Chapter 9 #3
"Have you lost your mind?" Arden demands.
I pause, fist raised. My heart is pounding wildly. Each breath is ragged from the force of my exertion. Sweat pours from my brow despite the chill.
The putrid air chokes me with every deep breath.
"Haven't you ever touched one?"
Arden shakes her head.
"The structure is abhorrent to me. Being this close causes me pain."
The stiff set to her shoulders indicates she’s telling the truth. Her usually vibrant color has dulled into a muted shade of green. Even her curls look limp as they cling to her temples.
"It's not stone. It's softer—like flesh." Her lips curl in disgust. "It moves."
Gripping the hilt of my sword, I pull it from the tower with a grunt. Using the sharp blade, I slice off a chunk of the obsidian. I extend the wiggling substance despite her hiss of outrage.
The goo is hot in my hand. Oil seeps over my palm and spreads between my fingers. It ripples in my hand, ebbing like a wave.
"It's alive."
"Impossible," she breathes. "None of my scouts ever reported such findings. They believed it to be stone."
"Your scouts aren't nearly as clever as me."
Pride warms my chest at the impressive look she gives me. It quickly dissipates as she shakes her head.
"Or reckless."
I chuckle at her disapproving scowl.
"Come on, Queenie. Nothing bad has—"
The obsidian goo’s scream pierces my ear. I recoil at the sound and make to shake free of it. The substance clings to my skin despite my best efforts to dislodge it.
Heat radiates along my palm as the mass spreads. It rapidly encases my hand, wrapping bone-crushingly around each finger. I grunt at the sudden pressure.
Black coils up my wrist, spreading up my arm with intense speed.
"Finn!" Arden screams.
Her glittering magic wraps loosely around my flesh. The darkness quickly eats it. Her eyes are wide as she looks at the rapidly expanding sludge. My skin feels as if it's being burned off my body.
Pain wracks me, and my knees buckle.
This is how I'm going to die.
Suffocated by a mysterious black goo in the middle of some forsaken forest. I think about grabbing Arden and kissing her so I can at least die happy. I would rather perish without ever knowing the feel of her lips than allow this disgusting creature to touch her.
The pain blots out all my other senses. It rules over me, quickly depleting my strength. I tumble limply into the rotten ground.
I hear Arden call for me. The feel of her soft touch anchors me as the world around me blurs. Through the pain, the hunger in my stomach intensifies.
My curse throws itself against the bars I’ve kept it behind all these years. Snapping with its fangs and slicing with its claws.
I've fought it since I was a child. The goo has weakened me. I feel it slither up my shoulder. Oily tendrils wrap tightly around my throat.
The end is near. I have no strength left to hold it back.
Darkness erodes the iron cage I've kept him in.
He burst through in a torrent of burning fire and blazing golden light. It spills from me and spreads across the clearing. My blurry vision can make out Arden's slight form. The rays of light envelope her in a blanket of fire.
It will not harm her.
The goo coiling around me screams as my hidden power eradicates it.
It unfurls from my body, desperately seeking refuge, but it is too late. The light penetrates it until what remains is ash. With its tendril off my neck, I suck down mouthfuls of air as my vision clears.
My golden light spreads through Meadowmist, clearing the darkness in a single golden wave. It slams against the obsidian tower. The structure screeches from the impact as flames lick along its side.
A chorus of hisses sound as it’s consumed.
The fire seeks the obsidian's center. It burrows through the sludge, burning through the tower until it erupts. The mass splinters, sending goo and rot to the ground. The deadtrees wither and curl in on themselves until they become dust.
Golden flames clear away the last threads of darkness.
With its oppressive power eradicated, the forest's trees pull back, allowing sunlight to slip through the branches.
There are still markers of decay, but the Void's structure is gone.
The brown grass knits back and becomes verdant once more.
Birds flock to the delicate branches, and a lone doe takes a few tentative steps into the clearing.
I double over as I pull the power back. Its warmth is abhorrent. I will it into submission through sheer force. Tucking the dwindling flames inside my body. Burying them deeper than before.
The creature fights me each step of the way, but I slam its cage back into place and lock it.
This small taste of freedom is the only one it will get if I have my say.
I brace my hands on my knees, trying to slow my racing heart. Delicate green toes come into view. Arden's rose scent chases away the lingering smell of death. I glance up at her, taking in the sharp edges of her teeth between her parted lips.
Her soft question nearly sends me back to the ground.
"How long have you known you're a changeling?"