7. Shadow Wielder
Shadow Wielder
SYORAN
Where structured liveliness once clung to the streets of Serevelan, there was nothing but unnatural stillness.
The air carried an indecipherable buzz, one that encouraged residents to close their shutters and slip into the homes they believed provided security.
But safety was a falsified sentiment on the continent of Wraelira.
With King Marellan’s rule, and his alignment with entities far more evil than he was, a corruption so thick coated the once lively lands to the point I was uncertain if we’d taste freedom again.
“Two more blocks,” Leilani called over her shoulder. “Once we reach the docks—”
A tremor strong enough to send us staggering rocked the earth.
Barely catching myself on a nearby building, I grabbed Kael’s arm before he could hit the cobblestone.
Tightening my hold, I ripped him toward me, and he hissed at the discomfort.
Guilt bloomed in my chest at the sound, and I started to apologize, but another quake prevented me from doing so.
Nearby structures trembled beneath its wrath, wooden beams cracking as the threat of collapse loomed.
The well-crafted masonry grated against itself, stones working to slip from the minerals that held them in place.
Various windows bent, their glass exploding to coat the walkways with fragmented shards.
As the surroundings morphed to accommodate a wave of unspeakable power, the atmosphere briefly shifted—rolling rivers of magma and jutting rock slipped through a tear in the fabric of reality before vanishing; everything returned to normal.
Not even realizing that Kael had fallen to rest against my chest amidst the chaos, I basked in the comfort his warmth brought.
A breath passed, and he peered up at me, his seafoam irises shifting in conflict.
Fighting the heat rising to my cheeks, I snapped my chin toward Leilani to avoid any extended awkwardness between us.
Unfazed, she held her ground in the center of the street, a gentle wind catching her tightly wound curls.
Even caressing the woman who seemed to embody the definition of life, the breeze whispered an unspoken warning—something ancient yet familiar, capable of destroying or crafting realms. My essence stirred to life with the growing realization, a deep-seated knowing slithering up the back of my neck, followed by a wave of goosebumps.
They’ve arrived.
“Leilani, get the fuck out of—”
Cobblestone parted, the growing crevice forcing her backward.
What was once bottomless glowed with a sickening green hue, seeming to summon Serevalen’s residents.
Doors creaked open, heads poking out of thresholds as that insurmountable energy grew tenfold.
Mumbles slipped through structures and alleyways, onlookers tossing questions about the sudden manifestation of a portal and how the continent was still capable of producing magic when the lands lacked it.
A portal…
My eyes darted to Leilani; her stare was already awaiting mine with shared cognizance. Our voices merged with a crystal-clear demand, just as the maliciousness that clung to each light dust of wind bubbled over the edge of the gaping hole.
“Get back inside!”
No level of preparedness could have predicted the cavern’s sudden hunger.
The force drew inward, threatening to swallow the neighboring structures and connecting streets.
My hold loosened on Kael as the pit sucked every living creature toward its maw.
With the sudden shift, up became down and down became up, and it wasn’t until the portal erupted with a power so nefarious that our surroundings renewed themselves.
Back colliding with a nearby structure, every ounce of oxygen occupying my lungs vanished.
I gasped, agony quick to follow, but the inhuman shriek that sprouted from the hole in the earth served as a distraction.
Lids fluttering to fight the daze that had blanketed my vision, an unspeakable horror flooded my system.
Two hoofed legs rose from the chasm, penetrating the cracked cobblestone.
Appendages followed, their structure mirroring that of an insect—some ending in claw-like points and others resembling feelers.
Crawling up the wall of the abyss, the creature's spiked shell followed.
Lined with sharp ridges and protrusions, its casing appeared nearly impenetrable, and, as if wishing to prove me right, it scurried to the surface.
Its paired back hoofs stomped against the ground as it rose to its full height.
Easily three times my size, its shadow devoured me as its long tail curled outward like a whip.
With a snap, my attention shot to its end, barbed with an unnatural gleam.
Poison.
“Syoran, move!”
The shout ripped me from my muddled examination right as the insectoid dashed in my direction. Its horse-like lower body aided in its speed, the gap that once existed between us shrinking to nothing.
I fumbled for my sword as it rapidly approached, but as my fingers curled around the hilt, its tail rose with an inescapable strike.
Everything seemed to slow as its curled stinger aimed at me, the growing moonlight gleaming against its lethal point.
With my sword secured in my grasp, I tugged it free, knowing damn well I didn’t stand a chance.
It struck with hunger, and I waited for the agony to follow—a burn in my chest, a seeping numbness in my gut—but there was nothing. Instead, a billowing darkness carved through the protected tail with an ease that spoke of natural wielding, for the weapon was not a blade.
Shelled flesh bounced across the ground, the poisoned end detached from the creature. A shrill howl followed, its frame convulsing in agony as it slithered back toward the hole it crawled out of. With its slow retreat, I dared a glance to the side, only to find someone familiar.
Blonde locks disheveled, Kael’s seafoam irises held mine. Shock flooded my senses, not because he bore a mark of injury, but because of the sword-shaped shadow he clutched between his hands.
“W-What the fuck?” I breathed, gaze shifting between him and the billowing darkness. “How did you—?”
“I don’t know.” Shoulders heaving, the prince reached for me as the weapon vanished, tendrils coiling around his forearm with what appeared to be… protectiveness? “And as much as I’d like to fucking figure it out, we’ve got bigger problems.”
“Kael, you don’t understand the implications of what you just did. Our lands are cursed. No one can access that level of wielding even if they wanted to. By the gods, you didn’t just cast, but you…”
“Controlled,” Leilani finished for me as she clenched her fist around the daggers she held. “Magic hasn’t been known to exist in Wraelira ever since your father overtook the throne. The only exception seems to belong to people like Rohen, Children of the gods.”
Blinking, my head swiveled between them as I took Kael’s offered hand. “Does that mean we’ve found another one of the five?”
He hoisted me upright, power billowing from him in waves that seemed to stem from somewhere just beyond our realm. “Listen, as much as I would love to sit here and discuss this, we—“
A screech far more otherworldly than the first carved through the brief calm. The portal widened alongside it, cobblestone fissuring beneath its adamance, and those same twinned hooves reappeared. Except this time, a deep purple shaded them, radiating upward in vein-like sweeps.
My lips parted to ask if it’d been a detail I missed, or if the one Kael had wounded had returned, but the question died on my tongue as a blue thorax rose from the depths.
It towered over us, its height easily twice that of the prior insect. Pincers, where there hadn’t been any prior, snapped in our direction with predatory wrath. Its tail swished behind it with territorial languor, carrying the rage of an animal whose peace had been invaded.
No, it was an animal whose offspring had been harmed.
“We need to move!” I snapped as I grabbed Leilani’s wrist and free arm. “Now!”
Perceptive, the creature's eyeless head snapped toward us. Twitching unnaturally, a sharp crack split the stillness, and we watched in horror as its whipping appendage split in two. Stingers duplicated, one wasting no time to pierce the earth inches from my feet.
A scream was quick to follow, but it came from the small porch of one of the homes. “W-What is that thing—?!”
A second tail darted with precision, piercing the center of the woman’s chest. A rasped gag tumbled from her, but it was short-lived as every vein lining her skin shifted to an inky black.
The blood spilling from the gaping wound shifted to match the darkening hue before it reached her neck and head, eye sockets bursting with a pop of her infested lineage.
“Fucking now!” I reiterated, ripping them with me toward one of the alleyways.
Sprinting down the side streets, our booted footfalls seemed to echo with a newfound weight.
We hadn’t been able to save that woman, and it was likely that she would be the first of many to pass beneath the billowing influence of the Others.
Something burrowed within the very marrow of my bones warned that this was just the beginning of something horrific, something that would change the trajectory of the future if we didn’t do something to stop it.
A timbre rose from behind us, carrying with it the octaves of numerous voices. “You believe you are capable of running from your fate?”
“Did it just fucking talk?!” Kael shouted, briefly glancing over his shoulder. “Please tell me you heard that too, because if not, then we’ve got a whole other set of issues to consider.”
The creature’s cadence flooded our escape route, preventing Leilani or me from confirming his unease.
“Divari are only capable of cowering for so long. Remain mindful of such cautions, as well as those that are seconds away from presenting, for my warning is a grace compared to what’s coming.
These lands are cursed, wrapped in the pestilence our realm thrives off, and… ”
Its utterance seemed to fade as Kael slowed, my attention narrowing in on him. The shadows once curled around his forearms faded as his palm met the brick of the building we stopped beside.
“Kael, what’s—?”
Leilani was cut off as the prince heaved, blood spewing from his lips in a thick waterfall. Peering up at me, his life force trickled down his chin as his body swayed once before plummeting toward the cobblestone street.
I lunged forward, capturing him in my hold before he could make contact. Mind reeling, my thoughts settled on the insect’s words, hints that prefaced a link to something just out of our reach.
There had never been an instance in the past where Rohen had collapsed like this after she’d connected with her mother or summoned the creatures she’d suddenly become capable of calling forth. But Kael? All it took was one weapon casting…
How could Kael even wield in cursed lands if he wasn’t a Child of the gods? Who was he really, and what the hell was he capable of?
“Syoran!” Leilani screamed. “We need to get back to the ships!”
Unaware of how long I’d been attentively watching the slow rise and fall of Kael’s chest, I nodded. Cradling him, I pushed myself to stand, my brows drawing together with far more questions than answers—far more concerns than alleviations.
Just as I’d feared, our fight had only just begun.