The black vortex had doubled in size, larger than she had ever seen it. It jerked and shuddered, and a roaring scream erupted from within, making her heart leap into her throat.
Anukon poured out of the vortex, running on long powerful legs straight at the soldiers and Maphraxies. They wielded staves made out of shining metal and another weapon Issa could only describe as three hooks.
Taller than Maphraxies and as intelligent as humans, the Anukon quickly turned the battle into chaotic hell. Their staves discharged flickering orange power into whatever they hit, and soldiers screamed and fell. They slashed their hooks creating horrific wounds, spraying living and dead blood wherever they passed.
Scores of Anukon swiftly turned into hundreds as they poured out of the vortex and attacked everything.
Issa turned Duskar away and galloped to a foothill. There, she swung out of the saddle and looked at him.
‘This battle is not for you, make your own way, boy, but stay safe. I’ll come find you like I always do.’ She patted the horse, but he remained by her side.
She scanned the soldiers for Marakon, but it was impossible to tell anyone apart. She prayed Maggot would make it safely to the commander in the centre of the battle.
The soldiers closest to the vortex and witnesses of the carnage inflicted by the new enemy, tried to flee. The Maphraxies, less prone to fear, pressed forwards only to fall in great numbers. At this rate, Maioria would not fall to the Maphraxies, but to the Anukon.
A burst of white light flared behind Feylint Halanoi lines and knights and soldiers surrounded it, facing outwards to protect it from attack. She glimpsed a knight holding a shaft of light. Marakon and Velistor! She thought. He struck the spear into the ground and a massive green symbol flared. It covered at least four yards of ground beneath the soldiers’ feet, spewing billows of thick green smoke that engulfed anyone near.
Another roar tore over the battle. Out of the green smoke poured demons, grey and brown, large and small, some flying, others running on four or two legs.
Soldiers now fled from the demons and the whole scene became even more chaotic. Some demons paused and turned to follow the fleeing prey, the human fear enticing them and confusing their instincts.
Issa held her breath. Show no fear. Don’t run from demons!
Marakon started shouting, she couldn’t hear what he said but he managed to calm the soldiers and capture the demons’ attention. With his spear he directed them north. Checking themselves, the demons sighted the Maphraxies and the soldiers fell back to let them through. Roaring demonic battle cries, they flooded into the fight.
Issa let go of her breath.
The ground trembled and she looked to Maphrax. A twisting tornado of black light swirled down through the clouds and made contact with the central mountain tip. Lightning flared, magic crackled, power built. Baelthrom was drawing upon the Under Flow. When she closed her eyes she could feel it flowing to him.
Everything began to slow down.
She looked back at the melee that was the battlefield. Soldiers screamed and fought, demons exploded into ash or simply vanished with their opponents. Anukon took down swathes of Maphraxies and soldiers with one sweep of their power-filled staves.
Death and blood assaulted her vision, and yet she found herself becoming detached from it and her emotions—detached so she might become something else, something more, a vessel through which power greater than herself could move.
She became keenly aware of Maioria’s pulse beating beneath her feet; the heartbeat of her beloved planet was still strong. Maioria wanted to live, she wanted them to live, and she did not want to descend into darkness.
Another pulse beat.
Issa felt as if she were lifting up with a gentle energy. She raised her arms, feeling light and ethereal as blue light swirled in the sky, and she smiled and breathed out.
Indigo beams burst across the tops of the craggy hills to the east, and a great wind picked up. The tip of the dark moon appeared, and moonlight flared into the muddy storm clouds. Light flickered, and the red clouds began to fragment and dissipate. As they vanished, the Dark Rift was revealed in all its horrifying glory, and the black power pouring from it into Maphrax was starkly visible. There was nothing in the rift, no stars, no lights, nothing but the deepest black.
Issa tore her eyes away and held her arms up to the rising blue orb. Its light soaked her, banishing the darkness until she could no longer feel the Dark Rift inside of her. It rose, enormous over hills, and just the presence of such a large object so close to Maioria was enough to break the inexorable pull of the Dark Rift. Here was the lull point; Maioria held static between two incredible forces.
‘This is how we destroy the Dark Rift!’ she shouted aloud. ‘Nothing can withstand the purity of Zanufey’s moon, all that remains of beautiful Aralansia. In its light let all evil be cleansed from this land!’
She lifted the raven talisman high above her head and the light of the moon filled it until it flared with light. Images formed in her mind, the talisman and the spear, and she understood what she had to do.
‘To Velistor, now,’ she commanded.
The light beamed out from the talisman straight over the battleground, and in a silent blinding flash it connected with Velistor.
Marakon could not hold the spear and let it go. The spear flew towards her over the heads of the Maphraxies and Anukon, over the top of the alien vortex, and straight into her outstretched hand.
Guided by the will of a power greater than herself, Issa slotted the spear into the hole at the base of the talisman and held it up. She was aware of the eyes of the entire battlefield watching her.
The power of the moon flooded into the raven and spear.
‘The Staff of the Gate,’ Issa whispered.
Everything fell away into flaring indigo light. There was no battlefield, no skies filled with dragons, no roars of men and demons – nothing but the light and the power that consumed her. The energy flooded from the blue moon, through her staff, through her body, and into Maioria. Power, magic, life energy.
She felt the Dark Rift respond. The Under Flow surged from Maphrax and grew within her. A crack of thunder split the air and felt like it split the ground beneath her feet. She felt herself tearing in two, the agony of the opposing energies within her made her scream.
The indigo light stuttered, and black light engulfed her. Her world flickered between black and indigo magic, and the physical world. In the brief glimpses between the veils of magic and the material world, she witnessed the black light surging down from the Dark Rift into Maphrax suddenly refract and explode towards the sky—not back to the Dark Rift, but towards Zanufey’s moon.
Issa gasped, suddenly understanding the intention of the Under Flow. The Mountains of Maphrax were a giant conduit of energy and now they directed and amplified the will of the Dark Rift itself.
‘It wants to destroy the moon!’ she howled.
In a matter of moments, the black light covered thousands of leagues. Issa stared at the moon and lowered her hands, the Flow and the Under Flow becoming oddly stable and of equal strength within her. Then she witnessed the unbelievable. Cracks began to snake across the moon’s surface, and a deafening howling noise vibrated the air so loud and piercing it sounded as if the cosmos itself was screaming.
The energy refracting from Maphrax doubled and the blue moon visibly trembled in the sky. With a moaning cry as if in pain, the dark moon shattered. Issa felt her soul and body tearing in two. Like a glass smashing on the ground, the pieces of the blue moon scattered across the sky.
In her mind she saw the Star Portal shatter into fragments of light. A thousand souls wailed in despair, a harrowing sound that rent at her soul. The guardians of the portals! Issa gasped from the agonising pain in her chest, and tears smarted her eyes. It cannot be, it cannot be, I cannot believe it! but her eyes and feelings were not lying. The raven talisman and spear flared erratically and shook. She cried out as they burned in h
er hands, turned molten orange and exploded into nothing.
The power of the moon within her surged outwards, magical energy exploding within her, tearing her apart just like the moon had been scattered. The moon’s magic gushed out of her as if a magical artery had been cut.
It is over.
Vast physical forces began to unleash across Maioria. A howling tornado picked up and the ground shook violently sending Issa to her knees. The fragments of the moon flowed like a river of rocks across the sky towards the Dark Rift, gaining momentum as they neared. She watched all that had given her power shatter apart and the pieces of it hurtle into Oblivion.
Zanufey, where are you? She cried out in her mind, but for the first time, there was silence.
40
Into Darkness
The black poison within Issa spared her from despair and hopelessness. Instead, it fed her rage.
She allowed the now ever present dark energy of the Under Flow to fill her, for the first time willingly drawing upon it and embracing it instead of fighting it. We’re near the end anyway, she thought, and for me it is over.
In seething anger, she turned her gaze upon the peaks of Maphrax, called her raven form and flew straight to the peak of the central mountain, heedless of the Dromoorai guarding it. They did not see her, a tiny raven, whilst their eyes watched the battle below. Now and then, one would launch from its platform and join the battle, and another would return to rest.
One looked right at her, or at least she thought it did, and her heart pounded, but then it turned back to the scenes below. They think the battle is over, they think they’ve won. They have, but they will not live to see the inside of the Dark Rift!
Issa circled the black energy pouring into Maphrax, feeling the darkness within her responding to it, growing stronger and feeding her rage. Looking down, she could see it flooded through a crater in the peak several yards wide. Into the narrow gap between the energy and the walls, Issa dropped. She pulled her wings closer to avoid hitting the wall or being sucked into the black light, and descended a long way until the darkness was nearly complete. At the end, a light grew.
A light which became four distinct balls of light. The orbs! The four remaining orbs now lay just ahead of her. Illendri flared into life, calling to her sisters, and the sudden light of the Flow reminded Issa of purity, of peace, and it calmed her raging hatred.
She emerged into a vast chamber. Beneath her, the great iron ring she had witnessed in nightmares burst with red and black light. Garbled voices came from within it, chattering, overlaying the deeper sound of something moaning. The ear-bending noise of metal twisting and grating upon itself made her wince.
Beyond the ring and beside the floating orbs, stood Baelthrom.
Issa released her raven form before landing. She came to a running stop the other side of the ring, threw up her hands, and released the Under Flow straight into Baelthrom. It coursed through her like once the dark moon’s energy had—how she wished the dark moon’s power filled her now. Every waking hour she had thought about this moment, and now her power was not here. No, I’ll not think about the shattered moon in our skies. I’ll not feel fear. There’s only do…there’s only die. All that mattered was that she destroyed this abomination with everything she had, even if it cost her her own life.
Her immense grasp upon the Under Flow ensured she denied Baelthrom its full power. He fought back, seeking for a way to wrench it from her whilst also shielding himself from it. She gripped it harder, feeling sweat prickle her face. Through the flaring dark fire that poured from her hands, she realised Baelthrom was not in his usual form and was no longer solid. His eyes still blazed red, but not from behind metal – from within swathes of billowing energy. He’s becoming a Light Eater! As they hung before him, the orbs looked like planets upon which he would feed.
‘I knew you would come to me in the end, Raven Queen,’ his low voice echoed round the chamber, almost soothing.
He did not come towards her, he could not, she realised, no more than she could go to him. The energy they battled to control kept them apart.
‘You will go into the Dark Rift, but Maioria will not follow,’ she said between clenched teeth.
Illendri lifted itself from her scabbard.
‘No, Illendri,’ she gasped, sweat trickling down her back as she struggled to maintain concentration. She couldn’t drop her hands to grab it because that would relinquish her hold on the Under Flow. The sword lifted up and the wire basket holding the orb snapped open. The blade clattered to the floor and Illendri floated towards her sisters.
The Under Flow lurched towards Baelthrom. Issa roared and reached for the orbs with the power she commanded. Slowly, they inched towards her, away from Baelthrom. A tiny green symbol flashed in her peripheral vision and then small hands squeezed her calf.
‘Not now, Maggot!’ she gasped. These energies would destroy him utterly if he got too close.
‘Not yet,’ Baelthrom breathed.
Issa didn’t know what he meant but the strain in his voice gave her confidence that she might be winning. She jerked on the Under Flow and the whole pillar of dark light spasmed. She had power, lots of it, enough to stand against Baelthrom!
A voice called out, tiny and strained. For a moment Issa looked out from the darkness of the Under Flow she held and glimpsed a world of beautiful swirling light in white and pastel hues. A familiar consciousness reached out from the orbs and touched her mind.
‘Yisufalni!’ Issa called out, tears filling her eyes. The Ancient was alive! Could she help her? Not while she was in the Under Flow…
The black magic lurched, this time towards Baelthrom. Issa gasped, the blood pounding in her head, her heart thundering in her chest as if she were sprinting. I’ll not let go, I won’t! I’ll be destroyed by this power rather than enslaved by it.
Baelthrom’s might increased. The dark energy vibrated alarmingly between them, his power pressing upon her harder. ‘Save the orbs!’ Issa screamed.
‘Call him, Issa, call him now when you still have the power of Illendri!’ Yisufalni’s disembodied voice echoed around her. ‘While I’m here, Murlonius can find us.’
The fields of light vanished, and Issa swooned in the dark. Magical wind whipped around her and she grappled frantically to retain her grip, no longer trying to attack but to shield.
‘Murlonius, Murlonius, Murlonius!’ Issa shouted, her words consumed by the maelstrom.
Moments passed like hours, then a being surrounded in pale purple light stepped beside her. Murlonius moved fearlessly forward and lifted back his hood, his perfect face beatific in the dark, an angel descended from the light. He said nothing and did nothing to help Issa. How could he when he could not even touch the Under Flow, much less command it?
Baelthrom tried to force the Under Flow to attack the Ancient, but Issa turned the Under Flow away and shielded Murlonius.
‘The time has come,’ Murlonius said, his voice low, beautifully melodic and calming. There was a strange look on his face, one of acceptance and complete knowing.
‘These powers will not be corrupted by evil,’ he said, almost lovingly. He raised his six-fingered hands towards the orbs and his whole being turned into light.
The Flow moved through Issa, and for a few seconds she held both it and the Under Flow. She couldn’t describe the feeling—no one had ever used both, no one had ever stood in the darkness and the light. She couldn’t breathe and yet the purest air filled her lungs and she cried at the agonising darkness and the wondrous light. She understood completely both harmony and chaos, how the energies of the cosmos worked and what happened when they began to corrupt and fragment.
The orbs flared white, spun fast on their axis, then burst towards Murlonius. When they touched him, light exploded, flooding through and all around him. Light flickered and flashed as Murlonius’s body became an ethereal pure energy, then he and the light surged into the ground.
In the fields of magic, Issa watched in awe
as it descended deep into the earth, moving fast and faster until it reached Maioria’s core. Once it touched there, an immense flash of white light burst forth, and Murlonius, the orbs, and Yisufalni’s spirit vanished.
In that light Issa glimpsed Doon bathed in white moonlight, and a strangely calm silent scene unfolded when all around flared chaotic magic. The light trickled over his majestic antlers, over his powerful body and onto the prone figure of Woetala laying on a stone plinth before him. The woman stirred. Doon inclined his head towards Issa then looked up, lifted his arms high and called to the elements. The image disappeared along with the Flow and the light.
Issa blinked into darkness. The Under Flow was absolute and she felt herself falling.
‘Now, Hameka,’ Baelthrom spoke, his voice unstrained.
In the corner of the room, a grey-faced man stepped forward. She hadn’t noticed him before, had he been watching the whole time? He raised his weapon, Issa tried to move only to find the Under Flow she had commanded now trapped and held her.
Maggot leapt into the air towards the man.
‘No, Maggot!’ she screamed, but the little demon flew so fast he filled the space between her and Hameka in an instant. Time slowed, time in which she could do nothing.
The dart exploded through Maggot’s back in a spray of black demon blood. The demon squeaked and dropped to the ground, flopping like a rag doll. The whole world trembled, Ehka screamed from above and flew at Hameka, and the Under Flow lost its grip on her a little.
Another dart flew towards her. She moved to dodge it, then saw it wasn’t a dart at all, it was Jabber but there was no Maggot to catch it. Tears blurred her vision; the world had changed. Surrendering, Issa relinquished the last of her grip on the Under Flow and instead reached and caught the demons’ beloved weapon. She looked down at it, her tears splashing over the strange weapon, and Jabber hummed in her hand as if agreeing with her desolation. She looked at the blood smearing her hand. Blood that covered Jabber—red blood, human blood.
War of the Raven Queen: The Goddess Prophecies Fantasy Series Book 6 Page 45