The Chaos of Battle
Heaven
Ihear Uncle Liam’s cry of agony cut through the battlefield, feel his power surge upward like a wound ripped open in the sky itself. I hear the howls of grief from the Blood Moon Pack wolves.
They’ve lost someone important.
No. I know exactly who they’ve lost.
They’ve lost their Luna.
They lost Aunty Raven.
Theo lost his mama…
The realisation rattles me to my core, my control faltering for half a second before I force myself to focus on Calindra. I can’t fall apart, not now, not when they need us the most.
And Calindra, she stands before me, a cruel smile on her face as if she’s enjoying the pain that surrounds us.
Aunty Delsanra’s magic is intensifying as she fights her, the darkness beneath her fingertips spreading around Calindra. She might be Hecate’s favoured, but Aunty Delsanra has demon blood, and it’s clear Calindra doesn’t know how it works.
I focus on her, trying to assist the attack despite the emotions inside me. It’s bringing back memories, memories of Dad’s death. The pain of battle… Is this how it feels? Having to continue fighting when someone you love has just died?
Is this what war means? That you keep going when it feels like you can’t?
From up here, I can see the ruin, see the dead lying all over the place. Everyone must have lost a loved one… Every death matters…
Is this what Mama wanted to shield me from?
“Aldona!” Aunty Delsanra’s shout snaps me to the present, and I frown.
Focus!
I nod at her as I raise my hand, calling upon the element I can now bend thanks to Isolara. Aunty Delsanra is confused for a second, but she doesn’t question it; instead, our powers weave together as Calindra laughs, completely unbothered by the devastation unfolding around her.
“Seems like you lost someone important,” she taunts, raising a shield, tilting her head mockingly. “Oh… the pack Luna’s dead? How tragic.”
“Bitch!” someone snarls from below us, and the air detonates as a blast of power slams Calindra into the ground with bone-shaking force, fury blazing in Mama’s eyes.
For a moment, just a moment, I think it might be enough, but it isn’t.
Calindra rises to her feet, that smirk still on her face, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.
“Don’t get too confident, I just didn’t realise you were here, but you should be weakened right after your last escapade,” she taunts Mama, her power rolling outward in suffocating waves.
Even with Isolara awakened inside me, even with all of us here, this won’t be easy.
Mama simply stares at her, her chest heaving. “The poison will slow you down, though.”
Calindra’s smile falters, and she looks sharply down at her body.
“Clever…” Aunty Delsanra whispers.
“Let’s do this,” Mama snarls, her eyes blazing with hatred, blood splattered across her face.
The setting sun casts an orange glow across her, merging with her aura, and for a moment, I don’t even recognise her.
This warrior, who has seen far more battles in her lifetime than I’ll ever know.
Shadows stretch long over the battlefield, over the bodies and the broken ground, and yet she stands here like a beacon of hope.
She is the kind of woman I strive to be.
Yes… that is the kind of woman you should try to be. I was hesitant, Aldona, but you have shown me you are not the daughter of Endora, but my daughter! Fight. And protect the ones you love! Isolara’s voice powers through me.
Endora snarls with hatred, but I can feel her power humming through me, too.
“We give it all we have,” Mama says quietly.
I nod, knowing I can’t hold back. After this, she’ll know of Endora, know of Isolara.
We exchange looks, and Aunty Delsanra frowns as she turns her focus on Calindra.
“We capture her,” Mama whispers in my ear, using a communication spell.
“Got it…” Aunty Delsanra breathes as she braces herself, spreading her arms as she begins chanting.
Calindra’s eyes widen, rage flitting through them as she snarls and jumps backwards.
The poison only slows her slightly, but she doesn’t get far.
A shadow appears behind her as Ahren materialises out of nowhere and slams his hand to the back of her neck.
She stills as chains spring around her, and Mama and Aunty Delsanra begin chanting louder.
Then Ahren disappears and reappears to the left, with a witch who places something on the ground.
Then he’s gone, reappearing northeast with another witch.
Then he disappears again until he’s repeated this five times, as five witches place herbs, candles, and draw symbols around Calindra.
Her eyes widen as she realises what’s happening, and for the first time, I see uncertainty flash in her eyes.
“Aldona, be ready!” Mama shouts, “You know the spell!”
She wants me to cast the containment spell…
I nod, my heart thudding, but I can do this. “I will guide you, if you shall need it,” Isolara’s voice comes in my head.
I take my place at the highest point and begin casting the spell. Symbols begin to spin and expand, locking around Calindra as she snarls and slams herself against the forming barrier, her movements sluggish, her power momentarily dulled.
“Mordana, we need you!” Mama shouts, her voice thunderous. “And one more witch! Ahren, where is Saana!”
“She’s dead,” Ahren shouts.
We need five witches to maintain the corner points.
“Shahira!” Sienna shouts as she flies towards us. “She’s here!”
“Ahren, fetch her!” Aunty Delsanra orders, even as Calindra pounds against the barrier, realising brute force won’t break it, and so she begins to chant instead.
“On it,” Ahren says quietly before vanishing.
Sienna lands to my left. The huge demon form that was embodying her earlier is gone. Mama and Aunty Delsanra take one point of the star that has now formed.
“The moment we drop the chains, we must activate the barrier!” Aunty Delsanra shouts.
Ahren reappears with Shahira, and she instantly takes in the situation and falls into position instinctively, each of us anchoring a point of the star formation without needing to be told.
“What are we doing?” she asks, her face pale.
“Capturing the bitch, just follow us,” Mama says. “Ahren, for a few seconds, you need to watch her, keep her from moving! Aldona, now!”
Mama’s eyes are blazing, and I close my eyes, focusing as I begin.
Power erupts to the sky, and Calindra screams, but there’s something off about it. It’s not a cry of despair. Wait, is it a signal?
Mama and Aunty Delsanra drop the chains as they instantly fall into position, and they too begin chanting with Sienna and Shahira joining in.
I have to focus and not worry about her calling for backup. This spell is my priority right now.
Ahren’s here, it’s going to be ok… and Jayce is still engaged in battle with Velasara with Allie by his side. Velasara can’t come to help her.
Focus! Endora snaps.
She’s right. I pull deeper on my power, the chant vibrating through me, through all of us, as I focus everything into the spell.
“Il Messia will come for me,” Calindra whispers, her eyes burning straight into mine. “He will come!”
Il Messia… she means their leader. But Dante’s here…
Then voices carry on the wind, sharp and urgent, slipping into my awareness now that Isolara has awakened something new inside me: my hearing is better.
“We have several tomes. Let’s retreat, our job is done. The Adonai is here; we cannot afford to lose anyone.” The voice is eerie, and something about it feels off.
“Messia, what are your orders?”
Isolara’s element pours through me, unlike Endora’s earth magic, which steadies and strengthens my own element immensely. This power opens doors to new abilities.
Calindra is fighting us with everything she has, and I pull on everything I have as my eyes open, power blazing through me.
I see Mama watching me, and there’s doubt and disbelief in her eyes, but it’s fleeting, as there’s no room to break focus; she doesn’t question it.
Not yet, anyway. I can hear cries… screams in the distance.
Aunty Kiara’s here, but it’s too late. I can hear her anguished cry in the distance. I heard it, I know I did, but I don’t want to believe it. Theo will fix this. He’ll ask Hades. He got my voice back. He protected us in the Gods’ Realm. He can do this.
He has to.
Suddenly, the ground erupts without warning, the force violent enough to fling us apart, my body slamming into the earth as blood splatters across my face, my shield snapping up on instinct just as darkness crashes into the clearing.
He’s here. The one she referred to as Il Messia.
His eyes blaze with rage so intense it’s suffocating, his presence swallowing the air as he stabs Ahren through the stomach, throwing him back and grabs Calindra, shattering the spell we were casting, his gaze sweeping the ground until it lands on Mama lying in the dirt.
He takes two steps toward her.
I try to move, but can’t.
Sienna snarls.
“You bitch; you have fucked up enough!” he snarls with hatred at Mama, and then he brings his foot down at her, but Ahren appears out of nowhere, pushing him back with his power as he steps in front of Mama, who staggers to her feet. Blood drips down her neck.
Dante lands behind him, eyes blazing. “Touch her, and you will lose this whore,” Dante snarls, his wolves circling Calindra. The sound of gunfire makes me glance to the left, where a bloody Leo stands, his eyes cold and unreadable.
The so-called messiah turns his attention to Leo, his eyes unreadable.
“Enzo…” Calindra breathes. “Let’s go.”
Enzo hesitates, as if he thinks he can end us all.
“The Indomitable have made their move, again and again. From here on out, it’s the Dauntless who will make theirs,” Leo says quietly, his eyes locked with Enzo’s, although something tells me holding his gaze isn’t easy.
A shrill sound pierces the air, reality buckling as darkness floods everything. I can hear wings beating, feel Ahren, Sienna and Aunty Delsanra’s power swirl over me. They’re creating a barrier to protect us.
When the darkness clears, Enzo is gone, and so are Calindra and Velasara.
I rush to Mama’s side, helping her up as Dante’s wolves thunder past, to stop the Indomitable’s retreat, killing those left behind.
Rain begins to pour down hard and heavy, washing blood into the dirt.
“We can’t rest,” Mama says, struggling to stand. “We need to raise the barriers.”
“They’ll have to wait until you’re strong enough,” Aunty Delsanra says quietly. Mama shakes her head as they look at each other, and then something in Mama’s expression breaks.
“I should have been here,” she whispers. “She was always checking in… Always making sure everyone was okay… I failed them,” she whispers to Aunty Delsanra.
My throat tightens as I look at Sienna, silent tears tracking down her face, and the truth finally settles in, heavy and irreversible.
Aunty Raven is really gone.
“She always did, same with me,” Aunty Delsanra says before she hugs Mama.
“Raven… huh…” Leo says as he looks away, but not before I see the sadness etch across his features for a second.
Sienna stumbles backwards before she turns and takes flight. She’s going to Jayce.
I see Ahren walking towards us, still bloody and injured, carrying Charlotte’s unconscious form in his arms.
“She’s severely injured,” he says quietly.
“I can try healing her,” Shahira says softly, tears splashing down her cheeks.
I look around, my heart telling me to go to Theo, but…
“Aldona.”
I look up when Mama calls me, her expression once again strong.
“Yeah?” I say softly.
“The best we can do for them is protect their land. Let’s bring order around here and raise the barriers.”
“Yes, High Witch Serafina,” I say, lowering my head as the surviving three of the five witches who had assisted us in the spell follow suit.
There is no time for me to be selfish. Mama is right. The best I can do right now for Theo and his family is protect the Blood Moon Pack.
Stay strong, Theo…