EIGHTY-EIGHT
CAZ
“Caspian, come on. You have to get up.” Korah’s voice is muffled. I see her, but she’s nothing more than a blur amidst the red sky.
I don’t feel Willow anymore. I don’t sense her. I can’t read her. My chest feels like it’s on fire one minute then cold the next.
“She’s dead, Korah.”
“No. She can’t be.” Korah clings to me, desperate. “I need you to get up, Caspian. I need you to fight! You promised us you’d fight.”
I close my eyes, my chest throbbing and my stomach coiling into thick knots. That energy inside me seems to be seeping away. I can barely hear Yuri’s voice anymore. It’s distant.
“You are letting her win,” Korah snaps. “You are letting her defeat you.”
I grip her as tight as I can with shaking hands. “She was meant to be protected! You promised me she would be!”
“She must’ve struck when she weakened us.”
Korah stares into my eyes, hers cloudy and damp. Then she tilts her head to look where Hassha and Selah are still clashing. Her head falls again. She looks toward the battle between our army and Selah’s creatures.
I roll onto my side, wincing as I do the same.
Danica still fights, fierce and determined, but a creature mounts her, slicing through her from her abdomen to her chest. She collapses.
Devlin has guns, but he’s not quick enough. A creature sends him rolling away with its wings.
Killian continues fighting, covered in black blood, swinging his swords, aiming his bullets, roaring and ripping, but it’ll never be enough.
Alora and Valden have only a few Gilded left, but they’re back-to-back, surrounded by monsters. Callista hovers, swinging with her hatchet and aiming ice at flying creatures until she’s tackled.
The Mythics are trying to heal as quickly as they can, but they won’t save everyone. We’re outnumbered. The more we kill, the more Selah will create.
Unless we stop her.
Korah looks at me one last time, her eyes swirling with a pain I don’t understand. Then she takes off, meeting with Hassha to fight alongside her.
I roll over and push onto my fists, carrying the pain of my mate. I feel her gone…I know she’s gone. I want to leave this land and find her, get to her, but it’s all up to me.
All of these lives are on the line because of me .
Rowan is gone. Danica.
Willow. My sweet, beautiful Willow. Fuck, it hurts.
Who will be next?
No more losses. Yuri’s voice is louder now. You fight, Caspian. Do you hear me? You are my chosen, and you do not get to quit. You fight!
I stagger to a stand and clench my fists together, feeling the land quake under my feet. Tossing my head back, I close my eyes and open my mouth, focusing on my life spent in Vakeeli.
All I’ve gained.
All I’ve lost.
The smiles of my clan. The pride they took in working alongside me.
The smile on Willow’s face every morning I woke up to her.
The softness of her hands as she held my face, as she kissed my lips.
The wedding we were planning.
The baby we were going to hold dear and protect. A being we were meant to create and share.
Tears stream down my cheeks as I yell to the sky. The ground shakes even harder, and then before I know it, all of it crumbles.