Chapter 62
Ryder
Let’s hope that their healers are skilled, and their resources are abundant because that is what it is going to take to save all of these people.
The ones who were able to fight back are in decent shape, but those who fell victim to the initial attack are hanging on by a thread.
Most have burn injuries from dragon fire and broken bones from falling debris.
Wherever Zaro and Nio are, I hope they’re having better luck than we are. It seems like for every person we pull out still alive, four more are recovered stilled by death’s kiss. It takes everything in me to push down the anger that continues to creep up with each sweep we do.
Thankfully, I have Reign. Her presence keeps me grounded as I watch her selflessly heal those she can, knowing it kills her to not search for her friends.
The old me would’ve sought them out immediately just to make her happy, but now I find myself following her lead without so much as an argument.
Even if it were me who acted on self-interest, it is she who would wear the burden of all the lives I could’ve saved if I had just put their needs above hers.
And so, I don’t spend my time looking for Amaya or Zane or the others.
Instead, I vaporate back and forth between the closest standing building they have assigned as the Healing House and the battleground that serves as a reminder to us all of the consequences of war.
“Help! Somebody help me!” The voice is hidden behind the wall of smoke still hovering, but I take off in a sprint, following the pleading cries.
“Nio!” I shout when I get close enough to make out who has been yelling. His ash-covered face has tear streaks running down his cheeks. “What happened?”
“He’s dead. They’re both dead.” His voice shakes with his head as he points to the two bodies lying next to each other in front of him.
A sharp pain stabs me when I see Zaro and Anthony’s pale bodies lying amongst the dead, still holding onto each other with their tattooed hands tightly clasped around one another.
They must have been in the midst of celebration when the first wave of attacks began. The pain in my chest radiates as my thoughts begin to run wild, and the realization starts to sink in. Eternal love was the promise they had made to each other. In this life and the next, they chose one another.
A wedding was the last ceremony that would ensure their everlasting love and it was taken from them.
What should’ve been a joyous day leading up to the best day of their lives will now forever be remembered as the day their beautiful lives were lost. The only solace now is knowing that they were together and probably very happy in the moment it all was washed away.
I kneel down beside the couple, closing both of their eyes, hoping that their love for one another will still be eternal in the peace of the afterlife. My shadows blanket them, along with the rest of the nearby dead.
Nio looks to me and I wrap him in a tight embrace, letting him remove the mask of strength us leaders have to wear.
I make a silent promise to him that the next time he sees Zaro, he’ll look like himself.
Healed of the blood-stained cuts and deep bruises that cover him now.
A small gift that will in no way save him from the heartbreak he is sure to endure every night when he closes his eyes.
When Damien shows up, I order him to take Zaro and Anthony’s bodies to a secure location where no one else will see them.
I slowly guide Nio away as Damien shifts and gently scoops the two of them in between his large claws.
Once I hear the sound of his wings quiet in the distance, I pull Nio away from me.
“I know you’re hurting. I know you’ve experienced great loss today, but your people need you. Ion, needs you.” He nods, shaking himself out of the grief. It’s still there, threatening to drown him, but as a ruler, he knows how to carry the weight of it with him.
“What are you thinking?”
“I sent Ion to get as many people on the ships as possible and head for Illarium. He’ll have the help he needs from the military, so you need to be on the beach where the Sector units are being taken.
I’ve ordered them to be seized, not killed.
” His face hardens at the last part. “I know you want vengeance for your brother, but this is not the time, and these people are not your enemy, my father is.”
He's still rigid with anger but I can tell he understands. The revenge he seeks will have to wait, along with the rest of ours.
Once he’s gone, I continue using my shadows and power to free people from the layers of building that have piled high in the center of the war-torn valley. Even those dressed in Sector clothing are helped.
Damien returns, bringing supplies back with him. Reign immediately grabs one of the packs filled with essentials and takes off towards one of the injured groaning several yards away.
“Dani!”
Damien has shifted back, and he nearly knocks me over when he goes running for Danielle.
She’s covered from head to toe in blood.
Most of which is probably not hers considering the fact that she’s still standing.
Reign seems to have taken notice, but she stays focused, making sure to finish the job at hand.
Once she seems satisfied, she hands the bandaged man over to be escorted to the Healing House.
Only then, does she head for Damien and Danielle.
When we catch up to them, Damien is trying his best to calm her.
“Shh, it’s okay. You’re okay,” he strokes the sides of her soot and blood-covered face, but she continues hyperventilating.
“We tried,” she cries between gasps.
Her face is full of dread and despair. Damien wraps her in his arms, but her body doesn’t stop shaking.
Reign looks to me with hurt in her eyes and I know she’s feeling Danielle’s pain.
Watching her unravel before us is a reminder of all the feelings lying just below the surface, waiting to be set free.
While Damien runs his hands through her hair and rubs her back in circles, she slowly begins to gain control over her breathing. Eventually she pulls away from him and looks to us.
She shakes her head as the streams of tears continue down her face.
“She’s asking for you,” is all she manages but it’s enough.
Reign takes off in a sprint down the rocky path, screaming for her sister at the top of her lungs. I follow after her, doing my best to push down the growing panic clawing its way up.
“Here!”
Someone I don’t recognize waves us down and my heart plummets when I see Zane’s body convulsing with grief. I reach for Reign’s hand and vaporate us the rest of the way. Before my smoke fully clears, I see her.
“Amaya!” Her name rips from the innermost part of Reign’s throat as she drops to her knees.
“You came.” It’s only a whisper but Zane hands Amaya over to Reign for her to cradle in her last moments.
“Of course,” she cries, rocking Amaya back and forth in her arms. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here sooner. I could’ve—”
Amaya reaches for her face, stopping her. “There was nothing you could’ve done.”
I step forward, closer to the three of them, but when I see her, I too, am taken to my knees.
Whatever beast did this to her will pay if it hasn’t already.
I’ve seen all kinds of death in my day. Every wound one could possibly imagine has been seen by these eyes.
But nothing like this has ever happened to someone I truly care about.
It’s nothing short of a miracle that Amaya is even able to speak after what has happened to her.
Even with a healer’s help, it wouldn’t be enough. The cuts separating the parts of her body that had kept her insides concealed are too deep to heal. Even a mender would need weeks to reverse this kind of damage.
Reign must’ve come to the same conclusion because the wails that escape her throat are enough to make someone go mad. They tear through the valley, echoing the sound of her breaking heart.
“You promised.”
Amaya’s voice is quieter now. Weaker.
“What are you saying?” Reign asks, leaning closer.
“You.” Amaya struggles to lift her finger but as she does, Reign whips her head around to me.
“Ryder?” Confusion briefly replaces the anguish on her face.
“You promised,” Amaya repeats, looking directly at me.
For a moment I’m just as confused as everyone else. But then I remember the conversation we had in the Center. The one where she made me promise to be there for Reign. The one where she reminded me that there were more losses for Reign to experience. More grief for her to bear.
“You—”
“I know,” I reassure, reaching for her hand. “I promise.”
As if my words were the permission she needed, her tired eyelids flutter close.
“No!” Reign screams, shaking Amaya in her arms. “Not her! Please don’t take her!
Please!” Her harrowing cries grow louder and more urgent as she pleads to The Mother to save the one person who means the most to her.
“I can’t,” she weeps into Amaya’s chest. “I can’t live without her.
Please! She’s the only family I have left. I can’t…I won’t…PLEASE!”
“Reign,” I whisper, reaching my arm around her.
“No!” she pushes me off and clings to her dying sister. “Take me! Take all my lives and give her just this one! Please!”
Damien and Danielle stand behind Zane, both looking helplessly remorseful.
It’s not me she needs in this moment, but it’s also not Damien.
The one person Reign needs right now is the one dying in her arms. Her one true soulmate.
The person who makes every dark day bearable.
The one who taught her how to love and trust again after she lost her parents.
The one who has been there to protect her and pick up the pieces when Reign needed it most. The one who she created a home with when hers was taken.
The only person in this world who knows her better than she knows herself. That’s who she needs.
But each breath Amaya takes is slower than the one before. Each one feels like it might be her last, the final one that seals her death and marks the end of the person Reign once was.
This loss, Amaya’s loss, will be the one that changes her forever.
There will be no sun bright enough to light the darkness that will consume her.
No rope strong enough to pull her back from the depths of despair that will drown her every day Amaya is gone.
No spell powerful enough to stop her from feeling the never-ending pain that comes with a loss like this.
Still, I will try. I will show up every day to be by her side through it all.
I will dedicate my life to making sure that beautiful smile I love, makes its way back into this world.
No matter how alone Reign feels, she will always have me.
Because her happiness is all that matters to me.
Because making sure she survives this is my greatest purpose.
Because I love her.
And because I made a promise.
Amaya’s death will be felt by us all. Each life she touched will grow dimmer with her loss, including mine. It will feel like a ripple, growing bigger as it spreads through the realms and Shadow Lands.
She was Reign’s sister, but she was my friend, and I will feel her void in my life.
Reign’s body goes still and the crying stops.
We all look to one another in silence and then it happens.
The sound that tears through the graveyard surrounding us is one that will haunt me the rest of my life. It’s the sound of Reign’s heart breaking as Amaya lies lifeless in her arms. The sound that lets us all know Amaya has taken her last breath. The sound that encompasses the tragedies of today.
It’s the sound of a fallen soldier. A fallen friend. A fallen sister.
And it’s the sound that marks the beginning of war.