37. Fire Beasts #2
My hands trembled as I steeled myself. "I can't tell you everything. Not because I don't want to, but because I can't. There are secrets that aren't mine alone to tell. Secrets that would put everyone in danger who knew them."
Her eyes narrowed, mind working behind them. "Does this have something to do with your blood?"
My hesitation was answer enough. I nodded, the movement feeling wrong.
"I suspected as much," she said, leaning closer. Her voice lowered. "No ordinary blessed has power comparable to yours. Or your brother's." She trailed off, studying my face.
I remained silent, my heart hammering so hard I was sure she could hear it. How much had she guessed? How much was safe to confirm? One wrong word and everything could unravel.
"You're right," I said.
Marx squinted at me, those keen eyes missing nothing. "Your mother..."
I tensed, then nodded. Just the barest movement, but enough.
Marx simply blinked, understanding filling her eyes. She didn't have all the pieces yet, but she was assembling the puzzle faster than I'd anticipated.
"Well, shit," she said, leaning back on her hands.
Despite everything, I laughed. It burst out of me, surprising us both.
"That's one way to put it."
She shook her head, a strand of dark hair falling across her face. "No wonder Xül is so... invested in your training. Does he know?"
"Yes." The admission felt dangerous. "He figured it out."
"And he's keeping your secret." It wasn't a question. "Interesting."
Before I could respond, the sound of leaves crunching underfoot echoed through the clearing. But the stride was too heavy.
Marx heard it too. She was on her feet in an instant.
"Aelix?" I called, rising with care.
Silence.
"Something's wrong," Marx whispered, her eyes scanning the treeline.
We stood back to back, turning in a slow circle, watching for any movement.
"Aelix!" I called again, louder this time.
Nothing.
And then?—
The trees at the edge of the clearing didn't part so much as recoil. They bent away from what emerged, their trunks groaning in protest. It was Kavik.
Behind him, Aelix stumbled into view. His hands were bound behind his back with chains that glowed with sickly light. His face was a ruin of bruises and blood, one eye swollen shut.
And flanking Kavik on all sides were beings I'd never seen before .
Their bodies were composed of flame. They shifted and reformed, no two moments the same, leaving scorched footprints that went deeper than they should. The grass didn't just burn where they stepped, it melted, leaving wounds in the earth.
"Thais," Marx breathed, horror bleeding through her voice. "Those are fire elementals."
Kavik's lips curved into a cruel smile. His face might have been carved from stone for all the mortality it showed. "Ladies," he greeted us, his voice pleasant. "What a fortuitous encounter."
"What the fuck is this?" Marx demanded, her stance shifting to full combat readiness. Every muscle coiled, ready to explode into violence. "What have you done to Aelix?"
"A temporary inconvenience," Kavik replied with dismissal. "Don't worry, Marx. You're not the one I'm here for." His gaze shifted to me, and I saw nothing behind those eyes. No recognition, no emotion, just emptiness. "I've come for the star-wielder."
Aelix's good eye went wide with alarm. He thrashed against his bonds, the chains cutting deeper into his wrists. "Run!" he shouted, the word torn from his throat.
One of the fire elementals pressed a burning hand to his shoulder. The smell of charred flesh filled the air as Aelix screamed.
"Stop!" I shouted, sparks dancing through my fingers. "What do you want with me?"
Kavik tilted his head at an odd angle. That terrible smile never wavered. "Classified information, I'm afraid."
"I'm not going with you alive," I told him.
His smile widened more. "Alive was never part of the plan."
The fire elementals surged forward as one—a wave of flame that turned the air around us into an oven. The heat hit hard, soaking me in sweat and burning my lungs.
Marx and I moved together, our powers colliding in a defensive wall that screamed where light met curse. The barrier held for three heartbeats before the first elemental struck it, and I felt the impact in my bones .
They were strong. Stronger than anything we'd faced.
I dodged, throwing a blade of light towards the fire beast. It struck its core and the thing shrieked before collapsing into embers that burned holes in reality before fading.
Beside me, Marx's curses had taken on a life of their own, wrapping around another elemental. Where they touched, the creature's flames evaporated. Its form began to collapse, the very essence that held it together corrupted by her power until it shattered into smoking fragments.
Through the chaos, I glimpsed Aelix breaking free of his bonds. Blood poured from his wrists where the chains had cut to bone, but he launched himself at Kavik with a roar that shook the clearing. Blood spiraled from his fingertips.
Kavik deflected without looking, his attention never leaving me.
"What are you doing?" Aelix demanded, circling his opponent. His movements were desperate, sloppy. "Have you lost your mind? She's under Xül's protection!"
"She is a threat," Kavik responded, his voice flat. "The girl is a threat. She must be eliminated."
"What are you talking about?" Aelix dodged a blast of wildfire that left a crater where he'd been standing. The edge of it caught him anyway, sending him spinning. He kept his feet with effort. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"
"The girl is a threat," Kavik repeated. "She must be eliminated."
Another fire beast lunged for me—its form towered twice my height. I threw up a shield of starlight, pouring everything I had into it.
The creature's burning fist smashed through my defense.
I lurched sideways, feeling the heat of its strike pass inches from my face.
"Thais!" Marx shouted, fighting to reach me. Three elementals moved to intercept her, forcing her back with walls of flame that filled the air with smoke.
I pushed myself to my feet, muscles screaming in protest. Deep inside, I felt it—that well of power Xül had helped me find. I reached for it, pulling harder than ever before.
Stars answered.
Light streamed down from the heavens, wrapping around my arms, my torso, my legs—a second skin of celestial brilliance that made the beasts recoil. For a moment, I felt invincible.
The massive elemental charged again. This time I didn't dodge.
I met it head-on, my star-wrapped fist colliding with its core. The impact sent shockwaves through the clearing, shattering nearby trees. The creature exploded in a shower of sparks and ash that fell across scorched earth.
Victory lasted two seconds. Three more took its place, and these were learning. They moved with caution, testing my defenses.
And I was weakening. The well of power wasn't endless—I could feel its limits now, feel myself approaching them with terrifying speed. Each draw took more effort, each manifestation cost more than the last.
Across the clearing, Aelix was losing. Kavik's attacks had taken on a frenzied quality, wildfire lashing out. Aelix's blood ran from a dozen wounds. Would Kavik actually kill him—another Legend? What the fuck was happening?
"The girl is a threat," Kavik continued to chant, each repetition driving him to greater violence. "She must be eliminated. The girl is a threat. She must be eliminated."
My vision blurred at the edges. Black spots danced across my sight as I pushed harder, demanding more power.
Marx screamed somewhere to my left. I turned to see her overwhelmed, her curse-forms flickering and losing cohesion as exhaustion took its toll. She managed one last desperate manifestation—a writhing mass that made the elemental's arm wither and combust—before her knees buckled.
No.
I reached deeper, pulling on reserves I didn't know existed. The pain was immediate and absolute—being turned inside out. My skin felt too tight, ready to split apart. But power came, raw and terrible.
The starlight that erupted from me wasn't beautiful. It was violent, uncontrolled, a nova of pure destruction that sent elementals flying. Marx's attacker disintegrated.
But the cost?—
I fell to my knees, screaming. My vision went white, then red, then started to fade. My skin was on fire—no, not my skin. Underneath my skin. I was overheating.
Through the haze of agony, I saw Kavik break free from his battle with Aelix, and he turned his eyes on me—terrible, empty, glazed over eyes. The Aesymar crossed the clearing in seconds. His hand was reaching for my throat, and I had nothing left to stop him.
"The threat must be eliminated," he said, and his fingers were inches from my skin when?—
The world stopped.
Flames froze mid-flicker. The wind died. Every sound vanished.
The ground... was it moving? Breaking?
Everything was sliding in and out of focus, doubling, tripling. Sounds reached me distorted—wet tearing that might have been fabric or might have been something worse. Then cracks.
Things were coming up. Dark shapes that moved wrong, too many joints bending in directions that made my poisoned mind reel. The smell hit me—rot and earth and putrid sweetness.
The shapes kept rising, kept moving toward the fire beasts.
Then there were screams. Everything was muffled now, underwater sounds that meant nothing.
Kavik's face swam above me, his mouth moving. Angry words I couldn't process. His hand closed around my throat with crushing force. His fingers were iron bands, cutting off air, crushing my windpipe. I clawed at his wrists, but my strength was gone. My lungs screamed for air that wouldn't come.
A dark figure stepped from the shadows, bringing the cold with it. My vision was going gray at the edges, but I felt the temperature drop, saw frost spreading across Kavik’s cheek.
Words. That voice. His voice. "Release her."
Kavik's grip tightened. More words I couldn't catch.
The earth beneath me rumbled. Something clawing its way out. Pale in the darkness. Rot crawled up my nostrils.
The thing rose, towering over us—cracking sounds splintering my ears.
Then it all came into perfect view.
A corpse. Inches from Kavik’s face. Half its flesh had rotted away, revealing a grinning skull beneath. Dirt was compacted in an empty socket where an eye should have been. Its jaw hung loose on one side, connected only by strips of blackened sinew.
The dead.
Xül had raised the dead.
A maggot dropped from its throat onto Kavik's shoulder.
The corpse's hands shot forward, rotting fingers sinking into Kavik's arms. More of them erupted from the ground—a circle of decay closing in. They grabbed his legs, his torso, their decomposing hands finding purchase despite his struggles.
Kavik's hands left my throat as he fought against them. But there were too many.
They dragged him backward, toward the center of the clearing where the earth had split wide.
I watched him claw at the ground, leaving furrows in the dirt.
Watched the corpses pull him down into that dark fissure, their bodies following him into the earth.
His screams grew muffled as soil began to close over them.
My vision blurred again. The sounds were wrong—sucking, tearing, earth moving in ways earth shouldn't move.
Then silence. The ground sealed shut as if it had never opened.
I collapsed forward, gasping. My throat felt crushed, ruined. The world spun sick circles, and I couldn't tell if I was falling or if the ground was rising to meet me. And the pain. It was still there, poison in my veins .
Strong arms caught me before I hit the ground. Xül gathered me against him, and his skin felt cool against mine.
"Starling," he said, and his voice cracked on the word. His hands checked my throat, my pulse. His hand came away bloody. "Thais, look at me."
I tried, but my vision was fading fast. The edges crept in, and fighting it was fighting the sea.
"No." His voice turned sharp. "You don't get to leave. Do you hear me? You stay here. You stay with me."
He sounded scared, I realized through the haze of pain. The Prince of Death—he was afraid.
"Aelix!" he shouted, never taking his eyes from my face. "Water! Now!"
"Already on it." Aelix's voice came from somewhere far away. Then blessed cold cascaded over me, soaking through my clothes, my hair. Steam rose from my skin as water fought the unnatural heat. The relief was immediate but insufficient—my insides were still on fire.
"She's burning out," Aelix said, his voice tight. "She?—"
"I can see that," Xül snapped. His arms tightened around me, pulling me closer. One hand came up to cup my face, his thumb brushing over my cheekbone. "Thais, stay with us. That's an order."
I wanted to laugh at that—giving orders to someone who might be dying—but all that came out was a wet cough. Blood spattered his shirt.
"Too much," I managed to whisper. "Too much light."
"I know.” His other hand pressed against my chest, and I felt his power—cold and deadly and vast—trying to contain the stellar fire eating me alive. "I know, starling. Just hold on. Stay with me."
More water. More cold. But the darkness was inviting now, promising an end to the agony. Each heartbeat sent new waves of pain through me. Each breath was harder than the last. My eyes fluttered closed.
"Don't you dare," Xül growled. "You don't get to die here, not this way. Not on my watch."
But my body had other ideas. The power had scorched channels through me that weren't meant to exist, burned pathways that mortal flesh couldn't sustain. I was coming apart, unraveling.
"Please," Xül whispered, and that single word held more emotion than I'd ever heard from him. "Please, Thais. Stay."
The last thing I saw was his face above mine, eyes bright with something that might have been tears. The last thing I felt was his hand in mine, anchoring me to a world that was fading fast.
Then darkness claimed me, and I fell into a silence deeper than death.