Chapter 18 #4
The Celestial magic threatened to burn me from the inside out because I’d had to ingest so much of it. I needed to unload the power, and I needed to do it now. But with this current calamity, that could not be.
Velra’s eyes swam with emotion, her worry clear—not to mention the pangs I could feel from her through the Soul Brand.
She looked away and squared her shoulders, then grasped the king’s arm. “You can’t cut out the mind-meddling, can you? Even with the Celestial aspect now gone? In your current state, it’s not possible like it would normally be?”
“Correct.”
“I have an idea. But I can’t leave to…” Her gaze flicked back to me.
Darethor laid his hand over hers upon him. “I will see to him. For all our sakes.”
“Go,” I told Velra. “All is well.”
She steeled herself, then gave me a nod, before striding deeper into the heart of the battle, clearing the way with her shadows and frost alike.
Darethor swept his arms up and out, his blue power arcing high and wide and forming a glimmering shield just as Velra’s shadow wall had to fall so she could do what needed to be done.
He completed the process just before the first blast from the minions hit.
I saw him grind his boots into the sand to maintain stability, while he was not in optimal condition.
I dug my fingers into the sand also, my instinct to push back to my feet leading the way, until I caught myself.
I could not enter battle either way. I couldn’t unleash any magic while I was containing so much Celestial power.
It would erupt from me in an uncontainable rush. My magic was not just mine at current.
I collapsed onto my side, having to just watch as more minions joined the assault now they already had Thryne distracted with trying to counteract the awful acts of the mind-meddling.
“There comes a point where the price for amassing great power is a debt too great. The pursuit loses all meaning and all it offers in return is pain,” Darethor spoke to me over his shoulder as he held the shield steady.
Regret pierced his eyes. “This is the last note in a symphony I wrote long ago.”
“You’ve seen the error in it, you’re attempting to rectify it.”
“Alas, the damage will resonate.”
“Then how fortunate it is that you are immortal.”
His lips lifted. “That is worth noting, yes.”
“Lavra and Ardent, they are the ones truly beyond saving. Today you’ve made it clear that you don’t fall into that same category. Now you just need to see it through.”
He nodded. “And I shall.”
My attention was drawn to an explosion of Velra’s shadows sparking with her purple magic and also infused with her frost.
I grinned as I watched her standing there at the heart of a violent funnel—her being the source of said funnel, and all that amalgamated power.
The minions and Thryne were equal parts shocked and enraptured by it as she stood in the center of Sanctum Sands Beach, essentially cutting through the battlefield as she invoked the full scope of her power.
She thrust both palms forward and her shadows, frost, and magic rushed forward and forged a door in the fabric of reality itself, shimmering, swirling, crackling with frost.
Her own special form of a portal.
Her voice rang out, cutting through the chaos. “Attraho… Evano.”
I watched in absolute awe as a shimmering film spread over each minion—then shattered, one by one—releasing sparks of magic that burst into the air.
Each spark, an essence of the mind-meddling power that had controlled them, shot skyward, rushing toward the portal Velra had forged.
She was extracting the mind-meddling essence from all of them at once.
The sparks passed through the portal rapidly.
The dragons and vampires were released.
And then Thryne was free to subdue as had been the original intention.
In moments, they were swarming the minions, overpowering them, bringing them to their knees, and binding them with magical cuffs on the sand.
Velra turned, guiding the last of the sparks, and I saw her eyes flame vibrant amethyst, and moment before the portal door pulsed violently then sealed shut.
She staggered back and dropped her hands, breathing heavily.
But a little smile played on her lips.
“Truly remarkable,” Darethor breathed.
With the mind-meddling down, Thryne arrived, blasting away the minions assaulting the shield, and Darethor disposed of the remainder.
Thryne was gathering around the victimized, assisting them, and Graceyn and Kelsana had their phones out communicating with the Unity Council and reaching out to the Shifter Stabilization Unit to get those harmed some help.
They would be well.
The fact it had come to this in the first place was the despicable thing.
“Cassius!” Velra cried, rushing over to me.
As she did, I saw Lavra and Arvent stagger to their feet.
Before I could so much as utter a warning, Darethor was there in a burst of teleportation, barring their way.
He snagged their throats, holding them in place.
His blue power glowed, spreading over their skin where he was grasping them.
“Woven by blood. Trusted in blood.” His eyes narrowed and he growled, “Betrayed in blood.”
Velra came to a jarring stop as Darethor’s magic surged to a blindingly-bright degree, and tore into their bodies, blue shimmering cracks forging all over their faces, their bodies, shattering them bit by bit.
Their screams rang out, their struggles futile.
And then Lavra and Arvent began disintegrating into billions of sparks until they were nothing, and they whispered away on the wind.
“Oh my God,” Velra breathed.
Darethor called his power back and turned to her. “I’m sorry you had to witness that. They could not be allowed to survive this battle. They were so very dearly beyond redemption—and reason.”
“I know. Honestly, I made my peace with their cruelty and rejection already.”
“But your brother was recently killed, another necessary and just kill, so witnessing this has it all too fresh.” He laid his hand on her shoulder.
“Grieve. Not them, but what they brought upon you. Then concentrate on moving forward. They do not deserve your regret, nor another moment of your pain.” He smiled.
“And I thank you. You and Thryne. When steeped in darkness for so long it is hard to see the spark of light through the rest, and that is what can lead to corruption. You and Graceyn have spared me from that, and I will be forever grateful.” He squared his shoulders and adjusted his crown.
“As will the Realm. You are welcome going forward.”
“I’ll keep my promise. To heal you.”
“I don’t doubt that you will. In exchange, know that Thryne will no longer be considered a resistance movement, nor outlaws. In fact, I have discussed it with Graceyn, and they will stand beside me as a revitalized incarnation of the Royal Fae Court.”
“Wow. That’s gonna change a whole lot.”
Graceyn strode up to them. “Hopefully also the negative way the supernatural world currently sees Dark Fae beings.”
“There is more work to be done,” Darethor stated.
“More out there being used by Morien Morgrave and Gregor Varsellis,” Graceyn grunted.
“Indeed. They will be seen to. We continue on,” Darethor spoke.
As Graceyn and he began to delve deeper, Velra said her goodbyes, blew a kiss to Kelsana in the distance, then rushed the rest of the way to me.
Her arms were around me in the next moment. “Let’s get you to Ketheron right away to siphon that Celestial power out of you.”
I let out a strained chuckle. “I am all for that.”
“You were amazing, you know that?”
“No. It is you who performed the truly amazing feat.”
She grinned. “I know, right? I can’t believe it.”
“I can. And so will Lazriel and Sylas.”
Her eyes widened. “They’re gonna be furious when they find out about the stakes of this, that I was struck, that you were incapacitated.”
“Sylas must be inside the pocket dimension with Remnant and Victor still. Unlike Lazriel who wouldn’t have been able to feel even Celestial power being in play because of the heavy illusion your parents cast, Sylas does have the means to see through it, to feel through it.
The fact he didn’t blast his way in here points to him being completely unaware, outside sensory boundaries of this realm. ”
“Well, as soon as I get you to Ketheron, we’ll reach out to both him and Lazriel.”
“Very good.”
She beamed at me, then swept us up in a rush of teleportation, her purple power enveloping us.
A great deal had been accomplished here today.
And between the four of us we would continue in that vein until all threats were nullified.
Then we would exist in wellness and peace together, our child able to be born into a safe and happy life.
All would finally be well.