Chapter Eight Pax—Tearsith
Chapter Eight
Pax—Tearsith
He and Aria remained at the motel that entire day, watching out the window for any sign of the depraved, wondering if and when someone would come for them.
When it’d been quiet for the entire day, they curled themselves together on the bed, where they fell through time and space to emerge in their sanctuary.
Only, when they stepped out into Tearsith, it was anything but a sanctuary.
It was a place of torment.
One of grief.
Claire sobbed from where she was huddled with Margarethe, while murmurings of distress rolled through their Laven family.
Five others had not come tonight, and the worry of what might have befallen them was distinct. Palpable as it rippled through the cool breeze.
Many paced, ripping at their hair. Others mumbled among themselves, their voices hushed and dripping with fear.
Pax held tighter to Aria’s hand than he ever had in his existence.
Ellis moved to the spot near the stream where he stood as their teacher night after night.
He raised his frail arms out to his sides, fighting the horror that wanted to bring him to his knees; rather than succumbing to it, he lifted his chin.
“My children, I know this is one of the hardest days our family has ever endured. Coming here to this plane and realizing that William and Nathan have been stolen from us. The worry we face that others may have been ripped from us as well. I know what we’re all thinking . . .”
He paused and let his attention drift to Aria, who stood at his side, before he began to speak again. “And no, I cannot deny that there is a chance that we are being hunted in the day. Picked off, one by one.”
Gasps rolled through their family.
Ellis continued, “We know not for certain, but we do know that Aria has specifically been tracked by a man named Ambrose. Someone she has seen both in Faydor as well as walking in the flesh in the human realm.”
Timothy met Pax’s gaze, and the man curled his arm around his Nol, Dani, as if that single action could wrap her in a hedge of protection.
Ellis cleared the thickness from his throat. “This man had the power to pull Aria into another plane that none of us knew existed.”
Another roll of overwhelming shock, and Pax’s insides twisted at the thought of it. At the fear that at any moment, this monster could reach out and rip Aria from him.
“As you see, she was able to escape, but this man did threaten that he was there to end all her kind. She’d thought he was referring to her, to the special abilities she’s been given. A Valient who can heal in the day.”
They had filled Ellis in on what they had found out through Maria Lewis, the wife of another Valient.
Told him about the theory that there was a special group of Laven who had additional powers.
Even though Ellis didn’t fully understand what it meant, he had shared it with the rest of their family previously.
Ellis inhaled a shaky breath. “But now . . . now we must question if he intended that threat to extend to all of us. To this family that we hold so dear. I fear Ambrose is controlling the Kruen, making them target us in the day.”
A disturbance wobbled through the air.
“The only thing we can do is fight,” he continued. “Search through the evils that the Kruen are whispering into human minds, watch for any ill deed they’re trying to pour onto our brothers and sisters within their minds, and stop the carnage before it happens.”
He didn’t try to hide the truth of what they’d all accepted was happening.
Rage burned within Pax, and he tightened his hold on Aria’s hand as he gritted his teeth. “We have to stop this monster, Aria.”
“I know. And we will. We have to.” She ran her thumb over the back of his hand.
“Be careful, my family. In the day, use caution wherever you go and with whomever you interact. And when you descend into Faydor, fight with everything you have. We cannot let them prevail.”
Hundreds of Laven gathered together, each finding their Nols. Those whose Nols had not arrived or who mourned the ones who were forever lost remained huddled together on the grass.
Choosing to wait.
Praying for a miracle.
The pairs moved toward the gateway, which was hidden to the naked eye, invisible save for the energy that lapped and pulled. A force that drew them to the vile darkness that waited beyond.
To their calling.
Only now, their calling had changed. Their survival hinged on snuffing out those who sought their demise.
Or the one.
Aggression curled through Pax, and he and Aria followed the trail of their family who stepped through the portal, two by two. Their essences lit up in a brilliant, blinding light before they disappeared into the nothingness.
Dani and Timothy came up to their side, and Dani muttered, “Oh God,” to Aria before she wrapped her friend in her hold.
“It’s going to be okay,” Aria promised, her voice firm, taking that truth on for its own.
Dani shook her head against her shoulder, the woman so tiny next to Aria that her head barely came to her chest. “I know. It has to be. We have to stop this. I can’t lose you. You are . . .”
Emotion wound through Aria. The stark love she held for Dani.
Her closest friend. The one who understood her in a way no one else could, Dani having gone through her own trials as she’d grown into adulthood.
Trying to accept who she was when she went to sleep and be confident enough to live her life to the fullest while she was awake.
She’d been such an inspiration to Aria. Her confidante. Her teacher. Her supporter.
“That’s not going to happen,” Aria promised. Praying it was true. “We will defeat him.”
“I know you will,” Dani murmured as she pulled back. “You are so strong. Stronger than anyone I’ve ever met.”
Affection pulled, and Aria squeezed her tightly for one more second before she stepped away and readied herself.
Pax and Timothy shared a look. Their own resolution.
“Be safe, brother,” Pax told him.
“Always,” Timothy returned; then he took Dani’s hand, and the two of them stepped across the threshold in front of them.
Pax felt the shaky breath Aria inhaled as they stepped up to the rippling energy that lured them forward.
“Don’t let go of me, Aria. No matter what you feel. You can’t allow it to drag you away from me. We can’t give him that control.”
“I won’t.” The words were resolute, an oath she made herself, and they stepped forward, drawn into Faydor.
In an instant, they were consumed by the shearing cold as they fell through the darkness. Howls of the wicked intoned in their ears. The calls for the heinous that battered their souls.
They hit the barren ground with a thud, both crouching low as they adjusted to their surroundings.
Darkness spread over the wasteland, and a bare glow hung on the horizon. Wiry, leafless elms grew out of the frozen ground, and lightning cracked across the low-hung canopy.
Their Laven family darted off in every direction, and Pax and Aria did the same, their feet pounding over the depleted earth.
Kruen slipped as vapors around them, intoning the corrupt and debased. Feeding all forms of wickedness into the minds of the humans who were unaware of the manipulation they were under where they walked the Earth below. Oblivious to the sins that were being whispered into their minds.
Aria and Pax slayed the Kruen they passed, right after they’d tapped into their thoughts, searching through the visions they could see in their minds.
Searching for any sign that Kruen were targeting their family.
They pushed themselves hard, and their breaths were salient in the frigid, ice-slick air as they ran headlong into the chaos.
They fought for hours, hope in their hearts and despondency in their spirits as they failed to catch even a glimpse of any Kruen feeding thoughts that would cause injury to their Laven family members.
Until they rounded a massive boulder, and they stumbled in their tracks.
It was a Ghorl. The most powerful of Kruen. Something they’d believed mythical until one had been sent to end Aria.
They were nearly impossible to crush. It’d taken Ellis, Josephine, Dani, Timothy, and Pax to extinguish it, though he knew it had been Aria’s strength—her ability to use her energy while awake—that had truly given them the power to end it. There was no chance they could have done it without her.
And now there was another.
It toiled in a mess of liquid and shadow. A writhing, pitch-black puddle.
Through it, Pax could see someone asleep in their bed.
Peter.
Peter, who was here in Faydor, on the hunt.
They could see him in the eyes of a man who watched him through a window, jealousy and bloodlust rushing through his veins as the Ghorl fed the wicked thoughts into his mind.
“This is the bastard who stole your wife. He’s the one she was sneaking off with.
He’s the one who seduced that slut. He told her you were beneath her.
Fed her lies. He’s the reason she packed her bags and left.
He’s responsible for all of your pain. Open the window and slip inside.
Do you feel the weight of the gun? How good it will feel to lift it and pull the trigger?
All sins have consequences. Death is his. ”
“It’s Peter.” His name wheezed out of Aria.
“Do you think you can bind it?” Pax’s question was barely a breath.
Laven had the power to bind Kruen in Faydor. To stretch out the energy inside themselves, striking the Kruen with it where they would be turned to ash.
Ruined.
Destroyed.
It was the purpose they’d been given. To hunt the Kruen in Faydor and end them as they fed all wickedness into human minds.
No, they couldn’t stop them all, but it kept the world from falling into complete destruction.
Uncertainty and determination rolled through Aria on a wave, and she squeezed his hand. “I will try.”
“I’ll try to help,” he mumbled, though he was sure his powers were a fraction of what Aria possessed.
They kept themselves hidden behind the boulder as they gathered their strength, something between a physical and a spiritual feat.
Their focus was intent on the energy they could feel winding within themselves.
It magnified the orb of light that gathered from the deepest places inside them, until it became almost impossible to contain it.
Pax was sure that within Aria, the power was even greater.
Aria gave him a glance, a dip of her chin, a silent go.
They rushed around the boulder at the same moment and let the energy go, hoping the impact of it would be enough to bind the Ghorl.
With a screech, it amassed as it sensed their attack. In one instant, the beast transformed from vapor to a solid, vicious being.
Its flesh was charred ash, though it was somehow transparent, so Pax could see the wickedness streaking through its writhing red veins. Its mouth was deformed. Twisted and gnarled with hate. The monster opened it to reveal jagged teeth as it snarled.
It reared back against their attack, though, unlike the Kruen—who would flee, shift to shadow, and escape as mist along the pitted, desolate ground—it lashed out, the beast flying in their direction as it sent a thousand fiery tendrils whipping through the air.
“Aria!” Pax shouted, jerking her to the left. They dove behind the boulder, hitting the ground with a thud.
The second they landed, Pax scrambled to cover Aria.
To protect her.
To shield her.
He had no idea what a burn from a Ghorl would do while they were in Faydor, but he refused to take the chance to find out. He couldn’t allow her to be wounded when she was their only chance of survival.
Streaks of fire flashed over the top of them, sparking and crackling as the darts struck the ground, before they flickered out.
Aria pushed at his chest. “We have to stop it,” she urged.
Reluctance pounded through Pax, but he finally pulled back, taking Aria’s hand to help her up. They crouched low as they peered out around the boulder to the endless darkness laid out in front of them.
And the Ghorl.
It was gone.