35 #2
“It may be why Kordelia is getting stronger,” Sirona summarised. “A boost of his magic in Talmon to something that existed within her mind already, that’d been decaying.”
“I could sense it,” Aryn choked out. “A dark presence that was cold and brutal. It was taunting her mind, flaying her from the inside out.” Rage suffocated Raiden, that Kora was suffering with this within her mind, whilst also striving to survive here. He needed to do more, he needed to do better.
Skylar released a deep breath before gently placing a hand on Kora’s limp arm. They all stilled as Skylar observed her for a few moments. “Goodbye, my friend.” Her lip wobbled, her doe eyes glazing over briefly, but her head dipped imperceptibly, a wall flying up within. “How do we fix this?”
Raiden met his sister’s stare and she nodded once, blinking away her tears. She was ready.
“For one, you can all stop treating her like she’s going to combust any moment,” Aryn snapped. “She wants to be Kora, let her be Kora.”
The group silenced, shame weaved between them all, a jagged mirror reflecting their consequences back at them in the form of Kora’s withering control.
Raiden’s pulse quickened. They had to do something.
Whatever Kordelia returned as, it was Barron’s magic, his darkness, his disease.
It would infest these lands, and destroy Galen.
“Agreed,” Sirona replied. “We must move forward, but I never thought she would reach this point. I underestimated Barron’s hold over her. This is beyond my knowledge. Beyond Altha’s.”
“Set up a circle. Form our wind compass,” Aerion’s calm voice drifted in, and Aryn visibly tensed. Raiden raised a brow at his brother stood in the doorway, his grey magoire open in his hands.
“If you tell me we have to start singing, I’m leaving,” Skylar griped as she shifted to sit to the east. Raiden remained to the west of Kora, as Aerion stood north beside Aryn, and Sirona shuffled southwards of her crumpled body, cushioning herself on the thick, red rug.
Kora’s breaths were faint, her lashes fluttering over her freckled cheeks. Raiden reached out, unperturbed from the looks of his family as he wiped away the black tears, not wanting a single molecule of Barron’s touch upon her.
“We may be able to channel to other mages. A kind of positive boost to counteract Barron’s negative one. Raiden and Aryn’s bonds can be the anchor, and our ties to them should channel through.” Aerion flipped another page, scanning the language quickly.
“Do we need runes?” Sirona asked. “Channelling only works with runes.”
Aerion knelt beside Aryn, their bodies brushing almost too-obviously. Skylar rolled her eyes at Raiden. Producing an ink pot, he scrawled runes onto the hardwood floor with his fingers.
“Everyone place one hand on Kora, and one hand either on Raiden or Aryn.” Aerion placed his on Aryn, whilst Skylar and Sirona reached for Raiden. “You two take Kora’s hands.”
Neither hesitated. Her palm was clammy, and Raiden threaded his fingers through hers, clasping tightly
“Okay, so, this may hurt. Aryn, it’s going to hurt you the most as her skildaj. It will tip nature’s balance, and you’ll be paying the consequences for too much power flowing through you.” Aerion inhaled once, fingers tight on Aryn’s shoulder.
“Do it,” Aryn insisted. “Barron must be banished.”
Aerion’s gaze shuttered, his jaw clenched as he lowered his head, bouncy curls obscuring the tightness of his face. His fingers squeezed Aryn’s shoulder once, then uttered a complex phrase in Devanian.
Magic exploded, tearing through Raiden so intensely he roared, bearing down as his body almost cracked in two.
Aryn collapsed to his side, convulsing as Aerion held onto him, his arms now binding Aryn’s flailing body as he seized.
But there . . . in the pit of agony, vanilla and sea salt, air and steel, white and blue light.
“Hold on, my love!” Aerion cried, wind barrelling through the room from all three Windwards, tearing Kora’s covers from the bed, her papers flying from the desk.
A white hydrangea crumpled, its tiny vase shattering behind Raiden.
Kora’s piles of books slammed into the walls, and Sirona’s wild locks flew upwards from her bun as she squealed.
“How . . . much . . . longer!” Skylar gritted out, her knuckles white as she clenched onto Raiden’s shoulder.
Sirona’s nails were daggers in his forearm, but it was nothing compared to the white-hot agony of the tear in the balance.
They were defying the gods, they were dangerously verging on dark magic.
Nature was enraged.
Blood speckled Raiden’s vision, his nose streaming and splattering onto the floor.
Aryn’s eyes rolled into the back of his head, his mouth foaming as his back arched, nearly snapping.
Aerion held onto him, his arms bands of steel around the archer’s body.
Kora remained limp in the centre, unaffected by the chaos of elements.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck, this is painful!”
“I hope Altha doesn’t hear of this. I can’t lose my wardship. I better not die doing this.”
“I can’t lose him yet. He needs to know I love him.”
Raiden gasped. He could hear everyone’s thoughts.
The connections glaringly open, the volume of their minds screaming at him.
Endless rhetorics of pain, of despair, but also hope.
He squeezed his eyes shut, a dark barrier looming within their void.
A tar pit. A leech. A succubus of light.
Kora lingered before it, waiting, wondering, lost.
“I’m here, you can come back now.”
She turned, grinning ear to ear, all teeth and wide, unblinking eyes. “You took your time. I was starting to get bored.”
That damn mouth. “Why don’t you come with me?”
Kora started forward, but stopped. One hand stretched back, stuck to the tar pit. “You need to pull me out. Silly me, I’m a bit stuck.”
Raiden approached, but he, too, was tethered. Skylar’s and Sirona’s hands held onto him, strings of white thread looping around his right arm, up to his shoulder.
“Why can’t you . . .” He trailed off, his gaze following Kora’s arm to the swirling darkness.
Like a mirror, another hand extended on the other side, a twisted face of pain, wailing, banging against the darkness.
His attention whipped back to Kora, her wide grin replaced with a sinister smile, and red streaks slicing through her once beautiful eyes.
“I see you haven’t gotten any sharper,” she sneered.
“Release her, demon,” Raiden ordered.
Kordelia laughed. “She is too weak for this vessel. Come on . . . take me instead. I could be what you’ve always wanted. I could be your love again.”
Raiden’s eyes flew open. “Aryn!”
Raiden grabbed hold of him and Aryn screamed, piercing Raiden’s ears with such intensity, he was sure more blood leaked from them.
Within a second, he returned to the void, and there beside him, Aryn stood.
He blinked, his eyes permanently alight in their sacred space, and they narrowed immediately on Kordelia.
She blanched, retreating to the darkness as Aryn approached a few steps.
“He’s the demon!” she snarled at him. “How dare you enter this realm!”
Aryn smiled, his face terrifying as he produced a bow and arrow from the void. The craft was magnificent, dark and shimmering, with sharp lines of gold running throughout.
“You cannot kill me. I am her fate, I am her end. I will always be.”
Raiden wavered at Kordelia’s words. Aryn wasted no time as he fired an arrow, but it soared past Kordelia, squelching as it shot into the swirling dark mirror.
Kordelia screamed as Kora grabbed hold of it, white light blooming in her hands at its touch.
Aryn raised his hand and the arrow propelled backwards, dragging Kora with it.
As she pushed through the mirror, it rotated, forcing Kordelia to the other side. Burning red eyes ravaged Raiden as her shrill cry was dampened by the tar, attaching to its new host. Kora shot forward at immense speed as Aryn’s arrow returned, her arms reached out to them both.
Raiden fell from the void, his body smarting as he collapsed beside Aryn and Kora.
Everyone panted around them, sweat slicking their bodies, Kora’s room in tatters from the Windwards’ power.
Kora moaned, her eyes fluttering as her breathing deepened.
Sirona rushed to her side, checking her over, probing gently.
With a single nod of her head, everyone collapsed to the floor, their pants in unison as their powers resettled into their bodies.
“That fucking sucked,” Skylar groaned.