Chapter 46 #2
What I did worked and I got the impression that although Zyrra had been the face of this trio all this time, she was truly the weakest. Her particular skills just made me an asset when they were gathering followers.
The brothers realized I’d figured something out. It was in their eyes, but they didn’t dare say it. Didn’t dare give me a foot through the door with a confirmation.
I was on to something but… it wasn’t enough.
I could only keep this up for so long.
Perhaps it would be long enough to figure out a way to free Arielle.
At least that would count for something.
Then I didn’t know what to do.
“Wolfe,” Elariya’s gentle voice pulsed through the bond, stunning me.
Gods. She was okay.
“Act like you can’t hear me.”
I did, even though in my Deathwalker form, they couldn’t discern my expressions. I held up my sword, acting like I was getting ready to attack again.
“Where are you, Ziyka?”
“On a temporal realm adjacent to Kazavania. They can’t see or hear me.”
“Get far away from here.”
“No. I have an idea. I need you to trust me. I need you to put faith and your whole heart into trusting me.” The agony in her tone gripped me.
“Always Ziyka.” I didn’t know what my mate had up her sleeves but she hadn’t steered me wrong yet.
She’d trusted me with her whole heart and faith. I needed to do the same.
“When I tell you, I need you to hit the three of them with your strongest death magic. Just the death magic. Nothing else. And don’t stop until I tell you.”
“Alright. Ready on your word, my queen.”
I’d been using that magic on them the whole time, but Elariya sounded like she’d figured something out.
I waited for her word, hoping it would come soon. If I stood here any longer they’d get suspicious. They already were.
“Running out of ideas,” silver-haired said with a chuckle.
“No, he’s planning.” Zyrra said in a sing-song voice. “I love this.”
“Now Wolfe,” Elariya shouted through the bond.
They thought I was going to strike with my sword, they were shocked when shadows poured out of me. I gave more than I had before, pushing well past a limit I didn’t know I had.
I expected them to evade the attack like before but another blast of power struck them at the same time as mine. Magic as bright as starlight, split through the red sky and mixed with mine.
I kept mine going, pouring death out of me and into them.
Unlike the previous times, the Deathless didn’t move. They couldn’t. The three stayed right where they were, frozen. Their faces filled with shock.
“You can stop now,” Elariya said.
I stopped them as she appeared, flying through the torn sky on Laureth’s back.
I transformed back into Fae form just as she landed next to me.
She threw herself in my arms and I held her close. Then we looked at the Deathless, still frozen.
“What did we just do?” I stuttered. “They’re immune to time magic. They’ll break free any moment now.”
Elariya shook her head and smiled. “No. They won’t break free. I figured it out.”
“What, tell me.”
“Your Deathwalker magic. It’s the only thing that can hurt them.
Because it came from a curse the ring created.
It comes from the same source of power that sealed them away, just more reactive so it can counter their powers.
That’s why you could hurt Zyrra.” She glanced at them and pressed a hand to her head, smiling wider.
“I concentrated your magic and cursed them into a time loop. Similar to the one that held me.”
My mouth fell open and all I could do was stare at her. “I… what?”
“Look at them,” she pointed toward them. “They’re immune to temporal manipulations that run along the continuum in one straight line, or branch into possibility. But not a loop. It cycles forever.”
I didn’t know how the fuck she figured that out but she did. “You are a genius.”
She shook her head and laughed. "I figured the rules must change with a loop.
Everything we know about time magic is about time in motion.
That's what they're immune to." Her eyes fixed on the frozen three.
"But a loop doesn't move anywhere besides around.
It closes on itself. Their immunity has nothing to push against. And nothing gets out of a loop. "
“Gods be good.” My mind was still dazed.
“I also took the liberty of slowing the loop so they’ll feel the effect of your magic for thousands of years. But slowly. Each blow will take a millennium to cut through them, but then another will follow and another and another. Endlessly.”
The cage holding Arielle suddenly faded and she was free.
“Guys!” she shrieked, rushing over.
She didn’t get another word in. The red sky above us faded, so did the earth. The strange wasteland we’d been standing on drifted away, leaving us in a hall-like room that had no ceiling.
A loud rumble shook the floor and a portal opened. A moment later the necromancer and the eyeless acolytes appeared screaming and were pulled down deep into the hole. The portal closed and something stilled in the air. I realized it was the magic.
That dark magic that tinged the air. It was gone.
I looked at the Deathless. The three of them still standing there.
Frozen in time.
Gods above. It was over. It was truly over.