Thoughts of the lightning mage stumbling across Silvia raced through my mind. I’d never seen her go all out in combat, but I wasn’t confident she could beat him. I might’ve been worried for no reason, but it didn’t matter.

Ignoring the pain, my body moved on its own, pushing off the ground and racing toward the center of the camp. I had no idea where she went, but I knew mom wouldn’t abandon the people. She would probably go towards the fiercest fighting, and there was someone particularly powerful near the large structure at the center of camp. Even without trying, I could sense the mage. Unlike the guy controlling the storm, this other mage seemed to want to be found. It was almost like he was challenging anyone daring enough to come after him.

They must’ve been the leader of whatever force was attacking, and I knew Silvia would go to meet their challenge.

I saw horrific things as I rushed after the wild mana signature. Unarmed elves fought back as best they could, those with magic faring no better than those without.

There was a man defending himself with a wooden board as a lithe young woman danced around him, cutting into his flesh with daggers anytime she got the chance.

An elven woman used wind blade to slice through a man’s arm as he brought his sword down on her. His blood covered her face as both fell back gasping. Her breath seized for a moment then she was breathing heavily with short shallow breaths. The man howled viciously as he gripped the stump of his arm. He tried, unsuccessfully, to cover the wound as if that would stop the bleeding.

Another of the attackers kicked him to the ground and swung a blade through his neck mercilessly. The woman jolted, but didn’t scream. Then the assailant dropped his sword and leapt on top of her, grabbing her around the neck with both hands. She fought hard, but she couldn’t get free of the man.

‘If my mother wasn't in danger, then I would have stopped to help.’ I told myself as I peeled my eyes away from her struggle. I realized something then, these weren’t soldiers. They lacked discipline and there was no uniformity in their armor or weapons. Most likely they were bandits or slavers, in either case it was concerning.

The attack came without warning. The camp was already overrun and the warning signal had yet to sound. This wasn’t a typical ambush and the presence of the storm mage bothered me. I couldn’t help but think of Gerald “The Beast” Fisk. His group of outlaws was rumored to always attack under a massive storm and I couldn’t think of anyone else that would be bold enough to attack such a large camp.

There was a space of calm, roughly twenty yards, where there was no fighting. Elven and human bodies lay strewn about the blood soaked field—most of them unarmed elves.

As I raced over a small hill house, I finally caught sight of my mother. She was near the largest building, the cafeteria which also served as a place for important meetings. Surrounded completely by human warriors, she fought fiercely.

Silvia spun through their ranks, each swing of her sword splitting another foe. Projectiles came from all around, but she deflected them easily between strikes, summoning walls of hard ice to block those she couldn’t. Every move was purposeful, bringing her closer to the man who must have been leading the assault.

“Help m—” A woman screamed, pulling my attention away.

A mother knocked unconscious—I could guess by the huge knot on her head—was dragged out of a hut by her hair. Her two small children carried out under the arms of another human soldier. Whether they were dead or unconscious I couldn’t tell, but they hung limp as he spat on the ground and continued walking.

Thinking of Mirina, I couldn’t ignore them. I looked back at Silvia once more. She was still fine, cutting through her enemies like a chef prepping vegetables. The human leader had yet to get involved, he was standing behind what seemed like a never ending stream of soldiers who threw themselves to be slaughtered at Silvia’s hand. He must’ve been trying to wear her down. No matter how skilled, no one could fight forever.

I’d have to make short work of the grunts then go to her aid.

One of the men, the one dragging the woman, raised his hand and shot a fire bullet at me.

“Barrier,” I said, casting the spell. Drawn from my core, mana coalesced into a semitransparent film in front of me. The fire bullet hit the shield and was absorbed into it.

I’d seen this spell for the first time just earlier. Melinda’s barrier was far larger and provided omni-directional defense, but I was actually surprised I managed to cast it at all. I should’ve stuck to something familiar, but the spell was fresh on my mind and I cast it without thinking.

The other man dropped the kids, letting them fall to the ground without concern for their well-being. He drew two hatchets and immediately hurled one at me.

The barrier I cast, blinked out of existence. It didn’t matter, I didn’t have time to waste. Pushing mana through my body, I burst around the ax and iron punched the man in his chest.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

His body crumpled around my fist like a rag doll falling apart. Propelled by my punch, he sailed backward into the grass hut and burst out through its back wall before falling limp against another of the small structures. His remaining ax stuck in the ground beside my foot.

The other man let go of the woman and ran. Picking up the dropped hatchet, I threw it at his back. The ax whistled through the air loudly enough that the mage must’ve heard it coming. He dodged, hopping left, then kept running. The ax stuck in the side of a house and the mage laughed as he ran by it.

I rolled my eyes in annoyance. Using telekinesis I pulled the ax from the earthen wall. In a swift motion, I swung the blade into the back of his knee. The fleeing mage fell as his leg separated. I didn’t bother finishing him, as long as he couldn’t go back for the woman, that was good enough.

My gaze snapped back to where my mother was fighting as Silvia dodged a blow meant for her heart. Instead, the weapon grazed against her ribs leaving red streaks across her pale white shirt then planting itself between the ribs of an outlaw.

A big man, built like a bear, stepped forward. His hair was long and wild like a lion's mane and his eyes were small and dark. He carried no weapons, but his meaty fists looked tough enough to crush rocks. The moment he moved, his men drew back.

My mother was panting heavily, fatigue clear in the way she slumped forward. Despite her exhaustion, she stood firm in the face of the beastly man, his visage like the striking image of a giant behemoth in the rain. All he was missing were a pair of horns and violet skin, with those he’d look exactly like the beasts.

Seeing him, I knew that my suspicions were correct. The Beasts men continued to step back, away from Silvia as he approached her. Looking down on my mother, he snorted derisively. “This is the best you elves can do?”

Silvia stood alone, surrounded by enemies. I couldn’t help wondering where the council members were. General Ivor at least should’ve fought with her, yet he was absent now, as he was when my birth mom died.

“If you keep fighting, you’ll die,” he snarled, “but throw down your sword and I’ll let you dance in my bedroom.”

Silvia spat at his feet, gripping her blade tightly and settling back into a proper stance.

“And they say long life makes you wise.” The Beast shook his head then slammed a meaty fist into Silvia’s chest. The blow came fast and without warning, breaking her guard and sending her tumbling backward.

Gripped by the fear of loss my heart ached, fueling a surge of adrenaline that forced me to action. She couldn’t win this fight alone. I wasn’t even sure we could win together—definitely not if the storm mage showed up. It didn’t matter, I wasn’t going to sit by and do nothing while she fought.

"Mom!" I shouted, rushing toward them.

With barely a glance, Gerald turned to meet my charge. With my momentum carrying me, I jumped high into the air above him. As I passed over him, I summoned lightning inside myself and sent bolts of energy at the charging brute below me.

Like lances of blue light, six bolts of lightning pierced through his flesh. Two struck his shoulder blades and four penetrated deep into his torso. Despite the direct hits, he didn’t seem affected at all.

Instead of being disoriented and stumbling after taking such heavy blows, Gerald released a hair raising roar. Before I could react further, he grabbed my ankle and slammed me to the ground.

My ears rang painfully loud in response. My vision went black for an instant before snapping back into focus again. I felt dizzied from the impact and was left gasping for air.

As soon as I regained control of my senses, I pushed mana through every muscle in my body. A wave of heat washed over me as my muscles burned with mana.

Not giving me a chance to recover, The Beast slammed his hammer sized fist into my ribs one after the other. Each strike caused excruciating pain throughout my entire rib cage , forcing tears from my eyes and causing sharp pains to shoot down my spine.

Strengthening my body with more mana was all I could do to reduce the pain. As my thoughts cleared up, I cast barrier again. This time, I purposely molded the mana into a small circular disk below his fist. When he hit the shield, I pushed up with the barrier, knocking his arm upward and giving myself room to roll free.

Back on my feet, I scanned around for Silvia. She wasn’t far, near one of few grass huts that still stood. I saw her laying motionless in the dirt. I could barely feel any mana in her, but she was alive.

‘Focus—he comes!’ Hearing Stylnyx's voice so suddenly caught me by surprise, but his warning came in time for me to burst away from Gerald’s grapple. ‘You can’t win this as you are, and the elf will be no help—you need to escape!’

‘I have a different idea…you wanted a body, right?’

‘He’s like you, he has one of the lights, the best I can do is keep him from moving.’

“Then buy me some time.” I growled as I lunged toward Gerald.

The beastly man looked confused, but that didn’t stop him from summoning a black whip studded with spikes.

Stylnyx chortled, ‘Melinda would like that.’

“Shut up!” I shouted, struggling to keep focused.

“You’re barking mad aren’t you.” Gerald shouted, “Don’t worry, I’ll end you quickly.”

His whip cracked like lightning as it jerked toward me. I ducked under its trajectory and continued forward. Just before I reached Gerald, he pulled back his fist for a punch that I strafed right to avoid. While dodging the attack, I thrust the green blade into his bulging bicep.

He howled with pain, yanking his arm back with the sword still stuck in it. As he pinched the green blade between two fingers, Stylnyx wreathed the man’s body in plumes of black smoke.

Gerald froze in place, his form completely obscured in the haze. I wasn’t sure how long the dark spirit could hold Gerald, but I wasn’t going to waste a single second. Breaking away from Gerald, I hurried back to Silvia.

Before I reached my mom, a bolt of lightning crashed down between us. After the flash, the storm mage was standing in my way.

“I thought you were dead earlier, but you’ve surprised me.” He said, brushing hair out his face. “It’d be a shame to see you die now.”