Chapter 22 #2
“If you’re not gonna help, the least you can do is shut up.” Her mouth slams closed, and I can finally think. All at once, more pop out from thin air, surrounding us, salivating like we’re the only food they’ve seen in quite some time.
Exhilarating.
Odeyssa stays on the ground, eyes wide as the creatures prowl by, teeth snapping, tongues slashing, antagonizing us before they take our lives. But just like the nightmares, I survived, and I know how to kill them.
The wind starts as a soft breeze, barely rustling my hair. Then it picks up, getting faster and faster. The dust flies around, taking any spare leaves with it. But this is only the beginning.
Thunder sounds above, but the creatures don’t pay it any mind. No, their soulless gazes stay transfixed on me, completely forgetting the other girl that’s there for the taking.
Lightning strikes next to one of the beasts, but it leaves it unfazed.
Odeyssa, on the other hand, gasps—probably shouldn’t have picked the spot closest to her.
I play with the fire the bolt created on the dry ground, coaxing it higher, fueling the flames until they surround us.
Shadows envelop me, overtaking my vision until all I see is a tunnel of light leading me to the next target.
“What are these things?” I ask.
Her answer is hardly a whisper, “Demicrogens.”
“You didn’t care to share this information before we came?” I bite.
“Not that it would’ve kept us from coming, but I didn’t think I needed to.
They’re supposed to be locked away in Mortis Regnum.
” A Demicrogen to my left pulls my attention, the twig it stepped on sounding through the howling wind.
I send the flames to it first, watching it burn from the bottom up.
When it tries to step away from the growing heat, my shadows take purchase around its hind legs, keeping it hostage while it continues to burn.
The Demicrogen releases some type of battle cry, alerting the others.
But it’s no use. My inky limbs lash out, tying them in place while they watch their friend perish in my hell fire.
Lightning strikes again, electrocuting two of them while another burns to ash.
My focus stays trained on the three remaining Demicrogens, so I miss it.
There was one I didn’t track—didn’t catch—and it seizes its opportunity.
Talons sink into my back, and searing pain blossoms over my shoulder blade.
“No!” Odeyssa cries.
“I’m fine.” Saliva follows my words through clenched teeth.
Holy Gods it burns, the agony growing at a rapid rate.
The hold I had on the others disintegrates, letting them free.
They don’t hesitate, flinging onto all fours and running toward me.
The one at my back slashes through my Achilles, and I fall to my knees.
It’s like my insides are being set ablaze, replacing my blood with hot embers before suddenly freezing to ice.
The contrast is unbearable, making it harder to breathe.
My lungs constrict, only filling slightly as I fight for my next breath.
My fingers dig into the ground, and it gives way, allowing me to curl them in as I gasp.
Dots dance in my vision as the oxygen becomes fleeting, and it only continues as one of the beasts bites my exposed arm.
There’s not even enough air to scream; it just comes out as a huff.
Then another sinks into my calf, another on my shoulder, and my pulse fractures.
The beats become slower, and I feel as though I’m running out of time.
The walls I’ve built in my mind melt with the spreading fever, and I hear the faintest sound of Voraxis’s voice.
Fight it. You’re stronger than this.
Another voice sneaks through. “Princess, I need you to fight. Get up. This is not your end. Do you hear me? Stand. Up. Show them who you are, what you are.”
My eyelids threaten to close, all the anger and resentment building with the sound of his voice, but it also brings back memories.
It’s him.
The him I thought I knew before he showed his true colors.
And as the last remaining syllable echoes in my head, it’s as though he has breathed life back into me.
Pulling my limbs into my body, it’s like slow motion and feels as if I’m tearing every ligament and tendon as I do.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I try to burn out what’s eating me alive.
But how do you burn something already engulfing you in flames?
I curl into a ball as the Demicrogens slash at my back, my feet, as I travel deep within myself for whatever it is I’m supposed to find.
It’s like a little bead, glowing with ethereal light, bouncing around in the confines of the darkness.
I coax it toward me, but a face appears, and it’s like looking into a mirror.
A twisted, demonic mirror. The reflection of the girl looks like me—or a version of me—but her eyes are as black as night, a spiteful grin painted across her lips.
Quickly, she snatches the orb and pinches it with her long, bony fingers, snuffing it out, white dust sprinkling down until it’s gone for good.
“You don’t need that,” she coos before her grip finds my shoulder, and shadows surge through my veins, purging the poison saturating my bloodstream. The shadows bleed out with me, or maybe the darkness doesn’t recede; it explodes from my slowly dying form, obliterating everything in its path.
Opening my eyes, I see the twitching bodies of the creatures, withering on the ground, letting out one last wail before the land falls silent.
My ears ring as I sit up, the throbbing in my head only increasing as I stand.
Soon, it subsides, only staying as a tingling reminder that I’m no longer alone inside my mind.
We are one.
Sometime between the horrific, mind-melting venom and now, the walls were rebuilt.
I tear down the one holding Callum captive, showcasing the golden glimmer behind it.
“You’re next.” My words slither down the connection, then I send a wave of destruction after them, unleashing the demons inside to feast.
Odeyssa’s footsteps pound against the ash-ridden ground, quickly closing the distance between us.
Her arms envelop me in a tight embrace, causing nearly all the oxygen to deplete from my lungs.
“Are you okay? I almost thought…” She trails off, but I don’t need her to finish the sentence. It’s left in the words unspoken.
She thought I was going to die. Not only that, but after the Demicrogens were done with me, she would’ve been next.
My arms stay trapped beneath her hold, pinned to my sides as I fight myself not to recoil from her touch. “I’m—”
“Fine,” she finishes for me. “That seems to be your answer for everything these days.” Her words come out muffled on a huff as she releases me.
There’s something woven into her tone. Annoyance?
Frustration? Exhaustion? It could be any of the above, but her face feigns indifference, but I don’t have it in me to care.
Wind beats down on us, kicking up the surrounding dust and debris as Voraxis lands.
He rushes over instantly, uncaring that he’s stepping on the remains of the Demicrogens until he reaches me.
Nudging his head into my torso—almost knocking me over—I run my hand along the bridge of his nose, letting the wall severing our connection fall.
But the moment I do, he pulls back sharply, like I’ve struck him.
My brows pull together. What’s wrong?
His response isn’t instantaneous, like he doesn’t know how to respond.
Nothing.
But his tone isn’t convincing. There’s no elaboration. His strange reaction leaves me puzzled, but we don’t have time to stand here and decipher whatever is going on.
Pulling my attention toward Odeyssa, I ask, “Did they get you at all?”
“No, thank the goddess. But I’m curious how you got rid of the venom.”
“Venom?”
“Venom, poison, however you want to put it. It’s lethal without an antidote,” she explains.
“That’s why I felt like my insides were liquifying?”
“Probably—it does act fast. I just don’t understand how you did it.” That makes two of us.
Shrugging my shoulders, my reply is nonchalant. “I heal all the time, no big deal.”
“Yeah, we all heal from wounds and whatnot, but not from that,” she elaborates, a mixture of amazement but also concern present as the wheels in her head turn. “We—fae,” she clarifies, “have to have something that is incurable, something to wipe us out if need be. Balance and all that.”
It makes sense, in case we, as a species, need to be eradicated from the realm, but why would we need to be? If we weren’t here, the land would just be overrun by whirles, scurriers, dragons, and any other mythical creature I’ve yet to encounter.
“Regardless,” she continues, “they shouldn’t even be here. They’re supposed to be confined to Mortis Regnum.”
“I couldn’t care less why they’re here—not really the biggest concern at the moment.
” Not when my blood is still screaming, and my lungs haven’t figured out how to breathe right.
Not when that thing almost tore me open like paper.
Curiosity is a luxury I can’t afford—our survival is still up for debate.
“Let’s just find the necklace and get the hell out of here. ”
Odeyssa lets out a huff, and I disregard the underlying attitude that comes with it.
We still have plenty to discuss after our conversation was so rudely interrupted.
Voraxis, on the other hand, stays silent.
His distance is a hard pill to swallow, but the reality is, he probably didn’t think I was going to survive either.