Chapter 50
Terra
Kai is having a full-blown heart attack.
There isn’t much to say to him. So much for going down fighting; he’s already given up.
“There’s no way you guys can protect me. Oh my gods. I’m going to fucking die,” he says over and over until Corvus smacks the back of his head.
“Shut up. We’ll keep you safe,” he growls.
“Are you kidding? You didn’t see what Shadow magic does to a human body… It’s awful,” Kai snaps back at him. I think back to Noctili and the absolute weight of magic and blood in the air there.
Corvus narrows his eyes at his friend. “I saw what was left of Edgar as clear as day.”
“You didn’t see everything else, including what Elias did to the Fernestians.” Kai visibly pales and my stomach churns at the memory as well. It was much worse than that day in the field when we were traveling to Barkovah. It was in Noctili that I realized how starkly different our powers are. He’s a god.
The three of us are the last to step through the portal on the second floor. This one isn’t nearly as intimidating as the one in the basement. We’re plunged into darkness for a few seconds before blinking through narrowed eyes at the harsh light.
We’re in a forest. The trees are an unfamiliar species and the growth on the brush makes me assume we are in Cyprin or Lamnah. Their springs yield plants faster because of the warmer southern temperatures.
Branches beneath our group’s shifting feet is the only sound as everyone takes in their surroundings. They slowly turn their heads to Kai. My eyes linger there too. The awful gilded crown atop his head glows dreadfully. It might as well be shouting to all around that we’re here and waiting for an ambush.
“Well, don’t just fucking stare at me!” Kai snaps at us and a cold fire I haven’t seen blaze in his eyes before ignites. “You three, run a two-mile perimeter to see who’s near us. Terra and Corvus will stick with me. The rest of you figure out who among you will make a barrier to protect me,” he orders boldly.
Everyone stares at him with wide eyes, the stench of fear heavy in the air.
“Now!” Corvus shouts to back him up and it breaks their shock; they all scatter to their roles.
I frown. The three patrolling students look like they might fall over at the sound of a branch snapping. “I think I should go with the patrol. Corvus will protect you, just make sure to stay hidden,” I mutter and start walking away to join them.
Kai sighs and whispers, “Fine, but hurry back. I have a really bad feeling about this whole thing.” I hold his gaze and nod grimly.
The dense forest stretches out in every conceivable direction. Visibility is low with all the shade, brush, and tree trunks. The three other students in our patrol are from the Polaris and Tauri Houses, so I’m glad I tagged along. If they ran into Cosmos students, they’d die swiftly without someone stronger to protect them.
I ride on Amser’s back with the Polaris girl sitting behind me. My Shadow is the spitting image of Velis—if it weren’t connected to my soul, I’d get the two mixed up. The other two students ride on a tall stag-like Shadow. Its horns are spindly and dissipate at the ends in a constant shadowy wisp. As demented as the Shadows are, I’ll admit they are beautiful in their own dark way.
We’re about to turn west to check the last side when the trees finally break and a large meadow opens before us. I signal to stop and we dismount our Shadows to huddle behind a bush.
The clearing is vast and empty, a terrible place for any group to congregate unless they’re trying to bait others into attacking first.
“There’s movement over there,” the male student from Tauri whispers. His eyes are incredibly perceptive; I don’t see anything. I glance over at him. His pupils have shifted into mere slits, like a cat’s.
“Should we get closer?” the Polaris female asks.
“No. We should get back to the group and let them know what we found, then come up with a plan from there,” I instruct. Nekane’s survival class taught me something, at least. Don’t take risks.
The three of them nod and we mount our Shadows.
A dreadful sensation crawls up my spine as we turn. Amser speaks calmly inside my head, You’d better run quickly if you want to escape them.
My head jerks up and my heart beats erratically. “Shit, they know we’re here. We can’t lead them back to the group!” I hiss as our Shadows dash into the forest with wicked speed.
The cat-eyed male shouts, “What do we do?!”
My mind whirls and the only thing I can think of is to run in the opposite direction of our camp and try to get behind the pursuers. But we aren’t even granted that small chance.
A bolt of black electricity strikes the two males on the elk Shadow, hollowing out their chests in a second. Their blood hits our backs like a hot wave of sticky tar. I inhale sharply and push down the panic that’s rising inside me.
The Polaris girl behind me screams as they fall. The elk creature dances chaotically around their bodies for a moment before vanishing into dust. “Wait!” she shouts in my ear.
“They’re already dead!” I growl. We shouldn’t be out here killing each other like fucking animals. Fear is driving everyone fucking mad.
The Polaris girl trembles behind me and then a sharp pain pierces my ribs like ten daggers in my flesh. When I glance down, I see her sharp fingers, black at the edges, plunged into my torso.
Amser hisses inside my veins viciously and I feel that hatred in my soul grow.
I elbow the Polaris female in the face and Amser twists violently to throw her off. Her body hits the ground hard and she rolls like a ragdoll until her spine hits a tree. She throws her head back in an eerie scream filled with despair.
My stomach curls and I swallow the bile in my throat. Amser doesn’t give me another second to think before it takes off sprinting again. The female screams and cries until a sharp snap reverberates through the canopy. Then it’s awfully quiet besides the sound of Amser’s rushing paw steps.
Shit. “Why did she do that?” I grit my teeth and hold my sides. I’m healing, but slower than usual. She must’ve had poison in her claws.
Her Shadow longed for one of those males,Amser replies, even though I wasn’t necessarily asking it directly.
“So she tried to kill me over it?” I grip Amser’s spine harder and glance back to see if we’re still being followed. The silence suggests that I’ve lost them. “We need to get back to the group. Quickly!” I hiss under my breath.
Kai’s crown is visible from over a hundred feet away. Panic races alongside me as I dismount and push him low to the ground.
“Gods, what happened?” Kai breathes. Corvus doesn’t need an explanation. He already knows based on the fact that I’ve returned alone.
“They’re coming,” Corvus says, almost to himself. He lifts his head to speak to the others. “Get ready, they’re coming. Search for their crowned student so we can finish this!”
Kai curses and shuts his eyes, releasing his Shadow from his veins, and I feel a bit of relief as it pools around him and forms a protective cloak of sorts. “Thanks, Nekane, for your object-forming tangents,” he mutters. I’m a bit remiss that I didn’t take those tangents as seriously as Kai clearly did.
A silence falls over us as we wait, hiding beneath bushes and in the trees high above, some standing out front bravely, their Shadows apart from their bodies and giving our clearing an inky appearance. The wind dies down and sends an unsettling dread through my body.
A shard of black pierces one of the students standing before us. They fall to the ground without so much as a cry. The shard protrudes horribly from their skull.
Then utter chaos unfolds.
Thirty-some people rush from the front. Our teammates fall from the trees like hunted birds falling to their fates. Shadows of all shapes and sizes clash into one another and the scent of blood invades my senses.
“Do you see the crown?!” Corvus shouts over the screams. Growls from Shadows erupt from all around us. Dirt smears his usually impeccably clean face.
Kai blocks his eyes with his forearm as a wave of dust and blood blows across us. My lungs squeeze with the assault and I cough until the dust clears. Metallic flavors bloom across my tongue and I have no choice but to try and ignore the taste of death.
I search through squinted eyes across what now is a battlefield. Falling trees shake the ground beneath our feet, but I don’t see any crowns?—
My heart stops and I swallow hard.
A gilded crown shines through the crimson smog, and a familiar deathly flame flickers around the person walking towards us. I don’t need to wait to see his face. I know it’s Finn.
“He doesn’t know it’s our group he’s attacking!” I shout at Kai and Corvus before bolting blindly toward Finn, dodging warring creatures and humans alike along the way.
The blood smog breaks as I get within a few feet of Finn, and the world seems to slow. Our eyes catch as he unleashes his phoenix, the beautiful creature encasing us in a whirlwind of fire that steals the air from my lungs in the blink of an eye.
Finn’s amber gaze softens on me and a weary smile grows across his lips. I reach my hands up to his shoulders and he catches me. Our noses press together and I take a deep breath as death parades around us.
“You’re attacking us,” I mutter because I’m not sure what else to say.
“I see that.” Finn chuckles softly. “I didn’t know it was you.”
His phoenix keeps us safe in its vortex. If I stare at him long enough, I’m certain I could stay trapped here in his embrace forever. Finn’s dark hair lashes with the wind but his sharp jaw remains steadfast, orange flickering flames illuminating every smooth and hollow part of his lovely face.
He fists the back of my cloak against my skin and pulls me in tightly as he murmurs, “I was so worried about you, Terra. There’s no world I can live in without you.” He pulls back and presses his forehead to mine, staring into my eyes as the flames dance around us. He leans in and kisses me, a short brush of our lips imbued with so much affection. “Let’s get Corvus and Kai and figure out what we’re going to do.”
I snap out of my momentary trance of Finn and his dancing fire.
“Yeah, where’s Raine? He’s in your group, isn’t he?”
Finn nods and as he does, his Shadow takes to the sky, leaving us behind. The cold air around us is unwelcome now. The fighting has slowed as so many of our comrades are dead—for literally nothing. Guilt throbs through me but I don’t have time to be sad.
Raine kicks a man on my team square in the chest, not even trying to follow through with a killing strike. He glances my way and his eyes light up. I run to him and he opens his arms wide to hug me. Finn follows slowly behind and frowns at our connection.
“We didn’t know it was your?—”
Finn cuts him off. “Yeah, we already established that. Let’s stop the fighting.”
Raine releases me and frowns, nodding toward Frederick, whose massive snake Shadow is flattening trees and people alike to create a wide-open space.
“Good luck stopping him. He wants Kai’s crown,” Raine says grudgingly. His jaw flexes and an irritated pinch pulls his brows.
Of course, Frederick is after Kai. Such a malevolent man pursuing frivolous greed.
“Finn!” Kai spots us through the clearing smog and runs to us with Corvus at his side. Their eyes are wide and alert, and I’m relieved only to see a few scuffs and cuts on them.
Raine looks at the four of us and his eyes darken. “Let’s just go before Frederick sees us. We can pass this stupid exam just by keeping our kings safe for twenty-four hours.”
That’s the method I prefer as well.
However, I wonder if this entire exam was based on that idea. Like an experiment. Dr. Cein looms in my mind, that faceless man. If each team refused to kill another crowned individual, there would be no death. There’s nothing in the rules about refraining completely, only keeping your own king or queen safe. All this bloodshed was spurred on by fear.
“I agree,” I say sternly. Finn looks at me as if considering his options, but nods.
“All right, let’s get the fuck out of here then,” Kai says easily and darts toward the cover of the forest. We follow in silence, only speaking freely once we’re out of earshot of Frederick.
The cries and sobs grow distant. We make a temporary campsite once the sun begins to set. My legs tremble—we opted for traveling by foot to keep our cover; Shadows aren’t exactly a quiet way to make it through the forest. Their sheer size doesn’t help either. Raine’s dragon is too noticeable, same with Finn’s phoenix.
Raine finds a hollowed-out tree base that forms a sort of cave. It’s the largest tree I’ve ever seen, the trunk at least eight full arm-lengths around. The red-hued wood has an earthy, ancient scent.
We sit comfortably inside. It’s an enormous space, uninhabited by animals, and we’re lucky for it. Corvus takes up watch at the mouth of the trunk while we circle up and try to figure out our next move.
“I think we should stay here until the clock runs out,” Kai mutters brazenly.
Finn’s lips flatten and he shakes his head. “We’d be sitting ducks. We have to wait until daylight to do anything because our crowns will light up the entire forest at night, but we honestly might not even make it that long.”
Corvus glances back at us and adds: “I know there are a few really good tracking Shadows in some of the other factions. Theyll find us in hours if we’re anywhere near them.”
“I don’t want to kill anyone. Theyre just students like us,” I say hollowly, thinking of Elias’s murderous ways and how empty he is. I don’t want to become like him. But a worse thought crosses my mind as I remember what Kallos said last night.
This would be the perfect opportunity to pass on the blight. I squeeze my knees as I wrestle with my intrusive thoughts.
Finn leans closer to me and wraps his arm around my waist, pulling me close until our heads are resting against one another. “I don’t either. We can get by with knocking people out if it comes down to it,” he says with less certainty than I needed to hear.
Raine doesn’t seem convinced, but he keeps his silence.
We remain quiet as the night darkens. Cries and screams pick up again after a few hours.
I fall asleep and dream of class in Alkrose. How normal and sane it all felt until Edgar took his friends to Noctili. When my eyes open, Raine’s shaking me by the shoulders, his gray eyes burning with terror.
“Run and don’t look back.”