Chapter Twenty-Two #7
“Marcus!” I barked. “There are tar pits to the west that The Mission is using to portal in reinforcements. Round up as many Nivita and Alchemists as you can. Earth Elementai can cover the pits, and Alchemists can change the chemical composition to prevent passage. Hurry!”
Marcus had Alchemist powers himself and would be able to help. He gave a salute. “On it!”
“I can break up the portals, too,” Kallie offered. “Leave it to us.”
They would handle it. Marcus gathered a team.
My Aunt Imogen ran off with him, along with his Uncle Grant, to close up the tar pits on the other side of the city.
Charlie and I didn’t have time to see if my plan worked, because the second that I’d come near to deliver the orders, we became surrounded by Mission members.
I raised my bow, but didn’t fire it fast enough before an angel jumped down from a tower and tackled me off of Oberi, slamming me into the ground.
Both Oberi and Charlie roared as the angel pinned me against the cobblestone.
I went to smack my bow against his head, but a blur knocked the angel off of me, pale hands grabbing the Celestial’s wings as they yanked the appendages from the angel’s body full force.
The angel cried out in pain, perishing in a pool of his own blood as the body fell to the side.
“Ivy?” Astonishment overcame me as I saw Ivy looming overhead, the front of their armor streaked with red, crimson liquid streaming from their fangs and a harsh glint in their ruby eyes. They were absolutely murderous.
“Just go!” Ivy lifted me back onto Oberi before they took off at hyperspeed, ripping out the throats of multiple Mission members before vanishing into the fray of battle.
Oberi kicked off the ground again, and within moments, The Mission took notice.
An entire battalion of soldiers aimed their sights on us as we flew away.
An arc of flaming arrows spun through the sky, and Oberi twisted to avoid them.
I held on, dodging the projectiles and glancing backward at Charlie.
He spun in a circle, following Oberi’s lead.
I was sure our Familiar was giving him telepathic commands, telling him how to fly and where.
Beastly shadows emerged from the center of the town and into the air.
The Mission had brought in more than reinforcements.
They’d portaled in monsters. The Warden must’ve brought loads of them from hell when he’d opened those portals the night we fled the Institute.
I’d bet he’d just been waiting for an opportunity to unleash them on us.
Manticores and other ghastly beasts that were on The Mission’s side rose into the sky, diverting their attention to us. They carried vampiric riders, who cradled blood spells in their palms and were aiming to fire.
Good. We could keep them busy up here, and give the others time to escape.
Oberi began to veer from side to side, ripping creatures out of the sky with his claws and knocking them to the earth.
Charlie chomped his jaws down on anyone who came near, breaking spines and ripping our foes in half.
When he collided with a three-headed dragon that was just as big as he was, he raked his claws down the monster’s middle, raining organs down.
The deadly rage in Charlie’s reptilian eyes lit a spark in me that took hold and blazed eternal, driving me to kill anyone who’d foolishly sworn themselves to the Warden and expected to survive that terrible mistake.
I targeted my arrows at the riders that were on the backs of the opposing dragons, aiming straight for the heart.
My arrows sank true, killing vampires on impact as they speared through the hearts of every soldier I focused my sights on.
A flash of white feathers in my peripheral vision made me yank my bow to the side.
Angels were coming out now, forcing their heavenly wings to carry them upward.
They approached quickly, teeth bared as their fingers glowed with an ethereal light that was powerful, but certainly not divine.
One angel flew directly at me, his hands outstretched as he roared his rage.
He was too close for me to fire an arrow.
I grabbed one of my throwing knives and tossed it with all my strength.
It sank into the throat of the angel, and he grasped at his neck before tumbling to the ground, vainly attempting to rip out the knife I’d thrown.
Another angel cast his hand out at me, attempting to blast me apart with holy light, but Charlie flew by and snapped up the angel in his jaws, breaking his spine.
He made sure to rip off the wings of the angel before he dropped him.
The angel went spiraling down to earth, his body bursting into pieces as it made impact against a stone tower below.
Oberi screeched, noticing the Firebirds below were becoming overwhelmed.
I hung on as he flew close to the ground, opening his mouth and spewing venom out of his jaws upon the Mission’s soldiers.
As the venom encompassed them, Mission members died in pain, the acid eating away at their flesh until they were nothing but bones upon the ground.
Charlie imitated Oberi, breathing venom all over the battlefield until it looked like the ground had become nothing more than massive acid pools surrounding the town.
The Mission froze at the edge of the pits, not sure where to go next, while the remainder of their forces continued to give chase after the escaping prisoners.
We had to stop them from getting around those acid pits, because they’d figure it out eventually. My eyes scanned the towers surrounding the city until something caught my eye.
“Oberi, take me up to one of the guard towers,” I demanded.
He did as I asked without question, and once he was close enough, I reached out to grab one of the flaming torches that had been placed on a sconce to provide light.
With the torch in hand, I urged Oberi to fly close to the ground.
Once his claws were skimming the grass, I took the torch and leaned down, gliding it along the earth.
As the flames hit the venom pools, they ignited as if doused in gasoline, spreading throughout the entire battlefield and causing the whole area to turn into a blazing inferno.
Mission soldiers cried out in terrible pain as they caught fire, burning alive.
I threw the torch down and left it there as fire continued to spread across the town, the flames growing so high that the light illuminated the entire battlefield.
Charlie roared in celebration at my quick thinking.
I turned my attention toward the lake. Most of the prisoners had gotten there, and were quickly exiting the area through the portal we’d made.
The Toaqua were doing their best to prevent the rest of The Mission from getting through alongside the Firebirds, creating ice walls and lashing out with water whips to slow Mission members down.
That bought the refugees enough time to make it to the lake, where they disappeared through the portal once they touched its surface.
Pride burst through my chest as I watched Alana summon a wave that was thirty feet tall, crashing it down upon The Mission to drown its soldiers.
One of the angel soldiers locked their eyes on her. His features contorted into vengeance, and he flapped his wings as he flew at her full-speed, magic aimed at her throat.
I went to shout a warning, but Erica was quicker than I was. Marcus’ little sister jumped in front of Alana and blasted out a battle orb so powerful it pulverized the angel upon impact, turning him into nothing but mush. By the ancestors, she was strong.
But it looked like the spell took everything Erica had in her, because she dropped to her knees. Alana rushed to catch her before she fell. She cradled Erica to her chest while her gaze turned to me in the sky.
“Ava, that’s the last of the refugees!” my sister cried. “Call your soldiers back, and let’s get out of here!”
I scanned the battlefield for my friends before I gave the signal. When I saw that Marcus and the others had returned from securing the Pits of Despair, I gave Charlie the signal. “Now!”
The Earth quaked at Charlie’s command, and a wide crevice split through the center of Fasva, breaking the entire city in two.
Buildings crumbled down into the center of the earth, and the surrounding stone walls fell like dominoes as the earthquake shook the area.
Mission soldiers cried out as they were crushed beneath the rubble.
The entire city was destroyed by Charlie’s magic in one powerful blow, completely ruined.
The Warden would come back to nothing more than a prison made of fallen stone.
The screams grew louder, and I watched an entire line of Firebirds sink to the ground as two shadows fell upon my army. Even from afar, I recognized them immediately.
Deuce loomed over the bodies of the dead Firebirds, his entire form soaked with blood.
The vampire sneered as he brought soldiers to their knees, ripping off their heads with his bare hands and tossing dismembered skulls into the air.
Naya beat her leathery wings, showing off her succubus powers as blood ran from her mouth.
She was feeding on whoever had fallen, her power growing with each new sip of blood she took from every dying soldier.
Marcus, Danny and Kallie were down there, trying to hold them off, but they couldn’t do it alone.
I watched as Kallie flung out illusions, Marcus wielded spells from his wand, and Danny called upon his blood magic abilities, but all of the spells flickered and died before they managed to touch Naya or Deuce.
A few of them backfired once Naya redirected them, sending my friends careening backward as their own magic exploded outside of their control.
Naya laughed each time, her cackles deranged and worthless.
This was what I’d been expecting. Two of the antidemigods had made their appearance, and unless we dealt with them, they were going to stop us from getting these fae home, if not kill us all.
I wasn’t going to let that happen. Deuce was destroying every spell my friends fired off, and if he missed, Naya was turning those same spells back around on our friends. Those were their demigod powers, and they were fucking strong, so there was no way to fight them and win using magic.
But I didn’t have magic anymore, and so, they couldn’t stop me.
I tapped my hand on Oberi’s scales, re-directing him. “Oberi, let’s ride.”
Oberi surged downward into a dive, roaring his rage as he plummeted full speed toward Naya and Deuce. I readied my aim. When I saw the glint in Naya’s eyes, I raised my bow, drew back an arrow, and fired.