Chapter 27
Elira
No.
That was my first thought when I saw Thorne standing there.
It isn’t real. It can’t be real.
From the beach, he seemed to sense us—his head tilted, slow and deliberate. And when his gaze locked onto mine…
I froze.
Because his eyes—
They were black.
Not dark. Not haunted.
Void.
Empty.
As if whatever spark had once lived inside him had been snuffed out completely.
“What the hell has Ashton done to him?” I breathed.
“Ellie - Slade—come on!” Caelen’s voice cut through, urgent. “We need to get to the garrison. We can actually help there.”
But I wasn’t moving.
I was already stepping down the slope. Toward the beach. Toward him.
Like I could reach him.
Like if I got close enough, maybe I’d see the truth.
Pain struck.
Like molten lava poured through my skull.
I hit the ground.
Leo and Phoenix dropped with me—Maddie too, her hand grabbing my arm, frantic.
“Elira! What’s happening?”
Slade fell to one knee beside us, a hiss of breath between clenched teeth.
Blood poured from his nose.
“Fuck—” he gasped, his voice ragged, both hands pressed to his head.
Thorne.
It was Thorne.
His magic. Not physical—but mental. Raw. Brutal. Unfiltered.
It tore through us like a blade dipped in lightning.
“Slade!” I screamed, twisting toward him—
And my shadows reacted.
They exploded out of me like a living shield, crashing into the oncoming wave of magic mid-air.
The ground split beneath my boots.
Air rippled and warped, the very world resisting the clash.
The pressure broke.
Slade gasped, still hunched, his temple slick with blood—but his eyes locked on mine.
“You okay?” I breathed, shadows still bristling around us like a storm barely held in check.
He nodded. Barely. “That wasn’t just an attack,” he said hoarsely. “It was a search. He was scanning. Looking for me—for all of us.”
I turned back to the beach.
Toward him.
Toward the man who once shielded me from the world—
And now?
Now he was the weapon sent to break it.
I looked to Leo and Phoenix. They were already standing. Caelen had Maddie up and was helping her move to higher ground.
They must have seen something on my face, something reflected in their own.
It can’t be true….
“We need to move. And fast.” Phoenix said.
“But what about – “
“We can’t help him right now, Elle!” His voice cracked—desperate, sharp.
“But—”
“That’s not Thorne down there,” he snapped. “Did you see his eyes?”
Slade’s voice cut in, grim. “If we don’t move, he’ll hit us again.”
He didn’t wait. He grabbed my hand—and ran.
I stumbled after him, heart pounding, shadows flickering in protest.
Because even as I ran, I kept looking back.
And still, he stood there.
Watching.
Like a ghost with no soul.
The ridge was steep, the rocks sharp beneath our boots—but we made it.
From the summit, the view stretched clear—and terrible.
The garrison lay ahead, half-wreathed in smoke, half-swallowed by chaos.
Veilguard soldiers scrambled to barricade the outer walls, but they were under siege from both sides.
On one flank, soldiers in blood-red surged from the hills like fire ants, pouring down in endless waves.
On the other, enemy ships rained fire from the sea.
The air stank of smoke, sweat, and iron.
From the battered stone keep, projectiles launched into the horde—catapults screaming overhead, fireballs flaring like dying stars. Flames tore through the outer buildings. Screams echoed up the hillside.
When we reached the lower slope, Phoenix didn’t hesitate.
He flung out his arms. Fire leapt to him—sucked backward from the burning ramparts, swirling around his body until he was a silhouette of flame. Then, with a guttural cry, he unleashed it—an arc of pure inferno that slammed into the advancing Sentinels like a falling star.
The impact lit up the valley. Bones turned to ash.
To the west, I spotted General Marcus on horseback, bellowing orders as Veilguard soldiers regrouped and fired at the enemy ships. But it was no use. They were outnumbered. Outflanked.
If this garrison was going to hold, it would be because of us.
I stepped forward—slow, deliberate.
And I threw out my shadows.
They surged from my skin like smoke given teeth. Writhing. Reaching. I aimed them at the soldiers cresting the hill and felt them snap into form—like living blades. They struck down the first wave like scythes through wheat.
I didn’t stop.
Not when my hands trembled.
Not when my breath came shallow.
This wasn’t just survival anymore.
This was war.
Maddie stepped beside me—eyes wild, hands lifted.
The ground answered.
Vines burst from the soil, thick and thrashing, writhing like furious serpents.
They coiled around incoming Sentinels, yanked them from their feet, and flung them like ragdolls—into the sea, into the rocks, straight into the inferno Phoenix had left behind.
The scent of scorched bark and burning flesh thickened the air.
Leo’s growl cut through the chaos.
I turned just in time to see him shift—his body rippling into motion, limbs elongating, fur blooming across his skin in a flash of power. One second he was Leo, and the next—he was the lion.
He roared.
It echoed across the battlefield like the crack of thunder, and then he was tearing into the Sentinels with claws and teeth, a golden blur of fury and flame-lit muscle.
Behind us—crack.
A blinding flash split the sky. The air turned electric.
Then a boom—a crash like the world being torn open.
I spun around just as Maddie’s barricade exploded in a burst of lightning and shattered wood. The force flung bodies across the beach—some ours, some not. A few of the vines still writhed, twitching, scorched and smoking.
Sentinels and Shattered Crown soldiers poured through the breach, their faces half-hidden behind helms, weapons gleaming.
We were being overrun.
“Maddie!” I shouted, reaching for her.
“I’m fine!” she gasped, blood running from a cut on her temple. Her hands trembled, but she lifted them again. “I can hold it!”
“Not alone,” I said, stepping in front of her.
I raised my arms, and the shadows rose with me—roared with me. They met the incoming soldiers like a wall of midnight, smashing into the first wave and dragging them down, tendrils snapping like whips.
More were coming. Too many.
Leo skidded back into human form, his chest heaving. “We have to push through. Get to the inner garrison!”
“I’ll clear the way,” Phoenix called out, already conjuring another inferno in his palms.
And just as he stepped forward, a shadow moved at the edge of the smoke.
Not mine.
Tall. Familiar.
He didn’t charge.
He watched.
Thorne.
A sentinel helm in one hand. Blood on the blade at his side. His eyes—still black.
Waiting.
Watching.
Not attacking.
Not yet.
“Run, Elira!” Caelen shouted in my ear.
I didn’t think. I ran.
My legs moved before my mind caught up—down the slope, straight into the fray.
The first wave of soldiers surged toward us, crimson-armoured and brutal. I didn’t stop. Didn’t flinch.
I blasted them.
Shadows erupted from me in thick, lashing arcs—tearing through their ranks, flinging bodies aside like kindling. I felt everything and nothing. The weight of every life. The burn of every scream. The fire behind my ribs driving me forward.
The garrison wouldn’t hold. Not like this. Not with this many.
But we had a plan.
And by the gods—we were going to see it through.
All we needed was a path.
So I carved one.
With fire at my back. With vines at my side. With teeth and fury and blood in the sand.
We pushed through the chaos—step by bloody step.
Leo tore through the nearest Sentinel, shadows curling off his fur as he bounded past. Maddie’s vines lashed and coiled, ripping up stone, pulling men from their feet.
Phoenix was a blaze beside me, flames spilling from his hands as if his fury had caught fire.
Slade was sending projectiles left, right and centre with frightening accuracy.
“There!” Caelen pointed through the smoke, toward the far edge of the cliffs. “The inlet—look!”
Ships.
Tucked into the narrow curve of the coast, half-hidden by rock and fog, sails low and colours muted. Not warships—evacuation vessels.
They were real. Velmere had delivered.
Civilians and wounded soldiers were being loaded aboard, guided by Veilguard scouts and cloaked sentinels of our own. People were climbing from broken carts, carrying children, dragging injured comrades.
Hope surged in my throat like a sob.
“We get them there,” I said. “All of them.”
General Marcus was on the ridge, shouting orders, trying to hold the western line. But they were faltering. Badly.
If we didn’t break through—
“They’ll be slaughtered,” I breathed.
“No they won’t,” Phoenix growled, stepping beside me. His shoulders blazed. His jaw was set. “Not if we make the line ours.”
Slade appeared behind me, blood on his temple. He handed me a blade, our eyes locking for a heartbeat.
“Let’s finish this,” he said.
I turned to the others.
“To the evac point. Protect the civilians. Break the fucking line.”
They didn’t hesitate.
We charged.