Chapter 17
SERIS
Another explosion shook the ground.
I stumbled, catching myself against the trunk of the great tree. Through the clearing ahead, I saw them. Not the mercenaries that were slaughtering civilians, but soldiers in crimson and black.
Hundreds of them.
"To the eastern passage!" Lyralei’s voices rose in panic. Mothers grabbed children; artisans abandoned their work. A potter's wheel spun forgotten as its owner fled, wet clay collapsing in on itself.
Fire bloomed across the dining hall's roof. The structure that had welcomed me weeks ago, that had fed me and made me feel human again, dissolved into flame. The heat reached us even from here, carrying the stench of burning.
Lyralei's hand closed around my wrist. "Listen to me, "
A civilian ran past, child clutched to her chest. Behind her, a soldier raised his sword.
My magic surged before I could think. The air between them rippled, distance compressing, and the soldier's blade met empty space as mother and child flickered ten feet ahead, stumbling but alive. Daemon’s shadow took him out before the soldier could react.
"I said listen." Lyralei's grip turned iron-hard. Her other hand rose, tracing patterns in the air. Light fractured around them. It wasn’t the gentle shimmer I had grown accustomed to, but hard geometric shapes that pulsed with intention.
The fleeing civilians vanished. Not destroyed, but transported. I felt the magic's echo, sensed them reappearing somewhere far from here, somewhere out of reach.
"You must understand," Lyralei said, still casting, evacuating groups as quickly as she could focus. "This is what we were protecting them from. Why we hid. Why we, "
"Fight!" The cry came from Vaelthorne's western edge. Fathers had organized a defense and come to our aid, some armed with actual weapons, others with shovels and kitchen knives. They moved with desperate coordination, forming a barrier between the civilians and the advancing soldiers.
Despite the valiant defense, there were too many of them.
Another Fae fell while cutting down anyone who came near his family, an arrow lodged in his throat. My mind raced too fast to think.
"No!" I lunged forward.
Lyralei hauled me back. "You cannot. There are too many. You're not ready, "
"Then make me ready!" I rounded on her, tears hot on my face. "You said I was going to save these people. You said this was my responsibility, "
"And you will fulfill it." Lyralei's composure cracked, ancient grief bleeding through. "But not today. Not like this."
She pushed me toward the southern path. "Run."
I opened my mouth to argue.
“Daemon!” she called out.
Daemon freed his dagger from a mercenary. His shadows coiled around me as I fought, screaming and flailing to stay and fight.
“We have to go!”
Then Lyralei stepped into the clearing, and I understood what true mastery looked like.
The Keeper's form seemed to expand, luminous skin brightening until it hurt to look directly at her. Her hands moved in patterns too complex to follow, and reality bent.
Soldiers charging the western flank found themselves running in place, legs pumping as distance stretched infinitely before them.
A volley of arrows reversed mid-flight, striking the archers who had loosed them.
Three men wielding torches discovered their flames had turned solid, weapons now fused to hands that wouldn’t open.
Lyralei walked forward, and with each step, the enemy line fractured.
"Regroup!" an officer's voice cut through the chaos. "Mages, counter-cast! Infantry, hold formation!"
They adapted. Of course they did. Aeron wouldn't have sent an ordinary force. I recognized the crimson-robed figures pushing to the front: royal battlemages, trained specifically to break supernatural defenses.
Their magic hit Lyralei's barriers like siege weapons. Geometric shields cracked. The Memory Keeper staggered, caught herself, wove fresh protections even as blood trickled from her nose.
"Lyralei!" a Fae defender called out. "Fall back, we'll, "
"No. Protect those still trying to escape." Lyralei's voice carried desperate clarity. "I’ll handle the incoming forces."
A blade erupted from her shoulder. She had been so focused on the magical assault she hadn't seen the soldier who had gotten back up from an earlier attack, closing to melee range while she countered spells.
Lyralei didn’t flinch. Instead, she tore his body apart into pieces using the Veil.
I screamed. Despite my protest, Daemon continued to pull me back.
“Get a hold of yourself! Look at everyone fighting! Lyralei isn’t protecting you just because she cares about you! This is how your people survive! You must get out of here now and fight another day!”
Daemon’s words cut deep. I knew he was right, but it didn’t ease the suffering of powerlessness. I couldn’t take my eyes off Lyralei.
Then, Kane broke through the enemy lines with brute force, bodies flying in every direction.
“Where are the others?” Daemon asked, his shadows still wrapped around my wrists.
"Fighting." His jaw set. "They’ve flanked us. They’re coming from three directions. Kael's holding the northern approach. Zephyr's covering the eastern passage."
Daemon cursed under his breath.
We were surrounded.
While he was distracted, I used the Veil to break free.
By the time I reached Lyralei, she had stopped the bleeding using healing magic. Though clearly struggling, she forced herself to stand.
But before I could help, Kane’s thick arms wrapped around me.
"You can't stay here." I struggled against Kane's bulk. "I’m sorry, but we have to go.”
I fought against his strength, but he didn’t budge.
Kael appeared out of thin air and launched himself into enemy forces, moving through their lines like flowing water. He was too quick for them to react, leaving a trail of slit throats before reaching us.
Zephyr came from the direction of the eastern passage, creating a wall of wind to give Lyralei a brief moment of rest.
But more kept coming.
“The civilians have been evacuated! We’re the only ones left!” Zephyr was out of breath,
"Seris." Lyralei hand settled on her shoulder, surprisingly gentle for its size. "You have to go. Now.”
"No… " I wanted to argue, but a single word was all I could manage. The rest came out stifled with the free-flowing tears.
Lyralei and Daemon shared a look of understanding. Then, Lyralei stood before us, one hand pressed to her wounded shoulder.
"Survive. All of you." The Keeper's eyes held centuries of grief. "Just know that I believe in you, Seris."
With that, she unleashed the full power of her magic.
A building collapsed inward, sending sparks spiraling into the sky.
The enemy front lines disintegrated.
“Hold! Aim for the girl!” A commander bellowed directions as his archers flanked us from both sides.
Before they could reach their positions, Lyralei struck. Their bodies tore open from the inside. Their limbs alike exploded in every direction.
"Veil-witch!"
A squadron of soldiers charged at us. Before Daemon’s team and I had time to respond, they were obliterated.
Lyralei stood tall despite her injuries, facing off against the entire force converging from every direction. A protective spell surrounded us, a sphere of the Veil blocking arrows and spells cast by enemy mages.
At the same time, enemies crumpled into their own hearts without a chance to scream. Lyralei had become a terrifying force of nature. Despite the immense power, there were too many of them, and she was already injured.
She stumbled. The light around us flickered, the pattern fragmenting.
Her work reassembled itself, but wrong now, unstable. The geometry twisted, distances collapsing too quickly. I felt the pull as reality prepared to fold around us. Lyralei turned to us abruptly.
“It’s time for you to go.” She held the gentle smile that had made me feel so safe, yet so defeated.
"Wait," I reached for Lyralei. "You have to come with us, you can't, "
"Tell them." The Keeper's eyes found hers, brilliant even as they dimmed. "Tell them Vaelthorne stood. Tell them we did not surrender."
"No! "
The world twisted.
I saw it in fragments as the teleportation cast by the last of her strength seized us. Lyralei’s protective spell collapsed, her light finally failing. Soldiers closed in, surrounding her.
I saw Vaelthorne burning. Sacred structures that had survived centuries reduced to ash and ember.
I saw a group of soldiers approach Lyralei with restraints.
The Keeper would not let them take her alive.
Before the teleportation had completed, I watched spears, swords, and arrows impale her from every direction.
Then distance snapped closed like a slamming door, and we were elsewhere.
I hit stone hard enough to knock the breath from my lungs. Cold bit into my skin. It was dark, but light filtered into the environment from somewhere. We were underground. Around me, the others materialized in various states of collapse.
Zephyr sprawled motionless, pale as death. Kael crawled to him immediately, checking for wounds.
Kane rose slowly, shield arm hanging limp, breathing ragged.
Daemon remained on his knees, shadows dissolving around him.
I sank to my knees.
The home I’d found. The people who'd welcomed me. The sanctuary that had survived purges and centuries of hiding,
Gone.
Because of me. Because I’d been there.
The last living Keeper of the Veil was now gone so I could live.
My magic stirred, responding to grief and rage, ready to tear reality apart. Ready to unmake everything until nothing remained, but this time I didn’t have to strength to unleash my powers.
Instead, I leaned back into the jagged wall, numb.