War of the Raven Queen: The Goddess Prophecies Fantasy Series Book 6

by Araya Evermore

  Issa stared from Maggot’s still form, his crumpled wings and tongue hanging out of his mouth, to the grey-man who had killed him. The man who gurgled, and had blood dribbling from his mouth, who didn’t even lift a hand to beat back Ehka. Instead he sunk to his knees, red blood spurting from the base of his neck from the wound Jabber had made, then he fell forwards onto his face.

  She sensed fury as Baelthrom’s power surrounded and held her. All the while it had been growing, and now it filled the chamber. The room began to vibrate and then shake. Cracks snaked over the walls and floor as the entire chamber began to disintegrate. Bricks and masonry rose in the air and drew towards the black pillar as everything was sucked into the rift magic. But all she saw, all she cared about, was the demon on the floor.

  Over the crumbling swirling ground, Issa ran to Maggot. She grabbed his cold body and held him to her chest. His eyes were fast closing. She howled a noise she had never made and screamed with every fibre of her being, ‘A’farion, A’farion, A’farion.’

  The Under Flow vanished, and before utter silence descended, she heard the fading roar of Baelthrom.

  Maggot was as solid in the Realm of the Dead as he was in the world of the living, but his eyes had closed fully. He was gone. In her hands his body began to disintegrate and turn to ash.

  ‘No, no, no!’ Issa screamed, tears streaming from her eyes.

  Ahead, ghostly figures turned towards her, attracted by her cries. Issa didn’t care about them and focussed all of her remaining power on her connection to Maggot. She could feel the faint thread of his life line and she followed it. Unlike all the other beings she had felt, his led down, not up.

  The enormous form of a green demon appeared before her, black horns reaching high, face scowling in rage. It swiped a clawed hand; long black claws which flashed and knocked her back so hard the ghost world trembled.

  ‘Zorock,’ she gasped, clutching her bruised and bleeding cheek. Her vision was filled with the demon god’s terrifying face, squat nose and long black fangs roaring. In his hand he cupped a tiny light. He stepped back, his long tail swishing, the rage lessening in his face, and then vanished. ‘Not your domain, Raven Queen,’ a demonic voice echoed around her.

  Grey mist swirled, and a multitude of ghosts walked and floated towards her, more than she had ever seen here. Their forms were thin and tall and swathed in rag robes that moved in a non-existent wind. Perhaps it was the black drink that no longer made her afraid of them, but still, her hand went to her sword, to where Illendri should have been, but was not.

  Her eyes passed over the approaching multitude, a sea of ghosts surrounding her. Their faces were sometimes visible, drawn and weary, and other times they were just a blur of grey in a colourless world—not menacing but waiting. What were they waiting for? They wait for release, for freedom.

  A thought came to her, and she spoke. ‘You’re trapped in limbo, and the whole world from which you came is falling into Oblivion.’ Her voice sounded loud and echoey. The words were her own, but they came from a higher, wiser part of herself.

  ‘You’ll fall into Oblivion too, all will fall, both living and dead, unless you fight, unless you choose the light with your actions, with your will.’

  ‘Who are you, come to disturb us?’ the voice came from many places and no one ghost in particular. ‘We neither rise nor fall, there is only here.’

  Ehka squawked and landed on her shoulder where he surveyed the gathered dead.

  A gasp rose up from the ghost and the air tingled.

  ‘I am the Raven Queen,’ said Issa. It came out quietly, but the words held power.

  The ghosts murmured. ‘The Raven Queen has come to set us free.’ Hope filled the voices of the dead.

  ‘You can be free, but you must fight,’ Issa said, louder. ‘Darkness shrouds the place that was once your home. There is no longer passage from this place to the One Light, it is engulfed by the Dark Rift. If you choose freedom, you must return to the world of the living and help them fight. There you will find the light that will set you free.’

  A moaning sigh escaped the crowd and weariness hung heavy in the air. ‘We cannot return; we are trapped here. Some have waited for thousands of years.’

  Issa rolled back her shoulders. ‘That is no longer so, for the end of all endings is upon us. Now you only have to reach for the light, should you wish it, and your freedom, and a new world will be found.’

  Issa held her arms wide and spoke with the commanding Voice. ‘Ravens of Zanufey, come to me.’ The call echoed far and wide, searching for ravens on the four corners of Maioria.

  The first raven appeared quickly and was followed by two more. Issa smiled, and in moments, the sky was filled with them. They circled her in an orderly fashion, flying so close to each other it was a wonder they didn’t crash.

  ‘Ravens hear me! As you did in life, now do so again in death. Carry the souls of the dead to the world of the living where all of you fight for the light. This is the last battle and our last chance to be free of the darkness smothering our world.’

  The ravens cawed and circled faster and faster until all she could make out was a fast spinning pillar made of black birds and shining beaks. They rose and then dove into the ground creating a shimmering pool of raven magic. When they had gone, the dead had gone with them, too.

  ‘It is done,’ said Issa. Ehka croaked in response. She let the ever-present draw of Maioria pull her gently back, her spirit filled with a sense of fulfilment and completion regardless of what awaited her in the Realm of the Living.

  The aliens flooded out of the vortex in the centre of the battlefield. Asaph swooped low to hail them with fire and grab them into his talons, but his flames flared harmlessly off an impenetrable shield and his claws scoured off something hard in a spray of sparks. He couldn’t even get close.

  Roaring in frustration, he turned and sprayed fire onto the Maphraxies, grabbed a handful and hurled their crushed bodies onto the horde below. A Dread Dragon dropped fast from above, forcing Asaph to turn sharply and arc high into the air.

  Now this new invader was here, should he even be trying to kill the Maphraxies? he wondered. They’d help to hinder the aliens’ efforts; whatever it was they were trying to achieve.

  Keeping distance between himself and the trailing Dromoorai, he analysed the shield. It fizzled with light and didn’t look solid, but neither was it made of magic for he couldn’t see it in the Flow. It appeared to be formed out of something physical, a technology he had not seen before. He hoped the Feylint Halanoi could attack this new enemy from the ground for there was nothing he could do in the air.

  He circled back to the West where he had last seen Issa, ever keeping a watchful eye for her. Duskar pranced back and forth at the westernmost edge of the battle, but where was Issa? With growing panic, Asaph hunted back and forth. Perhaps she was in the sky?

  He turned north and glimpsed two black specks flying towards the column of black magic pouring into Maphrax. Issa and Ehka, he had no doubt.

  No, Issa!

  Asaph beat his wings hard after her. You’re not going in there alone! I’ll follow you all the way into the Dark Rift if I must.

  Seeing his approach, Dromoorai urged their mounts into the air to intercept him. Ignoring them, he reached the mountain peak and found he couldn’t follow where she went. The gap between the black magic and the side of the mountain was too small for him to fit. He circled it several times, the Dromoorai getting closer, but there was no way in. He turned and hunted the mountain for another entrance, moving fast to keep the Dromoorai at bay, until his wings ached, and his mind spun from circling the mountain. The Dread Dragons were closing in.

  The Flow vibrated, slight, yet rippling for miles and miles. Beyond the mountain, a cloud of black birds appeared. Ravens! Issa must have called them, he thought.

  Before he could move out of the way, thousands of ravens surrounded him. They cawed and squawked and darted towards the battlefield, paying him and t
he Dromoorai no attention. The air turned deathly cold as they passed and he shivered as he caught a glimpse of shadows between the birds. Raven magic? he wondered. No, there was more to this—the smell of death and cold fingers touched his heart. Ghosts.

  The ravens reached the battlefield and the shadows between them took shape. Grey wraiths floated down onto the enemy, and howls of terror rang out from the Feylint Halanoi. Many turned and fled, but the ghosts did not attack them, instead they attacked the Anukon aliens.

  Magic surged beneath him and black light exploded from the mountain peak, engulfing him. The immense force of the Under Flow forced him upwards, choked his lungs, and burned his eyes. He tumbled and spun helplessly in the magic, unable to fly, unable to use the Flow.

  Suddenly he was no longer being pushed but sucked upwards. Grating noises echoed all around and a terrible moaning filled his mind. It reminded him of Keteth’s madness, seeping into and infecting his brain. He thrashed and beat his wings, trying to find wind, trying to find a way out of the darkness., but not even a dragon could fight the pure, dark energy of the rift.

  Issa closed her eyes as the Under Flow surrounded her and the ghost world vanished. The darkness gripped hold of her with a vengeance, and her body was ripped upwards into the maelstrom. There was a sickening joy in that black energy that she tried to resist. It was returning to the Dark Rift, and she along with it. There was no point fighting it, it was too powerful, and she had no remaining will to survive.

  Now the orbs were gone, in the growing power of the Dark Rift energy she felt a forgotten orb awaken. Lona’s orb, in the pouch on her belt, grew heavy and warm. Issa smiled grimly, another power giving itself to me, although I do not want it. She tried to ignore it.

  Triangular red eyes burned above, and below, a field of pure white light moved.

  ‘Touch me one last time,’ she called to the pure light, reaching down to it. A fragment of the Flow responded and touched her for a moment, powerful and pure, relaying information to her. She sighed. She could still feel it, she had not lost herself completely yet. Maioria could break free, there was still hope.

  Fight, Maioria, fight for the light. Issa let go of a long, slow breath and watched the light disappearing far beneath her as the Dark Rift drew her away. How beautiful it is, a shining diamond in this black sea of chaos. Remember me, Maioria.

  Had Baelthrom heard or felt Maioria fighting back, sensed the hope? Would he halt this vortex into the Dark Rift and return to fight? He must not! If he could not feel the Flow, he could not know what was occurring below them. I will go with him and distract him. I’ll make sure he goes into the Dark Rift.

  She spread her arms, closed her eyes, and surrendered. The chattering, the grating metal, the deep moaning grew until they were deafening. Her soul and body trembled as unseen powers pulled on her in all directions. The Light Eaters; they see my light and also the darkness within.

  When the upward motion slowed, she opened her eyes. Black and red cosmic clouds rose in grotesque pillars around planets of varying light. Some of the planets were black orbs floating listlessly; empty husks, the life force gone from them and places where fallen beings walked. Others were brighter but dwindling as the Light Eaters fed upon them.

  Baelthrom loomed enormous before her, his body black, grey and red clouds like the other Light Eaters. His true form revealed, Issa thought. Another gaseous Light Eater appeared beside him and then another, their faces black pits into which the light poured.

  ‘I accept your gift,’ she said. She didn’t feel fear, the black drink within her prevented it. She looked at her hands and saw black veins pulsing. Consume me, my dark poison, I am yours. For all the time she held Baelthrom’s attention, it bought Maioria time. A lot can happen in a moment. She thought of Maggot, but even sorrow was a distant thing, a peculiar emotion that had no hold on her.

  She looked down and saw that her body, held in the dark magic, was no longer solid but made of light flecked through with spreading black. Her light grew and then dimmed, becoming dimmer with each passing moment. She thought of Asaph, saw his blue eyes and warm smile. There were moments of sadness as the light dwindled, but these, too, faded.

  Baelthrom’s giant hand reached towards her and she felt her spirit and all physical energies being drawn out. She closed her eyes and allowed in the cold, the dark, and the emptiness. Her body weakened, her mind grew foggy and her soul surrendered.

  Warmth tingled her back, irritating her and the darkness she embraced. She denied it at first, how could there be any warmth or comfort in this place? It made her angry and she pushed it away, but it grew and grew and the drain of her essence into Baelthrom stopped.

  Let me die! she cursed and opened her eyes. Before her, floating in the air, hung Lona’s orb. Free of its pouch, it had lifted itself up and now pulsed darkly. White lightning struck within it, cracking through its impenetrable black.

  Behind her, a brilliant light flared, striking back the darkness. It hurt her eyes and her mind, and she screamed as the darkness within screamed. How she hated the light!

  ‘Let me die, I’ve done all that I can and can do no more. I give my life so that others might live!’ Issa sobbed, she did not want to be reminded of the light. She tried to look away, to move into the darkness, but the light held her.

  ‘No,’ a voice said from within it, deep, soothing, yet utterly commanding. ‘Embrace the light. You are the light; it’s yours, it was always yours. Look at me, I am the light.’

  A face formed within the light, burnished gold, large slanted eyes, beautiful. Memory sparked.

  ‘Ayeth?’ Issa breathed.

  He smiled, benevolent yet filled with sorrow. In his hand of light, he held another black orb, just like Freydel’s and Lona’s floating before her. That was why Lona’s orb responded, she realised; the two orbs were drawing together.

  She looked beyond Ayeth and gasped at the stunning cosmos revealed. In perfect alignment planets of blue, green and amber turned in fields of beautiful light and cosmic gasses. Was this how the One Light saw? It is the One Light, she realised, beauty and perfection.

  Ayeth whispered a word, the sadness on his face heart-wrenching, and Lona’s orb flew straight to his. Black light flashed as the two orbs collided and Ayeth’s hands shone with white light so bright Issa had to look away. When she looked back, the orbs were gone, along with the darkness that bled from them.

  Ayeth held her gaze and reached his hands of light towards her. She gasped as they reached straight through her body and soul, pushing back the darkness therein. The hands continued through her, towards Baelthrom’s mass, and a terrible wrenching filled her as the forces of light and darkness battled to control her essence. She looked from the worlds of light beyond Ayeth to the ruined worlds consumed in the Dark Rift, and felt herself as the centre point between the darkness and the light. I stand between them, the darkness and the light, they are both within me!

  Ayeth’s hands reached the darkness and Baelthrom shrieked. His gaseous face contorted, his mouth opening in a howl. He pulled back but Ayeth followed and she felt the two sides of the same being battling as if it were happening within her own body. Cosmic winds raged through her but Ayeth drew her to him, through him, pulling her away from Baelthrom and towards the light. She felt herself become a part of him, his feelings a part of her own.

  ‘I sacrificed myself for you,’ she realised. ‘So that this might be possible?’

  ‘Without you and the power of Zanufey within you, I could never reach myself, I could never reach Baelthrom,’ he whispered, his voice strained. His power wavered. It took all of his strength to hold onto Baelthrom. ‘The final sacrifice must be my own. Now you must reach for the light, I cannot hold us both for long.’

  Issa convulsed as Ayeth released her. She felt her mind and body tear from his as the darkness was drawn out of her.

  ‘Ayeth!’ she shouted and stared helplessly as he hurtled into Baelthrom’s gaseous form. A deafening howl, like a mighty
wind, tore through everything, and the darkness and the Light Eaters and the Dark Rift rushed away. Her world turned into fields of flashing and vibrating pure energy.

  ‘Issa!’ a distant voice called across the prismatic planes far beyond the Ethereal Realm.

  ‘Asaph?’ she called back, her voice loud and strange as it echoed through the planes of energy. ‘I chose the light!’ she cried, feeling again the joy and freedom that had once been hers. At her will, light surrounded her, too bright to bear looking at, and sound accompanied the light, a tinkling, ringing sound so beautiful she could not describe it with human words. The radiant splendour made her gasp – she couldn’t breathe for the beauty of it.

  Her senses adjusted, and in the light, she saw faces smiling—the golden face of Feygriene, the antlered head of Doon and the awakening face of Woetala. Beyond them all stood Zanufey, and beyond her stood many other guardians whom she did not know. But it was on Zanufey her eyes rested.

  The Night Goddess lifted back her hood and her eyes blazed indigo light. It flooded into Issa, burning away the remaining darkness and releasing her. She felt herself becoming one with these beings as they became one with each other, and more knowledge flooded her mind.

  Such incredible sights! She saw worlds of light orbiting blazing suns, millions of them stretching into distance. Her viewpoint focused on a particular darker area, and she saw thousands of solar systems spinning around the Dark Rift, the darkness blighting not just Maioria but the entire cosmos. She saw the people of those planets, many of whom looked like those of Maioria and Aralansia, with some having races somewhat similar, and some far different—but all fought against the darkness infecting their world.

  The beings coming out of the Dark Rift took on different forms, too. On Maioria, she knew them as Maphraxies but on other planets they appeared differently: some were huge beasts with horns and teeth; others were tiny, like flies with deadly poisons or stings, but most had no form and appeared just as shadows or smoke—dark wraiths that possessed any beings of light they touched.