Endure

by M. R. Merrick

  I hit the ground in a roll, absorbing the force. As I came up, I pushed off and leapt forward. Darius rose to his feet, a hole burned in his shirt and black soot marring his flesh. Both my hands wrapped around his throat and we tumbled to the ground. I kept a solid grip, using my legs as leverage and rolling on top of him. Darius laughed and gagged at the same time, his pale skin patchy with black dirt. His hands gripped mine, but he wasn’t strong enough to break my hold. He attempted to call more of his magic and coils of black began to form over his fingers, but I didn’t give him time to focus. I released his throat with one hand, pinning it against the earth with the other, and hammered my fist into his face. Punch after punch landed on his cheekbone and each time I felt the bone break, it re-formed seconds later. He screamed and cursed, kicking his legs behind me. I didn’t stop; instead, I supercharged each hit with magic.

  Earth tore itself from the cliff, wrapping my arm in rock and clay. Each time I hit him, the magic shattered his skin. Black blood exploded from his face. Although the wounds closed as quickly as they formed, he became exhausted from the impact. His struggling slowed and he flailed, his open hands pawing at my chest. I reached back to grip the glass blade on my spine when Drake grabbed around my wrist.

  “No!” he shouted. He was stronger than his brother, twisting my arm at an angle I thought might break it. It forced me to turn and crawl off Darius to avoid the pain. “He is my brother, my blood.”

  Riley screamed suddenly and it was in tune with Rayna; an unnatural screech that spilled from both their mouths.

  “It’s happening,” Darius said, wincing in pain. Magic flexed under his skin, veins rippling against the pale flesh and his wounds closed all at once. “He’s here.”

  “No,” I gasped. Both my hands burst into scorching flames. Drake was forced to release his grip and I shoved him back with transcendent force. He skidded across the ground and rolled off the edge of the cliff. Darius moved in a blur, grabbing his brother as he tumbled over the side.

  I took the moment to charge Riley, hoping it wasn’t too late. Thunder rang like gunshots and when my body collided with his, the electric force that linked Rayna and him together blew me to the side. The heat from the blast was so intense it numbed my skin. The power tore my shirt to shreds and left a white burn across my chest. Riley screamed again, and the wind charged around us in a conduit of rage. The clouds dropped down from the sky and dark walls encircled us. We were inside a funnel of magic now. I was too late.

  The clouds swallowed the entire mountain of land, spiraling lower to the earth. When it hit the base, the island of earth rumbled and fell, collapsing downward.

  Everyone’s feet left the platform and flailed up in the air, the mountain of land falling faster than we were. Riley stayed stuck to the black pedestal, his arms stretched out and his eyes black. Lightning arced out of the cyclone of clouds and over his arms and body. As the power reached a peak of intensity, a demonic roar erupted from below, more primal than any sound I could fathom. It was full of energy, hate, and pain—pure darkness.

  When the platform suddenly stopped, we all crashed down against it. We were now only a hundred feet from the ground, and the sound of swords clanging echoed in the distance. The clouds that turned around us were sucked into the earth, and then they were gone.

  Streaks of fire burned the sky. Tornadoes ripped across the earth, swallowing demons and tearing them apart. Screams of pain and anger filled my ears, mixed with the howls and roars of shifters. The war was still happening. We hadn’t lost yet.

  With that thought came an eruption that rocked the land, and a black doorway opened in the distance. Cyclops pooled from the portal, charging into the battle, followed by spider-like demons I’d never seen.

  The black pedestal that Riley had stood on was gone, and so was he. A perfectly round hole sat in its place, burrowing down into the platform and disappearing into shadows. The mountain shook and a crack formed down the center—the Brothers, Rayna, and the Visceratti on one side, with me stranded on the other. The quake split the platform in half and my side broke away and dropped back into the earth. The black clouds that had swirled around us now pooled at the base of the mountain. The portal was like a giant beast, consuming the earth one bite at a time. I clambered to my feet in between the violent quakes. The darkness had almost swallowed the mountain entirely and its power blackened my skin like soot. I jumped off the cliff, hitting the shelf of ground at the edge of the portal. The portal’s grasp was tight and it dragged my body back toward its pit. I dug my hands into the dirt but the ground broke away with each attempt I made. The portal seared my legs like boiling water poured over my skin. I screamed, using my voice to tear shards of stone from the ground. I wrapped my fingers around them, and although the portal burned and roared, trying to pull me deeper, I was still for the moment.

  A splatter of black blood hit my face and painted the ground around me, the head of a Visceratti rolled off to the side. A loud roar came and Tiki stood a few feet away, dark blood dripping off his claws and multiple gashes open and raw across his chest. Several spikes along his forearms and shins had been broken off, bleeding as though a vein ran through the center.

  Tiki cocked back his fist and punched his claws into the earth. With his claws embedded, he reached toward me with his other hand. The stone column grips I’d created began to crack and I didn’t waste any time. I pulled myself forward as much as I could and as the stone shattered and the portal threatened to pull me in, my grip locked with Tiki’s. Long claws cut into my arm, an unfortunate side effect to the angle we were at, but Tiki’s demonic strength won out over the portal and the force threw me in the opposite direction. My body flailed over his, our grips still locked, and I landed on my back.

  I sucked air into my lungs, my chest sore and legs burning. Water floated beneath my skin, closing the wounds it could, but the portal had done intense damage and my magic wasn’t enough.

  “You must go, Chase Williams.” Tiki’s voice slurred between razor-sharp fangs. “You must stop this!”

  I wanted to yell at him and tell him I was trying, but there wasn’t time. Tiki’s body jerked forward and hit the ground, a pool of black and purple magic tearing through his skin. Tiki screamed and as the magic faded, it left a wound that spread across his back. White pus filled the crevices of the burn and Tiki clambered to his feet. He turned and roared at Darius, who stood with a smirk painted across his face.

  “No!” I said, holding him back. “Go help the others.”

  Tiki growled and ran in the opposite direction, his claws tearing through a Kivrakai in his path.

  Darius’s magic was ripe. Streaks of purple among swarms of black, and he tossed it toward me with a riptide of force. I pulled a wall of stone up in front of me to block the attack. His dark power consumed it, shattering it to pieces, but it left me unscathed.

  The wall sat in crumbled pieces at my feet, leaving no obstacle between us, and I pulled the glass blade from my back. The sword glistened like an icicle, dark veins thick within the blade.

  “A sword? Really?” He laughed.

  Another streak of black magic flew toward me and I used the sword to block it. The weapon came to life, pulsing with life and warmth. It sucked the power out of the air and the blade became filled with darkness. It whirled inside for a moment before vanishing, and new power swelled in my hands, moving up my arm and into my soul. With Darius’s power absorbed by the blade and thrust into my soul, the smirk fell from his face.

  “Not just any blade,” I said.

  I slashed left, then right, but Darius was faster than I’d anticipated. He dodged each strike with a boxer’s poise and cracked his knuckles against my face. My head snapped to the side and I came back swinging, this time with magic.

  Lightning snapped inside my fist, making impact against his ribcage. The power flashed and he dropped to his knees. White power rippled across him in arcs, jolts of it branching off and sending shocks throughout his body. I followe
d through with air, using it to pin him to the earth.

  “Fool! You waste your efforts. You cannot kill me. Hurt me, weaken me if you must, but you will never be able to truly defeat me. We have won. This is over, brother.” He spat the last word up at me, his magic struggling to break my hold, but he wasn’t strong enough to overpower me. We were of equal magic, but I had one distinct advantage.

  “You’re right about one thing. This is over.”

  I lifted the blade above my head and drove it deep into his chest. Darius gritted his teeth, trying not to scream. His face scrunched, creasing his eyes and forehead. His mouth was curled in a snarl and his eyes were locked on me. The blade pulsed with unknown magic and Darius’s eyes opened wide, the lines on his face smoothing away.

  “What is this magic?” he gasped. His head fell back against the earth and his eyes searched my face.

  “You and I are the same, brother,” I smirked. “We are both strong and both powerful, but this is a weapon of the gods, the only power that destroys us—godly magic undiluted.”

  Darius shook his head, whispering to himself. “No…no…this isn’t possible.”

  Blood spilled out around the blade and ran down to the ground. The blade pulsed again and black magic seeped into the blade.

  “Brother,” Darius whispered, but I didn’t reply. The blade sucked the life force from his body, emptying his soul. When the blade was filled with darkness, power jolted into my arms and down to my soul. The liquid syphoned out of the blade and returned its transparent form.

  I pulled the sword out, letting the blood drip to the earth. Drake appeared by Darius’s side and fell to his knees. He grabbed Darius’s hand and touched the side of his face. “Brother, brother, I am here.”

  Darius’s energy was almost completely gone, leaving him with just enough to turn his head and acknowledge Drake. “I’m…sorry, brother…”

  Drake shook his head. “No, no, don’t be sorry. Be here with me. Be here, brother.”

  There was nothing left. Darius’s pale complexion faded to a dull gray and his skin broke. Cracks formed like a timeless statue and orange and red embers ate away at his flesh.

  “Darius, no, this isn’t possible.” Drake’s tears were black, running down his face. He looked up at me, and where I expected anger and rage, there was only sadness. “Chase…brother, why?”

  Drake was experiencing loss for the first time since his father. The loss of a loved one, a fate his actions had put upon me time and time again. I felt an ounce of pity in that moment, but when Rayna screamed, that pity vanished.

  She’d regained control, her whip drawn and swinging across the air. One Visceratti fell into the portal in a blend of ash and flame, while the remaining two opposed Rayna. I had the thought to scale the cliff and help her, but that thought was vanquished as the portal shuddered along the ground, releasing a primordial sound.

  Dozens of hands covered in black goop stretched from the darkness, digging into the dirt. Black slime flailed as more hands shot outward, and the creatures dragged themselves free from the portal’s grasp.

  I had expected Ithreal, or Riley, or some form of the two, but this was neither. As though they’d been dipped in oil, liquid dripped down the creatures’ skin. Their eyes were solid red, glowing like flaming rubies. They were short, only four feet tall, and the noises that came from their mouths were sharp. Two fangs hung from each corner of their mouths, leaving the rest a red gum-lined grin. Two short, serrated swords were lined along their backs, and once they were on their feet, the weapons were drawn.

  The demons moved in short jerky movements, each step heavy enough to imprint into the ground. They ran forward without bias, destroying everything in their path. Visceratti were dropped with a single blade, and our own hunters fell limp to the ground with barely a poke, but nothing died or turned to ash. The black goo that covered their blades moved like a symbiote into their wounds and their bodies shuddered back to life. With eyes glowing red, all the teeth collapsed from their mouths, replaced by fangs. The dead snake-demons, Kivrakai, and even the hunters rose like a demonic army, moving with the same erratic movements and killing everything that neared them.

  “What the hell are those?” I asked.

  Drake stood beside me, two black streaks staining his face. I had expected him to lash out at me and try to steal the blade, but he didn’t. He stared at the creatures stomping across the battlegrounds and wiped away his tears. “Ithreal’s Unborn—unfinished demons from an unfinished world.”

  A burst of light flared above and another demon fell off the cliff, leaving Rayna to face off solely against the new Queen.

  Air elements battled each other as Marcus and Blackwell’s battle went on. Blackwell hung in the air, and his salt-and-pepper mustache twitched. I couldn’t hear Marcus’s voice, but I saw Marcus mouth an apology before swinging his blade. Marcus looked saddened, staring at Blackwell’s dead body, but that wasn’t the end of Blackwell. The black ooze that dripped from Ithreal’s Unborn crept along the earth, crawling over his body and revitalizing him as a new demon. Any dent we had made in the battle was now lost. Ithreal’s magic had built him a new army out of fallen warriors.

  The portal screeched again, but this time the hands that clawed out of the darkness were not black ooze. They were the palest I’d ever seen, and the dark veins that rippled beneath them were thick. Blond hair was matted and caked with black chunks, and my father hurled himself over the edge. He rolled across the earth, clawing his way free of the portal’s grasp. With heavy breaths he shook chunks of oil from his body and clambered to his feet. Bones cracked on the air as he stretched his arms and twisted his body. He examined his hands, moving his fingers one after another, and then he smiled. His black gaze panned the frontlines, his smile growing wider, and then he found Drake.

  It was at that moment I realized that wasn’t my father at all. It was his body, but not his soul. An inhuman aura moved around him, his shirtless body rippling with demonic muscles and veins. His feet were bare, leaving only tattered pants to cover him. Power stretched from his back, a hundred arms of power pulsing in waves around his body. This was the demon god himself, his essence fused with my father’s soul. This was Ithreal.

  Chapter 37

  Ithreal strutted toward us like a man enjoying the scenery. He smiled at the dead bodies he passed, his power plunging into them. His fanged mouth widened as they came to life, reborn with demonic authority. All of Ithreal’s Unborn, including those who’d been turned, stopped fighting and flocked toward him. They hovered around him like a following of awestruck fans, bowing at his feet.

  The war had ground to a halt and everyone watched as the god moved across the earth. The arms reached out from his back, coddling and touching each of his children. As he approached, his eyes were locked on Drake.

  “My son, it has been too long,” his voice rumbled in his throat, raspy and deep.

  Drake dropped to one knee, bowing down to Ithreal. He whispered what sounded like a prayer, and then he nodded. “Yes, my king, my father, it has.”

  “Tell me something, son,” Ithreal brought a hand to his chin, as if pondering a query. “I gave you the tools to win a war. I gave you creatures of immense capabilities, and I allowed you to lead them into battle. Yet you lost to the fragile humans of Earth, in what can only be described as a pitiful attempt. I’m an intelligent god. I had enough sense to predict such a failure, and so I tried to break the Circle of Light’s barrier myself, but not without first giving you the utensils to free me should the gods intervene. Yet another outcome I predicted. You see, I’ve given you everything to succeed, and yet you continue to fail me. Why is that?”

  Drake looked nervous and surprised. He searched his father’s face as if to find some sign of humor, but there was none.

  “Father, I’m not sure I understand. I have not failed you. I have brought you back as we planned. I have succeeded.”

  The quizzical look didn’t fade from Ithreal’s face and my s
tomach tensed. I had half a mind to drive the glass blade through him where he stood, but his children had surrounded us, some going as far as creeping between us in order to be closer to the god.

  “Thousands of years!” Ithreal’s voice became the wind. A harsh storm that circled around us and cut across my skin. “Millennia I’ve waited in darkness, and here I am in a mere hunter’s body!” He snapped his jaw, his fangs smashing against one another. “And my true form sits down there, bound by the gods themselves.” He crouched down, looking eye to eye with Drake. “Do you know what it is like to be trapped in an unfinished world, son?” He laughed. “Of course you don’t. You’ve been up here frolicking among the filthy half-things with your brother. How silly of me.”

  “Father, that’s no—”

  “Silence!” he commanded, and all his children cried out. “You will address me as your king. I prepare you a throne among the gods and I lay out a map for you to take it. I put my faith in the wrong soldier it would seem.”

  “My king…” Drake lowered his head again, his hands shaking. When his father didn’t silence him, he lifted his gaze. “I did not do this for a throne. I did this for you, my father.”

  Ithreal looked at Drake, confusion twisting his features. When Drake reached out to touch his feet, he kicked forward. Drake’s head snapped back and he was immediately on the ground looking up at the slimy creatures that hovered around him. Ithreal’s foot rested on Drake’s chest and an arm of magic pressed against his throat. In the shape of a blade, it cut across Drake’s skin and blood ran down his neck.

  “What are you blabbering about? For me, for family? Don’t disgust me with such emotions. Those are from your mother, and your mother was weak!”

  The fear in Drake’s eyes settled and anger took over. “We did all of this for you. To bring you back to us. This was not about power, it was always about family.”