Chapter 76 Dianna
DIANNA
I wrinkled my nose as we raised our balaclavas to our faces. Reggie stood, dressed in the same outfit and staring straight ahead. We were covered head to toe in dark clothes, our cloaks tied tightly around us as we made it to Aldmoor, the land of the decaying.
“You know,” I said, propping my hands on my hips.
“When she wrote that on the map, I thought she was exaggerating, maybe trying to scare us, but …” I trailed off, letting out a low whistle and glaring at the smoke coating the atmosphere like slime.
A mortal would die within seconds here from the pollution alone.
It was a waste of a planet. I looked out at the rolling hills of dead, broken branches, the ash-covered landscape, and the numerous volcanoes spitting toxins into the air.
A shriek pierced the air, and Samkiel and I ducked for cover as a four-winged hairless creature flew overhead. It swept past us, screeching as it went, and circled around a handful of others.
“See, Reggie?” I playfully slapped his shoulder. “And you say we never take you anywhere nice.”
“I am truly spoiled,” Reggie said blandly.
Samkiel chuckled.
“How can anything live here?” I asked. “Gods.”
He shrugged. “Perhaps they lived here before it turned into a wasteland and evolution took care of the rest.”
I frowned, watching as the creatures swirled through the soup-like atmosphere.
“Let’s try to stay off the menu, then.”
“Noted,” he said.
Samkiel summoned a tent, the fabric as gray as the ash that drifted through the air like nasty snow. A stray wind caught the flap, opening it just enough to reveal the spacious interior, despite its unassuming outward appearance.
“Stay here and be safe. If you hear anything, teleport to us all right?” Samkiel said to Reggie.
I was so glad he still had at least that power. His visions were nonexistent right now.
Reggie nodded and looked at me. “Be careful.”
“Careful is my middle name,” I said, tossing him a wink.
Samkiel made a noise in his throat before wrapping an arm around me and leading me away.
“I promise not to be long,” I said to Reggie, waving as he disappeared inside.
WE HIKED THROUGH the dead forest, staying out of range of those beasts until we came up to where the X was drawn on the map.
Looking up, I saw nothing out of the ordinary, just jagged rocks and shallow caves.
Monstrous protrusions sprouted from sickly bodies of toxic goo, bubbling and spitting more gas into the air.
“X marks the spot, but I see no entrance,” I said, turning to Samkiel.
Samkiel’s brows furrowed, and he stepped in front of me. He crouched, tossing rotted branches and dirt to the side. I watched as his hands grew dirtier and waited.
“See?” I said. “Told you.”
“Ah ha!” he said, rising quickly.
“What?” I asked, stepping up next to him. Excitement and relief speared through me when I saw what he’d uncovered with his digging. I reached out and grabbed his biceps, shaking his arm lightly. “Good job!”
He played it off like he knew it was there all along, but we both knew it was an educated guess at best.
“Well, I learned from the best.” He winked at me.
“You’re so smart.” I grinned. “Now, these look like runes of some sort. Do you know what it says?”
We stared down at it, both of us tipping our heads as if that would help us decipher it.
“Umm,” he said, rubbing his chin. “I actually don’t know.”
I sighed, placing my hands on my hips as he looked at me. “Well, we made it this far. We aren’t going to get stuck on—”
A powerful screech killed my words, and Samkiel tackled me to the ground, my body hitting hard beneath his bulk. I glanced over his shoulder as the dust settled to see one of those massive four-winged beasts screaming at us.
The only feature I recognized was a beak, protruding from its otherwise blank face, no eyes, no ears, or at least, none I could see.
The hairless and featherless pallid gray skin was loose and wrinkled except where it stretched tight over its membranous wings.
We rolled as it charged, jumping to our feet as it used those wings to crawl at us.
Samkiel and I dove in opposite directions, and it lurched between us.
Samkiel lunged to his feet and raced to my side, pulling me up and backing toward the rock wall.
“Want to be bait or me?” Samkiel asked, never taking his eyes off the ugly beast.
“You ask me this now?” I hissed through my teeth.
“I’ll be bait,” he said, pushing me to the side.
The beast roared, and seeing us split, it darted at me.
So much for him being bait. I dove to the ground, scraping my front as I rolled to my left.
Powerful talon-tipped wings speared toward me, but I was too quick.
The beast screeched and swung its head, the large beak yawning wide.
Flames burst from my fingertips, drawing the creature’s full attention.
It was so focused on me that it didn’t even notice the silver eyes glowing eerily against the surrounding wasteland.
Samkiel charged forward. The beast had only a second to react, but it was a second too long. It roared as Samkiel summoned an ablaze weapon and brought it down, sending its head bouncing across the uneven terrain. Green blood oozed from the stump of its neck, pooling around the dead creature.
“Well, that was fun,” I said, wiping the debris from my clothes as Samkiel helped me to my feet. “For absolutely no one.”
Samkiel sighed deeply, checking me from head to toe. “I really wanted to be bait.”
I poked his abs playfully. “Too much muscle. You’d be tough to chew.”
He opened his mouth to say something, but snapped it shut when the ground shook.
His hands gripped me protectively, and he pulled me close, as if he feared the mountain would crumble and bury us, but it wasn’t the mountain that trembled.
We spun and watched the runes light up one by one as the creature’s blood filled the deep grooves.
With a hiss, a wall opened in the rock face behind us, revealing a dark cavern.