Chapter 17
~Evira~
Krestaz.
The largest volcano in the supernatural world.
A confirmed entry point into Sanctus that Ambrose and Ketheron had determined.
From the outside, it was a monstrous black mountain of swirling ash and clouds with lava streaming down in controlled rivers across its flanks. Jagged peaks of obsidian jutted out from the cracked ground around its base.
That was the only part most people ever saw.
Not this area that we were gathered inside now.
The volcano’s inner chamber.
The floor was black and charred stone with molten veins pulsing in the walls.
And in the center was a crater filled with thick, swirling lava that went all the way down—the volcano’s core.
I’d never come close to even the outside, let alone… this.
Because of the heat.
It wasn’t even familiar and bearable heat like dragon fire could be for me.
It was purely uncomfortable, blistering.
Being an ice dragon, it was obviously a lot for me to take.
Something Zayn had noticed right away.
He had a semi-transparent fuchsia film of his Ifrit magic enveloping me to counter some of the effects. To take the edge off, basically. Because his flame didn’t operate like this either. Especially not with me.
Thankfully, the actual gateway into Sanctus was located about fifty feet back from the lava-filled crater.
Ambrose’s black tendrils swirled around it, marking the site until it became visible and not just the black stone that it was presenting as right now. He was there crouched over it with Ketheron right beside him.
Vaxan was on the opposite side of it facing them, hands braced on the rough ground, his concentration zeroed in on it, waiting for the cue to drive all that immense vibrational resonance power down into Sanctus and tear it the fuck apart.
He had a glowing white ring on his thumb, which was something Cassius had forged to enable Vaxan to channel him even with Cassius unable to be here in person due to Ruxnoth-siphoning concerns.
It was just after sundown, and units of The Shadowed had arrived, along with the wolves from Vyrn Hollow Shifter Habitat, those not civilians, but the trained warrior contingent that lived among them there.
Remnant, Rhyza, and Lazriel were with them.
A film of rose-gold magic courtesy of Kai was enveloping the vampires, including Remnant—Kai’s Sunveil shield protection that would guard them against the sun.
Even though the sun had actually gone down, Ruxnoth had the ability to warp so much, so there was very real worry that he might turn night into day in a bid to nuke them all to stop us.
Just outside were two dozen members of the Guardian Movement, here to contain the situation, and also to safeguard us, as rumors had it that the Light Fae and several rogue contingents from across the supernatural world were freaked by this, and the devastation it could cause if things went sideways.
Sylas was offsite and protected inside one of Ambrose’s black magic planes.
It was possible that Ruxnoth would feel his magic once he got started on the mass death-tethering, and we couldn’t have him trying to stop Sylas from pulling that off.
The necromantic magic protecting and concealing Sanctus needed to be knocked out.
Velra was dealing with Temperance and getting the Nihilumbra ready for when Sylas pulled out the necromancers, as the hostile ones would need immediate containment.
Ambrose jolted all of a sudden, a choked sound escaping him.
“Winter has bonded with the core,” he announced. “He’s sent the pulse. I have a lock.”
A flood of adrenaline shot through me, warring with excited anticipation, knowing it wouldn’t be long now before this was done, before we had Winter back right here with us.
“Shit,” Zayn breathed, rubbing my arm fervently.
“I know,” I said, smiling out at him.
“Come on, Sylas,” Lazriel spoke, smashing his fists together as he paced up and down the frontlines of his parents’ soldiers at his back. “You’ve got this, my sexy necromantic heartthrob.”
Normally whether Sylas had it or not wouldn’t ever be a concern. But this was the first big spell he’d performed since he’d died, and it wasn’t exactly a small undertaking. Death-tethering twenty necromancers took immense power and skill, and he couldn’t falter for even a moment.
I rubbed Zayn’s nape when I felt his pulse pick up at the anxiety coming off Lazriel.
He turned his head to me, nuzzling against my touch and smiling.
“The two of you hung out when you stayed at Winter’s a few years ago, right?”
“Yeah. A lot. Laz even taught me how to ride a motorcycle.”
“Hmm. Makes so much sense.”
He chuckled.
Lazriel swung his head to me, and called over, “Hey. Heard that, dragon princess.”
Remnant and Rhyza joined me in a little laughter.
“Such a handful,” I told Lazriel.
“No doubt.”
“Are you talking about him or me?” Zayn asked.
I made a motion of zipping my lips shut.
“Fine, woman. But just know, we’ll settle this later.” He winked. “And I’ll get Win to help me.”
I loved it. All of it.
And soon it would be real, not just fantasy.
Vaxan caught my eye and smiled, his thoughts clearly mirroring mine.
And then we were all startling as the gateway Ambrose had marked revealed itself, midnight-blue light forming a shimmering rectangle coming into view, as the necromantic power slipped away.
Sylas had them death-tethered.
I drew closer with Zayn right beside me, and I peered down to see it cut a magical path all the way through, where I could see those black spires and jagged stone constructions that Ruxnoth had forced onto the Dracoryn Realm.
Hundreds of feet down, but discernible nonetheless with my dragon vision.
Without the magical portal, it would just be volcanic rock and lava all the way down, but this opened the way to another realm entirely, an oddity forged of magic and matter in almost equal measure.
“Go,” Vaxan called to Ambrose. “Hit the Fuel Core. I’ll follow. It will take me some time to embed all the way down and into the bedrock of the construct, where the resonance will then radiate out.”
Ambrose gave a nod, then thrust his palms forward, black tendrils streaming down into the gateway.
It went on and on with him pouring more and more magic through, until he was grunting. “It’s… taking him.”
“Tiny god is… falling?” Ketheron uttered, voice shaking.
“Yes,” Ambrose confirmed, looking out at us all briefly.
“How bad is it for him?” Lazriel called over.
“Is it hurting him too much?” Zayn added.
Ambrose caught Remnant’s eye.
That said it all. The grave, knowing look passing between them.
“It will be over very quickly,” Remnant’s voice boomed, both somehow commanding and gently reassuring all at once. “Focus on the end result. I’m sure Winter is doing just that.”
I squeezed Zayn’s hand as my gut twisted something fierce.
Then we watched as Vaxan hovered his palms over the other end of the gateway, then let out a hiss, just before translucent ripples shot inside, weaving carefully around Ambrose’s black tendrils, rushing down in what looked a lot like sonic pulses, tons and tons of them driving inside.
The floor shook, the walls, the gateway even.
But through it, he remained steady, anchoring himself with his thighs, as he then thrust his hands into the gateway itself, a surge of the vibrational resonance becoming a reverberating thunderous destructive force.
I listened with my sensitive hearing and picked up on cracks deep in the foundations of the place below.
A pained sound came from Ambrose. Ketheron’s gold magic was glowing along his shoulders now, his True Celestial power bolstering him.
“Winter is down,” I heard him tell Ketheron. “But Ruxnoth is trying to thread together his own power residue and siphon Winter to restore the eaten Fuel Core. I can’t let up until Winter rises.”
Ketheron cursed.
“I have to flood the entire construct in the meantime. I am sorry, treasure. I know I promised I would be careful with my life for you, for us—”
“It’s not your fault. And you are still being careful. You’re allowing me to infuse you with my power to assist. Know that I will see to you, you won’t fall. I am here, my gorgeous. I am here.”
Another rumble startled us all.
But it wasn’t coming from Vaxan, nor Ambrose.
Remnant clocked it a few moments before me, his head swinging toward the lava cavern tens of feet away.
He signaled his army to ready themselves.
“Ketheron,” he warned as well.
Ketheron shook his head. “I cannot erect a shield without compromising Ambrose.”
Blue light suddenly shot up from the crater, lava splashing the walls in the process.
Another gateway was torn open in a violent rush, that midnight-blue light sparking, moments before those soldiers of Ruxnoth’s burst through—those humanoid forms of solidified magic with the oval blurs for faces.
A dozen leapt through.
Another three dozen after that.
In seconds, another five.
Seven.
Until there were three hundred swarming the area.
“Hold!” Remnant commanded his units.
“Wait for my word!” Rhyza ordered her wolves, as Lazriel took position beside her, vamping out, and his wolf claws dropping as well.
They looked to us, but Zayn and I were already calling our power.
And what we’d prepared earlier.
I grabbed his hand and leapt us over Vaxan, Ambrose, and Ketheron, landing just a foot before the crater.
Together, we swept our magic in a connecting arc, and scores of shimmering fuchsia and pale-blue orbs materialized, floating before us, self-contained concoctions of a version of our Ecliptic Convergence.
A way for us to render the hostiles vulnerable to brute force without draining Zayn and me the way we’d been on the verge of doing when we’d unleashed it before.
This wouldn’t account for the constructs being impacted by magic, but definitely brute force, which was perfect for the units of vampires and wolves.