29. Eye of the Storm
The world around Skylar exploded. She no longer looked with her own two eyes.
Now she was everywhere at once. The wave of visions flooding her mind was so overwhelming she screamed.
But the sound of her voice and her body seemed to be hundreds of miles away from her.
Also, not only did her perception change.
The myriads of thoughts passing through her consciousness was no longer her own.
She could feel every blade of the grass reaching steadily toward the sun, bathing in its warm rays.
She could sense the worms wriggling their way slowly through the ground, working relentlessly.
She heard the song of the birds she never knew existed.
But there was one persisting thought, louder than everything else.
To give life and preserve it.
After a few excruciating seconds, her vision focused.
She was looking down at the world from an incredible height.
She recognised the topography of her homeland - the spiky mountains, rolling hills, and great forests.
But this beautiful picture was marred by the dark mass marching forwards like an unstoppable tidal wave.
Skylar gasped, or would have if she could still feel her mouth.
The army of the Blighted Lands that had already crossed the border was barely a vanguard of the force still gathering on the other side of the mountains.
"I told you they still haven't gone far enough,"the voicesaid, and it might or might not sound like her own. "We can't reach them all."
"It doesn't matter! We have to stop it, right now!" she protested. Her voice sounded the same in her mind, but it was full of emotions, unlike the Spirit's.
"Then let us begin."
Their joined consciousness dived down with breath-taking speed, through the horde of dark soldiers and hideous monsters and then deep into the ground, where no sun rays ever reached.
And then, the very roots of the mountains trembled when the power that flowed inside the earth surged to focus in one place and started to tear the ground apart, layer after layer.
The rumbling sound like thunder echoed through the valleys and forests when the crack appeared at the foot of the mountains and then started spreading. The ground trembled, and the trees shook. The loose stones began rolling down the mountain slopes.
The crack became a tear, and the tear started to widen, swallowing the dark army that had the misfortune of passing the mountains at that exact moment.
The monsters and soldiers alike disappeared in the seemingly bottomless chasm separating the Blighted Lands from Lamyria.
It was hundreds of meters wide, making any attempt of crossing impossible.
When the dust fell, Skylar saw that most of the Dark Ones' army was gone. Those who haven't crossed yet scattered in panic, fleeing to avoid the cataclysm that buried their brethren. But those already in Shawcross' lands were unharmed and still pressed the poor remnants of the defence force.
"We have to help them!" she urged.
"Let nature fends itself,"the Spiritsaid.
And so, it did. The land itself came to life.
The trees ripped their roots from the ground and struck at the invaders.
The swarms of insects gathered and flew at the monsters, making them howl and shriek in pain.
The herds of wild predators raced from the farthest parts of the local forests to chase the attackers with the ferociousness of the cornered animals.
Even the ground itself rippled and swayed as if it tried to shake the offending presence off its surface.
Skylar watched everything in awe from the vantage point high above.
No one had ever seen anything like this.
Of this, she was sure. The defenders, first startled and scared, now realised what was happening and, with cheers and renewed vigour, started to chase after the fleeing horde.
But with the chasm now separating them from the Blighted Lands, they had nowhere to run.
Together with the land itself, the soldiers ensured that all the foul creatures were either killed or pushed down the bottomless ravine.
Skylar felt her consciousness fleeting away.
She could no longer focus on looking at one place.
Her thoughts flew freely into thousands of directions at once.
She could see and touch everything, and it was such an exhilarating feeling she could not resist.
All her human worries and needs seemed so trivial and boring now when she could be anything she wanted.
But something nagged at her mind. It was a very weak tug at the back of her mind but relentless, nonetheless.
She tried to focus on it, and she noticed the pool of darkness still marring the perfect mountain landscape.
She took a closer look, and the flood of memories pushed their way into her consciousness.
The Queen. Fighting someone.
Gawyn.
A familiar face flashed before her eyes with a force that would take her breath away if she was still breathing.
How could she forget about him even for a moment?
"The Queen," she said. "She's still wielding the dark magic. We have to stop her."
"She's too far away. We can't reach her."
"But I can see them!"
"Yes. But as long as your body lies down here, that's where my power is focused."
"I need to move then. Gawyn can't stand against Elinora if she wields magic!"
"I'm not sure you can make it."
"What do you mean?"
"Can you not feel it? Your soul has almost been spent. The connection you had with your body is fragile now. I'm not sure if you can get back to it now."
Skylar had a moment of panic. She knew the price of using this power.
She was aware that there was no going back for her.
But she was not done yet. She focused her consciousness on the clearing where she was before calling up to the Spirit.
It took her a moment to locate her own body among the many unmoving forms covering the ground.
She was surprised at how small and frail her own body looked.
But she still needed it to deal with Elinora.
Skylar dived into her motionless form, and it felt like she fell from a great height and hit the solid ground.
For a moment, she couldn't remember how to breathe.
She had to concentrate hard on drawing that first breath.
Her body felt tiny and stiff now. She had trouble remembering how to move her limbs. Skylar clumsily lifted her shaking body and got to her knees. Everything hurt. Her muscles trembled from exhaustion, and the stunk of dried blood was almost unbearable. But she couldn't rest just yet.
Not while Gawyn was facing the Queen alone.
Something poked gently at her shoulder, and she looked up at Zephyr. He was beaten up and tattered, just like her, but his golden eyes seemed to urge her to move. He must have sensed Gawyn was in trouble too. Gryphon kneeled in front of her.
Skylar managed to get on his back, leaning on him heavily. She brushed his soft feathers gently.
"I need you to run as fast as you can, Zephyr. Run fast as the wind."
There was nowhere to hide on the rocky outcrop where they prepared the trap.
What was planned as an advantage quickly turned into a liability.
But no one could have foreseen a bloody dragon, thought Gawyn jumping out of the way and slashing at a long neck.
The scales were tough, and his blade just slid off them.
Avoiding all three heads demanded a lot of attention.
"What's the matter?" Elinora mocked, looking amused, perched on the back of the slithering monster. "You've got all quiet suddenly. Did I manage to surprise the great strategist?"
Gawyn didn't let her words break his concentration. He swiftly dodged two other heads, but still, he hadn't seen the tail swiping at his legs. He hit the rocky ground hard, and only his reflex saved him from snapping jaws. He rolled away and got back to a crouch, ready to strike again.
The air hummed with arrows raining down at the beast, who roared in protest.
The Winged Cavalry was done with the army and were back in action, relentlessly striking the wingless creature from above, with Aliyah and Gale in the lead.
And even though the arrows didn't do much damage to the beast, they were distracting.
Gawyn didn't waste any time. He rushed at the monster, and while the heads were snapping at the horses flying just out of their reach, he slashed his sword across the creature's belly, where the scales were brighter and seemed softer.
He was rewarded with a painful shriek and splash of dark, almost black blood.
He didn't expect the retaliation would be so fast. One of the heads snapped at him so quickly that he only partly dodged it and was thrown a few feet back, with a searing pain in his thigh, where the sharp fangs grazed him.
"You are just annoying little flies!" Elinora yelled, and once again, a black dagger appeared in her hand. But this time, she slit it across her hand, spilling bright red blood.
The shadows in the canyon behind her moved, and a swarm of tiny, winged creatures shot into the air. They were moving very fast, so it was hard to take a closer look at them. The only distinctive features were wings, sharp claws, and teeth.
The winged horses neighed in panic just before the horde hit them.
Elinora turned back to Gawyn. "Now, where were we?"
Zephyr ran so fast that everything around them was just a blur.
Skylar leaned low, pressing herself closer to his neck, clinging to him in a desperate attempt not to fall off his back.
Her body was still stiff and felt oddly unfamiliar, like poorly fitted clothes, but she didn't have time to think about it.
They shot out of the trees, and the soft forest floor made way for the dry, rocky ground when they scaled up the steep mountain slope. Skylar risked the look to her right. Far below, she saw the canyon filled with bodies of the soldiers of the Queen's army.
She turned to look ahead, and her eyes went wide when she saw the cavalry riding the winged horses locked in combat with some hideous winged monsters.
Zephyr roared with anger and moved even faster.
But when they got closer to the edge of the canyon wall, Skylar realised they were too high.
To reach the outcrop where Gawyn was, they should have just gone through the passage below.
It would be slower, no doubt, but there was no way for them to get down from here safely.
"Zephyr! We have to turn back!" she screamed over the rushing wind.
The gryphon shrieked with defiance but didn't slow down.
"Zephyr!" Skylar cried, feeling the rising panic in her guts. "You have to stop! You can't fly!"
But even when the words left her mouth, she knew it was already too late. The gryphon has already made up his mind, and her protest wouldn't make any difference to him.
Skylar dug her fingers deep into his feathers and clung for dear life a moment before Zephyr jumped off the cliff.