Chapter 35
Everyone was on their feet, positioned in separate corners of the boat before the final runes formed—revealing a total of nine men dressed head to toe in robes of white.
All but one had their hood drawn. The one bold enough to reveal his face, who I assumed to be their leader, was a large man with a scar running from his cheek to the dark stubble along his jaw.
His black hair, peppered with gray, was a mess of curls cropped close to his ears.
It was his eyes that struck me most of all—a stormy silver filled with pure, unfettered hatred, and locked right on me.
“Alandris Vi’Elissar,” the man hummed the name like sweet poison. “You traitorous piece of shit. How unsurprising to find you here with that Goddess-forsaken abomination.”
“Tieran,” Alandris bit back. “How did you find us?”
I kept my eyes moving from one attacker to the next, observing their hands for any sudden movements as I listened and let my magic pool beneath my fingertips in wait.
“I’ve been keeping tabs on you for quite some time.” Tieran smirked. “I never did trust you. You think I believed Lyandril was guilty of the crimes you accused him of?” His lip twitched. “It was not the Council, it was you who murdered him in cold blood. My friend. FOR A MONSTER!”
Let me show him a monster, dear.
I swallowed.
Tieran took a step towards Alandris. “You shall know the wrath of our Goddess, Alessiantha. May her holy light purge you of the corruption you’ve bathed yourself in.”
Jyuri suddenly cleared his throat. “I love the speech, really do, but I’m afraid I’m quite bored.”
The robed figure in front of him lunged. “Shut your mouth, you heretic!”
“Stupid Human.”
Jyuri grabbed the man by the face, an arm’s length away, digging his claws in until the man was screeching and bleeding all over the deck.
Tieran’s voice boomed as the man’s limp body smacked the wood. “KILL THEM!”
Seizing the chaotic moment, the two men beside me flanked me.
The first, a Mage, shot an arc of lightning from his palm, which I blocked with a quick wall of shadow.
The second, wielding two short blades, spun both down toward me in a whirlwind of speed.
With only one arm to block, I caught one blade on my forearm, protected with hardened magic, while the other caught my upper thigh.
Not deep enough to stick, but deep enough to send a concerning amount of warm blood cascading down my leg.
The pain barely registered—or rather, I didn’t have time for it to register before they were bearing down on me once more.
I needed to take care of the blade wielder first. Close quarters magic against a blade was difficult enough one on one, with my uneven odds it was damn near impossible.
And they had me nearly pinned against the rail.
I ducked under the Mage’s lash of lightning and dove straight for his friend, sending him to the deck—one of his blades ripped from his grasp on the impact.
Rolling with him, I grabbed for any bit of his exposed skin and let my magic burst forth.
He struggled to regain control, pulling himself on top of me and pinning me.
His hood had fallen in the scuffle, revealing a young half-Elf with wheat-colored hair to his shoulders.
His blade struggled to meet my neck, shaking with his trembling hands, and I dug deeper into the well of my magic, holding him back from slicing my head clean off my shoulders, with everything I had.
In the same moment, blood began to pool in his eyes, and I felt the last of his life drain from his body.
The hairs on my arms rose, and a shock of pain electrified my body.
A scream tore from my throat as I writhed underneath the lifeless body which had fallen forward on top of me, blade clattering at my side.
I struggled to push off the dead weight as another arc of lightning shot through me, stopping me in my tracks.
My fingers and toes curled into claws as I clenched my teeth to endure the agony.
Let me out.
I choked out a cough. Blood.
Let me out or die.
“Never!”
Let me out, or everyone you love will die.
I choked out a sob and set my monster free.
The relief was as instantaneous as the feeling of watching myself from behind my eyes.
A passenger in the brutality that was to come.
With a strength not my own, I, no—Zaelos, threw the man I’d killed off of me.
I don’t know what the Mage saw when he looked at me, but in his eyes, I saw newfound terror.
He lifted his hand to jolt me with lightning once more, but I blocked it with the flick of my wrist. Easy.
With another fluid motion, I sent forth a hand of shadow to grip him by the neck.
He didn’t manage to cry out before it crushed his windpipe and slammed him into the deck, mouth frozen in a soundless scream.
I turned my head to check on my companions. Alandris was locked in battle with Tieran, Lorian was facing off against a swordsman, Makatza had a Mage dead at her feet, and another before her, and Jyuri had just ended his third and was now staring straight at me, rare panic in his eyes.
The swordsman in front of Lorian was dead next. A whirl of shadow to the chest. Then, the Mage. A shadowed hand that flung her deep into the depths of the ocean. I turned for Tieran next, only to find he’d been bested, a squirming bundle of singed flesh sullying the deck. Pathetic.
It was then Alandris’s eyes met mine, and at first, there was relief. Relief… and then a knowing fear.
“Let her go,” Jyuri demanded, approaching slowly.
I laughed, a wide smile tearing my face in two. “No.”
Alandris pushed past Jyuri, reaching for my hand. “Nairu. Nairu, come back to us.”
“Oh, that’s cute.” I shook his hand off, shoving him back. “Our dear girl is taking a little nap, so why don’t you tell me where exactly you’re taking us?”
The only answer was silence.
“Or I can kill you all.”
Stop. Let me back!
Alandris and Jyuri exchanged a look.
“Do not play games with me!” I snarled. “Do you not value your lives? Fine. Hers then.” I gripped my neck, the claws that had grown sharper digging bloody points into my skin.
Between one blink and the next, Jyuri vanished from my sight. And before I could make good on my promise to kill them, I felt hands on my shoulders and the pull of magic drowning me under a rolling tide.
Let me go.
LET ME GO.
When I opened my eyes next, I was in a room buzzing with ancient magic. I looked down at my hands, my fingernails, crusted with blood and grime, had returned to their normal length. I was me.
“I’m sorry,” Jyuri said suddenly.
His apology startled me more than anything. Jyuri didn’t apologize for anything. “What do you mean?”
“We planned this. In case.”
I didn’t understand until I saw the pool of liquid silver in the center of the room. “I didn’t get to say goodbye.”
“I know.”
“I wasn’t supposed to have to do this alone.”
“I know.” A quip. Some sort of ruthless remark. Anything would’ve been better than the odd hint of empathy in Jyuri’s voice.
“Can’t you go get them?”
He shook his head. “I’m not to leave you alone, nor do I possess the magic necessary to ferry your friends back and forth at my leisure. I need to maintain my strength….”
“In case,” I repeated back to him. “You need to be able to stop me.”
“I need to stand a chance at delaying you.”
“We could wait for them.” I knew the words were foolish before they even left my mouth. The next time Zaelos gained control of me would be the last. It wasn’t a risk we could take.
“For what it’s worth, you’re not the worst Human I’ve encountered.” Ah, there was the Jyuri I remembered.
I rolled my eyes. “We both know I’m barely Human.” I patted his shoulder. “For what it’s worth, you’re not the worst Fae I’ve encountered.”
He actually laughed at that—a true, genuine laugh. “Yes, I think you lot have started to ruin my temperament. Once all this is over, I’ll need a long time away in the Winter Court to fix myself.”
I took a deep breath, nodding my head. “Thank you, Jyuri.”
Without another word, I moved towards the pool of silver and knelt down in front of it.
Peering at my reflection, I saw the same Nairu as the last time I’d looked into the Soulseer.
Hair as pure and white as bottled moonlight, eyes red and glowing with raw, godly power.
She was everything I could become, were my soul not tangled and twisted with another’s.
You’ve returned, the familiar voice whispered in my mind.
What fate has written has come to pass. The flower of two souls returns to sever her root. But what will she become?
I reached forth, dipping my hand into the silver reflection.
It was like forcing my way through something not entirely liquid, and not entirely solid.
At first, there was resistance, but then it became a pull, urging me deeper—like a siren to a sailor.
A song wholly unnatural. Irresistible. Promising gifts beyond my comprehension.
The Soulseer had once gifted me my lost memories, the power of which had nearly shattered me. What would it gift me now?
I relinquished my hand from the pool and stood, sucking in a deep breath.
One foot at a time, I walked out to the middle.
I stood and waited, feeling myself sink bit by bit and forcing myself not to panic.
The deeper I sank, the less I could move my body, until I was down to my shoulders, completely immobile, my heart hammering in my chest.
When the silver met my chin, I held my breath and closed my eyes.
Several long moments passed before the water fully submerged me, my chest ready to burst from the strain.
But once I thought I could no longer stand the pressure and I’d all but resigned myself to take a breath and let the silver flood my lungs, there was the sensation of free-falling through a vast nothingness.
The fear of drowning transformed into a fear far worse. Was there an end to this empty void? I couldn’t see my hands in front of me. I screamed, but heard no sound. Yes, this was far worse. This was true torture. This was death, I was sure.
Once more, when my hope was razor-thin, I hit the bottom. A free fall of that length should have shattered my bones and turned me to dust, but I’d landed softly on my feet. There was hard ground beneath me, but still, all was black. At least now, I could see in front of myself.
I walked and walked onward through the darkness.
I had no known destination, yet that invisible pull still urged me endlessly onward.
Time had ceased to exist. I may have been walking for days, months, years.
There was no way of knowing for certain how long or far I’d traveled.
I only knew once I’d arrived, for I felt a power unlike anything I’d ever felt before.
A deep voice startled me to turn around. One I would recognize anywhere, for how often it haunted me. “Welcome to my cage, dear.”