Chapter 41 The fury and the agony
The fury and the agony
ZARA
I barely hear the thunderous clash of magic over the pounding in my ears, the last remnants of my strength hanging on by a thread.
I feel it though. The fire. The rage. The fury and the agony.
The spark of life and the beats of death.
It’s there, deep inside me, pulling at me like the strings of my heart as its chambers beat.
I can almost taste the power, the raw and vicious links of the ebon chain that wrap around my essence.
It’s there. It’s dark. And it’s fucking dangerous.
Kade and Darius fight against Galen, their combined force barely keeping the warlock in check.
Every whirl of magic crackles in the air like static electricity and I watch through the haze of pain that clouds my vision as strike after strike lashes through the chamber.
Each clash is fierce and fast. Kade’s moving together with Darius, their steps a deadly dance they’ve practiced a thousand times, their bodies fluid and instinctual.
But Galen is no ordinary foe.
Every time Kade or Darius lands a blow, Galen’s dark magic pulses outward in waves, pushing them back, disorientating them.
Galen smiles with a slash of cruel satisfaction. His magic is oppressive, laced with malice as more of his dark energy rises like a storm wave, ready to break and carry Kade and Darius away in its overpowering tide.
“You think you can defeat me?” he sneers, his voice a rasp, venomous and dripping with arrogance. “This is my domain.”
“Not for long,” Kade growls, his voice hoarse but filled with unwavering defiance.
Darius’s hands crackle with the same lethal energy as Kade’s, but even their combined might is faltering. Galen’s magic is too strong, too ancient, too powerful now it’s been combined with Malric’s.
I should move. I should fight. My body screams at me to join them, to help, to end this.
But I can’t. Every breath feels like a blade slicing through my ribs, my muscles aching as though they’re made of fire.
The blood weave inside me is still tangled, raw and pulsing, but I can barely tap into it.
It’s there, though. I can feel it, urging me to reach for it, to let it consume me.
Galen’s fingers curl, weaving intricate sigils in the air, dark symbols that eat away at the very light in the room. He’s toying with them, and it’s working. Kade’s movements are slowing. Darius is gritting his teeth, his face set in a grimace, but even he is struggling against Galen’s dark grasp.
“Pathetic,” Galen spits, lifting his hand.
The air around him warps, and with a flick of his wrist, he sends a bolt of raw power straight at Darius.
It’s a curse and the essence of ruin, its obsidian poisonous and pure.
It strikes Darius’s shoulder, and I hear the sickening crack as bone splinters.
He screams, falling to one knee, clutching at the wound, blood pooling around him.
Kade roars, his magic flaring out in a desperate attempt to retaliate, but it’s too late. Galen’s smile widens as his brother struggles for survival.
I watch in silence, my hands clenched into fists, nails digging into the skin of my palms. The heat of the blood weave is burning me from the inside out, and the marrow of my bones screams for release.
The fighting rages on, and I can’t tear my eyes away from Darius, watching him collapse in agony.
Blood keeps pouring from the wound in dark streams, staining the floor beneath him and filling the chamber with the acrid stench of death.
My breath comes in ragged gasps as I inhale raw magic and absorb it, flooding my core with its metallic, potent power.
Each inhalation lights a fire in my lungs, but I don’t stop. I can’t stop. I won’t stop.
We’ll die if I do.
The air is choking, full of pure unbridled power, a poison that’s as venomous as that coursing through Darius.
The walls themselves close in as Galen’s magic expands, thickening the atmosphere until every pulse feels like a hammer blow against my chest. My power singes at its edges, still chained inside me, still unable to summon enough potency to break free.
Not yet.
Not while it’s ebbing away from me.
Galen’s dark eyes gleam with amusement as he steps forward, his sorcery surging like an ocean storm churning up the seabed beneath it. His fingers curl into talons, twisting and warping the surrounding air.
“Do you see it?” he sneers, his voice low and dripping with scorn. “Do you see how futile your resistance is?”
Kade’s face is a mask of bloodied determination, his jaw set like stone despite the rivulets of crimson dripping down his cheek and neck.
His magic flickers around him like a dying ember, faint and desperate, clinging to life as though it knows its wielder won’t surrender.
His dark eyes burn with resolve and anguish, the kind that comes only from a man who knows he’s on the edge of losing everything.
He stumbles but rights himself, planting his feet like a warrior who refuses to fall, no matter the cost.
“We’re not finished yet,” he grates, though the strain in his voice betrays his exhaustion.
But Galen is too much. His laugh fills the chamber, resonating in my skull like a hundred nails scraping against wood. And that’s when I see it—the pulse of magic that cuts through the air, aimed directly at Kade.
I don’t have time to react.
The bolt of pure, destructive force rips through the space between us, striking Kade square in the chest with a sickening, thunderous impact.
He staggers back, his breath stolen from him, eyes wide with shock as his magic falters, sparks dissipating in the air.
His body crumples to the floor, and I feel it in my bones—the impact, the sickening feeling of helplessness.
Kade’s chest rises and falls erratically, his blood splattering across the stone.
His body shakes violently, convulsing as his limbs jerk and try to break free from some unseen restraint.
Galen watches with cold satisfaction, his lips twisted into that damnable smile as Kade’s blood pools on the floor, soaking into the crevices as if it’s a meaningless sacrifice.
He’s dying. And he’s dying fucking fast.
There’s no time.
No room for anything. Least of all hesitation.
Certainly not weakness.
I’ve been a victim before. I’ve been powerless, dragged through the dirt by witches like my sisters and warlocks like Galen, used, discarded, abandoned.
I know what it means to lose, to have everything stolen from you, to see the light ripped away until only shadows remain.
But I refuse to let it happen again. I will not watch Kade die.
I will not let him take Kade from me—not him, not anyone, never again.
I’d rather burn this entire godforsaken world to ash than carry on without him.
The blood weave inside me roars to life, fraying at the edges of my consciousness.
It wants to devour. It wants to destroy.
It’s fucking furious and it refuses to be contained.
Galen’s stoked a beast that knows no limits, a monster of unfathomable darkness.
The magic inside me surges and it’s an unimaginable, indescribable horror of death and destruction that refuses to be quelled, and its maelstrom of malevolence defies comprehension.
The ground beneath me quakes as I rise, and I force myself to stagger forward, the weight of my limbs heavier than lead, my body trembling with the effort it takes to simply remain standing. But there’s no time. Not for me. Not for Kade.
Darius is still on the floor, his breath ragged as he tries to rise to his feet. He’s losing consciousness, but I can see the fire in his eyes. He’s not dead yet, and neither is Kade. Not while I can still move.
My eyes shift to Galen, who’s still standing, basking in the destruction. There’s a brief flicker of something even darker in his eyes—a hunger, a primal need to finish what he’s started.
I don’t wait.
I don’t think.
I just do.
I throw myself toward Kade, my fingers stretching out to his bleeding form. Magic surges through me, primal and uncontrolled. I don’t care what it costs. My hand hovers just above his chest, trembling. I feel the deep ache inside me, the strain of controlling the magic that thrums through my veins.
And then, with a scream of my own, I release it.
The blood weave explodes from my hands, a violent, unrelenting torrent of energy that screams through the chamber, shattering the planes of existence I thought existed between reality and oblivion.
My fingers crack with the strain as I force the magic down into Kade’s chest, pumping it into his veins, flooding him with everything I have left.
Galen’s attention snaps toward me, his eyes widening in a flash of disbelief. But it’s too late.
The magic roars through Kade’s body, forcing the blood back into his heart, stitching together the torn and shredded flesh. His body jerks, convulses as if he’s battling the forces I’m using to pull him back from the edge of death. I can see the life flickering in his eyes once more.
Galen’s power moves, charging toward me as his magic swirls through the air like a tightening noose. He’s enraged. He’s close enough to victory to taste it and he doesn’t want it to slip from his grasp.
“Foolish girl,” he sneers, twisting his hands into the air. “You cannot save him. You cannot save yourself.”
I throw up a desperate barrier, flickering a shield of emerald light forged from the ebon chain.
It trembles under the force of Galen’s attack but holds long enough for me to finish pouring healing magic into Kade.
His chest rises with a deep, shuddering breath as life floods back into him and his eyelids flutter, those dark eyes of his finding mine.
He’s confused and weak, but he’s alive.
I’m relieved and exhausted, but I cannot stop.