25. Chapter 25
Ashout rang in the air. Fyom.
I didn’t hesitate to unsheath my sword and direct the horse toward his shouts. Ophelia could handle herself, and had proved it time and time again when we trained—but Fyom was the least likely to pull a blade, even if it meant defending himself.
Sury was just behind me, aiming his bow, ready to release the arrow into the intended target’s heart.
I felt power in me swell uncontrollably, ready to take the head of anyone who attacked those I cared for.
I caught Fyom as we rounded the bend; his eyes were wide as he sat on his horse, clutching at his chest.
“Fyom!” I yelled. “Are you hurt?” I quickly looked around to see who had attacked but fell short. My head turned in the same direction as his. Fields that I knew once thrived with crops were now gone in a sea of black. A blight had hit Loamil and stretched as far as we could see.
Ophelia’s gasp caught my attention. I moved closer to her just as Aurora cried out in anguish about the turmoil of her people.
Pity for the young queen grew, as this was just another task to add to her growing list of things to fight through.
I watched as Ophelia pulled her crying sister into a tight embrace to steady her.
The moment was cut short as agonizing screams reached us from below where we stood on the hill.
Black Raiders rampaged through the small town of Fernwick, claiming victims with their swords and arrows. Distantly, I heard someone ask how we were to help them. Seeing how quickly these soldiers moved, we needed to make a plan and fast.
I helplessly watched a father be torn away from his family and murdered right before their eyes. Outrage sparked as old memories flooded to the forefront. I needed to act. A soldier that moved in jerk-like motions caught my attention next and fueled my need to protect these people.
“Sury.” I spun toward him, his stance ready for a fight.
He was angry. Good. “You take the north side. Drive the Dokvalon soldiers west to give the citizens a chance to run. I’ll enter on the east and take care of what I can with my sword as I drive them to the western gate.
” It felt easy, falling back into the times I was a captain, ordering my men where to strike our foe.
“Fyom, be ready to use your fire magic on anyone who dons that uniform. The girls can come up from the south and channel their magic together to drive…”
I turned to Ophelia, ready to show her where the best spot was to advance, only to see her standing there transfixed.
“Ophelia?” I moved toward her. She continued looking toward Fernwick like she hadn’t heard me call her.
“Ophelia? Listen to me.” I watched in terror as her teal-jeweled eyes lost all their color and turned into molten silver.
Pain sliced through me, ripping at my spine and digging deep into the base of my skull.
Fuckiiing fool. Ruuun from herrr before she locksss usss iiin chainsss!
“No,” she cried out in pain, panic mixed with rage on her beautiful face. Her body vibrated as sweat began dripping from her brow.
“Ophelia.” My body moved in slow motion toward her as I felt her power build. The force was like waves, threatening to push me back and pull me in. “Find control.”
“What is she doing?” I heard Aurora cry out. I flung my arm out to stop her from approaching her sister, for fear Ophelia’s power might do something she would soon regret.
The air swirled wickedly around Ophelia like she was in the epicenter of her own storm. Her eyes flashed bright again, her face laced with torment. She was fighting against her own Wielding.
“Fyom! Make them get back!” I roared over my shoulder as I tried to step closer to the woman I loved. The force around her had grown stronger. Another wave of potent agony ricocheted within my bones like a knife carving out the very marrow.
Don’t jussst stand there! You’ll be bound in chainsss forever. Do youuu remember what happened last tiiime we were bound?
Terrible memories threatened to overpower my mind.
I hated how the voice was right. The last time her Wielding had overpowered her, when that small village was set on fire, the Ancient One was able to flee without my aid…
but that was before she had grown into her power.
I needed to move, but I couldn’t leave her in this state, not even if I tried.
She needed to be grounded and direct her energy into something else.
Before my eyes, Ophelia’s hands rose into the air and turned, allowing her fingers to draw in as if she were clutching something.
Her hands shook and began to glow a deathly hue.
The brighter her hands grew, the more power radiated from her.
Her eyes flashed brighter, turning her irises to a glowing white.
MOVE! the voice screamed frantically at me, begging me to submit.
To save us both. I felt its razor-sharp claws dig into my mind, trying to overpower my control, but we were lost to the potency of her Wielding.
I would have been in awe of her, if it were not for being caught in this dangerous web between her and Ancient One.
The muscles in my body locked in such a force it made me bark out in pain.
“Naa’n le’ya! Please. Don’t,” I roared through the pain as I felt her power rise in an uncontrollable climb.
Another torrent of pain sliced through my flesh like I was being skinned alive. Did she know what her power was doing?
She wiiill not take meee! the voice thrashed.
My temple was on the verge of bursting. Its fear of being bound permeated through every pore and neuron.
Another wave of power swelled around us.
My jaw clenched so tightly I thought my teeth were about to break.
I shook against the power that held me in place, fighting it with every strand of my being, until my body was finally forced to relent.
Time slowed. My heart dropped, barely beating. My vision darkened to a gray haze. Fire raged against every cell and muscle fiber. I fought to regain control, but it was a tidal wave of power no man could resist.
I waited to morph, to feel every piece of tissue rip and my organs turn into shreds, yet my body remained.
My mind lurked in the background, watching the world around me through the windows of my eyes.
Every other time the Ancient One had come to power, it had been like watching a play in the far distance.
Did she mean to allow this thing to take control of my body?
Did she know? I screamed at Ophelia to let me go…
to fight what she had been working so hard at resisting.
To stop this madness she was doing. Yet no matter how loud I yelled, I knew no one could hear me, because my lips never moved.
Thisss biiitch will pay, the voice snarled. I could feel its fear of being bound and becoming the target of her power.
Do not touch her! I roared toward the voice. I wanted to move but I was held back inside the deep void I knew all too well.
Don’t worry, sssilver boy. I won’t disfigure this face too badly. A deranged laugh rang around me. I rather like coming to power in thisss form.
“Come.” A voice that was not Ophelia’s escaped her lips. “Kill them all.” I heard her order dig into our very being.
No! I wanted to fight against her power, her illicitus.
The way it poured into me was like lightning finding its mark.
My body was no longer my own to command; it now belonged to Ancient One.
The thing snarled as it was forced under her order.
I sensed steps moving forward. The feeling was like trying to run through a marsh pit, resistance rolling into a wall.
I could feel the unnatural power rippling off of the soldiers and beasts alike that attacked Fernwick.
One of the dog-like creatures raced toward us, blood splattered over its hairless skin, pieces of its latest victim still hanging between its teeth.
It snapped its jaws, its foul breath saturating the air, but before it could snap again, I watched my sword sever its neck.
The urthen’s body dropped in a heap as the head rolled on.
A whirring noise caught my attention and my head turned in time to see a flame-covered arrow shoot past me and into the fallen beast. Past it, I watched Sury relax his stance, but not before his eyes went wide as they locked onto mine.
Quickly he pulled Ora by the tunic and moved her behind him.
Fyom cast a shield around them all as they looked at me and the town in terror.
Good, I thought within the void. Stay far away from me.
The smoke from the burning buildings should have suffocated me, but the Ancient One would never allow it. More structures caught fire from the dry wood and thatch on the roofs. Pens that once held livestock were now empty, but also up in flames.
My feet continued to move forward without my aid, slicing through more beasts, ridding them of their heads right as I stumbled upon a small band of Raiders fighting with a few townsmen.
My hands made quick work of the soldiers, all covered in ghastly black veins, dropping them all to the ground in a matter of seconds.
More fire-tipped arrows shot past me. My body turned to find Sury, now alone, a few paces behind me, knocking arrow after arrow toward both the standing and fallen Raiders.
He kept his distance from me but was close enough to defend the people trying to run.
From a corner, a Raider lunged toward me, their movements steady and precise.
I locked into battle with them, my movements becoming faster and more swift.
Before the lad had a chance to cry, my sword pierced the weak spot of their armor, dragging from their arm and up into their chest. As the Raider fell, their helmet fell off, allowing me the chance to observe their face.
The man’s eyes were still open but void of life. A redness overpowered his lifeless irises, but that wasn’t what made my body tense. My face turned into a snarl and a hiss escaped my teeth once my eyes spotted the collar at his neck.
The Ancient One roared. I’ll never agaiiin wear one and be bound in such a waaay that even the giantsss would find an offense. Do you hear me?
I hated how much I agreed with the bastard. My mind suddenly wandered back to the days when the collar choked my neck as I took life after life after life that I’d been ordered to steal. To the heinous acts I’d watched my hands commit, to being forced to stay still as others had their way with me.
I watched my hand grip the band from the soldier’s throat.
Ice and fire coated my skin. The Ancient One roared against the pain as my hand crushed the piece of glass that held the tiny mineral inside.
Raw, unadulterated power covered my skin.
It felt foreign yet familiar—but in the hands of others? This was a death wish.
My hands chucked the pieces into a roaring fire beside me, causing the flames to quickly turn a sickly hue before roaring back to life.
The heat scaled my skin but no blister came to pass.
My body moved. Raider after Raider fell by my sword.
Any other man should have been tiring, wearing thin, but the more bodies the Ancient One claimed, the more it seemed to grow its excitement and thrill for blood.
Even severing limbs from the unliving soldiers brought it a sense of glory.
Wave after wave of soldiers poured toward me, with Sury pushing their bodies into the fires or sending another arrow wrapped in flames.
His quiver had to be getting close to empty.
In the town’s square, I watched with fascination as the townspeople bravely banded together to take on what few Raiders were staking a claim here.
I felt my face smile cruelly as I advanced on each of the Raiders, sending their pathetic excuses for existence to Cisoi for him to decide whether they walked through death’s door or wandered aimlessly in the spirit realm.
A few swift movements earned me yet another head of a Raider the moment my body tightened in response to something nearby strongly stirring. Even the Ancient One couldn’t resist the lustful pull of power that charged around us.
Ophelia. My body turned, my eyes locking onto her silvers.