Chapter Eighteen #2
It’ll be too much for you, starlight. The fear in his voice lanced through me. Wait for the Royal Guardians to arrive. They should be here any moment.
“It’ll be too late; I have no other choice. I can’t let everyone die!” I yelled down to Reign as I hovered above the chaos, my hands blazing with light and shadow.
Rue and Symon were already flanking a faltering squad of Shadow Fae students, dragging them behind a crumbled archway where Devin knelt, drawing protective glyphs with trembling fingers. Liora had reappeared, her blonde mane of hair glowing like a halo as she weaved between the wave of darkness.
“Belmore! Ariadne! Over there!” I pointed to the eastern edge of the campus where the Night Fae were circling, picking off the students one by one. They hesitated, bloodied and pale, but nodded, surging forward with the other Shadow Fae Reign had managed to rally.
Still, it wasn’t enough.
Lightning split the clouds, and a thunderous roar tore through the sky. A great winged form soared through the heavens, scales gleaming like golden fire.
Sol.
And no sign of the enormous winged beast of smoke.
A breath later, Phantom followed, her obsidian hide shimmering with veins of deep blue flame. Together, the dragons descended like wrath made flesh, crashing into the Night Fae’s line with an ear-splitting impact.
Solanthus clamped his massive jaws around another beast’s neck, wrenching the thing back into smoke. Phantom swept through the flames with her wings wide, unleashing a blast of shadowfire that disintegrated two more hellish creatures and sent their riders tumbling into the wreckage below.
Hope surged in my chest.
Sol, you have to take out the rest of those smoke creatures. They’re destroying the campus.
We’re trying, little Kin. It’s not as simple as we make it look.
Can you distract them, at least, so I can try something?
I will do whatever I can.
I dove toward Reign, his dark blade clashing with a masked Night Fae whose power rippled through the air like a festering wound. I landed beside him, driving my blade into the Fae’s chest. With eyes wide and mouth curving into a sickening scream, his body exploded to ash.
Reign’s wary gaze met mine, dark and penetrating. “The infernium vein…” he murmured.
I nodded quickly before summoning a pulse of pure rais to knock back the other Night Fae encroaching on our flank.
“Together?” I asked, breath ragged.
“Always,” he growled, shadows swirling around us like a tornado.
Our powers joined with a hum through the cuorem, fire and dark, starlight and smoke. We swept across the battlefield, carving a path toward the Hall of Luminescence. If I could only summon that shield, we could at least hold the line. For as long as we needed.
Before we reached the steps of the hall, I planted my feet at the heart of the burning courtyard, the chaos of war roaring around me.
With a guttural cry, I summoned the storm inside me—Light, Shadow, and Night—each one crackling as they spiraled around me in perfect tandem.
Reign stood beside me, clutching my hand.
My powers merged into a radiant tempest, wild and unstoppable.
Heat pulsed through my twin daggers, the infernium vein blades glowing molten red as if they knew what was coming. I slammed them into the scorched earth with all the force I had left. Power surged through me and into the foundation of Luce itself.
The ground answered.
A shimmering shield erupted over the campus like a second sunrise cloaked in twilight, celestial glyphs etched in starlight and darkness rippling across its surface. I poured everything I had into it, every sliver of rais, nox, and zar, fusing it with the infernium’s resistance to the Night.
Every single Demon Fae within the glittering orb burst into a pile of ash, leaving all the others unharmed. It was as if it had somehow sought out only the zar running through the Night Fae’s veins. Stunned students glanced around the battlefield, eyes wide and relief rounding their shoulders.
And then, the hellfire came.
The flames from the Night Fae on the other side of the orb slammed into my shield, sending a tremor across the scorched earth, and fizzled. Repelled. It burned out against the wall of pure, fused power.
By the gods, it worked.
“You did it!” Reign’s voice slid against my ear, his arms enveloping me in their firm hold, and it was only then I realized I was still crouching on the ground.
Then, something shifted under my boots. The soil beneath me trembled, not from the battle, but from something deeper. A pull. Familiar. Ageless.
I froze.
Reign tugged me off the ground, instantly sensing the change. “Aelia?”
“I feel him,” I whispered. “He’s here.”
The world tilted. My surroundings flickered. And then, everything else was gone.
I stood alone in a sea of nothing. No flames. No battle. Just dark water lapping at my feet and mist rising from the void.
He stepped forward from it. King Helroth.
He was cloaked in night and forgotten souls, the stump that was left of his arm hidden in darkness. His hair, silver as ice, and his smile carved from cruelty. His eyes, burning pure crimson and hatred, pinned me in place like a butterfly under glass.
“So strong now,” he purred, voice coiling through my thoughts. “So bright. But even the brightest stars burn out eventually without the proper flame.”
“You won’t win,” I hissed, trying to push him out, to shove my power through the bond like Reign taught me.
Helroth only laughed. “You still think this is your story, child? You’ve only just begun to understand. I am not your end, Aelia. I am your beginning.”
“You’re wrong,” I snarled. “You’re not my anything.” Summoning my powers along with the furious ones now surging through the cuorem, I shoved him from my mind.
The void shattered.
And I was back on the battlefield, the roar of dragons and cries of desperate Night Fae attempting to break through the shield crashing into my ears.
Reign was there, gripping me tight, shadows tangled with mine as he shielded my body with his own.
“Aelia!” he breathed. “What happened?”
I stared across the field.
Helroth was gone. But his voice still echoed through my mind. Don’t forget your vow, princess. The final act draws near.