Chapter 26 ~Velra~ #3
“There were other things he wanted to share with you,” Lazriel said. “But a lot of shit hit the fan in the last couple of days that put him in survival mode. All of us actually.”
“Very well,” Kai grunted.
I cocked an eyebrow. Just like that?
A burst of vibrant green light cut through everything, and Ryker Morgan materialized in the next moment right beside Kai.
He took in the evidence of the massacre, his eyes shooting wide. “You didn’t say it was necromancy that took them out,” he spoke to Kai.
“I rushed in here too and then with the arrival of certain someones, I didn’t have a chance to give you any further updates.”
Ryker turned for a moment and I heard a choked sound from him as the sight obviously impacted him too. “Fuck,” he rasped.
It took him a little while longer before he turned back to face us, then swept an assessing gaze over us.
We all tensed, Cassius, Lazriel and I exchanging a look as Ryker’s gaze shot to Ketheron being out in the open like this, outside the parameters that were allowed.
Then tension grew as Ryker stepped up to him.
Ketheron stared at him warily.
And then Ryker gave a nod. “You’ll need to defer to my command.”
“I… excuse me?” Ketheron responded.
“I need your help. There are six hundred and fifty hybrid beings inside the facility over there. They all need to be evacuated. It’s no longer safe here.”
“And you want me to evacuate them?”
“I’ll provide you the coordinates and you’ll perform mass teleportations to a couple of our clandestine sanctuary zones. But beyond that, I need your assistance with something else my team is working on, because the safety the sanctuaries will provide is only temporary. More needs to be done.”
Ketheron looked out at us, absolutely flabbergasted.
“Well?” Ryker said, pulling his attention back. “What do you say?”
“Yes. Of course. I can assist.”
“Through following my lead?”
“I can do that, Ryker.”
Ryker smiled. “Good.” He looked at Kai. “I need you with Ariana. Assist with the evacuation of Facility 2. I’ll take Vorzyr with me to see to Facility 1.
Guardian Members are deployed across the supernatural world gathering thousands of other hybrids, especially those who’ve stepped into prominence lately—they will be chief targets of Puritas, just like these facilities.
” He eyed Cassius. “Can you assist with Facility 1’s evacuation alongside Vorzyr? ”
“You need Celestial power,” Cassius realized aloud.
That was definitely the pattern with everything Ryker had just said. Kai, although not technically of Celestial power, had power that rivaled that. And he also had access to ancient magic that could basically replicate Celestial power temporarily as well.
“The only thing strong enough to cloak those at risk is Celestial power.”
“They can certainly be cloaked, but that is the extent of it, should this sort of necromantic power be used again,” Cassius warned.
“What does that mean?” Lazriel asked.
Kai told him, “Risen Reckoning cannot be blocked by any magic outside of necromancy itself.”
“Death touched beings could survive it, right?” I asked.
Kai’s lips quirked. “I like the way you’re thinking. They could survive it for a very brief window of time. A vampire could withstand being touched by it, but if faced with a concentrated blast, annihilation is near certain. Except for maybe an Ancient.”
A rumble sounded, pulling us all up short.
It took me a moment to realize that it was Ketheron growling.
His eyes were darting off into the distance, to the west, through the trees. “They need to be evacuated immediately. A rush of power comes this way,” he reported, eyes narrowing as he continued staring out there.
“Want to narrow that down, Keth?” Lazriel asked.
“Dark Fae. A huge contingent.” He frowned. “You cannot feel them?”
“No. I…” Lazriel concentrated. “I’m not feeling anything.”
“They are using heavy illusionary magic then.” Ketheron’s eyes flicked to Cassius, his eyes shooting wide.
“Not just illusion craft—they possess Celestial power.” His brow furrowed as he concentrated.
“Tainted Celestial power… the familiarity of it… it’s…
” A full body shudder went through him. “He’s tied to it.
Corvin is tied to it. His scent is fading but it’s still present, just stale now, in his death. ”
“The Celestial Plane gave him a supply of their magic,” Ryker said. “He already used it. We’ve been scouring everywhere he ever went when he was alive and we found nothing.”
“It was hidden… death magic taints it.”
Crap.
I saw the moment the realization hit Ryker. He looked between each of us, suspicion sparking.
He turned and strode to the ashes, and then he was sweeping his magic over it, back and forth, again and again, until his green glow flamed brightly, before then snuffing out.
“Morien Morgave walks the mortal plane,” he muttered to himself, shoving a hand through his spiky dark hair.
“Back!” Ketheron suddenly bellowed.
In a burst of speed, Lazriel snagged me and Cassius and ran us back several feet.
Ketheron did the same to Kai and Ryker, before he thrust out his palms and a violent explosion of his gold magic shot up in front of us, a shimmering wall rushing out either side, encompassing us and the facility behind us.
Not moments later, dozens of Dark Fae teleported on the other side of the wall that Ketheron was using to shield us with.
We all called our power, and Lazriel assumed a fighting stance, his features contorting into his full vampiric state.
Ryker strode beside Ketheron as he held the wall in place.
“Let me pass through,” he told him, as he called his infamous defensive magic to his upturned palms, vibrant-green lightning sparking that had the ability to cut through most beings’ magic, those of a very specific nature like Ketheron, notwithstanding.
Before Ketheron could respond, a burst of gray smoke tinged with sparkling black flecks erupted.
I jolted as he came into view.
The being I’d seen on the other side of the Veil when I’d been trapped there, the asshole who’d sealed the tear I’d made and trapped me inside, forcing Sylas to kill himself to enter and save me.
The figure in the red velvet hooded cloak with the straggly dark hair.
He flipped down his hood and a chill shot down my spine.
I’d seen some of the black veins before, but now he’d revealed his face fully, it was another fucking level of disturbing.
The black magic rot was unlike anything I’d ever seen before, or even heard about.
He stood there like a harbinger of decay, so much twisted power rolling off him. Even with Ketheron’s shielding wall up, I could feel it uncomfortably against my skin, the acrid taste in the air making my stomach churn.
His gaunt face had black veins crawling from his sunken eyes across his brow and down his hollow cheeks. His stringy hair hung around his face. A black shirt clung to him and was unbuttoned enough to reveal the continuation of those jagged veins. His fingers were twisted, nails blackened.
“We find ourselves with a second chance, Ryker,” he spoke in a nasally voice that had an additional creep factor to it.
“Morien,” Ryker responded, voice like steel. “Things will end the same way they did last time. Stand down now.”
Morien sneered, then looked out at the rest of us, barely even registering the mass power Ketheron was using to bar him from us and the facility. “Where is my son?”
Kai’s eyes narrowed.
My power flamed, my Dark Fae magic sparking on my palms joined by my shadows starting to swirl around me.
Cassius watched warily as he held his white power steady.
“Take the shithead out,” Lazriel hissed to Ryker.
Ryker took another step forward.
Morien held up a finger and tsked. “Such aggression.” His eyes narrowed.
“And such foolish hubris. There are hundreds you wish to protect on these grounds, yet instead of even considering my request for my son’s presence to appease me, you prepare to fight me.
” He gestured at the dozens of Dark Fae—the very much corrupted version of my former kind. “And them.”
“You’re up against a fuck of a lot right now,” Lazriel growled.
“Yet, you are all living beings, are you not? Even you, hybrid, are only partly death-touched. Just like the Wraith hybrid beside you.”
I swallowed down a shudder as the realization of his words hit.
He was threatening to perform Risen Reckoning.
“Just to be crystal clear, I ingested a lovely dose of Celestial power on my return to this facility. So in case you were trying to calculate my reach, you may rest assured that I most definitely have the means to flood this entire area. They will all perish alongside you.”
“Your madness never wanes. Even in death and defeat,” Ryker returned heavily. “Neither does your true sickness—that venomous megalomania.”
“Yes, intoxicating, isn’t it?” He swept his gaze over all of us. “Just like all that heady power coming off you all.” He stepped forward right up to the wall, just an inch from touching it. “Where. Is. My. Son?”
Ryker started forward, his lightning flaring dangerously.
I saw Ketheron make a move to allow him through.
But then Morien snapped his fingers behind him at his backup.
A rush of power slammed into Ketheron’s wall.
It shouldn’t have been able to touch him physically, shouldn’t have been able to impact him.
But then he was screaming as a kaleidoscope of magical streams started sweeping all over the wall.
It wasn’t messing with the structural integrity—it was messing with Ketheron.
Personally.
They were using it as a conduit.
It was mind-meddling on a brutal scale, all of them pouring their power into it.
Ketheron staggered and roared, the wall flickering as he struggled to maintain stability through it.
“I can’t cast it out,” Ryker said. “My magic can’t touch him.”
And he couldn’t break through the wall either.
None of us could.