32. She Has Risen
She Has Risen
KAEL
After what felt like a lengthened pause, I stumbled forward.
Sucking in a rasped breath, oxygen stung my lungs, a sign of a stalled intake.
A frigidness followed, curling around my spine as my weaponless hand patted over my frame.
Notably uninjured, I scanned the others to try to understand what had happened.
Expressions mirroring mine—twisted with irrefutable confusion—Syoran, Sapphira, and Leilani exchanged glances with one another. It wasn’t until I settled on Alastair that it all started to click.
Tainted blood dripped from his sword, its inky hue polluting the cobblestone beneath his feet.
Beside him, the creature that had been seconds away from impaling him and Leilani rested in a heap of discarded limbs and lacerated flesh.
Untouched, Alastair lifted his chin, and as his gaze met mine, the reinstated expansion of my lungs vanished.
A newfound intensity pulsed through his irises, their already vibrant hue glowing like the setting sun.
What were once fractals of gold became a beacon, illuminated with a thirst for eradication I’d already borne witness to.
They ignited further as his lips upturned, and as I went to comment, he cut me off as he chucked the head of the Others’ damned beast to the side.
“What… the fuck?” Syoran forced out, instinctively shoving Sapphira behind him. “Seridean?”
Alastair peered at the Bloodmarked’s temporary captain. “Yes, Kao?”
Brows drawing together, that all-too-familiar annoyance painted Syoran’s expression.
“Nothing about this is fucking casual,” he spat, his nostrils flaring.
“Considering the lot of us were rushing to your rescue, and now you’re standing without a mark or ounce of exertion to explain the slain beast beside you, there is—”
“Finally,” Parran interrupted, the mounting relief in their voice enough to earn my attention.
Frosted locks slightly disheveled, their cornflower pools found me. Still free of any blemish, I roved over their periwinkle skin, hunting for anything that would explain their audible alleviation. Trailing along the length of their collarbone, I caught sight of an iridescent sheen and paused.
Overlapping scales protected the sides of their neck, only disappearing as they slipped beneath their hairline.
Drawn in by their mysticism, I mapped their expansiveness until I landed on their ears.
Still pointed, their elongated shape had grown by a couple of inches.
And nestled just below the first, original pair was a second.
My utterance came before I could stop it. “You’re… breathtaking.”
Cheeks aflame with embarrassment, I swallowed once before averting my gaze entirely.
Guilt surged like a violent wave, threatening to devour me for complimenting another as I had Percy.
Quick to follow, the phantom brush of his caress ghosted up my arms and along my jaw.
A reminder of his attentiveness and all he’d sacrificed to ensure I remained safe. Alive.
It was my fault that he was dead.
My fault that he had fallen to Caspian’s blade.
My fault…
Fingers curled around my chin, gently drawing me back as a blanket of comfort settled over me. Drawn in by that sudden sense of alleviation, I found that cornflower stare once more.
Parran’s snow-capped lashes fluttered as they studied me. Light freckles backlit by a blush, they offered a soft smile as they nodded in gratitude. “Thank you, Kael.”
My throat bobbed, and I forced the influx of emotion to the confines of my mind. Holding their gaze, I tried my best to replicate their expression. “No need to thank me. I’m simply stating truths.”
Their lilac tongue traced their matching lips, but before they could speak, Alastair intervened with urgency. “As much as I would love for the two of you to continue sharing this special moment, we have far graver things to worry about.”
Using the pirate’s demand to my advantage, I pulled away from Parran. At the suddenness of their absence, I had to bite my tongue to prevent myself from immediately turning back. The spike of affliction served as my grounding cord, and without pause, I spun toward Alastair.
“Like what—?”
Before I could prepare myself, something—no, someone crashed into me. An arm circled my waist, and another wrapped around my back as a hand worked to cradle my head. My surroundings flipped before I could decipher who it was, and just as fast, we met the ground.
Every drop of air evaporated from my lungs as a gasped groan fled me.
Grateful for the added cushion, but battling to breathe, I fought the urge to curl in on myself while I sought the sustenance of life.
Blinking once, I caught the shift of a silhouette in my periphery before the one responsible for my tumble perched themself over me.
“Are you okay?” Syoran asked, brushing my hair back as if in search of injury.
I nodded once. “Y-Yeah… But what… W-What the fuck was that for?”
“Another—”
“Syoran!” a female cried—Sapphira.
Not an ounce of hesitation laced the Bloodmarked captain’s features as he snatched his fallen blade from the cobblestone. As he adjusted, his chest brushed against mine. Bending his knee, he settled his foot by my hip and shifted.
Poised with elegance, Syoran stretched taut like a drawn bow.
His sword followed, the sharpened steel tracing an imaginary line along his chest. He rotated his hips, and his body naturally twisted with the momentum.
As if practiced, his arm shot skyward, and with the pose, he unfurled entirely, his frame serving as my shield as he struck the approaching creature.
Viscous sludge erupted from the severed limb, coating the two of us in its polluted black. As the monstrosity withdrew, a shriek followed. It was potent enough to seep into the abysmal crevice carved in the earth, and, as if in answer, a tremor rocked the streets.
Wiping the blood of the Other Realm from my eyes, I blinked twice as my attention settled on an outstretched hand. Syoran grabbed hold first, rising to stand before pale fingers closed around mine. With one tug, Ignis pulled me upright, and the grin he offered was one indicative of our states.
“You two certainly will need to visit a bathhouse, or something of the sort. Though I hate to be the bearer of bad news, as we have—”
A familiar crack tore through the air, one I’d heard during our altercation in Serevalen. My head swiveled in its direction, and the sight that welcomed me was one I would remember for the rest of my life.
With a single finger raised, Parran stood before the towering insectoid.
Its breadth and height swallowed their frame, but they seemed wholly unbothered by their size difference.
It quickly became apparent as to why when the creature split in two, both halves of its exoskeleton separating before toppling to meet its demise.
The thud of its cessation became an afterthought as Alastair’s timbre ripped through the ensuing chaos. “To the docks! Now!”
“What?” Sapphira intervened, trepidation clinging to the single syllable. “What about Caspian?”
“And Rohen?” I added. “I’m not leaving without her.”
Golden irises found me, a harshness etched into Alastair’s expression. “We are running out of time. There is only so much we can sacrifice, and I am unwilling to accept any of your deaths when there is a way to prevent it.”
My reply came without hesitation. “Okay, then set sail without me.”
“Kael, you can’t…” Syoran started as he curled his fingers around my arm. “You cannot stay here. Not with the arrival of the Royal Guard. They will take you back—”
“You know the rest”—Alastair trained his gaze on me—“and we both damn well know it is not how Percival would wish for you to die.”
I lunged forward, my lips curling back into a snarl. “You will not use him against me like that!”
“Ace,” Leilani pleaded, settling a hand on her lover’s chest. “Don’t.”
“Am I fucking wrong?” Alastair pressed, striations dancing along his jaw. “He bartered his life for yours consistently. Do you truly believe he would be fond of you remaining here, in the mounting rise of danger? Or would he have been adamant on your return to the ship? Because the man I remember—”
“You do not know him, so you will not sit here and act as if you do!” My shoulders rose and fell with my wavering breath, tremors rocking my frame. “Percy fought for me, not against me, and there was never an instant when he wouldn’t take my thoughts, feelings, and advice into consideration.”
A voice cut through the brief gap in an attempt to get our attention. “Uh, guys…”
“I know him damn well enough to recognize that, in a situation like this, he would want you to live instead of—”
“Shut up! Shut the fuck up!” I screamed, tears butting up against my waterline.
“GUYS!” That feminine fire had returned, Sapphira’s cadence carving through our quarrel.
“What?!” Alastair and I growled simultaneously, our narrowing glares sweeping to her.
She gestured toward the shore, just off from where Hollow Lantern resided.
An eyeless and blunt-snouted head snapped forward, closing its maw around a black mass.
Her long limbs rose, webbed fingers coiling around the creature she’d claimed as her meal.
With one yank, flesh tore from bone as she indulged in her feast. Only once she was done did she toss the remnants of the unknown being aside, her tendrils slithering out of the water to gather the carcass and crush it beneath her tentacles until only dust remained.
Yxalune. The Seven-Headed Terror of the Deep.
Her arrival meant only one thing, and the words that slipped from me were all I offered the others before I broke into a sprint in the direction from which she had risen.
“Rohen is down there.”