Chapter 16 #2
I spent even less time in the section devoted to fire; I’d had enough of that particular element for a bit. I wiggled my nose at the tongues of flame in the glass, although that also could have been from the warm spices and cedar smoke tickling my nose.
I let my hand pass over the purple bench where Finn sat, the maze patterns and interconnected lines in the art too busy for my liking. Burgundy was the same, the angular patterns and strong geometric shapes appearing standoffish, although there were a few people meditating there.
And finally, I eased onto the gold bench.
My heart rate slowed the longer I stayed here, the scent of something transcendent, maybe sandalwood, washing over me.
I felt settled, at peace. As I stared at the interlocking circles and light rays detailed in the golden glass, my power coursed through me and swirled around.
This was a different type of grounding, a different type of recharging.
I breathed deeply, letting go of stress, and for once feeling it flow out of me.
But then my scalp prickled and I looked around.
There weren’t that many people here at this time of day.
Finn was still over on the purple bench.
But there, edging toward the altar of Solais, was a man in a dark cloak, his hood raised.
Although I couldn’t see his eyes, I knew he was staring directly at me.
Goosebumps broke out over my skin as I started to edge toward Finn. The hooded stranger’s steps mirrored my own.
I reached my mind out to Finn and alerted him.
His head shot up, and he started tracking him too. “Head to the door,” Finn said.
As I started making my way there, the dark-cloaked man continued mirroring my steps. Finn reached for my elbow, to hurry me along, not that he needed to.
“I don’t like the feel of this,” I sent to him.
“I don’t either. Something seems off.”
As we reached the doors, shadows appeared and slammed them shut with a bone-jarring crash.
More shadows shrieked up toward the skylights, blocking out the light and plunging us into sudden darkness.
The temperature dropped twenty degrees. The scents I had been enjoying were overwhelmed by the reek of decay.
A haunting laugh echoed off the stones, the sound coming from everywhere and nowhere at once.
The hair on the back of my neck stood up at the cruelty in that laugh.
“Shit.” There was a scraping sound as Finn pulled his dagger free.
Neither of us had brought swords, which seemed like a horrible idea right now.
And the only element I was wielding reliably at this time was fire, which, in a room full of wood, probably wasn’t the best idea.
I didn’t trust my control that much. But I was feeling grateful to Kaia for drilling me in channelblades, as that might end up the only option I had here.
As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I noticed that the man had thrown back his hood and wasn’t a man at all.
He appeared to be made of the same darkness as the shadows, as though he was a burned-out shell of what was once a man.
All of his features were darker than the darkest of nights, as if he was made of the absence of light.
This must be what Griff had described as hufen.
Infected. Demon. And he was staring straight at me.
“I was sent here to start an infection. But finding you…” He let out that haunting laugh again. “He will be so pleased with me.”
He began stalking through the temple, his predatory footsteps noticeably silent where mine had echoed.
Finn and I matched his movement. I called up my fire channel but held it in reserve, not releasing it yet.
Heat built in my chest, straining for release from its cage, but I told it to wait.
It would have its chance, I was sure of it.
The rest of the worshippers started to scatter, with whispers of frantic prayers and rapid breathing. I assumed Finn was directing them where to go. Luckily, no one tried to leave; with the darkness blocking every exit, to touch it was certain death.
“How do we kill it?” I asked Finn.
“Light chases darkness,” he replied, “but I’ve never actually faced one.”
Maybe the fire could come in handy.
“Do not let him or his darkness touch you,” he warned.
“That one I knew.” Silently, I thanked Griff for including that in his description.
The hufen grinned at us, teeth rotted away, as though he knew what we were discussing. “There is no stopping this.” His voice was like grinding stone. “He is growing his power. Soon, all will kneel before his darkness.”
The assailant palmed a dagger, coated in slippery murk just as I could coat my weapons in fire.
He hurled it toward me, moving faster than humanly possible, the dagger simply a blur of shadow.
I barely had time to fling up a shield of fire stretching from the floor to the rafters.
The dagger hit it with a hissing sound, the shadows writhing as they met my flames with a jarring impact that caused me to stumble backward into one of the benches.
The scorching scent of burning decay followed.
“Again!” Finn cried, as the hufen followed the first throw with a second dagger.
As I let loose the flames once more, Finn flung up a hand, and the second shadow dagger stopped its ascent.
It spun back around and soared through the air, only to freeze directly in front of the hufen, dagger wiggling in protest as Finn fought to keep it in place.
The hufen grinned his evil smile again and stretched his arms wide.
Darkness streamed from his fingertips like ink in water.
It reached the ancient stone benches first, crumbling them and melting away the carved representations of the gods.
As it spread throughout the temple, everything it touched turned gray as it withered and shrank in on itself, crumbling to ash.
I abandoned restraint and allowed my fire channel free rein. It eagerly responded as flames roared to life through the temple, chasing the tendrils of darkness across the walls and ceiling, shattering those beautiful stained-glass windows. For every shadow I burned, two more took its place.
The dagger edged closer to the hufen’s throat, but he just laughed that cruel, menacing laugh. “Kill me and you never stop the spread. Look around you, my queen. See what your fire has wrought,” he rasped.
I followed his gaze, and I hardened my heart against what I saw. Scorch marks covered the ancient stones, the half-destroyed benches. The places where the shadows pooled deepest had already begun to rot.
“Can your fire stop it?” Finn’s voice was frantic.
“We’re about to find out.”
The dagger plunged across the hufen’s throat.
As the hufen fell, his body dissolved into liquid shadow that oozed and pooled across the floor like spilled oil.
I instantly hurled a fireball into the puddle, drawing up flames to fence in the shadow.
The fireball soaked in, burning a small hole in the middle, before being extinguished.
I followed with several more, sending the ropes of fire chasing the shadows through the temple.
I drew up more and more power, intensifying the flames, until the walls were consumed by flames and shadow.
Screams rang out around me as the darkness continued twining around the temple.
It was like a game of cat and mouse, only I was the mouse. I began to panic. How the hell was I supposed to fight something this fluid and changing?
Through the chaos of fire and darkness, one voice broke through.
“Princess, if you will lend us your strength?”
Seven women emerged from the alcoves I hadn’t noticed before and moved with purpose until they stood behind me, each robed in the sacred color of the god she served.
They stood hand in hand, forming a crescent shape behind me.
The mind priestess in purple took one step forward, reaching out to me.
I took her outstretched hand and gasped.
Power flowed through me—not just mine, but theirs as well, seven channels from seven bodies working in perfect harmony.
And me, as the eighth and funnel for them.
My fire transformed, taking on an impossible golden hue.
They used my power, fire taking the lead, earth grounding, water controlling flow, air directing movement.
Mind, body, and soul provided the guidance for my will and strength, turning my very essence into a weapon of purification for this sacred space.
“Now,” the soul priestess whispered. “Now, we hunt again.”
The darkness put up a fight, as though it was a living being with malevolent intelligence, twisting and turning, bouncing into the walls and causing the stone to decay.
Tendrils of shadow tried to force their way through cracks in stone, seeking places to hide and fester.
Others reared up, snapping at us and the worshippers still trapped in place, striking out with shadowy claws that dissipated with my golden fire’s relentless push.
When the majority of the darkness was cleansed, the oily puddles having been erased by flame, we turned to the work that required precision.
Slowly, carefully, we burned away the darkness that had latched itself to the carved representations of the gods.
We chased it through the mortar between the stones, the flames patiently seeking it out, eradicating it.
We kept at it until the last traces of corruption had been burned out of existence.
All that remained now was ash, the lingering smell of sulfur, and the astonishing destruction it had caused.