wrapped around us as his shield locked into place. A blast of blue light ripped through the air, and Selvina landed in a crouch beside us. Sparks of her healing light ebbed my foggy vision, and the pain eased to a dull ache. I blinked my eyes open to her hands on either side of my face. Her white-blonde brows narrowed as she scanned me. She released me as Kellan’s arm appeared behind my neck, and he sat me up.
My throat bobbed, and I relayed my plan to the two of them. Kellan’s eyes were hard on mine, a war raging in their depths. I waited, holding my breath. I needed him for this. I didn’t havethe energy to do it without him. And I knew what I was asking… The cost.
Kellan scanned my face, where the Votruvian paint had smudged. His hand appeared on my cheek, and his thumb ran down the length of the paint before he placed a tender, yet confident kiss on my bloody forehead. He reached his other hand to me as Tiberius thundered through the shadows in the distance.
I slid my hand into his, our rings bumping against each other as if in acknowledgment, and his power punched through me.
The Obscura and Transcindiel raced to the surface at their call, at the image I conjured in my mind. Selvina spun on her heel and darted to the side, snaking a long line of sinister blue magic after Sintarrak. It was the distraction we needed.
I sprinted to Tiberius, leaping to his back and thundering away from the fight.
We are Shadow. We are Death.
As Tiberius galloped down the burning streets of Ayla, I closed my eyes, separating my consciousness from my body as I dove into the threads, ignoring Khato’s warning echoing in my mind.There was a cost.
I blinked my eyes open to a universe of light and twirling threads of various colors. I swam to the knot of sparkling gold and shadowed power, reaching my hand out and bringing that knot of power to my chest.
Tiberius’s whinnying scream cut through my half-conscious state, and golden power erupted within me as I forced a clear vision of Tynan himself in my mind’s eye.
Shadows. Death.
I commanded the Obscura and Transcindiel. I commanded the threads.
Tiberius and I fused, our bodies and minds becoming one in a single, cell-exploding moment.
She is morecreature than elf.
Bayne’s words rang in my strange, new ears like a fateful warning. Wind whipped away the sound of the crackling library as I spread my wings. The heavy, dark feathers sent a tight burn down my back. Darkness exploded in my vision, the Obscura unleashed in torrent of death. My body was becoming a thing of pure shadows, the ribbons of Obscura slowly replacing my flesh, but keeping my general humanoid form.
Feathers ruffled in the wind.
I flew as high as I dared, waiting to get a clear shot at the god who had taken over Bayne’s body. A wave of confidence spun up through my chest, and I sent my own back to the caeluma guarding my soul.
My fingers stretched, and my nails sharpened into long, thin talons as I held my arms to my side. The shadows slipped around my face to obscure my features as I held my head back and surged through the air. The rings on my fingers tightened as my skin stretched, and the comforting weight of my violet gem bumped against the múritinne band, my ultimate protection against the strongest of the Embodied wreaking havoc on the land below.
The Transcindiel turned on itself, twisting the golden light of its magic into a soft, dim glow, one hidden at the center of my chest, beneath layers of darkness. Long, tilted ears slipped through my shadowed hair, and I forced the pupils in my eyes to expand beyond the burning orange and caramel. Clarity bloomed in my vision, and I marveled at the gift. My sight narrowed in on the battle unfolding below as my shadows continued to form.
Aeriden and Raek heaved the unconscious wolf through the burning streets. Vulcan followed closely behind with Nerissa still screaming in his arms. Isla and Khato had arrived, and they sent the cracking, flaming branches of the Living Library hurtling toward Sintarrak, but the Embodied was too quick. Bayne’s body zapped from one place to another, avoiding their attacks with ease, the ability confirming what we’d all expected. Sintarrak had stolen the powers of the other gods, including the Advetis.
I watched from high above as my body continued to transform.Hurry, I urged the powers.
Drystan shifted between time and space, chasing after the god and only narrowly avoiding his strikes of blue lightning and white flames. Selvina hurled her twisted Ramadiel light at Sintarrak as he turned on Drystan, the Embodied narrowly avoiding the blow.
My heart lurched as Kellan clamped his hand on hers, powering her up once more. He sent a blast whipping toward Sintarrak, but the Embodied zapped out of the way a moment too soon.
Movement to the north caught my eye, and my head cocked as my eyes strained to see what emerged from the shadows of the trees. Golden eyes blinked open at the same moment the glowing tips of two rubelline arrows ignited, and a surge of hope spread through me.
A pack of Lotrennian wolves slipped through the shadows, as the lithe bodies of two elves crept among them. Kresida and Lida eyed each other before finding positions among the wreckage as the wolves spread out.
Sintarrak materialized across the clearing, and the wolves lunged. The Embodied stretched Bayne’s lips into a maniacal laugh as the wolves attacked, and white flames erupted in his palms. Rubelline arrows flew, cutting through the air where the god had once stood, before he reappeared behind a wolf.
Bayne’s arms wrapped around the wolf’s chest, before tearing it apart. The spine-stiffening howl rippled up to where I flew, fueling my rage. He turned to the approaching wolves, his palms searing through the flesh of the dying wolf. Flames erupted before the wolves, but shuttered as they hit a barrier of wind. Heat melted the Votruvian war paint from Kellan’s face, the black leaking down his jaw and lips as he threw his shield between the god and the wolves.
