by Jade Frances
“Well, well, well, here she is everyone, the one and only Evangeline, here to join the fray... and isn’t she a sight to behold.” He stood between me and Kady, arms open wide, welcoming me. If I was close enough, I would have spat at him. Every fibre of me wanted to charge him there and then. But how many more of my friends would die at his hands? How many would be able to hold their own against the onslaught his followers would initiate?
“You and me, Ares, the rest go free,” I snarled at him. I could feel the tightening of Adam’s burnt arms around me and vaguely hear the murmurs of disagreement from behind me. But I couldn’t concede to the fear I felt emanating from them. It was no longer an emotion I could cater to. No longer a part of me, I couldn’t afford it, not when everyone else’s lives were on the line.
“You have no idea how to use that artefact you’re rudely pointing at me, do you?” he purred at me. A snarl let rip from my mouth. Don’t feed him fear, don’t show him weakness, don’t break, something in my mind was telling me. His black eyes receded back to a sparkling ocean blue, the grimace on his face lessened. Before me was the handsome man, we had first caught sight of. His hair billowed around him in an invisible breeze, and he dropped the enchantment that hid his true self. Power blasted around him, unfurling beyond where he stood and into the cavern. The rock walls rumbled, and the Gifted dropped to the ground. My knees went weak at the sheer strength in his energy, but I remained upright with a little help from Adam. My glare, and the point of the scythe, endured his unleashing.
“Cat got your tongue, Evangeline? And here I was, thinking that you would be a worthy adversary. I mean, look at your followers, pitiful, but still, followed you to their end didn’t they...”
I didn’t dare look behind me, didn’t give him the satisfaction.
“Does your lover know how strong the bond is with the dog, whose arms your wrapped in? Does he know of the jealousy you feel when his attention is elsewhere,” his gaze flitted to someone behind me, Dakota. “I will get great pleasure tearing those bonds apart,” he snarled as his eyes once again turned black. Adam growled, his breath tickling the back of my neck. It’s just a game, he’s trying to rile us, I sent to the void in my mind. No one could hear me, no one was listening. My bonds remained blocked.
“Me and you, Ares, let them go,” I repeated slowly, careful to put conviction into each word. Movement behind him caught my attention, but only for a second. Avetta was backing away, silently treading around Kady’s body. She didn’t even look down as she passed. Coward. From the periphery of my vision, I watched her form melt into the rows of Gifted that surrounded us. None of them inclined to stop her. She had done what she needed to. Declared peace for herself, even if Ares had taken her offering and slaughtered her. Athora, who had only just realized she was being abandoned, too started to leave. Without looking behind, Ares raised his hand and Athora was dragged forward, her feet parting the dirt in the ground.
She would not be as lucky as Avetta, not granted the same mercy. He pulled her to a stop beside him, while never taking his eyes from me. I felt his power surge, but it didn’t swarm the cavern as it had before, it was solely focused on Athora. Her eyes went wide, and a shimmer gleamed on her skin. Her glamour, she was losing her magic. Her features twisted, snapped back into place, twisted again, as she fought his siphoning of her magic. Desperate, pleading eyes were turning vacant. The fight in her dimming as she accepted what was to come. I felt nothing for her. My usual tendency to protect those in the clutches of evil didn’t extend to the likes of her. The moment the final dregs of her magic were siphoned, I felt it transfer to Ares. Saw her glamour fade to nothing, revealing her true self.
Ares released her and she fell to the floor, choking back sobs. She looked around for anyone—anyone to help her. Any light her eyes once held was now diminished to a dull, empty void. They met my stare. Her lips moved, but no sound came out. I was certain she had mouthed sorry. I watched as she withdrew a small dagger from under her overcoat and pierced it through her own heart. I stood, unmoved, even as I felt horror ripple through my friends behind me. Adam tried to tear my gaze away, but I couldn’t. I had seen something in her eyes mere seconds before she took her own life. Remorse. Not for what had past, but for what was about to be unveiled.
Dregs of her energy loosed from her, I watched as a shimmer of it made its way toward Kady’s lifeless body. No one in the cavern had moved. No one had tried to stop her. Ares hadn’t even flinched when she drove that dagger deep into her chest.
The walls rumbled around us, a piercing cry tore from them. The wards. Still, I did not move, watching as that small bead of energy bobbed its way to Kady. I was the only one following its path, the only one that had noticed it. Ares’s head was darting around, trying to decipher what would attack first. The holy ground we were on, or the ‘pitiful’ friends of mine who would deem it the best time to escape.
Debris and rock began to fall from above us, the ground shaking violently below. At the same time Athora’s small remaining slice of energy reached Kady, Ares rose high above the rest of us.
“Make your choice Evangeline, my subjects are hungry,” he bellowed. I tore my gaze from Kady and looked around the cavern. Some of the Gifted were peering up at the raining debris, some were hunched forward ready to charge. Chimeras had broken their ranks, scaling the shaking walls and advancing around us in a circle.
A shimmer of light drew me back to Kady. It pulsed and writhed, hiding her body from view as it grew.
“No,” I gasped and tried to loosen Adam’s grip on me, “What is it doing? Where is her body?” I cried, ignoring Ares’s sneer. Adam with all his strength managed to drag me back a few feet. Back to my friends. Back to the safety of our small number.
The light pulsed one more time, then faded out of existence. Blinded for a second, I hadn’t noticed what had changed.
In Kady’s place laid a man, whose skin was as green as forest leaves, eyes as amber as a sunset and high striking cheekbones. That was why Athora was here, she glamoured him. And Ares had seen right through it.
The ice that had coated my heart shattered into a thousand pieces. Shards of pain tore through me. I dropped to my knees; a sob stuck in my chest. My hands rested on the scythe in front of me, no longer having the strength to grip it. The holy cavern around me shook and shuddered more violently than before, feeding off my grief. I felt it swallowing me whole. The darkness. I wanted it to take over, to take me from this world of pain and hatred. End it all. But no matter what I wished, I remained.
It is never goodbye Nzuri, for we live through everything around us, our souls stay on this plain, nurturing the ground we walk upon, and whispering in the air that you breathe.
His last words played over and over in my mind. Reigniting the fire within. He had planned this, he knew he would have to give his life, and he accepted it.
Go now, save your friends, but only when it is time. You will know…
My sight blurred with unshed tears, I looked up to where Ares hovered above the rest of us. No rocks touched him. No debris dared near him.
And with a battle cry I didn’t know I possessed, I launched myself into the air to meet him. This ends today.
Chapter 28
The sound of our weapons clanging together reverberated through the dank cavern. For a slight moment, everyone paused and looked at us. The soaring of our bodies toward one another, the deathly blow I attempted—and failed—to make. A hot inferno of flames erupted from Ares; it worked its way into a river of heat below us. Blocking me from my friends, or them from me. The heat that simmered from it was enough to burn anyone who got within a few feet. But not me. My twin flame reacted to its presence, dancing and licking its brethren.
Then the battle enraged below.
I held as firm as Ares did. Weapon to weapon, I could feel the power of them simmering in the air around us. I locked in my elbows, refusing to be the first to release. His black pits of eyes bore into me. Lifeless. Soulless. I had n
o doubt he could feel the thundering of my heart in my chest. This was it. The decider of our fate, the end of the line.
“Is the notion of ruling by my side that despicable to you Evangeline?” His voice was calm, a ripple in the air between us.
“So, you can siphon my energy slowly over time—truly despicable.” I clicked my tongue at him and shook my head slowly as if reprimanding a child. He moved, oh so slightly, but enough that the scythe in my hand dragged me forward, enough that I felt the sting as his spear nicked my cheek—the dribble of blood leaking from the incision. I did not falter. Refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing me flinch under the burn of the cut. Instead, I let my eyes show that the magic I was wielding to stay airborne was merely a slice of the power simmering within me. A challenge.
“Your fate was decided long ago, actions mastered skilfully to bring you to this very point. It is just a shame to see the strongest of you will go down fighting for a world that never existed.” Small flecks of blue glinted through his eyes as he spoke his words in a calm manner. As if lost in the prophecy once told. I took that moment to strike. Rearing my arm back, I swiftly manoeuvred it to strike at the weakest point in his wrist. The slice of the scythe through his skin gave me small satisfaction. Anger reared through his permanently cruel face. With whatever power he had, he moved fast, blinking out of existence and back again a few feet from me. My arms slagged slightly at the loss of the weight of his spear. Briefly, his eyes flicked to the blood that pooled from his wrist. I struck again, using the wind to propel me forward, while still holding a shield of it around me to protect myself. He saw me coming this time and countered with his own attack. Again, the sound of our weapons clashing reverberated through the cavern. This time, I didn’t so much as glance at the battle below to see what was occurring.
“Enough talk, Ares,” I snarled. And thus, begun a dance of a God and his granddaughter. Sparring between the evil that had forced its way into our world, and the girl that had never asked, nor wanted, to be a part of it. Our weapons clanged and clashed as he winnowed around me, not knowing our energy was connected and I could feel where he would reappear. Each block I made resonated through my arms, which were slowly growing weary. Block, attack, move, repeat. Months of emotion hunched in my shoulders, yet my mind wouldn’t acknowledge them, wouldn’t allow them to draw my attention from the God intent on defeating me. I couldn’t let him see me tiring, despite the fatigue that was lacing every burning muscle in my body.
The shadows enveloped him again, and he disappeared. A wisp of his power on the invisible breeze that carried him through the air.
“Avetta killed your mother, yet still you follow her rule.”
The shock of his words as he reappeared cost me. The tip of his spear broke through my barrier and pierced through my forearm. A burning like no other spread through me, a fire lighting my veins. My fingers, unwillingly, unfurled from around the scythe. I watched in horror as it fell into the pits below me.
Then I was tumbling, through the river of fire that seemed to part for me, the ground beneath drawing closer and closer. I was aware of every second that was propelling me toward the rocks, yet my eyes peeled from the scythe to his, then to the battle below.
To Adam's wolf that moved with grace and precision. The muscles tightening and flexing through his back as he reared up and swiped at any who dared near him. To Rose’s depleting energy as she pivoted around her sister, Sandra, both wielding their air and water. Drown, choke, drown, choke. Their movements slowing, their faces distorted with grief and the realisation that this could be the end. Cole, with Theodore’s dagger in hand, was slicing at a Chimera that was hissing and spraying venom at him. He did not relent, a boy-turned-man on his own terms, with the freedom I had granted him. Dakota, a whirl of flaming red fur, was back-to-back with Darryl’s wolf, snapping, growling, and sinking their teeth into the Chimeras that were surrounding them. To Barak and Egan, valiantly fighting their way through multiple members of Ares’s followers. Their power crackling with every move they made.
And finally, to Pearce. His swift dance of cunning as he attacked with his element. The power that rippled in his legs, his arms. His face set in stone-cold assertiveness as he sliced through his opponents with fire in his gray eyes.
They will perish if you admit defeat, fight Evie, combine... Taylor’s voice far, far away, deep in my mind. Whether a figment of my imagination or a part of his soul that remained, I’d never know. My eyes flashed back to Ares, the cold grimace planted on his face, his eyes shining with victory. I felt it then, with only moments to spare. The small flicker of light that remained. As it flickered and faded, barely pulsing with life, I called it to me. I felt the warring between it and the darkness in the pits of my mind. Felt the tug and twist of each strand as they battled each other. When I thought the darkness was going to take over, the light burst holy and bright in its center. Forging the two together, a stillness took hold of my mind. My own personal battle victorious. I felt the ground beneath my back, but no pain came. I heard gasps as either side laid their eyes on me. I didn’t know what I looked like through their eyes; I only knew my body must have hit the ground at such a rate that no one could possibly survive. I didn’t open my eyes, not even at the sound of Ares’s harsh cackle.
My mind had settled, the opposing sides within me still and silent. Then pain, pain so raw and intense, raged through my mind. I felt my back arch as it rippled through my body. Pulses of energy were being unleashed around me. My body was blazing, sweat drenched me. Bones that had cracked fused back together. Blood that had pooled spilled its way back into me. And then it was over. My mind was even more silent than before, deathly silent. Whatever power had coursed through me, mending what had broken, had completely severed any bonds I once held. All but one. One, I had no idea had existed. A small slither of shining gray through my mind. I heard his voice. Little Siren, get up, please get up. The battle had ceased while everyone undoubtedly gawped in my direction. As if from a distance, I heard a roar, the scuffle of feet. I felt his pain as he tried to get to me, each shred of his skin under the chimeras claws. Then, I felt the sweeping movement of his leg as he kicked with all his might. My finger twitched on the cool steel that had found its way to my hand. The scythe. I gripped it tight as it merged with my power. Feeding me more life. I felt the crater my body had embedded me in in the ground. I loosed a deep breath, embracing the change, the raw power, the energy. I rose slowly, opening my eyes. Looking up, I watched the amusement flicker from Ares’s face.
I knew I was encased in fire, the air I controlled whipped me around me, the earth beneath shuddered under each minute movement I made, I felt the trickle of water all around us, the falls deeper in the mountain. My senses were heightened, my eyes alight with my new power. I used it to surge me back into the air. Instead of attacking in my usual attempt, I utilized everything in me to propel the flaming scythe from my hands. I pushed my arms out further, infusing it with the combined magic I had been gifted, as it soared to hit its mark.
He didn’t winnow, didn’t move. His eyes widened only slightly as the scythe embedded itself into his chest. His lips curled upward, and he let out a ground shaking roar. Shadows fled from him to the darkest depths of the cavern. Then he tumbled, as I had. My feet barely touched the ground as I prowled toward him. The tip of the scythe was submerged in the center of his chest. But I knew it wouldn’t be enough to hold him for long. I glared down at him; no emotion clouded me. Just that still, peaceful silence. I wasn’t me. I felt hollow. There was nothing but death inside me. Not even as I gripped the scythe, did I feel anything. I pushed it further and further into his chest until only the hilt remained. It still, was not enough to kill him, I knew that. I dragged his body by his arms. Silent and deadly, with only one destination in mind. I ignored the Gifted, the chimeras, who sullenly moved out of my way; faith in their leader lost the moment I had risen. I didn’t look back to my friends. Not even a glance.
I carried on for
ward, dragging him behind me as he writhed and roared, trying to claw at the scythe that had muted his powers. Through passages. Another cavern. Another passage. Endless steps to get to where I needed to be. Until the roaring of the falls greeted me. It was here, it would end. Here that the scythe would remain in its resting place. At the water’s edge, I peered into the depths of despair. And without a second thought, I wrapped my arms around him and dragged him into the water with me.
I didn’t feel the cold sting of it. I barely registered that I hadn’t taken a deep enough breath before plunging us under the waves. I swam and swam, ignoring the burn of my muscles. I felt the water destroying his mortal body. He who had taken so much, unleashed so much destruction in this life and the past. I swam deeper as his flesh tore from him. As he roared, pockets of air leaving his mouth as the water poured in. By the time I had reached the stone where the scythe belonged, he was nothing but flailing skin on a skeleton in my arms. A blue orb of energy in the center of his chest, pierced and held in place by the scythe. His essence.
With the last morsel of energy I had, I pushed that scythe back into the stone I had pulled it from. Here he would remain, forever. I released him.
The water shook violently around me, I drifted. Rock fell and tumbled into the depths below. I didn’t feel them as they pelted into me, cutting any skin they touched. I just watched. Making sure they buried him. And when I could no longer see his bare bones, I closed my eyes. Here I would stay, guarding him, allowing no one to enter, to resurrect him ever again. This was my fate.
The Siren’s had called to me. My dreams had haunted me. And now I had risen to what the fates had decided for me.
Yet when the realisation came, and I welcomed it, the water itself propelled me up. As if it was its own sentient being. One that deemed me worthy to live. But not before taking what wasn’t mine to keep. I felt the grip it had on that foreign power that had a mind of its own within me. I felt the tendrils of it being released from my mind, washed away beneath the waves. And when the water finally hurled me from its throes, there wasn’t a dreg left of that power coursing through me. My body lay crumpled at the water’s edge. Pain that had been absent before radiated through every inch of me. I couldn’t lean to the side to chuck up the water that was drowning my throat. I couldn’t force my body to save itself. My eyes tried to crack open as I felt steady arms underneath me. But even then, I couldn’t muster the energy.