Chapter 58 #2
“Alena, move!” Nik’s command tore through the ringing in her ears.
She rolled instinctively as the claws struck again, gouging deep furrows into the silty bedrock where she’d been. The creature loomed above, a towering shadow of malevolence.
She scrambled to her feet, but it was already there, its faceless head inches from hers.
Nik charged from the side, shield raised, a war cry ripping from his throat. He slammed into the Makhai with bone-jarring force, but the demon didn’t budge.
Slowly, it swivelled towards him, as if acknowledging a fly.
Nik didn’t wait. He pressed in with brutal precision—sword flashing, shield driving forward, strike after strike hammering into the creature’s warped armour.
Sparks flew, metal cracked—and then the Makhai moved.
It caught his shield with one massive swing and shattered it like brittle ice.
The blow hurled Nik backwards, his body crashing into the riverbed. He rolled across silt and stone with a ragged groan.
The demon followed, its shadow stretching towards his crumpled body.
“Nik!” Alena’s scream tore from her throat.
Across the path, locked in battle with Dalmatius, Leukos’ head snapped up. In one furious motion, he hurled a spear of ice. It cut through the air and pierced the Makhai’s torso with a crunch of cracking bone and shadow. The creature reared back, pinned mid-stride.
But that second of divided focus was all Dalmatius needed.
He slipped through the veil of steam and appeared before Alena. In the next breath, flames erupted around them, arching high into a wall of searing heat that isolated her from the others.
“Alena!” Leukos’ voice tore through the blaze.
With a tilt of his head, Dalmatius stepped closer, firelight dancing across his golden breastplate. His eyes bore into hers with cold calculation.
“So you’re the sister I’ve heard so much about,” he said, almost amused. Katell stood just behind him, a ghost in her own skin. “The one Katell sacrificed her freedom for. The one she fought so hard to find.”
Alena pushed herself upright, heart pounding. Her braid clung to the sweat on her neck, every muscle thrumming with tension.
“But then she chose strength.” Dalmatius reached out and brushed a stray lock of hair from Katell’s face, fingers trailing her cheek as if she were his property. “Power over weakness. Purpose over sentiment. She let go of everything that held her back—including you.”
“Don’t touch her!” Alena growled. Wind shrieked in her ears, rising with her pulse.
The South Wind’s Gift stirred in her bones, fuelled by her fury—building like a storm about to break.
“She trusted you! You saved her from the horrors of the arena. You knew what she’d suffered, and still you did this to her. How could you?”
Dalmatius faltered, his smile tightening. But before he could reply, the air split with a sudden crack.
A surge of ice magic exploded around Alena. Jagged spires pierced the fire, hissing on impact, shattering the ring of flames. Smoke and heat gave way to a wave of biting frost.
Leukos stepped through the mist, his expression carved from ice, magic coiling around his armour.
Behind him, the Makhai he’d impaled stood frozen solid in a jagged block of ice already cracking. Nik forced himself to his knees, clutching his side, bloodied face twisted in pain.
Dalmatius clicked his tongue, as though annoyed by the interruption. “I only helped her embrace what she was always meant to be.” Flames surged once more, spiralling around his arms. “She is Laran’s Chosen and beyond your reach now.”
The words slammed into her, breaking something deep inside.
Nothing she’d said had reached Katell. Her sister remained unfazed, and worse—she’d summoned another Makhai.
And yet Alena refused to give up.
No matter where they take you… I will find you.
That vow, made long ago, burned fiercer than ever. How could she call herself the Omega and restore the balance between the worlds if she couldn’t even save her sister?
Dalmatius’ flames writhed, poised to strike Leukos—but Alena was swifter.
She thrust out her hand, and the air whipped around her. “My sister won’t be your weapon,” she snarled. “Not while I stand.”
A razor-sharp gust ripped through the space between them—sharper than blades, faster than arrows. It slammed into Dalmatius with the force of a hurricane, hurling him backwards.
But the gust struck more than just him.
It tore across the battlefield, igniting stray embers from Dalmatius’ fire and drawing them into the funnel of wind.
Flames roared along the path, engulfing the space between the waters and scorching the very air.
Soldiers scrambled back, shouting as steam and fire coiled towards them in a blistering column that swallowed everything.
The Makhai, still holding back the waters, didn’t move. Along the river path, screams echoed.
Ash swirled. Heat clawed at her skin. The scent of scorched earth and blood filled her lungs.
Alena stood at the heart of it, chest heaving, horrified by the full destruction she had unleashed.
The pathway lay in ruins, with charred bodies scattered across the ground and bronze glinting amid churned mud. Shouts erupted ahead as more soldiers arrived, but the noise was drowned out by the ringing in her ears.
“Alena!” Leukos was suddenly there, unscathed by the flames, pulling her back towards the riverbank.
Dalmatius got to his feet, staring at the devastation she had wrought, his lips curling in something between fury and awe. Then he turned to Katell. “Capture her.”
He summoned a ball of fire in his palm and hurled it. Katell caught it one-handed, her fingers wrapping around the swirling flames without flinching. Fire curled up her arm, engulfing her in molten light.
A crack like splintering bone echoed through the air—the Makhai trapped in ice stirred.
Alena dropped beside Nik, pulling him to his feet. At the same time, Leukos slammed both palms to the ground. Jagged columns of ice erupted, forming a towering wall that sealed off the path behind them. “That’ll hold them off for—”
The words died in his throat. Already, the ice sizzled, fractures spreading as Katell’s fire ate through from the other side. Thick steam hissed, choking the air.
“Twelve be damned,” Nik muttered, one arm tight around his ribs.
“Go!” Leukos shouted, yanking Alena forward. “Move!”
Nik blurred ahead in a gust of wind, reaching the top of the embankment first. The rain had eased, but the downpour had turned the slope to sludge, making every step a struggle.
He hauled Alena, then Leukos up after him.
They’d barely cleared the riverbed and rejoined the wolves when chaos met them head-on.
A full Rasennan cohort clashed with Achaean and Westerner forces on the bank, shields locked, swords thrusting in disciplined formation.
They surged forward, and the Achaeans countered with raw force, steel flashing in the rain.
Shields crashed, mud churned underfoot, slick with blood, and war cries drowned beneath the storm’s fury.
Lightning split the sky, a jagged bolt tearing down and striking the Rasennan shield wall in a flash of white fire. Men fell, shields ripped from their arms, the air thick with smoke and screams.
At the centre of the carnage stood Volcos, lightning crackling from his outstretched blade and eyes blazing with stormlight.
Nik swore under his breath. “How the fuck did the Rasennans get here?”
From the cliff’s shadow, more soldiers surged forward, as if conjured from the darkness itself. Alena froze. “By the Moon…”
It had to be a Gift.
Behind them, the ice exploded with a shriek. The Makhai advanced, an unstoppable nightmare made flesh. Katell followed, fire coiling up her arm, face blank.
“Run, now!” Leukos yelled.
The wolves surged forward, and Alena fell in behind them.
Together, they plunged into the frenzy—and ran.