Chapter 73
Chapter Seventy-Three
Ellowyn
“Hello, godling,” Solace purred, violence and malevolence flashing in her white eyes.
I climbed on shaking legs out of the wreckage of the main house.
Solace, in her desire to reveal my presence, only served to make the building more unstable.
At any point, it would collapse and bury the catacombs below completely.
While I had no desire to confront Solace in this state, there was little option between facing certain death buried beneath tons of soil and stone or fighting for my life against the crazed goddess above.
My newly acquired Destruction Magic roiled within, pushing at its confines and threatening my balance. I stumbled, clutching my stomach while reaching out toward the ground with my other hand, hoping to steady myself.
Solace clicked her tongue with a shake of her head, faux sympathy on full display.
“Oh, poor little godling. This won’t even be fair,” she cooed, power crackling at her fingertips, a feral smile spreading across her gaunt features.
“But I’ll try and make it painless, hmm?
Just stay right there, and I’ll take it all away,” she whispered with an edge that had the hairs on my skin standing on end.
Move! My mind screamed, but my body was slow to react, too burdened by the influx of Kaos’ power and the ordeal in the catacombs.
I meant to dodge to the right and avoid the attack completely, but all I succeeded in doing was falling flat on my face before rolling just enough to take the hit on my hip and outer thigh rather than my heart and head.
Pain exploded across my lower half as stars burst across my vision, and I spewed bile on the ashen ground.
I groaned, chancing a glance behind to see a foot-long ice spear sticking straight out of my hip.
Blood pooled around it, running fast down my leg and into my pants as the ice melted when it came in contact with the warmth of my body.
“Fuck,” I whispered as I felt power crackle through the air once more.
“Did I say it wouldn’t hurt?” She laughed mirthlessly, drawing my attention to her savage expression once more. “I lied.”
The Goddess of Lies.
A second ice spear shot from her hands quicker than I could blink, piercing my left calf straight through to the ground.
The loudest scream rent from my chest, agony exploding once more as I desperately tried to pull myself along the ground away from certain death. I was the prey caught in the much larger predator’s trap with no hope of escape.
Torin, I thought weakly. I can’t leave Torin.
My nails bent and broke as I scrambled for purchase in the dried, dead earth.
“Where do you think you’re going, godling? I’m not done with you yet!” Solace barked, conjuring a third ice spear much longer than the previous two.
My heart thumped wildly in my chest, vision blurring with the force of blood moving through my body. Magic glowed in Solace’s hands, casting shadows that made her appear as sinister as she acted.
If that spear struck my spine, I was as good as dead.
I diverted my attention back to the ground beneath my hands and clawed at the Destruction Magic within my chest, willing it to respond. That particular power still refused to bend to my will, threatening to consume everything if I unleashed it or loosened my control for more than a moment.
That’s a last resort, I thought as I gripped a thread of deep-purple magic and desperately pulled.
Surprisingly, Pain coalesced in my palm, sluggishly snaking around my hands like a long-lost lover. I moved my fingers imperceptibly, malleating my magic into small, nearly undetectable spheres, and flung them with all my might at the goddess.
Solace’s magic dimmed with a wounded cry before she dropped it completely, lost in phantom pains. I lifted my head from the ground, chin scraped from the rocks beneath my body, to see Solace brought to her knees, long fingers scratching at her scalp in an effort to expel the agony I’d conjured.
Confident Solace was indisposed, I focused on removing the icicle lodged in my hip.
Every movement sent bolts of white-hot lightning down my legs and up my side, causing my feet to tingle and hand to go numb.
On a panted exhale, I gripped the ice. My hand slipped more than once as it grasped the ice, causing bile to rise in my throat and blood to sluice from the wound.
An agonized sob rent from my chest as the icicle came loose with a sucking noise that would haunt me for the rest of my life, blood quickly filling the hole left behind. My hip throbbed in cadence with my heartbeat, but I had little time to rest and recover.
Pushing to my knees, I took a deep, shaky breath before sending another tendril of Pain toward Solace. This strand took on a mind of its own, wrapping around her neck and head before dissolving into her skin.
High-pitched screams and wails tore from her throat, rebounding off the ruins to disappear into the quickly darkening sky.
Night would be upon us soon, and I could use that to my advantage if I was able to pull the second spear from my calf without losing consciousness.
Refusing to look at the injury, I wiggled my leg slightly and was nearly brought to the ground once more as I felt the ice graze bone. It had punctured the left side of my calf, missing bone, thank Fate, but pierced straight through muscle to the ground beneath.
Sweat beaded on my brow and dripped down my back as I reached behind and felt the edge of the spear. It was thick, probably half the size of my wrist, and I fought down rising bile.
Solace’s screams turned to little mewls and whimpers, and I knew I had little time remaining.
Fuck, this is going to hurt.
Panting, I closed my eyes before adjusting my grip on the end of the spear. It was shockingly cold against my heated, sweaty skin and made it hard to grip.
On the count of three. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, the scent of charred wood and ash filling my lungs. One, two . . . three.
With a cry that broke halfway, I yanked with all my might, feeling the ground give way to the spear as it sluiced through my calf and out the other side.
Immediately, my vision blackened as I retched. Hot blood ran from the open wound down my calf and into the deadened ground.
Shaking, weak, and with blurry vision, I pushed to my hands and knees before attempting to crawl away from Solace.
Each movement was pure agony, my legs protesting every inch forward, but there was no other option.
Slowly, I made my way toward a small structure. Using the fallen wall as leverage, I pulled to my feet, knees knocking and nearly giving way as my injured legs attempted to support my weight.
How the fuck am I going to walk?
I closed my eyes for a moment and dug my palm into the rough wood in an attempt to force my thoughts away from the sheer agony that radiated from my hip and calf.
My heart beat a rough cadence in my ears, and it took me a moment to realize that Solace’s haunted whimpers were no longer echoing.
Instead, a hushed, almost reverent silence fell across the Valley as if every blade of grass, every rock and stone, were held in suspense.
I stopped breathing and focused on the sounds around me.
There was nothing—no crunch of dirt or movement of debris to indicate where Solace had ventured.
The hair rising on the back of my neck was the only warning I had before I heard the rushing of wind.
My eyes flew open as my hair began to swirl around my face, obstructing my view and whipping my exposed skin.
Shit!
Adrenaline flooded my veins, urging me to run and seek shelter elsewhere. Injuries momentarily forgotten, I pushed from the dilapidated wall and sprinted toward the remainder of the village.
The wind whistled and groaned its own melody that drowned out my pounding steps and racing heart as I catapulted through the ruins in search of shelter.
The swirling vortex behind me grew in strength, picking up the remains of houses with loud cracks and booms. Debris sailed through the air to land hundreds of feet from where it originated.
A particularly large wooden beam fell in front of my path with a crack that shook the ground.
Without breaking stride, I vaulted over it, head whipping in every direction in search of a place to hide.
When she unleashes that . . .
I didn’t want to think about what would happen to me if I remained in the open.
Rocks and twigs sailed through the air, striking my exposed skin and tangling in the knots of my hair. Pain bloomed on my cheeks and temples as I was struck repeatedly, small gashes opening nearly everywhere.
My lungs constricted painfully as the agony in my legs returned once more. I cried out as my steps faltered, flinging me to the ground with a hard thump that was certain to leave bruises along my torso.
The wind roared overhead, growing louder as the vortex was finally unleashed, carving a path of pure elemental destruction through the Valley. I ducked, covering my head with my hands, and prayed for a miracle.
Just as my vision was clouded by whirling debris, I saw it—a small building made nearly entirely of stone that was remarkably still intact.
With a shout, I pushed my palms into the ground and propelled myself forward, dashing through the sailing debris and the gale that was intent on knocking me completely off course.
My steps slowed as I fought the wind, walking nearly diagonally as it pulled at my clothes and hair, nearly ripping my rippling tunic from my body.
Fay’s crystal bounced against my chest, and I covered it with my fist, refusing to sacrifice it to the storm.
Each step felt like it weighed a thousand pounds as I pushed onward, stumbling more than once over upturned rocks and, horrifically, a skull.
I closed my eyes against the onslaught and let out a relieved breath when my outstretched palm finally, blessedly, made contact with the solid stone.
Eyes watering both from the wind and in relief, I fell through the splintered wood that was once a door, kicking it shut behind me as the storm roared outside.
While the exposed squares that served as windows still allowed some of the wind into the structure, it was a significant improvement from the gale outside, and I stumbled once the force of the wind was no longer pushing against me.
With deep, heaving breaths, I fell back against the inside wall, slowly sinking to the earthen floor.
“Fuck,” I whispered rather eloquently, though there was really no other adequate descriptor.
I kept my fist firmly around the crystal on my neck and debated my next move.
With closed eyes and shaky exhales, I willed my magic to respond to my pleas, intent on destroying Solace’s tether and escaping this hellscape.
I growled in frustration when my magic refused to respond and hit the back of my head against the wall.
“Fuck,” I muttered again, this time rubbing a sore spot on my skull.
The wind still raged outside, tossing debris against the stone house periodically with thunderous thumps that made me jump. With my magic inaccessible and Solace at large, there was little else for me to do than sit and wait out the storm and pray for a miracle.
The Valley was eerily still after Solace’s vortex, the wind dying completely to leave my ears ringing without the constant roar. Confident the storm had run its course, I left the small hut, wincing at the squeak of wood in the quiet.
On I ran, even as Solace’s scream of frustration and desperation reached my ears, bouncing off the ruins.
I ducked and dodged, periodically climbing over nearly impassable walls of refuse in an attempt to escape Solace’s wrath.
Eventually, my breathing was so ragged, my heartbeat so erratic that I had to pause.
Gasping, I flung myself against the last standing outer wall of what was once a small home.
My back hit the scorched wood with a painful thump, causing me to bite my tongue until the telltale taste of copper flooded my mouth.
I brought the fist clutching Solace’s tether to my mouth, pressing it against my lips in a desperate attempt to muffle my panted, whiny gasps. My other hand shakily pressed against my side, where debris from Solace’s windstorm found purchase in my flesh.
“Shit,” I whispered through gritted teeth as the shrapnel wiggled deeper into my side in response to my labored breathing. Blood sluiced between my fingers, hot and sticky as I put pressure on the wound.
“Where are you, godling?!” The booming sound of buildings splintering apart as their pieces rained against the ground nearly drowned out Solace’s earsplitting shriek. I winced as slivers of wood and pieces of stone bit at the exposed skin of my neck and hands.
“You cannot hide forever! Come out now, give me that tether, and I’ll make your death quick. Painless, even,” she hissed, her voice trembling with rage.
My heart beat wildly against my chest, the adrenaline rushing through my veins pushing me to move.
But I couldn’t. Something anchored me in place, even as I cowered against the wall, flattening myself to avoid the near-constant barrage of dust and debris as Solace inched ever closer to my hiding place.
In mere moments, she would be upon me.
The ground seemed to vibrate with her every step, jostling my bruised and battered body, making sweat burst across my brow and down my back anew.
She was so close I could hear her feet crunching against bones and occasionally kicking stones out of her path.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” Solace sang. The blood in my veins, once pumping so wildly and hot, froze at her tone. My breath sawed unevenly as I tried to shove the terror down that was quickly clogging my throat.
This was it, the moment she’d pass the dilapidated structure, and I’d come face-to-face with death itself.
I wish I’d had more time. It wasn’t supposed to end like this, I lamented. It was as if my life flashed before my eyes in that moment; all of the good and the bad strung together in a series of barely cohesive images, leaving me with a faint bitterness against the back of my tongue.
A tear leaked unbidden from my swollen eye to track down my dirty cheek to land in the muck between my legs.
I heard it then, a faint buzz that only grew in intensity, reminding me of the same whisper the first time I’d set foot on Meru, begging me to create.
My brows furrowed, and I opened my lips on a gasp as I saw the tips of Solace’s alabaster toes, blackened with soot, dirt, and blood.
“There you are,” she whispered, her eyes wide and unseeing, hands poised to strike me dead where I sat.
I didn’t think, just responded to the sudden call pulling at my Creation Magic.
In one breath, my hands were braced against my body, ready for my final breaths. In the next, I’d slapped them against the soil, instantly releasing the entirety of my Creation Magic on the ground beneath my palms.