The Fallen

by Ali Winters

  She knew what she had to do.

  Nivian pulled her powers to her, every last scrap she could find.

  Kain’s power went cold, and she knew it would not affect the Watchers, but the Guardians. He was doing this for the balance. He was ensuring the fighting would stop. He would destroy them all. Every last Guardian, and himself, in the process.

  “No!” she cried again.

  She didn’t know whether or not she thought him completely stupid, or admirable. He was sacrificing himself. It didn’t make sense, Watchers weren’t supposed to be selfless. Not if what Camira had told her was true when Caspian had summoned them earlier. They were power hungry and reckless.

  Kain’s power continued to grow. Nivian gasped from the overwhelming gravity of it. Then he looked at her, then to Silas, then back to her.

  No… He was going to destroy himself in an attempt to stop Silas. It was too much power for anyone to unleash.

  She pushed to her feet and ran, forcing her body to obey. Her movements were broken and uncoordinated as she stumbled forward. The power she’d gathered… it wasn’t enough.

  She threw her arm out, putting all her strength into her power as she sent it flying at him.

  But she was too late. Before she could take more than a few steps, Kain let loose his power and sent the brunt of it straight toward Silas.

  In that same moment, the Dark Guardian turned and, right before the blast struck, he vanished. Then the wave of her own powers washed over them. Changing them.

  Kain screamed in anger, but he couldn’t call his power back to him, he had loosed it all on them. Silas had sensed his plan, only feigning ignorance.

  Nivian leaned against a tree in relief, then she was thrown to the ground as Kain’s attack exploded, going in every direction.

  Her head lolled to the side as she faced Kain. His fists clenched as his scream filled the air and he fell to his knees. She could only look on, barely clinging to consciousness. A second had passed, but, in that one moment, it felt as if a lifetime had gone by.

  It was quiet in the forest. The fighting had stopped, though she couldn’t be sure from where she lay if that meant everyone had been destroyed or just weakened.

  Then Kain was on the ground, his body twisted unnaturally. He saw her then, in a way he hadn’t before. He was fading from this existence. She could feel him weaken, though she didn’t understand how. Why only him? Why not the others? He pinned her with his forest green eyes.

  Silas appeared behind him, walking back toward Yeva and dropping her body to the ground next to her Watcher. But Kain never moved his gaze from Nivian, not even to check on his beloved Yeva.

  He opened his mouth, lips forming a word she couldn’t make out. Then, “N-Ni—”

  Yeva crawled to him, collapsing between them, blocking her view as she took his hand.

  For a brief moment, Nivian wondered if she was even alive anymore, or just a shade, the echo of who she was in her short existence. She couldn’t move. Only Kain seemed to realized she was there at all. And he was fading fast.

  Silas stepped closer and took Yeva by the arm, dragging her away from Kain. He moved in close, crouching before her, and smiled. Nivian had never seen anything so dark.

  Then he said, “Say goodbye.”

  YEVA

  YEVA REACHED OUT a hand and placed it atop Kain’s. He was already cold. His lungs still pulled in rasping breaths, and she knew he had only a few moments before he would fade forever.

  Her Hunters were barely standing, if at all, and those who could stand, clung to nearby trees. Kain’s power had swept over everyone, knocking most out, Reapers and Hunters alike. But in that moment, Kain held her entire focus.

  He’d meant to stop the war dead in its tracks, and he had. Though, one Reaper had interfered, somehow changing his powers to attack both groups, rather than just their enemies. No one was left who possessed the strength to fight.

  Except Silas.

  He hovered over her. Somehow, he had known Kain’s attack was coming and had gotten out of the way just in time.

  Yeva wanted to release her rage, wanted to make him hurt. She cursed herself for focusing on Silas during the fight and not sensing Kain’s plan as he had.

  By releasing all his power at once, Kain had doomed himself. He’d caused too much damage, had used every last bit of power he had, including what kept him immortal. Time would come for him now and steal the life that had existed outside its boundaries for so long.

  She couldn’t lose him. She needed him. He was her best, he was her Second. He was what would save them in the end.

  The Reapers had slowly been regaining ground during the fight, and it was only a matter of time before her Hunters lost. Kain had seen it, and he had given up everything for her, for them, for the chance at righting the balance.

  His flash had changed everyone, but protected some part of their power. Though the interference had stolen some part of their immortality, she could feel a shield around their powers. They would still live long lives.

  Except for Kain, there would be no long lived existence for him. Not anymore.

  “N-Ni—” Kain said again. He was trying to tell her something, but she couldn’t understand.

  “Shuush, don’t talk,” she said, holding tightly to his hands. He needed to save his strength so he’d live just a little longer. She would not lose him to Silas. Not like this. Not like this!

  Silas crouched down, his face close to hers as he said, “Say goodbye.”

  “No…” she protested weakly. Then Yeva summoned her powers and pushed them into Kain. For one second, a flash of light lit the trees, as if it were midday, then the forest returned to night.

  Yeva panted. So much of her power gone, used up so that only scraps remained. She would use more to save Kain if she could.

  Silas shoved Kain’s body with his foot, rolling him away, and his fingers finally slipped from her hands, but Silas hadn’t been fast enough to stop her.

  He reached down, grabbing her by the arm and pulled her several feet through the grass. She went limp trying to fight him and his unrelenting hold. Yeva wanted to give Kain more power, to return sooner, to return stronger.

  Silas continued to drag her, making sure there was no hope for her to touch her Second again. Then he released her. Yeva didn’t even attempt to soften her landing. She didn’t care—she’d accomplished what was needed.

  “What have you done?” he snarled.

  She ignored him, instead savoring the cool grass at her back. She was spent and couldn’t speak even if she’d wanted to.

  The world shifted as Silas straddled her, lifting her by the shoulders, and gave her one good shake.

  Yeva smiled. A cut at the corner of her mouth stung and a trickle of blood seeped from the slice. Her head listed to the side, she couldn’t even muster the strength to keep it upright.

  Her body shook with soundless laughter.

  He was too late.

  “What have you done, Yeva?” Finally, she met his dark gray eyes. They pulled her attention and held her there, swirling galaxies seemed to stretch infinitely within. His brows drew together. “Damn you, Yeva, have you destroyed yourself?” His voice rose in panic.

  Yeva laughed harder as she realized he had no idea what she’d done. She would not destroy herself to hurt him. What a fool he was to think such a thing. Let him think what he wants.

  As soon as she regained a modicum of strength, she would start rebuilding. She would create more Hunters and gather more power. Then, one day, when Kain returned, she would be ready and together they would be even more powerful than before. And then she would make Silas pay for the slaughter this night.

  Silas was still talking, but she’d tuned him out, not interested in his ramblings. She had what she wanted, even if it hadn’t been the way she’d planned.

  Silas forced her to her feet, supporting her weight with an arm around her waist. Gaia… that all too familiar embrace made both her blood boil and her hear
t flutter.

  His questions came into focus, demanding she tell him everything. To tell him that she’d given much of her power to Kain, infusing his soul and giving him the gift of rebirth, and that Kain would return to her one day.

  But she would tell him none of that.

  Yeva spat at his feet, flecks of blood mixing with her spittle. “You think you’ve won? Well, you haven’t, you have only sealed your fate. You will pay for this, Silas, when you least expect it.” With that, she jerked away from him, finding the strength to stand on her own from somewhere deep, deep, deep down.

  He didn’t resist, and she stumbled back several steps before catching her balance on the tree he’d pinned her to only minutes ago.

  Yeva looked down at Kain. His form wavered. He was fading. She took unsteady steps toward him and fell to her hands and knees, pulling his head onto her lap. “Kain… Kain.”

  She held him tightly to herself, trying to keep him from fading into nothing just a little longer. Yeva knew this would happen, though that hardly made it any easier to bear.

  Then he was gone, like he was nothing more than a wisp of smoke. The pain of his loss ripped a sob from her chest.

  Silas let his hands fall to his sides and glared. “Then you force my hand.”

  Her heart nearly stopped at his words.

  Silas didn’t move, but she felt it before she saw the dark tendrils of his power building up at his feet, billowing like ink in water from the edges of his cloak and spreading, building upward. He drew power to him, pulling from the dying trees, pulling from the earth. Pulling as if he were the center of gravity for all magic and it obeyed him mercilessly.

  The dark plumes crawled over the forest floor, reaching past his Reapers and consuming each and every one of her Hunters.

  He was mad. He was going to destroy them all.

  The eastern horizon grew light as the sun started its climb, setting the clouds ablaze in blood reds and golds.

  One night. One night was all it took to take her from victory to defeat. It was all it took to steal everything from her that she’d worked so hard for.

  Silas would take every last ounce of power, placing the balance under his control, and his alone. He would rend her existence useless.

  Yeva crawled toward him, begging him to stop. Her fingers dug into his legs for him to stop. It was only then that he looked down at her.

  The dark swirled up like a black wave and crashed into her with its full force. It froze her in place, taking control of her body as it seeped into her. Horror filled her veins as she realized what he was doing.

  His powers bored into her own, using her as a channel to search out every last Hunter so none would escape him. She felt him leaching their power, making them weak. Making them barely more than human. Yeva fought his control, but she’d used too much of her own power to save Kain.

  Yeva tried to plead with him, but his power rendered her still.

  He was killing them all.

  And then she felt it. The slightest tug he couldn’t reach.

  Her pulse raced madly until it was all she could hear. Then she pushed at him with her own powers, trying to hide what he’d missed.

  “No,” she managed to say. Though it was barely audible, he seemed to have heard.

  Silas glowered, his face stony and unforgiving. He was a stranger to her then, more so than the man she’d met for the first time when Gaia had created them.

  He was Death in the form of a man. Unfeeling and made for one purpose—to destroy everything he touched.

  “You will shatter the balance! You cannot reap them without destroying all of your precious Reapers to keep it intact!”

  Silas tilted his head to the side. A mocking gesture. “You think I would destroy them and risk the balance for this feud you have started?”

  Yeva snarled. He blamed her. He actually dared to blame her! Though it was his actions, his lying and stealing and sneaking around that had ruined everything. They had been in love, and, yet, he’d stolen her chalice and turned her own against her in his quest for power. But he blamed her when all she’d been guilty of was loving him.

  “I have only weakened them. Your Watchers are not strong enough to bear the responsibility of immortal life.” His face remained cold as he spoke. “I will not destroy them.”

  No, but you have stripped them of their purpose, she thought. You have taken what Gaia had given them.

  Yeva opened her mouth to scream, to curse him. Before she had a chance to open her mouth, he placed a hand on top of her in one fluid motion.

  Cold enveloped her mind, and then an infinite emptiness consumed her until she was floating in a sea of black.

  SILAS

  YEVA’S PUPILS GREW large, and her eyes slid shut as she fell to a heap at his feet, her fingers still tangled in the hem of his cloak. Scratches from shards of tree bark marred her skin, healing slower than normal. Blood continued to form at the corner of her mouth, dribbling down her chin.

  Pain twinged in his heart. He hated to see her like this. Hated to see her as anything other than the quiet Guardian of Life, happy to be surrounded by everything that was the opposite of him. And yet, she had loved him too, once.

  Silas closed his eyes and swallowed. He had become someone else for her. It was too late to turn back now. Hell, the second he had stolen that chalice from her, it had been too late.

  He looked behind him at Nivian, lying on the ground. Her chest barely rising and falling with her breath. She was another matter altogether. One he would have to deal with once Yeva was taken care of.

  Silas waved his hand and sent his power out in search of the Guardians who had not been destroyed by Yeva’s followers. More remained than he’d first thought.

  The ground rumbled once, then stilled; the balance was restored for now. At least that much had been righted. Though his heart, his world, was now in shambles.

  Silas pushed down the emotions that threatened to freeze him into inaction. He must finish what he had started.

  Silas filled his Guardians with small shards of his power, waking them, giving them the strength to stand. One by one, they rose to their feet and walked past the Watchers still lying unconscious on the ground, until they formed a circle around him.

  “Go back to Headquarters, rest up and regain your powers. This dissension is done with.” Silas waved a hand toward where Kain had been. “With the death of Yeva’s Second, the balance has been restored.”

  At first, none moved. Then Silas pulsed his power through the air. Each Guardian felt it, felt the threat held within it. Then one lifted his hood over his head and vanished. Then another, and another, until they were all gone, save for one.

  Nivian stood near the back. She eyed him curiously for a long moment, unaffected by the scowl twisting his mouth. Then she, too, slipped her hood over her head and transported.

  When he was alone again, Silas let out a soft sigh as he bent down, crouching at Yeva’s side. He brushed the pads of his fingers gently across her face, moving a few errant stands of hair back. Her skin lacked the usual warmth, but she was breathing. The power he’d sent into her would not hold for long.

  Silas tugged his hood over his head then scooped her up. She felt lighter than normal in his arms.

  The pink and lavender light of morning broke through the trees and washed over her face. Silas stood, staring down upon her.

  It was hard to believe that only a few weeks ago, everything had been perfect. His heart ached at knowing he would never again go to her meadow and find her waiting for him.

  Enough of this. Silas transported them both to the highest point in all the world, a place so far away and cold that there was not a single human within a thousand miles. No mortal could ever survive such an inhospitable place. A sheet of ice covered the earth at least a mile deep.

  Wind whipped his cloak as it howled angrily. He could almost swear it was sentient enough to sense his presence, enraged by his trespassing.

  Snow and ice starte
d to blanket Yeva’s sleeping form.

  With a flick of his wrist, Silas created a dome that arched from one side of the mountain top to the other, blocking out the violent storm. Another flick of his wrist, and the ice and snow began to melt and dry, revealing a wide plateau.

  Silas walked toward the center, clutching Yeva even tighter to his chest. Grass and flowers sprang up in their wake from the trail of Yeva’s torn and dirtied dress. It was as if life couldn’t help but follow her, it had to go where she went. Grass spread across the once barren landscape of the mountain and trees sprang up creating a thick forest around the perimeter.

  Outside the dome, if a mortal happened to live long enough to reach this place, they would see only the mountain as it had stood since the beginning of time. From the inside, the sun would shine down, warming the thick, tangled forest.

  Silas stopped at the center of it all. A small clearing waited for her.

  He laid her down atop the thick grass and stepped back, waving his hand once more. The ground cracked and rock pushed up, lifting her into the air and forming an altar.

  One more altar. This one to be a place of a sleep like death, rather than that of creation. A prison to hold his heart.

  He should leave now. Seal off this place forever, ensure her sleep would never be broken. Yet, Silas still approached. The snow that had pelted her fair skin had melted, washing away the grime and blood.

  The world could wait, he decided.

  He only had this moment, and he wanted to gaze upon her one last time. He wanted to remember every plane and curve of her face. He wanted to keep her in his mind as he’d always known her. Not what he had done to her.

  His fists ached as he clenched them, the bones threatening to crack and splinter. But it was too late for regret. What she had become was because of his actions. Because of what had to come to pass to insure the world could go on.

  Silas leaned over and closed his eyes, placing a kiss on her forehead. When he pulled back, he turned his head away in shame, as if she could see him, as if she might wake up and accuse him of every horrible thing he had done.