Nine #4
I slash at one of the Fireborn from behind, cutting through the tendons behind his knee. The blade cuts deep, and he crumbles, screaming as his flames extinguish. The smell of fire fills the Dome.
For a heartbeat, everything stops. Kael’s pitch-black eyes meet mine, and he looks—I can’t tell if it’s horror or anger.
He bellows, “Get out of here, Luceris! Now!”
But I’m in it now.
“Get up Serraith,” Atheron commands, his rough voice.
I duck as the other Fireborn, Maleiros, swings at my head. The blade misses by inches and sparks explode across the floor.
I try to back away, but he is too fast, and before I know it his fist is closing around my throat as he lifts me off the ground.
My vision begins to tunnel, darkness creeping in at the edges. Not again. I have to stay conscious.
Kael explodes, the shadows billowing around him like water on the boil. He tears Maleiros away from me and sends him flying across the Dome before turning on Atheron. Kael attacks him with a flurry of strikes that push Atheron back.
I’m on my knees, gasping for breath, when Serraith, recovered from his hamstringing, grabs me by my hair and hauls me upright. His face is a mess of tears and snot, eyes wild.
“You little shit,” he hisses, raising his sword as flames coalesce around the steel.
Kael is there in an instant. He hauls Serraith back and snaps his arm, the bone piercing through the skin. Serraith drops to the floor, whimpering.
Kael drags me back a step as the Fireborn regroup. The three of them stand side by side, hands outstretched, combining their Mana into a sphere of searing, blinding fire. It’s so hot the air around it wobbles and shifts.
Kael braces himself, drawing every shred of shadow around him into a dense wall.
The two forces collide—fire and darkness, brightness and shadow—and for a moment the world goes white.
I tumble to the side, pushed by an unseen force, and collapse onto the floor, a tangled mess of sweat-soaked limbs and fear.
I hear a scream. At first, I think it’s Marissa, the noise is so piercing and unhindered, but it’s Kael—his voice is primal, like an animal. The vortex of fire is eating him alive, burning away his shadows faster than he can create them.
I stagger to my feet, dropping the useless sword, and run to him.
The heat is unbearable. But I’m no stranger to pain.
My skin blisters as I step into the flame.
My eyes burn and my hair singes as the flames gutter strangely in the disturbed air.
The fire seems to hesitate as waves of pitch-black shadow rise and fall to no avail.
I push through the flame, every nerve alight, but I don’t stop.
I reach for Kael, and the instant my fingers touch his skin, a jolt surges through me.
The pain dulls instantly.
My burns heal faster than the flames can consume them.
I gasp and the flames follow.
I don’t know what to do now that I’m here.
So, I just let go.
The light inside of me bursts forth, uncontrolled and frenzied, a dome of luminescent gold that slams outwards, dissolving every lick of flame and sending Atheron, Maleiros and Serraith crashing into the wall.
Kael looks at me like he doesn’t recognise what he’s seeing.
The air sharpens, brittle as shattered glass, and every Overseer in the room jerks its eyeless face upright to the ceiling and shrieks.
Kael crumples to the ground, his arms a mess of scorched flesh, but the healing begins almost immediately.
Burned flesh crawls closed across Kael’s arms. Even his hair regrows in front of me. The sight turns my stomach.
I kneel beside him, hands shaking, not sure if I should comfort him or flee.
Atheron is on his feet first, laughing. “Well, well, well,” he croons, “looks like the little rabbit has teeth.”
Nyxen and Vaelis break through the melee, rushing to Kael’s side. Marissa is suddenly there too, helping me up, with tears streaming down her face.
The Overseers are all around, hands raised to the sky. Their voices unify as they announce: "Our Great Mother has seen enough!”
Atheron spits on the floor, looking directly at me. “Tomorrow,” he sneers, “you’ll have nothing and no one to hide behind.”
He stalks away, dragging Serraith behind him. Maleiros follows, sheepishly.
The Dome empties and it’s just me, Marissa and the three Shadowborn who remain.
Marissa pulls me close.
“Luceris…” she whispers. “You ran straight into the fire.”
She presses her lips to my cheek, a fleeting warmth I’ve rarely known. With a gentle smile, she turns and walks towards the exit, her footsteps echoing softly as she goes.
I don’t feel brave. I feel hollowed out.
Kael stands, steadying himself and brushing off the dust. He turns to me, placing both hands on my cheeks. Shocked at the sudden closeness, I startle.
His voice is rough but steady. “Stop putting yourself in harm’s way,” he demands. “I thought you were smarter than that.”
I stare at him for a second too long before forcing myself to look away.
“I guess you thought wrong.”
I don’t miss the flicker of disappointment in his eyes as his hands fall back to his sides.
That night I lie awake, staring at the cracks in the ceiling, watching them as they branch and glow.
Tomorrow, the Blood Rites begin.
And nothing about me feels hidden anymore.