Steps thudded against the wet, compact dirt. Oren fell behind Alera as Kari dragged her along.
“Wake up, please,” Kari begged, dragging the dazed Arhen along.
“Why are we headed into the wasteland, Kariavri?” Mallo chided, heaving Arhen’s weight as much as he could.
“Orders.”
The dirt crunched at Mallo’s sudden halt.
“Who’s he to order around royals?” As he turned, the light of a blinding inferno flashed his eyes. The group stopped, looking back in terror as a column of flame devoured Azurael.
Thunder ripped through the air, the sky shone no brighter.
“Where’s the lightning?” Connie asked with a quiver in her voice.
The wind whistled. The air screamed in the distance, heat radiated from the inferno. They stood frozen, caught between running ahead and turning back..
The ground crushed before them, cutting off their path of escape. A figure landed hard and sprang forward. A shadow reached out, past Kari, behind her. However, short of reaching Alera's wrist, its stride was halted. At that moment Arhen had reached out, palm to face, and pushed forward. The shadow fell backwards and leapt back up in a smooth motion.
Arhen tumbled forward, and pushed himself off the ground, pulling out the rod from his robe as he whispered, “Gresa.” He swung with great force, the whiplike strike broke sound as he made contact with the shadow.
"Do not lose your mind," he said calmly. The shadow stood unaffected as the rod broke the side of his helmet, and remained embedded. “No more blood needs to be shed.” He took hold of the rod and pulled Arhen along with it. He flicked his finger and a glint of darkness broke from the gloves and sped towards him, aiming for the head.
Arhen snapped his head back. A moment later, his foot struck the man's ribs with a vicious crack. The man barely budged, his body absorbing the force before his hand shot out in retaliation. The man gripped his ankle and began, “Sevr–” but halted again as Arhen had spun midair, delivering a devastating kick. The man stumbled back, having released his grip in favor of blocking the kick.
It had been mere moments, a lifetime it seemed to the two, before the rest even realized they had encountered a threat.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Kari looked down and raised her index finger, “Illumo, Xplosi.” Blinding light burst forth and shot in all directions. Arhen, his back to Kari, was unaffected, so was Kari as she ran forward, toward the man in brown, rugged armor that resembled the bones of some creature.
The man took a stance, grounding himself as he blinked frantically. Arhen whipped the rod high, the man covered his face with both arms as Kari made contact with the armor.
“Vrakie.” The man coughed out, splattering blood over Kari, and curled forward. Kari jumped back as Arhen swung once more.
Thunder roared, drowning out Arhen’s strike in a relentless assault on their ears.
The girls yelled out to one another, Oren held Alera to himself as he scoured the sky, Alera covered her ears and winced with each inflection, Mallo shifted his gaze from inferno to opponent to roaring heavens. Shadows rained from the sky, surrounding the group.
In the instant between thought and action, one of the shadows closed the distance, hand forward, aiming for Alera’s neck. A million thoughts blew through their minds, but only one was able to process any of it. Alera stared at the figure approaching with ludicrous speed, she caught a glimpse of a shining rune on his palm. This stranger intended to take her somewhere, but– she had not been given permission by Azurael. And Oren was holding onto her so tightly, like he held her hand before, when he told her to stay with him.
The world fell still as she contemplated her choices, yet the noise of it all barked at her. Then, as she looked at the silver marble in her hand, a curiosity struck her– if the strangers from the sky made all this noise, the marble could silence them.
She held out her hand to the shadow’s and carefully laid it over his hand. Time accepted this and made it so it always had been so.
The shadow could not react, an instant prior Alera had her hands to her ears, the next she had placed a silver ball on his hand and he was falling through the earth. His entire body felt like metal falling through the sky, his body pulsing, expelling excess power, and yet it was not enough to dissipate the energy in his body. He felt it building for what seemed like an eternity until he broke through the ceiling of the cave beneath.
Screams rang out as the ground tore apart beneath their feet. Their legs buckled like jelly as they scrambled for footing, the cliff crumbling into the ocean. The confrontation was the least of their concerns now, at least, the least of the group’s. The shadows clawed and heaved their way toward Alera as the cliff carried everyone towards the sloping edges.
A few fell over but a half dozen jumped towards Oren and Alera as the ground crumbled over them, plunging the pair into darkness. Each second was an eternity as Oren tried to make sense of anything, but his prerogative remained clear– he held Alera close, shielding her from the suffocating debris.
A hand broke through the darkness, hitting Oren across the face with ruthless force before it reached out to Alera and slammed into her forehead. In that instant she caught a glimpse of a bloody palm, and a sigil shining ever so slightly through the crimson mess. A gleam of light emerged for a fraction of a second before they were all blinded by a shower of light.