Chapter 30 #2
I peered across the battlefield, my breath catching for a moment as I spotted Aiden.
He moved like a storm: fluid, precise, deadly.
His shadows whipped around him, much like serpents, lashing out with violent grace as he cut down enemy after enemy.
He was magnificent and terrifying all at once.
But something about him seemed…different.
The power rolled off him; it pulsed in the air, similar to smoke and ash.
It reminded me of Ivy. Of the way her magic had swelled and twisted, corrupted by that rune.
My heart clenched. Had Aiden used one? The thought sliced through me like ice, but I didn’t have time to linger on it.
I pushed it down, shoved it away, and slid another dark rune into my satchel.
The weight of them was beginning to feel like poison against my side.
Gritting my teeth, I went back into the chaos and charged into the fray once more.
I clashed swords with a Blood Assassin, the ring of steel vibrating up my arm.
There was something wrong about them; their skin looked…
unsettled, like it was shifting in ways it shouldn’t.
I shoved the thought aside. This wasn’t the time to question appearances.
With a surge of light, I drove him back and carved a slash across his stomach.
A deafening boom erupted behind me. I turned just in time to see one of the academy’s towers crumble, stone and snow raining down in a choking cloud.
My chest seized; this was our home. I didn’t have time to really process when something slammed into me from the side.
My body left the ground, air screaming past my ears before I crashed into the snow, pain jolting through my ribs.
My lungs refused to work, and every muscle ached with the burn of fatigue.
“Fuck…” I rasped, pushing up on shaking arms. A hulking shadow blotted out the weak daylight.
I gazed up and froze. The thing was massive, hooves sinking deep into the snow, shoulders adorned with jagged spikes of bone.
A mace bristling with steel teeth swung in one enormous hand.
Each step was a tremor in the earth, a drumbeat in my bones.
Get up, Rynlee.
The mace came down, and I threw myself to the side, snow exploding where I’d been.
Somehow, I scrambled to my feet, only to be struck again, this time by its free arm.
The hit sent me sprawling, the taste of copper flooding my mouth.
The mace rose again, and I barely had the presence of mind to throw up a shield of light.
The impact rattled through me, my barrier trembling under the blow.
My magic flickered, the edges fraying. I wasn’t strong enough.
Not for this. The demon reared back for another strike and froze.
The black veins in its skin pulsed once…
then hardened into jagged crystalline lines.
Its eyes bulged, its body locking mid-swing before erupting in a violent spray of black ichor. I flinched, drops splattering my cheek.
Through the haze, I saw him. Short brown hair, eyes the color of warm honey, bright, sharp, unyielding.
There was something in the way he stood, weight slightly forward on the balls of his feet, blade angled low but ready, that pulled at my memory.
A whisper of familiarity I couldn’t pin down.
The air between us carried the faintest trace of iron and pine sap, an oddly comforting mix I couldn’t remember smelling in years.
My chest tightened, my mind chasing a memory that darted away like a shadow when you turned to look.
He gave me a faint nod, a silent you’re welcome, before turning and vanishing back into the chaos.
He wasn’t wearing academy armor. Who the hell was he, and why did it feel like I’d known him all my life?
Shaking the feeling off, I plunged once more into the fray, blade flashing, heat roaring through my veins.
A blood assassin lunged, mace raised high, and I met him head-on.
The clash reverberated up my arms, my muscles screaming.
His skin had that same unsettling, wrong fit as the others.
I pushed back with a shield burst, slashing across his neck, only to feel a rush of wind as he was hurled away.
Ryan skidded to a stop beside me, eyes scanning me over. “Yo, Ryn, you good?” he asked, his voice tight with concern.
“Yeah, you know… never been better,” I panted. Every time I paused, the exhaustion clawed deeper, a reminder that my healing couldn’t patch up sheer fatigue.
Ryan huffed a short laugh. “Yeah, tell me about it—” The ground shuddered violently beneath us, cutting him off.
Cracks rippled outward, widening into a jagged chasm that ripped across the battlefield all the way to the academy.
My stomach dropped as I watched the greenhouse splinter and collapse, glass glittering in the snow.
Before I could move, the earth gave way under Ryan.
“Ry!” I lunged, catching his wrist with one hand, my body sprawled across the only stable patch of ground left. The snow soaked through my leathers as my muscles strained to hold him.
“Fuck, don’t let go, Ryn!” Panic edged his voice. Shadows slithered up from the chasm, black tendrils coiling around his legs. Not Aiden’s but Erebus’s.
“Not happening,” I snarled, holding on with both hands and digging my feet in. Ryan lashed out with his wind magic, but the tendrils only tightened.
“Ryn, let go!”
“No!” My grip burned, my fingers locking.
Erebus was not taking him. Jackson dropped to his knees beside me, grabbing Ryan’s other arm.
Relief surged, then died as the shadows climbed higher.
And that’s when my gaze caught on these two pig demons noticing us.
They were massive, grotesque caricatures of swine: pitch-black eyes, bloated bodies slick with grime, cleavers the size of scythes clutched in their fists. Both roared, charging.
“Come on, come on!” I gritted through my teeth, trying to haul Ryan up before they reached us.
The orb at my collar slipped free, the chain cool against my skin.
It pulsed once before light exploded outward, flooding the snow in a golden wash.
The shadows recoiled with a hiss, their grip on Ryan breaking.
Jackson and I yanked him up, stumbling back just as the pig demons closed in.
I slammed a light shield into place around us.
The first cleaver blow rattled my bones, the shield flaring but holding, barely.
“Shit,” Jackson muttered, already conjuring.
Ryan was still gasping, color returning to his face.
I wasn’t sure how I’d managed to cast something this big, but the orb’s heat thrummed through me, like Hemera herself was bracing my arms. A piercing cry split the air, and a giant eagle swooped down, raking its talons across one demon’s snout. I glanced at Jackson.
“That yours?”
“Yup. Guess my spirit animal is an eagle,” he said with a quick grin.
I turned back to Ryan. “You good?”
He nodded.
“Let’s show these pigs what we’re made of.”
Flames flared to life in my palms as Jackson conjured dual scabbards and Ryan drew his daggers.
The remaining demon swung at me first; I rolled under his cleaver, flames leaving streaks across the snow.
Jackson engaged from the side, blades flashing, while Ryan slammed into its ribs, staggering it.
I felt the orb’s power surge, my fire burning brighter, sharper, until my swords dissolved into a wall of flame.
I hurled it forward, the blaze swallowing the beast. Its shrieks rattled in my chest before it collapsed in a charred heap.
“Holy shit, Ryn!” Ryan said, grinning. “That was awesome.”
“Thanks,” I breathed, though my skin felt too hot, my lungs raw from the intensity.
The orb held more power than I was ready for, but if I wanted to see the end of this war with my friends alive, I’d use every drop.
We bumped forearms, a quick moment of camaraderie before diving back into the storm.