I drop down, sweeping my leg across the back of hers, and wait for her to hit the ground. My hand cradles the back of her head before it can make impact, and I hover above her smugly as she pants.
“You took that ass whooping like a champ. Maybe next time you’ll return the favor.”
She scowls with this adorable little twitch in her nostrils. “That wasn’t an ass whooping. Plus, you distracted me.”
I tilt my head to the side as I stare at her. “How’s that? I didn’t do anything but block you.”
Her lips part and she rips her eyes from mine like she just realized she didn’t mean to say that. I tighten my grip in her hair just enough to get her to look at me again.
“How did I—”
My words die on my tongue as my power sings in my veins and my soul screams out. The onslaught is so sudden and forceful, my eyes shifting steal the sight of her. A whispered prayer blares across my mind, silencing everything around and inside of me.
“Please. End this and save our souls.”
The call fades and my soul latches on to the beings begging for mercy. I shake my head repeatedly to get control over my power. It’s a battle as it wrestles with me to run toward the request of death.
“Creed.” Thayla’s soft plea penetrates the madness, and I jump away from her touch that lands on my arm.
She can’t touch me right now.
My sight returns, only for it to collide with the worry written across her face as she kneels in front of me. At least it’s worry and not fear. Either way, I can’t explain anything right now.
I hurry to my feet and turn to my brother. “Prepare Ellian. Just in case.”
He nods and I starshoot away, ignoring the sound of my name falling from Thayla’s lips repeatedly.
I reappear in my room only long enough to grab my chest plate of armor with the strappings to hold my swords. A minute and a half maybe is all the time I spare.
Starshooting again, this time when I appear, it’s on the outskirts of the Abandon about two miles from our stronghold. Although it’s the same time of day from our side of Godsden to this one, the air carries with it a thin layer of fog that obscures the true brightness.
I hide in the shadows of the crumbling structure to go undetected through the rays of light that pierce the darkness. I unsheathe my sword and call my power back forth, allowing my soul to tug me where I need to go.
My footsteps are calm, slow, and precise, unlike the beat of my heart. The faint sounds of a baby’s wail and a mother’s coo threaten to rip me apart, but I force myself to take measured steps.
This is the exact scenario my father would use to lure me to him.
I duck down a half standing hall and kneel to run my fingers across a bloodstain on the floor. It’s just beginning to cool and form a sticky texture.
The trail grows the closer I get to the sounds that are becoming louder.
My body falls still, while my stomach pools with dread as I come into a room and face the being who called out for me so desperately.
The relief and anguish that cross her paling face as she looks at me for help causes bile to race up my throat.
“Y-you came,” she slurs, her eyes blinking in and out of focus as her lifeforce continues to leave her.
Another piercing wail breaks the brief heavy silence, and my body moves without my command. I kneel in the puddle of blood forming beneath the woman and run my hands over her red-stained clothes.
Neither my eyes nor my hands can find the main source of the damage. There are multiple spots. Her body has been through hell and back.
I want nothing more than to close my eyes in sorrow as I sense the smallest shred of her soul hanging on for dear life. It’s like the sight of me has given her permission to give in to the call.
I want to tell her to hold strong, don’t give up.
Instinctively, with the powers cursed upon me, I already know she only has moments left.
“Is the child hurt?”
