Chapter 26
The Cascade - Part Two
When Kaz said run, nobody asked questions.
I'd seen the man wade through hordes of nightmares without flinching. I'd watched him burn monsters to ash while laughing. The fact that he looked scared now sent my stomach plummeting faster than a comet falling out of orbit.
My legs pumped beneath me, my boots pounding against stone. Prisoners scattered; there was no formation, no strategy. Just pure, animalistic panic.
"What the hell is happening?" I gasped, keeping pace with Zo as we sprinted across the uneven terrain.
The massive tear swelled behind us. The smaller tears around it began to warp, pulling toward the larger one as if they were being sucked in.
The tears were merging, collapsing into the larger rupture like they were being devoured. The bloody light intensified.
I watched as a massive claw punched through the dimensional membrane. It was massive, with black scales edged in deep crimson. Each talon was longer than me. It gripped the edge of the tear and pulled, widening it.
"Oh shit…"
The monster's massive head pushed through the rift. Its three curved horns raked the sides of the tear, causing dimensional sparks to angle downward like a crown of bone.
It was scarred, ancient beyond reckoning, with blackened scales that were cracked from battles fought before humanity existed.
Bright smoldering red eyes opened, and it began scanning the battlefield with terrible intelligence.
It let loose a terrifying roar.
The sound was so powerful it caused the bones in my skin to rattle, and my nose to bleed.
"They're... bowing to it," Zo whispered, her face pale.
The body forced its way through after the head; it was massive and broken. Its wings were shredded ruins, bones jutting through the membrane.
Its front left limb was missing entirely, the stump scarred over. It propped itself on its wings, giving it a hunched, lopsided posture that somehow made it even more terrifying.
It pulled free of the tear. Twenty-five meters of hatred made flesh.
The dragon drew in a breath, its chest expanding.
I could feel the danger…
"GET DOWN!" I shouted, diving behind a rock and pulling Zo with me.
Her body pressed against mine tightly as a cone of fire swept across the battlefield. The heat washed over us, singeing the hair on my arms as I held onto Zo.
I could hear the screams of the burning prisoners and beasts from behind us.
The dragon roared again.
The remaining beasts on the field responded. Scattered Hyena-men that had been fighting individually suddenly formed packs. Undead stopped feeding on corpses and turned toward us.
"The dragon is directing them," Zo realized, her eyes wide as she pulled herself out of my grip.
Kaz and Sadie formed a rearguard, light and fire creating a momentary barrier between us and the horde. Golden flames and white light mixed, holding back the first wave.
"Move it!" Kaz shouted. "We'll cover you!"
We kept running, the fortress our only hope. Behind us, Kaz and Sadie fought like twin stars, their powers complementing each other and slowing the horde during our retreat.
But they couldn’t hold forever.
◆◆◆
We were halfway to the fortress when new tears ripped open ahead of us. The air split with that same terrible sound.
"Fuck," I hissed. "The tears are cutting off our escape."
A freakish monstrosity crashed through the nearest tear. It had the body of a lion, the head of a goat sprouting from its back, and a dragon head for a tail.
Three minds, three sets of teeth. Fire breath scorched the ground as prisoners ran, turning three of them into human torches. They ran screaming into their companions like living Molotov cocktails, setting their friends ablaze.
Drakes poured from another tear, wingless dragonkin, four of them, scales glowing with internal heat. They fanned out, blocking our escape routes.
"WE'RE BEING BOXED IN," Mabel observed, her voice tight with what sounded like fear.
A shadow passed overhead us. I looked up to see a Human face twisted in cruel amusement. It had a scorpion tail that was launching spikes that punched through armor and flesh with equal ease.
It spoke down to us, its voice disturbingly human. "Run, little humans, your flesh tastes better basted in fear!"
Our group skidded to a halt. We had horrific nightmares in front of us. The dragon and its army behind us.
"This way!" Sophie's voice cut through the chaos. She was already moving toward a set of rock formations. "There's a path this way!"
I didn't question how she knew. I just followed, and the others did the same. No better options.
The Chimera charged toward us, all three heads roaring. Zo stepped into its path, her stance wide and solid.
"Zo!" I shouted.
She absorbed the first strike, her body glowing as she redirected the energy. Her counter-punch sent the beast staggering.
"Go!" she shouted, falling back to join us.
We reached the rocks. Narrow passages twisted between them, barely wide enough for a person to squeeze through.
"In here," Sophie urged, slipping into a crevice.
The beast reached the entrance to our escape route and roared in frustration, all three heads screeching. Its lion body was too large to follow.
The dragon's answering roar shook the ground beneath our feet.
"It doesn't sound happy," I muttered as we pushed deeper into the rock maze.
"GOOD," Mabel replied. "I HOPE IT CHOKES ON ITS OWN FIRE."
◆◆◆
Outside, the larger beasts raged at the entrances, unable to reach us. But I could hear smaller things slipping in behind us.
A scream cut through the darkness behind us. We had lost one of the stragglers. Then another. The sounds of struggle, wet tearing noises, then silence.
"They're picking off from behind," Rafe said, his voice tight.
We turned a corner and found ourselves face-to-face with the first Wyvern.
Zo stepped forward, her Origin flaring.
The Wyvern's jaws snapped at her throat, but she caught the force of its attack, her body absorbing the energy. She twisted, releasing the stored power in a counter that sent the creature crashing into the stone wall.
The Wyvern hissed, wounded but not dead. It retreated into the darkness of a side passage.
"It'll be back," Zo said, her voice grim.
We pressed on, the passages growing tighter.
The second Wyvern was smarter than its companion. It waited, patient, stalking us from the parallel tunnels.
"BEHIND YOU," Mabel shouted suddenly.
I spun just as the Wyvern struck from a crack in the rock. Another prisoner went down, the stinger punching through his back and out of his chest. Sophie's crimson whips sliced through the air at it. The Wyvern retreated, hissing.
"How much further?" Zo demanded.
Sophie shook her head. "I don't know exactly.”
"I can help," Mabel said, but only I could hear her. "LET ME LEAD."
"How?" I muttered.
"I CAN SENSE VIbrATIONS, MAP THE PASSAGES. RELEASE ME."
I hesitated, then nodded slightly. A single worm emerged from my wrist.
"What the hell?" One of them gasped.
"She can help."
Mabel extended herself, her segments undulating as she tasted the air. "LEFT HERE," she said, her voice now audible to everyone.
Mabel led us through the labyrinth, her directions keeping us from ambushes.
"You're welcome, I just saved all your lives and not a single thank you, Mabel, queen of navigation and savior of—"
She fell silent as we took in the scene below us.
Kaz was fighting the dragon. Alone.
His Origin blazed like the sun. Golden light enveloped him as he darted around the massive beast, his axes leaving trails of fire through the air.
The dragon was toying with him. It could have ended this.
"We have to help him," I said, starting forward.
Rafe grabbed my arm.
Kaz landed a hit, concentrated solar energy punching into the dragon's scarred shoulder.
The dragon's tail whipped and caught Kaz. Sending him flying, his body cratering the ground when he landed. His golden light flickered like a candle in the wind.
"KAZ!" Sadie's scream tore through the air. She charged forward, her white light blazing around her, a light spear forming in her hands.
"Sadie, don't!" Rafe shouted.
The dragon caught her attack on its wing. The light spear shattered against its black scales. Its tail swept again, aiming to crush her.
Rafe moved faster than I'd ever seen him move.
Quickstep carried him to Sadie in an instant. He grabbed her and pulled her clear of the attack just as the tail smashed into the ground where she'd been standing.
I watched from the ridge, frozen.
Then the dragon turned its head. Red eyes found me across the battlefield. For a moment that stretched into forever, it looked directly at me.
Then it smiled.
Dragons shouldn't smile…
This one did; it was intelligent and cruel. The dragon turned back to Kaz, who was struggling to get up.
"We need to get down there," I said, searching for a path.
"And do what, exactly?" Mabel demanded.
"Help them!"
"With what? Your charming personality?"
What could I do against that thing?
But Kaz and Sadie were down there. And Rafe. And they needed help.
"Fine, If you're determined to die, let's at least make it interesting."
I started down the ridge, picking my way through loose rocks. The others followed.
The dragon had Kaz and Rafe cornered.
"We need a distraction," Zo said beside me.
"I volunteer literally anyone else," Mabel responded.
I looked around desperately. There had to be something we could use. The terrain, the remaining prisoners, anything.
That's when I saw another tear forming behind the dragon. It was small but growing. And something was coming through.
"That's not good," Mabel observed.
"No shit," I muttered.
The tear widened, and a man in black armor stepped out.
His armor was ancient, covered in intricate filigree; his sword looked as if it were carved from one of the dragon's horns.
The armored figure's voice cut through the chaos.
"Klaus. You've strayed far from your cage! Return to your prison, or I will send you back in pieces."
The dragon laughed.
"You and what army, little dragoon?"
"This army," the Keeper replied simply, and lifted his blade.
Klaus reared back and bellowed rage that shook the ground beneath my feet.
In one fluid motion, the massive dragon launched into the air.