Chapter 43 #2
I move my eyes and see that on the opposite side of the stone, Ever has her arms outstretched, and every inch of her focus is on me—on us. It’s her that I feel. She’s fighting Fenix’s control over us.
But as we’re frozen in place, unable to help, Ever’s concentration is on us and not on what the Usher is doing.
He’s at the stone, climbing up and moving to the centre.
“Ever! The Usher! He’s at the stone.” I yell as hard as I can through our connection, and she hears, turning her attention. But that’s all it takes for the grip of Fenix’s power to take over. His strength multiplies, tightening around us. Choking us.
As the Usher takes position, he raises his hands, and we are all forced to watch as he murmurs words that we can’t hear, before the sky grumbles in response, and the dim light is replaced with the blinding sun, drawing closer, as if he’s beckoned it.
The clearing and the stone are now bathed in golden light, only growing more and more intense, as if he’s leashed the sun and drawn it directly overhead.
Something deep within me, in the very blood in my veins, starts to hum and thrash, and I know it’s the latent power from Aslendrix who’s been pushed to the side. She is angry. The Goddess wants to fight.
As if conjured, answering a call over the tops of the mountains, the stark silver light of the Goddess breaks through the clouds.
Her moonlight, versus Novandia’s sun, side by side.
Her presence, as if on a full moon, charges us and powers us, and for the first time since the Usher carved a wedge in the sky, I can feel her magic.
Just as I centre myself, ready to fight against Fenix’s hold, Novandia erupts.
The sun’s rays burn down into a pillar of flame, through the Usher and right into the stone.
It knocks us all back, severing Fenix’s hold and distorting everything around us as it begins to turn the stone into a glowing beacon, burning hot and lighting up every crack and fissure.
More and more power and heat streams down from above.
But it’s only a rock. It will break with much more stress to it.
I look over at Ever, who’s shielding herself from the blaze. As if sensing me, she turns toward me, and her eyes, even from this distance, look sad and filled with fear at what she’s seen. She opens her mouth and says something, but I can’t hear her.
But I know what she’s going to do. “Don’t do this, Ever. Please. I can’t lose you.”
“I can’t let him win, Ten. I love you, but I can’t.”
Before I can shake my body into action, she crawls the few feet to the stone and plants her hands firmly against it. An almighty crack of thunder sounds overhead, as if the clouds and sky are fighting, screaming down at what is happening.
We all look up, straining against the brightness.
The column of light—of pure energy—doesn’t abate, doesn’t yield to Aslendrix, but the stone splits in two, toppling the Usher to the side. Ever is still there, on her knees, her hands against the rock.
And she’s glowing, the pillar now encompassing her.
It’s just like back in Nehandun when we saw the light through the forest, rising into the sky.
Through the split in the stone, a darkness begins to emerge. A shadow that rises, as if alive, as if testing what is now open to it. As it grows, it extinguishes all the light it comes into contact with.
“Ever!” I scream.
The darkness creeps closer, but Ever looks trapped in stasis, unmoving, her hands still in place. The shadow slides over everything, consuming the light, the energy, and the power, and even dims the shaft of sunlight that comes from above. It climbs up and dulls the light of Novandia.
“No. No, Me. I am your master!” The Usher screams into the shadow as it slides and turns, taking more and more.
Whatever was released from the stone, whatever the Usher’s plan was, it wasn’t this. Because it’s moving towards the one person who’s still in contact with stone.
Ever.
I stand and force my magic to build shields and barriers around my mind, as tall as mountains, and break into a sprint towards her. Kalan’s heading in the opposite direction, towards the Usher.
My eyes snap between Kalan and then Ever, who’s now completely shrouded in a mist that seems to be flowing directly into her from the vent in the stone.
The Usher stares in disbelief at Ever. “No. You cannot do this!” He raises his arm and takes aim at Ever.
I calculate the distance and the time between me and her. I’m not going to make it. I’m not going to get to her.
I force my muscles to move faster, every part of my body desperate to get between her and whatever the Usher is about to unleash. But as I take a last look, Kalan moves from behind him, his sword drawn.
He swings in a vicious attack and takes one of the Usher’s arms in the arc.
The Usher wasn’t expecting the assault, and lets out an anguished squeal, but in the same moment, turns his magic on Kalan, blasting him directly in the chest with whatever he had intended to hit Ever with.
Kalan drops to the ground, just as I skid to a halt in the cloud of darkness. Ever is in there, and I have to get to her.
Blackness, thick and cloying, surrounds us as I reach forward. Sweeping my arm out against the heavy air, I can already feel the threat that encompasses us, and it sends panic and adrenaline through me.
“Ever!” I call again.
I feel my way with my hands until I can cradle her head, gentle but urgent with my movements. Her arms are at her sides, no longer touching the stone.
Touch.
She needs it. She needs to know I’m here.
But I’m hit with a violence and anger that knocks me back on my heels and sends the shields I’d built around my mind to rubble.
Pain. Anguish. So much. So vast. Thick and deep and with no hope.
It’s a paralysing feeling, like all the light in the world has just been stuffed out and everything around us might turn to dust.
But Ever is in here in this despair. She is bearing this. Alone.
She needs to know that she will never be alone. And that this, whatever we’re feeling now, isn’t our future.
So, I grip her tighter. Harder. Moving around her and resting my forehead against hers.
I scream her name and hold onto every single memory we’ve shared. Our first touch, our first kiss. Defending her. Loving her.
“Don’t let it win, Ever. Whatever this is, don’t let it win.”