Eleven #4
“Now it gets interesting,” Atheron taunts.
Nyxen’s voice cuts through the chaos, shouting from the far side: “The wave comes! We have to go!”
Everything stops. In the silence, I feel it: the vibration in the stone, the hum of Mana permeating the air, the pressure building. The wave rises in the distance as it begins its hunt.
Kael pushes me towards Marissa.
“Go,” he says. “Now!”
I hesitate for only a second, then I grab Marissa’s hand and drag her away from Lyssandra. I position myself in front of her and the Waterborn and face the oncoming wave.
“Can you do something for me?” I ask.
She whimpers, wiping the tears from her eyes. “Ye—Yes, but I’m scared.”
“What are you doing, Luceris?” Kael shouts. “Don’t be stupid.”
I ignore him and look down at Marissa. For a moment, I wish I could lie to her and tell her everything will be fine, but I can’t.
“I need you to be brave again.”
I reach for the place where I buried my power and pretended it didn't exist.
I draw Mana from the depths of my being and let it rise. Every nerve ignites as light floods through me, until I feel too full to contain it.
At the edge of my vision, I see Kael running towards me.
Not away.
Towards me.
I raise my palm and summon a wall of light in his path. He meets it and stops. He slams both fists against it, determined to break through.
“Stop this Luceris!” he roars. “You cannot save everyone.”
I turn to him. My pleading eyes meet his in a mirror of pain, each of us begging the other to bend.
“Do you trust me?” I ask, voice calm.
He hesitates.
“I shouldn’t... but yes.”
“Then I’m going to need both my hands,” I say.
I lower the wall, and Kael pauses. For a moment, I think he might grab me by the wrist and drag me away. Instead, he marches to my side and squeezes my hand once, tightly, before turning to face Atheron on the ridge.
Nyxen and Vaelis are both up there now, fighting.
“Whatever happens, protect Marissa. She is just a child.”
“What do you mean?” Kael asks.
“Exactly what I said—”
I raise both hands.
The wave is already upon us, roiling and undulating as it bears down on its quarry.
The number on the Mother Shard remains at two.
Alaris and Fen must have escaped to safety—and Rask too, somehow.
I flare my shield, pulling on every fibre of Mana I have, and build a wall of golden light, a curtain of protection, wide at the base and narrowing as it arcs over our heads. It has to be enough.
The wave descends with living fury, silver-blue swallowing the world.
Gold and blue consume the sky as the weight of the trial barrels down on me.
I brace with everything I have left.
At first it holds. The golden barrier vibrates, flickering, threatening to tear under the relentless hammering of the water. The noise is an unbearable howl that rends my skull and rattles my teeth.
My jaw aches from clenching, my arms shake with the effort of maintaining the shield, and every muscle in my body feels ready to snap.
Kael’s voice is right in my ear. "Look at me."
His hand finds the back of my neck. "Hold."
“Help me!” I shriek, the words spilling out of me.
He does, and I feel it—the cold coil of his Mana unfurling. Kael weaves his shadows into the light, trying to form a second skin, but the water eats it, swallowing the darkness like it is nothing.
“It won’t work,” Kael hisses. He sounds disappointed. Angry, even.
The water keeps crashing against the arcing light of my shield, splitting to either side with a sound like thunder. The world shrinks to the tight, thin shimmer of my shield and the monsters on the high ridge who are laughing even as we die.
Atheron stands, arms outstretched, conjuring a spear of molten flame. There is malice in his eyes, and I know without fail that he isn’t aiming for me—he’s aiming for Marissa.
She sees it too. Her lips part in a soundless, useless scream, hands raised as if to shield herself.
Kael moves faster than a blink, stepping in front of her and hugging her to his chest. Shadows burst from his back like wings. The fire spear hits him fully and there is a sound like a butcher’s knife striking bone. The smell of burning flesh fills the air.
He drops to one knee, gritting his teeth. Only stubbornness and pride keep him upright.
Atheron howls from the ridge, delighted.
“You can’t protect them all, Prince!” he taunts.
The irony stings.
I try to breathe, but the pressure is still growing. I don’t know how much longer I can hold. The wave feels sentient, relentless.
My vision goes red at the edges as blood-stained tears run down my face.
"Kael—"
The shield threatens to buckle.
"I can't—"
Kael’s voice is steady, calm despite his agony. “You can, Luceris. I’ve seen you do the impossible.”
“Swear to me, you won’t let her die.”
His eyes burn black and bright. “I swear.”
“Swear it on something real,” I beg, desperate and choking. “Swear it on your blood. Swear it on your Crown.”
He reaches for me, his hand trembling as he places it on my lower back.
“I swear it on my life. I will keep her alive.”
I close my eyes.
Kael swore.
It has to be enough.
I draw deeper, feeding the shield with everything I have, reaching into parts of myself I promised not to touch. I remember the bands cracking. The rain and the ash. The overwhelming fury of release.
The wave backs off a fraction, as if startled by my defiance, and for a breathless second, I feel hope.
Then Theon starts to scream. His head snaps back, mouth wide.
The sound that erupts from him doesn’t resemble anything human. The air warps around him as his eyes turn a brilliant white, his fingers splaying on the stone as he begins to prophesy.
“Father and son,” he howls. “Light and dark. One devours. One is devoured.”
His eyes find mine, tears streaming down his face.
“She wants you.”
A shudder tears through him.
“But you do not belong to her.”
My heart freezes, the shield rippling as my knees threaten to splinter, but I stay upright.
Behind me, Marissa is screaming, but it’s far away, like a voice at the bottom of a well.
Atheron laughs and throws another fireball, this one aimed directly at my face. I’m too slow, too exhausted, and it hits me in the shoulder. My arm drops away in agony and the shield falters.
Kael is shouting too, but not words—just my name, over and over.
I channel my remaining Mana into the buckled shield with my remaining hand, but it’s not enough.
In front of me, the wave hesitates. For a moment, it’s as if time stops. The water bends outwards, peeking over the edge of my broken shield, savouring its view of the kill.
It arches around the shield in a perfect crest.
Then, with a hiss, it collapses downwards.
The wave leaps at us, hungry and alive. In the instant before it hits, Kael wraps Marissa in his arms, turning his body to shield her from the brunt of it.
The wave catches Theon first and rips him from the plateau. He almost looks as though he's flying, arms spread wide to embrace the world.
The wave rolls him violently before hurling him onto the spiked rocks below.
The water seems to hang there, suspended, relishing the victory. Then it vanishes, evaporating into a mist so thick I can taste it, like poison on my tongue.
I hit my knees. My shoulder is on fire. Above me, the Mother Shard flickers, then shifts.
It is as though I’m no longer in my body.
Yet I still see the number on the Mother Shard change from two to three, as Theon’s broken corpse is absorbed and counted.
I hear the whispering chant of the Overseers. Here but not here.
Let the Veins be fed.
I’m floating in a transient space as the Heartlands fade from view. I look down at my hands.
They don't feel like mine anymore.
The world peels back in shreds, the stone beneath me cold and damp. I’m on my knees, back in the Embrace. The golden cracks that cover the floor of my room are unchanged.
Already, I can feel my wounds knitting shut, the burning flesh on my shoulder regrowing in a grotesque display of the Mother Shard’s mercy. My uniform is still soaked through and torn.
I kneel there on the cold floor for a long time, unable to move.
There is a knock on the door, but they do not wait for permission to enter.
Kael kneels beside me—I know it’s him without looking—his breath a wet rasp.
“You did it,” he whispers.
I did nothing.
“You saved her.”
I failed.
I can’t even form the words.
Instead, I collapse sideways into his arms.
He doesn’t speak again, but his hand settles against the back of my head.
The room is silent except for our breathing.
Theon is dead.
The number burns behind my eyes.
Three.