Chapter 53 #2
Helena’s bright orange flame sparked to life, fire creeping from the palm of her hand. She reached out for a handshake, fire sliding to her wrist. Her perfectly straight teeth made her smile sparkle, but Vega knew better than to trust a friendly mask.
Death turned the tips of Vega’s fingers black as she reached out, her lightning copying Helena’s flames, wrapping around her wrist too.
Helena’s cocky confidence fell when her eyes flicked to Vega’s fingertips. It only took a half-second for Helena to look back up, but everything had changed in her stare.
Vega didn’t wait for her to strike. She grabbed her hand, only letting Death nip at her palm as a warning.
Helena jumped back, snatching her hand out of Vega’s. She flicked her wrist like a match, sending her flame back to her palm.
Vega answered with her wind, sending Helena tumbling. She was back on her feet in seconds, wrapped up in the clouds Vega pulled from thin air.
The ring fed abilities, allowing everyone an equal opportunity.
Vega couldn’t see Helena through the fluffy vapor of her clouds, but she could feel her. It should have been because her clouds parted around Helena’s body, making space for her as she passed through.
But that wasn’t why Vega could feel her.
A warmth so unlike the electricity she was used to spiked somewhere inside her mind.
A fireball flew past Vega’s head, inches from colliding directly with her face. A buzz of need grazed the side of her cheek as it whizzed by.
Seconds. That was how long it took for Vega to realize her body craved the new power she was suppressing.
She could have stopped the fight right away. Sent down a torrent of rain to drown out Helena’s power.
Fire-wielders were strong, and some of them, like Meyer and Leo, could still work with their flames in most storms… but Vega could create more than what most storms were capable of.
If she wanted to asphyxiate Helena’s power, she could. Something in her wanted more.
Something… no, someone.
The rush in her head almost completely drowned out Death’s voiceless begging for her to stop.
Helena stepped through the clouds, making them glow with orange. Another flame whizzed past Vega’s head, but Vega watched the way her eyes gave away her next move.
She looks where she’s going to strike first.
Watching where her eyes landed, a bolt of her lightning struck Helena, making her screech with pain. Her body seized, and by the time she hit the floor, she was already coming to, an animalistic snarl rupturing in her chest as she picked herself up.
“Fuck you” she growled, throwing another ball of flames as she hurtled herself towards Vega.
Vega unsheathed the dagger strapped at her thigh, slicing a line down the side of Helena’s training suit, her only intention to make the surface cut sting for a second.
“I thought you were going to give me a challenge?” Vega tapped over her mouth as she fake yawned, flipping the dagger in her other hand before returning it to its sheath. Her thunder rumbled the shield, vibrating like glass in the wake of a storm.
Vega wanted to get her hands on Helena—to see if the god inside her would react.
She intentionally slowed her reaction time, letting Helena believe she’d let her guard down. Vega rolled into a somersault at Helena’s next charge, reaching out at the right time and wrapping her fingers around Helena’s ankle.
Heat soared up her arm and through her chest.
Helena screamed.
Death roared so loud she was sure everyone outside her head could hear it too.
The gods hissed, pouring through her mental shields like feral beasts. Vega had to pry her hand off Helena’s leg, but that didn’t stop them.
Their wails kept coming, kept getting louder.
“Stop him.”
“Stop him.”
“STOP HIM!”
Vega cried out in pain, her screams echoing inside the ring’s enclosure and her head. Her lonely, empty head.
Death was gone, a sliver of shadow disappearing behind Bridger’s now closed door.
Stop who?
She shrieked again, barely noticing the shield of the training ring falling back down. Helena fought through pain of her own, on her hands and knees, panting for air.
People flooded around. No one came too close to Vega, all checking on Helena instead.
They were afraid—they were afraid of Vega.
“Stop him.”
“Stop who?!” Vega shouted out loud, drowning in pain.
Where are you? Vega reached for Death. She felt hollow and alone for the first time since returning home.
The people inside the ring stared at her. Ro helped Helena to her feet.
Helena’s voice sounded raw. “Someone find Khort or Arlet.” She choked. “Now!”
Vega had no idea how long passed before Khort was beside her, hands on her cheeks as he tried to search her face for an answer. “What happened?”
Vega couldn’t focus over the screeching in her head.
“Your bonded soul.”
“Stop him!”
“Bridger,” she said on a breath. “Where’s Bridger?” She reached for him, but the doorway was closed. Sealed off completely with no chance of sneaking through.
Khort paused for too long. “What?”
His hesitation was the answer Vega needed. He knew.
Vega had known something was wrong… just five, ten minutes ago—fuck, how much time had passed?
She grabbed Khort by the collar of his shirt, shaking him wildly. “Where the fuck is Bridger?”
He didn’t answer, sending Vega into an all-out frenzy. “Khort, please. Please! Where is he? What is he doing?”
She begged for Bridger to open the door, pulling at the handle with all she had.
Not being able to lean on Death, to have it there beside her in a moment like this—oh gods, Vega hated it.
“We’ll never make it in time to stop him,” Khort finally answered, and Vega could feel how sorry he was as he said the words aloud.
“To stop him from what?” she screeched, her world coming to a tumbling halt.
He couldn’t. He wouldn’t.
No. Oh no. “Bridger, no! Stop!” He couldn’t hear her.