Chapter 38
Serafina
“I apologize for the interruption, but a special decree from the royal family themselves has just reached my ears, and the final round of this trial has been changed.”
Special decree?
My eyes find Jax again in the stands. His brow furrows as he shakes his head.
Whatever this is…it wasn’t him…which means this decree has come from the king. The man who I’m sure would love nothing more than to see me dead.
Dread trickles down my spine as my eyes meet those of the man who had once sentenced me to death. A small smile pulls at his lips, and my hands catch fire.
“Serafina,” Nyxa says in my mind, “I do not have a good feeling about this.”
Neither do I.
A pulse erupts from the center of the arena, and a deafening sound follows, roaring in my ears until I don’t hear anything at all.
My fire goes out, and I cover my eyes as dust from the dry dirt flings past me, encasing me, encasing everyone.
But then it settles, and I take a stumbling step forward, as if coming out of a drunken haze. My hearing feels off, like pressure needs to be released.
I smack the side of my head until it is.
What the hell was—
“Essentari will hold an advantage no more!” the same voice from before calls out, and I freeze.
He cannot possibly mean…I stare down at my hand and will my flames to emerge. I try to feel them, feel anything, but nothing happens.
My fire is gone, my ability to connect with the flames, to command them, is gone.
I look at Jax, wondering if the same is true for him, and when his gaze leaves his own fingers and locks on mine, I know it is.
We’re both powerless.
“What just happened?” Nyxa’s words are frantic in my mind. “What was that?”
“You felt it, too?” I try to swallow my panic, but I also wonder how that’s possible with her being so far away. The last time we spoke of it, she was close to reaching the palace, which means the journey to my village will still take her weeks to complete.
“Just barely. It felt like…like…”
“Like what, Nyxa?”
“No, never mind. It’s not possible. The Ether gradient doesn’t exist anymore. They were wiped out years ago during the…” Her voice fades as if she’s realizing something truly horrifying.
“During the what?” I demand. “What the hell is the Ether gradient?”
“It nullifies your ability to wield your element. Serafina, you need to get out of there. Now.”
“I think it’s too late for that,” I tell her right as palace guards flood the arena, the royal red of their uniforms giving them away.
The king must have been planning this for weeks to get them all here in time.
He was never going to let me live. He hadn’t meant to keep his promise to Ryjax even for a moment.
Fucking bastard.
The Enforcers stand aside, looking at each other like they have no idea what to do, what to make of this, and the contestants are all doing the same.
“Not only must you survive each other but also Velegoria’s most well-trained Elite.
As our world continues to suffer—continues to struggle to keep those who deserve to live alive—the royal family has decided—” His voice cuts out, but then I can hear the low sound of him clearing his throat.
“They have decided that one hundred winners in today’s trial are simply too many for our society to withstand.
” He speaks with no emotion, his typical flare gone, and a weight settles in my chest, pressing down, down, down until I’m forced to pull in another breath.
What?
This…this isn’t right. They’re going to kill us.
All of us?
They can’t do this.
Can they?
I look for the king and queen on the balcony again. The queen is still looking up at the sky, but the king’s eyes are still pinned on me.
His smile grows.
This is his doing.
They’re going to kill every last one of us. Everyone here will die because the king wants me dead.
Only me.
“May the Ether welcome your souls.” The announcer’s voice sounds more like a whisper, and I wonder if he knows someone in the arena.
The guards begin their charge.
I don’t have a weapon, none of us do, and I watch in complete horror as the sharpened swords of the Elite cut into the bodies of those I’d seen walking the streets countless times.
Blood.
So much blood.
There’s no way to win.
No one will survive this.
But I have to at least try.
I might not be able to wield my flames, but I’m still strong. My muscles have still strengthened, and I’ve always been fast.
I pull my dagger from my belt.
Screams ring out to my left as the guards continue their advance to the center of the arena, to the place I’m standing in now.
My eyes gloss over where Jax, Theo, and my parents were in the stands.
None of them are there.
Good.
They got out, as it should be. I don’t want them to see this.
But I won’t make it easy for them. I’ll still put up a fight.
An Elite makes his way to me, swinging his weapon over his head, aiming to slice straight into my shoulder.
I dodge the blow, spinning so I’m behind him. But before my blade can pierce his skin, a sword enters him from the front.
He drops to the ground.
Dead.
Char stands just before me, a bloody, heaving mess. Somehow, he was able to acquire a weapon.
“Are you okay?” He breathes, gripping his sword tighter as I grab the one off the man he just killed. A real sword will be far more effective.
“This changes nothing,” I grit out, turning my attention to the Elite who are almost upon us.
I swing the blade effortlessly, the heavy metal easily controlled by the muscles I now possess. My weapon clashes with one of their swords before finding my mark, right in between his ribs. He collapses, blood dripping from the wound I just created.
I killed him.
He’s dead. And I’m…frozen.
The weapon falls. My hands shake.
No.
I will not die. I will not die today.
I reach for my sword, preparing myself for another attack.
“I’m coming for you, Fire Wielder,” Nyxa says, her voice urgent, strained and worried all at the same time.
But it doesn’t matter, she’ll never reach me in time. It’s not possible.
Suddenly, I feel someone at my back, I whirl around with every intention of gliding my blade straight across his throat, but stop short when I see that it’s Jax, with Theo plunging a dagger into the chest of one of the guards only ten feet away.
“What are you doing?” I say frantically, needing him to get out of here, needing him to survive. “You can’t interfere with the trial!”
“This isn’t a trial. It’s a bloodbath,” he grunts in return, his strong arms driving his blade into the guard I hadn’t even noticed.
“This is your father’s doing?” I ask.
He nods. “He’s afraid I’ll tell you the truth.”
“The truth? What truth?”
But before he can respond, more guards descend upon us.
And together, with Theo to the left of us and fucking Char to the right, the four of us cut our way through the pack. But there’s still too many of them, and with both Jax and I unable to command the elements, there’s no way we’re making it out of this alive.
“I’m almost there,” Nyxa says, her words penetrating my thoughts, battling with the sounds of people screaming out their final breaths.
How the hell is that even possible? The walk would take—
“When did I ever say I was walking?” She chuckles, the sound a shock to my system, mixing with the scent of death and blood.
But it doesn’t matter.
Even if she does manage to make it in time, even if she is able to connect to the flames, bend them to her will, there are hundreds of guards, and she won’t be able to take them all on by herself.
“Do not doubt what I am capable of.”
With my back to Jax, my blade finds its next target, making sure each strike lands in a spot that won’t allow them to get back up.
More guards emerge from the tunnels. So many tunnels.
“I’m here,” Nyxa says, the relief in her voice washing over me. My eyes scan the edge of the arena, but I don’t see her. Just the guards. Nothing but guards.
“Where?” I scream, desperation thick in my voice. Because fuck, I can’t keep going for much longer. None of us can.
“Look up.”
A tingling sensation takes over my entire body, starting at my fingertips and racing to my core. The air shifts, the heat of the sun disappearing as a massive shadow stretches across the ground, blocking out the light. I hear a low, rhythmic whoosh, the unmistakable sound of beating wings.
Look…up…
And I do.
Gasps and terrified screams tear through the arena like an untamable wave. The chaos around me only amplifies as every single person tilts their head to the sky.
We’re all seeing the same thing. Seeing it…but having an impossible time believing it.
Some of the guards sprint for the tunnels as the most glorious beast descends from the heavens with scales the color of fire.
Nyxa…is a fucking dragon.
My heart forgets how to beat. It soars, doubling in speed, pounding so hard I can feel it in my skull.
“Hello, Fire Wielder,” she purrs into my mind, and my mouth drops because how is this possible? How is this real?
All this time…
She lands with a bone-shaking thud, one that rattles the entire earth. She’s huge. Massive and the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Steam hisses from her nostrils as she bares her razor-sharp teeth, teeth that are far bigger than I am.
Her red scales shimmer as the sunlight melts into them. A living breathing tapestry of reds and oranges and golds.
She is destruction incarnate.
She is life reborn.
Nyxa will cleanse the earth.
Her chest expands, and fire erupts from her mouth, her claws digging into the soil as she creates a blast that devours everything in its path. The guards don’t even have time to scream before they’re incinerated, leaving nothing but ash to scatter in the light wind.
She turns her head, those burning eyes locking onto me. And I can feel it—feel her—the bond slipping into place like a key in a lock, an overwhelming, undeniable force that will anchor her to me forever.
“Are you sure?” I ask as the deepest sense of belonging floods my veins. “Nyxa, I won’t live as long as you. Bonding with me…you’ll shorten your lifespan by centuries.”
“I have lived long enough on my own.” Her voice is a delicate whisper in my mind. Elegant and beautiful, just as she is. “And I do not wish to be on my own ever again.”
The bond locks into place, and damn, it feels powerful. My hands catch fire, my ability to command the element is back, and I grin.
“Not only are we bound by flame,” Nyxa says, “we are now bound to each other. We are one.”
I nod at her, feeling my power, her power, flooding my system. I turn to Ryjax, and his eyes are huge, his sword barely gripped in his hand, and the same can be said about Theo and Char.
“Nyxa,” I tell Jax, and he blinks in understanding. “I think it’s time we end this. Don’t you?”
“I still can’t command the shadows or the light,” he pants, eyes falling on the countless innocents being slaughtered by the royal guards.
“Then stand back,” I say, and the closest guard to me bursts into flames, then the guard beside him.
Nausea stabs at my stomach as I listen to them scream, succumbing to the death I caused, the torture I inflicted.
“They deserve it,” Nyxa growls just before releasing a blaze of her own, scorching the earth and all who stand within range.
Blood-curdling screams, but then more palace guards, almost as if those who had fled had merely gone in search of reinforcements.
“We can’t save them all!” Ryjax yells, watching in horror as more blood is spilled.
No. No, this cannot be happening. Happening because of me. So much death. So much destruction. All because of me.
“He’s right, Fire Wielder. We must go. Live to fight another day. I could burn this entire arena to the ground, but even the innocents would die.”
“If we get out of here, there’s a good chance my father will call off the attack,” Ryjax says. “It’s you he wants dead. Not them.”
I nod, needing to believe he’s telling the truth. Needing to believe that if we go…if we escape, then we wouldn’t be leaving these people to die.
“What about my parents?” My eyes search the stands.
“Theo and I already got them out. Before we got to you, we made sure they were in the tunnels.”
He got them out. Jax got them out.
They’re okay.
“We need to go,” he says, and I nod.
We break into a sprint with the others close on our heels, heading straight for Nyxa, who opens her paw in a way that lets me know she wants us to jump on.
So I do, followed by Jax, followed by Theo, followed by…
Nyxa catapults into the air, and Char hits the dirt. Her wings flap and flap, sending us hurtling into the sky. The sheer force of the wind is nearly blinding.
“Go back for him,” I demand, watching as Char becomes smaller and smaller, a mere pin needle in a sea of chaos.
“He tried to have you killed.”
She’s right.
He did.
But he’s still Char. I may hate him, but I don’t want him dead.
At least…not in this particular moment.
“And we are not him. Go back for him!”
She roars, so loud and so piercing that I grip her tighter, pressing my face against her scales. I hold on for dear life. She descends rapidly, swooping into the arena and scooping Char up with a single talon.
Together, the five of us escape into the deep blue sky.