Chapter 40
CHAPTER
Nicron is the demon.
The one Malakai and Lionel tried to warn us of. The one who had infiltrated the Aetherion camp, he was by Michlael’s side all this time.
How could I have missed it!? This was the moment he had been waiting for—Michlael’s fall—so he could claim the mage forces as his own, opening up for the demonic armies to spread further into Aetherion territory.
Had Malakai known? Was he involved with this plan from the start?
I couldn’t shake the memories of Ashley telling me that he had met up with Nicron when I had been meeting with Michlael by myself. That Nicron had been the one to put him into that cell… was it all a scheme to get me to trust him?
Shit.
“Ashley,” I whispered low and saw her glancing over at me. “He’s the one. He’s the demon we need to kill.”
She looked confused for a brief second, before her eyes turned towards Nicron. “Right.”
My fires flickered, and he noticed.
“What, you’re abandoning us when we’re in need?” Nicron tilted his head towards me, grin spreading.
“Don’t listen to him,” I snapped. “He’s a demon.”
The mages seemed taken aback, before bursting into laughter. The Ashen Corps tightened their grips of their weapons, not letting my words go by unnoticed.
“Ah, I see,” Nicron chuckled dryly. “Your demon betrayed you, so now you’re trying to take back control by pointing out the next in line?”
“Hey,” Ashley snapped. “You look awfully happy for someone who lost their leader.”
“This is my battle-face, darling,” Nicron chuckled. “People fear those who laugh at danger.”
A shot sounded from the Ashen Corps, but Nicron pushed it away with his water. “How rude to interrupt.” He furrowed his brows in disappointment, as he summoned a tall wave to crash over the soldiers, separating them, disorienting them.
I whipped my flames at him, but they hissed and shrunk back as they collided with the water that was now swirling around him.
Shit, I didn’t stand a chance against him with my element.
“I can’t touch him,” I blurted.
“Let me handle that,” Ashley nodded, plucking a few small bombs from her bag as she began throwing them. At impact a grey cloud instantly enveloped the area, obscuring the view.
“Hiding, are we?” Nicron chuckled tauntingly.
A thick wave came right at me, and I had to throw myself to the side to avoid getting caught inside it. He had separated Ashley and me.
“Where’s Nate?” I shot out, pushing up on my feet to keep moving.
Guns began firing, and I felt fear building up. It was one thing obscuring the mages, preventing them from finding their targets. It was another having the Ashen Corps fire blindly into the cloud in hopes to strike anything at all.
One bullet scraped my thigh and I hissed, revealing my location again as another wave came crashing down on me. I barely had time to take a sharp breath before it sucked me in. I pressed everything I had into my flames, forcing the water to vaporize, creating room for me to breathe once again.
“Clever little girl,” Nicron mused, hiding within the smoke.
Another cracking sound—Ashley was probably keeping the smoke alive to make it harder for him to find me.
Water formed into arms, whipping wildly against the ground, searching for purchase. I quickly moved, turning my flames into extensions of myself, keeping debris and bullets off of me the best I could.
Another bullet slashed my upper arm, and I burrowed my teeth in my lower lip to not cry out in pain.
I tasted blood and my head felt a little dizzy as I realised I had already lost blood to Malakai right before this began.
“There you are,” Nicron whispered, as he lunged at me from the shadows. I felt him through my fires, granting me a brief second to spin out of his attempt to grapple me. He cackled like a madman, enjoying the hunt.
I flared my fires at him, but he easily brushed them off with his water once again.
“How long are we going to keep up these charades?” He tilted his head, with a wicked grin on his lips.
I threw a kick at him and he ducked away. But I didn’t stop, I kept pushing, sending one attack after the other, spinning around him, trying to land a single blow, but he deflected my strikes as if he already knew my next move before I knew it myself.
He grew tired of the game, as he grabbed my foot in the middle of an attack, tugging at it before shoving me away, forcing me to fight for balance.
When I spun again he was already coming at me.
I rolled to the side as his fist slammed hard against the ground where I had been standing mere seconds earlier.
“I guess I can see why Malakai fancied you,” he chuckled darkly.
The mere sound of his name from those lips made rage curl inside of me, causing my flames to engulf me.
“Shut up,” I hissed, throwing my flames at him, as they hungered for something to devour to fuel them further.
“Feisty one,” Nicron sneered, making his own water swirl around him before sending it out to evaporate my attacking conflagration. “Tell me, how did he make you trust him? Was it the sweet talking? Was it the lust?”
I curled my hand into a fist and threw it at him, fires sparking around it as I finally managed to smack him across his jaw. He stumbled backwards, fingers sliding along the wound I had caused him, before his eyes burrowed into me again and a dark smile emerged once again.
“I see,” he snickered bitterly. “He had you wrapped around his finger all this time. Well, I can’t blame him, it’s what I did to Michlael.”
I went in with my dagger, aiming for his throat, but he sidestepped at the last moment, grabbing hold of my hair with one hand, the other taking my hand with the blade and shoving it into my thigh. I screamed and it echoed over the field, the pain pulsating throughout my body.
“Maybe, I’ll have a taste myself?” Nicron hummed, his head moving towards my neck. I elbowed him in the chest, but he didn’t budge.
Shit.
A gun fired, pulling him away from me and I took the opportunity to break free. I looked up to meet with Nate’s vicious eyes, his teeth bared like an animal. “You okay?”
I nodded, before I saw a shadow emerge behind him. “Watch out!”
Nate saw the horror in my eyes, dodging quickly before Izera’s dagger could touch him.
My head snapped back towards Nicron; Nate had no quartz in his weapons, so Nicron simply pushed his finger inside of his shoulder and pulled the bullet out, growling at the pain, before his eyes returned to me.
He played with the water droplets in his hand, turning them into ice and throwing them at me. The shards cut through my skin, the slightest touch burned as if he had stabbed me with a blade.
My cheeks stung along with my arms, a small piece of ice stuck right beneath my collarbone. I carefully placed my fingers around it, all edges sharp like razors, forcing me to bleed worse as I pulled the small piece out. A strained hiss escaped me as blood trickled down my hand.
“Ah, can you feel that?” Nicron asked amused, as he took a long and sharp breath, smelling the air around us. “It’s the scent of the world falling apart, blood, war and despair.”
“You don’t want to end the war,” I said, as if to confirm it.
“You’re right,” he shrugged. “I merely enjoyed the show of Michlael and you struggling for answers.”
I clenched my teeth. “He died for his beliefs, for what the world could become.”
“He died a fool,” he corrected me. “And now, I’ll assume command of the mages, infest them. All thanks to you really, so perhaps I should thank you for your stubbornness in trying to make the world a better place and all.”
“I would rather die than let you take command of anything,” I threatened, whipping another flame at him that actually struck his clothing before he choked it with water.
Was he getting distracted enough for my abilities to stand a chance against him?
Or was he merely toying with me, making me believe I was making progress?
“Well,” he muttered lazily, as if he was growing increasingly bored by the second. “I can arrange that.”
He casually pulled up a gun and pointed it at me, his face blank and emotionless, grey eyes glowing in the obscured light.
My eyes widened and as I tried to move away, I felt something holding me in place.
I glanced down to see water slithering around my feet, tethering me to the ground. My pulse escalated, fear creeping in. My flames tried desperately to burn at the water clinging to me, to make it dissipate enough to give me the slightest wiggle room for movement, enough to get out of his aim.
Nothing worked, if anything, more water gathered, tightening the grip as it climbed higher.
“It’s a shame to let those fierce flames go to waste, though,” he pondered, tilting his head as he cocked the gun. “No matter, I’ll enjoy killing you, and he’ll thank me later.”
Who? I almost blurted it out loud, but my voice was stuck inside of my throat. I was like a deer stuck in a trap, awaiting my fate. For the predator to lunge at its prey, for the cat to finally kill the mouse after playing with it long enough.
The words in my head stung, tears building up inside of my eyes.
Kitten.
I had been stupid, reckless, but at least I stayed true to myself to the very end. My eyes locked with Nicron, as I drew a long breath, refusing to close my eyes. A hint of emotion washed through his eyes, as if he was admiring my boldness.
He took aim at my heart as a shout echoed through the air.
“Ethalyn!”
A voice far too familiar, yet strange. Perhaps it was because of the panic evident within, how it cracked at the end.
The shot went off, but someone stepped in front of me, spinning as arms swung around me. Their weight knocked the breath out of my lungs. I jolted, as if the bullet had pierced me, but the pain never surged, only the heavy body of…
Lionel.
His head pressed against my shoulder, his auburn hair tickling against my neck.
“Wha—” I stammered. “Lionel!?”
He panted, not saying a word as his arms tightened around me, trembling.
I heard Nicron grunt behind him. “The sniper?”
“Lionel, where did he… are you hurt?” I asked, my hands patting him down to find the wound.
Had he missed? No way…
Then I heard something sizzling, like burning flesh. My eyes widened and I looked down to see that it had struck his chest.
But why did it sound like that if not…
Quartz.
“You—” I stuttered, confused.
“I made it,” he smiled. “I came just in time.”
“But…” I was at a loss for words, watching him, the smile on his face seemed strange, unfamiliar. Yet he was here, taking a bullet for me, like we were back to the old days.
Lionel was here, protecting me once again. My lips trembled. “Thank you.”
The auburn hair shifted, slowly turning white and silvery, his body changing around me. I only now noticed the smell of ash and leather, the familiar scent that I had grown to care for, as those impossible eyes turned vividly red.
My breath caught. “Malakai?!”