Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Nova
The shadowy cyclone receded, revealing the true devastation it had caused.
There was little left of Elias aside from piles of splintered bones, scattered ash, and tattered scraps of clothing.
With my pulse racing furiously, I ran toward the gruesome remains, trying to read the energy swirling around them. Trying to understand the death that had come so swiftly, so completely, so…so …
Devastatingly.
I dropped to my knees and reached a hand over the bones, desperate for answers. Maybe I could divine something with a touch. Maybe I could absorb the deadly magic still clinging to its victim, let it settle inside of me and make sense of it from within...
But the only things that settled in my gut were fear and nausea.
This realm was proving more and more brutal by the minute. My throat felt tight. For an instant, tears threatened. I was reaching a breaking point, a horrid realization—
I never should have come here .
I was in over my head—but nevertheless, I blinked away my tears and kept my head up.
What else could I do?
Footsteps pounded close by, followed by a furious voice: “What is going on?”
I turned toward that voice, expecting to meet Aleksander’s glare. He wasn’t looking at me, though. He was staring at something behind me.
Glancing over my shoulder, I saw the deadly cyclone of shadows reforming, moving away from the wall and toward us once more.
I leapt to my feet and hurriedly backed away. Ribbons of smoky darkness peeled away from the main swirling mass as it thundered our direction, each strand sweeping wide and wildly about with a whip-like quickness—there would be no outrunning those dark appendages.
Aleksander’s golden eyes flashed in my direction. “Chaos,” he breathed, “ what the fuck is going on— ”
Ribbons of shadow clawed toward his body.
I sensed their impending strike even before I saw them, so I managed to shove him out of the way and then dance aside myself. The shadows split apart as they stretched away from the cyclone, turning into smaller spirals that swirled menacingly around Aleksander for a moment before dissipating.
He was still glaring at me like I had something to do with the attack. Pushing him to safety had been an automatic reaction, really—I should have just let the shadows hit the fucker.
“Do I look like I know what’s going on?” I asked.
His eyes darted between me and the spinning cloud of dark energy. It tumbled and roared, little bursts of silvery-black occasionally exploding around it, but nothing else lashed out at us for the moment. In fact, it seemed to be retreating again, pacing back and forth at a safer distance—almost like an intelligent predator sizing up its prey.
Aleksander kept one eye on it as he knelt beside Elias’s remains, lifting a pile of dust and bone fragments into his palm and letting it sift through his fingers. For a fraction of a moment, his expression looked pained. Distraught, even.
So apparently, he had other emotions aside from haughty disdain.
Who knew?
Guilt clenched my stomach as I took an uncertain step toward him. If only I’d been quick enough to catch Elias. To stop him, somehow…
“It happened so fast,” I said, quietly.
The Light King rose slowly back to his feet. He shifted his weight from one side to the other, as if trying to redistribute the burden of this latest death upon his shoulders.
“I’m sorry. I—”
“It’s over.” He pointed to the cyclone, which was building in intensity, its dark clouds rolling dangerously close once more. “Focus on that.”
I snapped my attention back to it. It roared louder in the same instant, a second strike of dark ribbons quickly following the sound; I lost my balance trying to avoid them.
Aleksander caught me against his chest, wrapping an arm around my waist to steady us both. And it happened again: His touch, his nearness causing a strange surge in my chest, a wild stirring of magic between us…
I ripped free of his hold, irritably trying to keep any sign of my power from erupting upon my skin—again. I didn’t need another distraction right now. Didn’t need the questions screaming through my head, almost as loud as the threat before us—
Why does he have this effect on me?
Why does this keep happening?
Aleksander kept his focus on the spinning storm, ignoring whatever had just passed between us as he calmly said, “I watched shadows like this erupt all around you that night at Rose Point.”
“...So?”
“So maybe do something about these shadows?”
“It’s not the same. I can’t control every strand of darkness in the world any more than you can control every sliver of light.”
A muscle ticked in his jaw. “Could you kindly do us a favor and try? ”
The twisting mass roared again, sections of it darkening and rippling in a manner that could only be described as threatening. Like it was responding to the possibility of me trying anything against it. And again, I had the strange feeling that it was… alive .
I hurriedly took a few more steps back, trying to gain perspective. A surge of cold wind washed over me with my next breath—Phantom, returning from whatever mischief he’d been entertaining himself with. He pressed against my leg, holding me in place, his back providing a solid foundation for me to brace my hand upon.
( I leave you alone for twenty minutes, and this is what I come back to? )
“Spare me your judgment for once,” I muttered, sidestepping a thin, wayward streak of shadow as it thrashed toward my shoulder.
Not that I would never admit it to Aleksander, but the energy lashing toward me did feel very… familiar . Though not in a way I could readily explain. And whether or not it was the same as what I’d channeled on the night of his demise, I couldn’t say for certain; I’d never recreated those frightening, devastating claws of darkness, after all.
At least, not on purpose.
But now, memories from the night of my father’s murder were flooding my mind, making it impossible to concentrate fully on anything—much less control . I hadn’t controlled anything that night. I’d run away from it all.
In so many ways, I’d been trying to run away ever since.
Phantom whined, nudging my wrist and making my bracelets clatter together, as if to remind me they were there.
I tapped the various beads and bands, considering my options.
It had been over an hour since I’d drained that magic at the wall. It hardly felt like enough recovery time. Did I dare risk pulling even more strange energy into my body—the effects of which might not become truly apparent until later?
Aleksander stepped to my side, distracting me from my inner debate. “If you’re going to run away, I suggest you do it now,” he said, studying the orbs of light he’d just summoned to his fingertips. “So at least you’ll be out of my way.”
Indignant heat rushed through my body. “I’m not going anywhere, as much as I love the idea of leaving you here to die alone.”
He chuckled darkly, muttering something I didn’t catch—I was too busy running my fingers more purposefully along my bracelets.
Sometimes they guided me. I was used to their subtle shiverings and shiftings…but I was surprised when the black-rose bracelet was the one that began to move, its beads chattering like teeth in a blisteringly cold wind.
Then I remembered the more advanced side of projecting magic that Orin had explained to me, however many years ago now: How it was possible to send one’s essence into things rather than into thin air—to become a possessing spirit and not merely a drifting one. I’d never managed anything close to it in the world above. But this realm was different, seemingly more conducive to my powers. I’d already witnessed a stronger ability to divine memories from objects, so maybe…
“Stay close to me, please,” I whispered, quietly enough that only Phantom’s ears could pick up the words. “I’m going to try something new.”
( Why do I feel as though this is going to end poorly? )
“It’s not like things can get much worse.”
( You’ve said that in the past. And you were wrong. )
“Do something,” Aleksander snapped, “or move aside. ”
Gritting my teeth, I firmly motioned Phantom closer. He let out another soft whine but obeyed. With his comforting weight pressing against my legs, I quickly rearranged my bracelets, shifting them so the black-rose bracelet was alone on my left wrist, allowing me to better focus on it—and the ability it channeled.
I lifted my arm and imagined a piece of myself lifting with it, separating from my body. A ghostly shade of me began to take form, glowing around my edges like a second skin preparing to shed. In the next instant, black markings spiraled over my lifted arm with sudden, powerful intensity, making my breath catch.
A good sign , I reminded myself, trying to stay calm.
The marks had always heralded stronger magic in the past, for better or worse.
A deep, settling breath, and those markings lifted from my physical arm, twisting up into the projection of it, welding the ghostly extension of me into something that felt more solid. More heavy.
Fearing it wouldn’t last long, I quickly directed that fortified projection forward, aiming it at the spinning cyclone of shadows advancing toward Aleksander and me.
As my projection struck the approaching threat, I felt it in my physical body: A pressure against my hand, as though I was actually touching it. As though I could have grabbed hold of the swirling darkness and wrestled it into submission.
Not knowing what else to do, I tried precisely that.
I squeezed my hand into a fist as though to grab hold, and then I gave a sharp jerk of my wrist.
And a section of the winding cyclone of magic actually moved .
I’d managed it.
I’d possessed energy that wasn’t mine.
I tried again, and this time I managed to begin peeling the churning mass apart. It didn’t last long—but I unwound enough of it to glimpse what was at the heart.
What I saw nearly made me cry out in shock.
“There’s a person in there.”
“…What?”
“A woman.” I stumbled several steps toward the spinning shadows, indifferent to the way they twisted with even angrier, louder, more threatening motions. “There’s someone…someone is…”
Aleksander grabbed my arm, trying to hold me back. For a moment, I nearly let him. And why wouldn’t I? Why would I willingly entomb myself in that dark cloud after witnessing what it had done to Elias?
Why? Because someone was in the center of those shadows, weaving this dark magic that looked like my own. Controlling it.
I’d never seen another person control magic that appeared even the least bit like mine.
So I pulled away and ran faster into the black vortex, pressing onward even as the shadows engulfed me and it felt as if they were freezing my skin into brittle sheets, threatening to shatter it right off my bones.
Each step became heavy, excruciating, sending daggers of pain shooting up my legs.
But the deeper I went, the more often I glimpsed her.
She was real.
I wasn’t imagining her.
So I kept moving.
As I finally reached her, everything—my plans, my courage, my hope—left me. I blacked out one instant, and slammed unceremoniously into the woman in the next, sending us both sprawling to the ground. We tumbled through a storm of shadows and dust. The cold of her magic continued to pulse around me. As we untangled from one another and stood up, she bounced back and lifted her staff, using it to direct that cold with more precision; iciness wrapped around my limbs. My chest.
My throat.
I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t fucking breathe —
She lifted her free hand and struck it toward me, pulling threads of darkness from the air behind her with the motion. She continued to move her staff as well, and the shadowy strings began to weave together in front of her.
I countered reflexively, projecting myself into the threads, grabbing what I could of them and pulling— hard . I was determined to break them before they could close her off again. I only managed to sever a few, but it was enough to catch her attention; her eyes widened as she realized what I was doing.
She went perfectly still. The shadows untangled and fell away, taking most of the cold with it, leaving the air between us hazy but relatively clear.
We stared at one another, wearing identical looks of shock.
As her magic dissipated further, I studied her closer. She was tall and muscular, her potential strength obvious even beneath the relatively loose, dark clothing she wore. Her eyes were an interesting shade of deep amethyst, and they were piercing and sharp, especially compared to the rest of her otherwise soft face. Her hair was like liquid night—waves of inky black that occasionally glistened with streaks of silver, making me think of shooting stars.
Those stars , I soon realized, were actually part of a delicate band fastened around her head; thin silver chains draped down from it, peeking out from under the long, obsidian strands and shimmering with even the faintest bit of light. Other, equally delicate chains crisscrossed her neck and arms in a way that seemed purposeful and precise, so that—at a glance—it all appeared to be ink permanently tattooed and shining brightly upon her brown skin.
The staff she carried remained half-raised, but as perfectly motionless as the rest of her. I kept waiting for her to move. To disappear into more shadows.
But no, she was solid.
Another being who was clearly solid, clearly real, clearly alive in this dead realm.
Finally, she moved. She slammed her staff into the ground and braced herself against it, and then she said something in a language I didn’t understand. Paused. Tried again, her words growing more insistent. More furious.
I glanced over my shoulder at Aleksander. He looked equally stunned and confused. He started to take a step toward us—
The woman stopped him with a glare and a biting string of words that were still incomprehensible to me, yet clearly a warning.
She shifted her glare back to my face, appraising me for a long, uncomfortable moment.
And then she spoke again, this time in the common tongue of my empire, her words coming clearly but slowly: “Your magic. Possession. Necromancy. Yes?”
My heart leapt into my lungs, crowding away any chance of a normal breath. Necromancy. I’d heard that term used so infrequently in my life that it felt almost as if she was still speaking to me in a foreign language. As if I must have misheard her, somehow.
But I managed to nod.
“You are one of the rogue hunters, then?” she asked. “After a reward, I presume?”
I swallowed hard, hesitating, trying to decide on a safe answer. “I’m hunting… something . But I’m not after a reward. Not one of gold or anything, I mean.”
She continued to appraise me. “You have apprehended the Light Beast, though?” Her eyes flicked toward Aleksander.
“Not exactly,” I said.
“Not at all,” Aleksander interjected, attempting another step forward—which the woman again put a stop to, this time with a quickly summoned javelin of dark shadows that she sent flying toward him with a swing of her staff.
Aleksander sidestepped the attack—barely.
And I liked this woman a little more, all of a sudden, despite the way she kept her other hand raised threateningly in my direction.
“I’ve only been traveling through this realm for a short amount of time,” I told her. “I stumbled upon him without meaning to.”
“He was frozen. Sleeping.”
“…How did you know that?”
Instead of answering my question, she narrowed her eyes and took a step closer to me. “So you are not apprehending the Beast. You were the one who woke him. And now you’ve led him here.”
“I… Well, yes, in a way I did, but—”
“And are you aware,” she said, slamming the tip of her staff against my chest, “that the penalty for such a crime is death ?”