Chapter 19 Bastian #3
I felt them begin to slip through as my magic started to give—and I knew what came next. I knew it would seek out the blood in all of my allies, to give me the energy and blood source I needed to continue. But I couldn’t.
This city might have turned its back on me and treated me like an animal to experiment on, but there were so many more in this realm who had suffered as I had. The fallen. The wyvern. If they could be here, fighting together for one cause, I’d commit to finding my source elsewhere.
Today the bloodlust would not control me. I was its master.
Without hesitation, I dropped the blood-dagger clutched in my hand, letting it fall forgotten to the rubble below.
I summoned talons of blood to my fingers and dragged them against my chest. I didn’t hesitate as my skin split open beneath them, clenching my jaw through the pain.
The gash wasn’t graceful. It didn’t need to be.
It just needed to bleed and ground me as my source.
My blood surged over my fingers, warm and thick, dripping down my arm in rivulets. I reached out with that hand, fingers outstretched toward the burning sky, and the air around me shifted with a pulse so raw, so familiar, it took me a moment to realize I was trembling.
The bloodlust surged through me, rising higher than it ever had, fed by the power I’d absorbed over the last three days—Kieran’s blood, rich with the power of the stars that had stitched into her veins.
It reminded me it was no longer just blood magic I was wielding.
My veins lit up like constellations as I fought to access the power her blood had given me.
I wanted more. More screams from the triad. More justice.
More of our enemies meeting their end.
Every blast of the Seraphim’s flames, every wingbeat of those Dominion bastards around us, only served to pour gasoline on the fire roaring through my chest.
The magic boiling within me seared through me like fire in my bones, white-hot and merciless, every beat of my heart pushing more of myself into the blood cage, threading blood and will and bone-deep defiance into it.
They bucked against it, their wings a blur of molten blue, and I knew this wasn’t going to be enough.
Not unless I kept giving. Not unless I let it devour me.
The memory of that first explosion of power from me as a kid came back like a blade to the ribs—my brother’s scream, the avalanche that followed, the way I’d felt my own magic split me open from the inside out.
But this time, I didn’t flinch away from it.
This time, I opened the door and power ripped through me. It was raw, uncontrolled, ancient magic slamming into my veins until I could barely tell where I ended and it began. My spine arched with it, the air punched from my lungs in one jagged exhale as stars exploded behind my eyes.
Every drop of blood in my body answered the call.
My vision bled red as I lifted my hands and pulled blood from my body once more. The ribbons of liquid life and sacrifice wound around my wrists and coiled like serpents across my arms. I couldn’t pull from myself forever, but I would make it count.
With a roar, I flung the blood outward to reinforce the cages as the Elementalists and foot soldiers descended. I had to keep them contained or every soul down there would perish. The Seraphim screamed in rage, their fire surging hotter, brighter, trying to melt their way out.
Still, they burned through.
Still, I poured more until my body trembled, struggling to produce any more blood.
Above me, the battle roared on—Ronan was locked in a brutal aerial clash with the Dominion, one blade gone, wings smoking from a near-miss.
Niz flew past in wyvern form, trailing another streak of acid across the Dominion’s exposed flank.
The angel convulsed midair, part of one wing folding in on itself, sizzling as feathers disintegrated.
And through it all, I felt her—Kieran’s presence pressing warm and fierce into the back of my mind as I worried about how much I had left to give. If I was losing myself to this magic taking control of me.
Her voice didn’t tremble when it came.
“You’re not losing yourself, Bastian. You’re finding what you were always meant to be.”
My hands didn’t shake this time, her presence reminding me of why I would fight until there was nothing left within me.
“Let them burn,” I whispered through clenched teeth.
The bars of my cages turned to iron, glowing blood-red and stitched with invisible threads of rage and justice and sacrifice.
Every time the Seraphim twisted against them, another layer wrapped around their wings.
Fire licked outward from their bodies, but my blood refused to fall away now.
They roared louder, but they couldn’t rise as the Elementalists lashed out at them.
Storms of ice circled the Seraphim, winds howling through the melted streets as chunks of ice hammered their burning forms.
Ground forces continued to flood in from the outer rings, their formation tightening as they pushed toward the center. Casters followed close behind, their magic flaring through the city’s decimated streets, weaving shields to protect ground forces.
Around me the wyvern swept in low, wings skimming the rooftops as they drenched the air in venom and flame, leaving nothing untouched.
They intercepted Dominions midair, claws raking through gilded armor as a mixture of fire and acid was unleashed.
While the Dominions still plagued the sky, the majority of our forces were focused on converging to the Seraphim thrashing inside my cages.
They were the larger issue and I would ensure they didn’t escape—not while I still had blood left to give. I would give every last drop if that’s what it took.
I’d save the woman who showed me the meaning of love and the beauty of life, even if it meant giving my own.