Chapter 1 #3
The sting in my side intensified as I pulled out the blade.
I lost concentration on the power I’d been pushing at my uncle, and he didn’t hesitate to take advantage.
He took hold of me with his magic in an invisible grip, picking up my body and thrusting me into nearby buildings and trees, one after another, breaking me bit by bit. It was relentless and brutal.
I couldn’t help letting out sounds of pain when my ribs cracked and then my shoulder dislocated. He was pulling more and more strength from the God of Wrath—far more than I could counteract without doing the same.
As I sailed through the air once more, I had to make a decision quickly.
I wouldn’t be able to win this fight without taking drastic measures.
It had been a long time since I’d called on the nameless god because the price was high.
I had especially avoided it since marrying Aella because I didn’t want her to see me that way, but if I didn’t do something, the only thing she might ever see of me again was the broken remains of my corpse.
I crashed into another wall, and debris fell around me as I used magic to keep it from dropping onto my head and body.
Taking a jagged shard of rock, I sliced open my arm and uttered the damning words.
The God of Wrath’s power flowed into me like a tidal wave, dulling the pain of my injuries and filling me with unimaginable strength.
I wondered how much it would take for you to call upon me, he said, filling my mind with his enigmatic voice.
That explained why the power came more quickly than usual. You wanted this.
It’s been too long, Darrow.
It hadn’t been nearly long enough, considering the price I’d pay for this.
When I rose to my feet, my eyes glowed so brightly that a soft aura surrounded my field of vision.
Low fae could only get a moderate boost from the process, rendering the outward signs less obvious.
High Fae completed more trials and rituals so that we could magnify our natural power two or even threefold.
It reflected in our eyes. I held my arms out and stopped Radan from getting hold of me again.
His fists clenched as he kept pushing at my body, but he didn’t stand a chance. I strutted toward him, well aware I had a malevolent smile on my face. If anyone had a reason to feel wrath right now, it was me, and it fueled me like nothing else.
Shock filled Radan’s eyes. “How… how are you that much stronger?”
He hadn’t expected our god to favor me. I hadn’t been sure he would, either.
“Yes, uncle—you’re dealing with an elf fully developed in his powers and not a growing boy anymore.” Triumph boosted me as I realized that the day had finally arrived to defeat him. “I told you years ago that I would get revenge.”
I took hold of his body and snapped his right wrist, elbow, and shoulder in rapid succession.
The cracks of them splintering filled the air.
It was what he used to do to me, starting when I was only twelve.
He’d claimed it was to toughen me. I was seventeen before I became strong enough to slow those attacks.
Radan would break my bones and put them back together, so he could do it again.
The dark elf hadn’t shown an ounce of compassion.
My uncle would even taunt me by saying he’d done something similar to my mother and his other sister.
That amplified my rage so much that I fought back harder, but he’d still been too strong to overcome when I was young.
He’d done so many horrible things that I’d mentally blocked some of those memories to save my sanity.
Radan had taken advantage of my youth and weaker powers.
Not anymore.
My uncle tried to back away as I turned my attention to the bones on his other side. “You’ve proven yourself, Darrow. Stop this now, and I’ll name you my heir.”
I laughed, though there was no emotion in it. I didn’t feel any humor. I simply enjoyed that the more I broke Radan, the less his eyes glowed. That was interesting. Was the God of Wrath reducing his power flow and directing it to me instead? Deities were unpredictable.
“Lies,” I said. “You would never name me unless I swore allegiance to you, and that will never happen.”
The glow in my uncle’s eyes dimmed even more as I broke his left arm.
“Very well, nephew,” Radan said, gasping for breath through his pain. “But this is not the end—not today.”
Before I could grab him with my power again, he disappeared.
“Noooo,” I shouted, furious.
I’d wanted him dead more than ever, but like a coward, he’d fled.
The ability to teleport ran in my mother’s family, so many of us could do it.
I doubted he went very far with the meager power he had left, but it would be enough that I doubted I’d find him without hours of searching and facing scores of the enemy.
We didn’t have time for that. I needed to return to my original quest now that he wasn’t an immediate threat.
I spun around and found the Raumandian soldiers were already crossing the border in the distance.
Wisely, they’d escaped the moment they had a chance.
Jax and Loden reappeared across the street, apprehension in their gazes.
They’d only seen me like this twice, and both times I went on a rampage against our enemies that left a trail of mangled dead.
Though I would never hurt them, the wrath flowing from me frightened my allies as much as my enemies.
I moved toward them with purposeful strides, annoyed at their reactions. “Don’t look at me like that.”
“It’s just…” Loden cleared his throat. “You look like a raging jumgot.”
A jumgot was an animal native to this world, with a body like a bull's but twice as large. It had four sets of horns on its head, sharp hooves that could cut through almost anything, and glowing orange eyes.
Those weren’t even the scariest parts of the creature.
They could also snort hot steam that scorched skin up to ten feet away.
We rarely ran into them since they only remained in northern Zadrya and the Isles of Mannoth, with the rest eradicated by the fae centuries ago.
Not only because the animal was dangerous, but also because it was tasty when roasted over an open fire.
“I do not look like a jumgot,” I said, scowling at him.
Jax tapped his nose. “Steam is coming out of your nostrils, and you’re stomping around the same way they do and looking murderous.”
Perhaps they weren’t as fearful of me as I thought. “I am beginning to think I don’t need the two of you with me for this.”
“No.” Loden put his hands up. “You’re just…more threatening than we’ve seen before.”
“Yet you imply I look like a deranged animal?” I asked, glaring at them. I envisioned knocking my companions' heads together until they saw sense. It was a struggle to remember them as friends while under the full influence of god magic.
Both of them bowed their heads submissively.
“We’re happy to follow wherever you lead,” Jax said in a conciliatory voice.
“Let’s go find Armin,” I said, certain this time no one was around to hear me.
Loden cleared his throat. “I’d wondered if that was the plan. At least if anyone gets in our way, they won’t stand a chance with you like this.”
No, they wouldn’t, but that only mattered if the dark elves hadn’t killed the realm’s heir yet.