by Nikolas Lee
I sprinted toward her faster than any human could, Oceanus riding a small wave of thundering water at my side. The wave swerved to the left as she reached Illindria. And when Oceanus leapt off the wave, she sent the water streaming up the goddess’s legs with one spin of her body.
The water froze, locking Illindria in place. She unleashed a beastly roar, tugging at her legs to no avail. As I neared, the smell of rotting flesh filled my nose. I flipped through the air, felt the heat of the charge building in my Diamond, and when I landed, unleashed a thick beam of pink and blue light. It burned a hole right through the center of Illindria, the branches and vines surrounding the wound left smoking. But right before my eyes, the branches grew back, linking with one another as they had been before.
Still, we rained down upon her with everything we had. Oceanus circled her atop another watery wave, impaling her with thick shards of ice growing from her knuckles. I shot beam after beam, all the while dodging Illindria’s sweeping arms and falling fists. Theo breathed fire upon her, only to watch her ignited branches and vines fall from her body and regrow in seconds.
She unleashed that menacing gas again and again, but her side made her slow. The Guardians were too quick for her.
“There’s no use to any of this!” Oceanus screamed, still firing her shards of ice as they grew from her skin. “Stay on her, Guardians! It’s time I destroy what I was ordered to!”
And with that, Oceanus swept her arms about and four rings tore from out of thin air, spinning as they lifted her from the Orchards. She shot toward the top of the Solian tower, where my eyes narrowed upon Ion, and I saw his gaze fall upon his sister.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
THE THUNDER LORD
Oceanus sped toward me, the whirring of her spinning water rings purring in my ears.
When finally I could feel the warmth of her anger tainting the atmosphere, I flipped through the air and spun five times, each pass launching a blade of wind at her. Oceanus dipped and dodged out of the way, her rings throwing her this way and that, narrowly avoiding each slice of wind. Shards of ice grew off her fingers, and with a swipe of her hand to the left, a volley of icicles went screaming toward Mearic. I swept my arms to the right, and a wall of wind intercepted the icicles only inches from him.
But before I could even turn to Oceanus, I caught a glimpse of the torrent of water she’d summoned, and the next second, it thundered into my chest, knocking the breath from me as it washed me over the tower floor. The current changed, however, heaving me upward until suddenly I was at the top of a twisting column of liquid, swallowed up to my neck. Oceanus landed, her face stricken with anger, as with one wave of her hand, the column of water froze over, locking me in place.
“WHY?” she screamed, the ice growing so cold I could suddenly see my breath. “Why did you leave?”
Mearic watched nervously in the corner of my eye. Even if I trusted her enough to tell her what I was planning, I couldn’t say anything I wanted in front of him.
“Illyria is not what you think it is,” I said, despite the extreme cold seeping into my bones. “The gods are conniving and treacherous and secretive. Just last night I learned one of them was involved in Father giving me this jaw.”
“Oh, shut it, Ion!” she snapped. “No one cares about you and your stupid jaw!”
“Then you refuse to listen,” I said.
“I guess I’m incapable of listening to a traitor,” she said. “Solara killed your mother, Ion. Our Lady Vinya! How could you side with them?”
“You wouldn’t understand,” I replied. “And it seems you never will. Your love for Illyria is as blind as ever.”
She raised her nose at me and the ice grew tighter on my body. “As a Guardian of Illyria, you were meant to guard our one true pantheon. But since you have failed to uphold your vows as such, Illyria has enlisted me to terminate you.”
I clenched my jaw. “Perhaps Illyria should get these vows in writing next time.”
I looked to the sky, and with a crack of thunder, a bolt of lightning exploded down from the heavens. It struck the top of my head and exploded out of my skin, shattering the column in a blast of ice and electricity. With only a moment to act, I lunged forward and snapped my arms at Oceanus. A wind three times as hot as the deserts of the High Heat came barreling from behind me. But Oceanus was just as quick and lunged forward as well, her straightened arms summoning a flood of high-powered water from behind her.
The wind clashed with the water in an impact that rocked the surface of the tower, the heated wind so searing it turned the water to steam. Oceanus’s power had grown beyond what I could’ve ever expected. Even from the dry desert air she was summoning thousands of gallons of water at a time, its thundering heard for miles around, I was certain.
But how if the air is so void of moisture? How?
Regardless, I threw my head forward and lightning exploded out of my eyes, slicing through the water, striking Oceanus in the chest.
The water stopped as my sister skipped across the surface of the tower, stopping only inches from its ledge. My eyes burned from the lightning, the skin of my face suddenly numb.
“Stop this,” I snapped at her. “Stop before you end up doing something you’ll regret!”
She cackled from her knees, looking at me as her scraped cheek grew slick with blood. “You are the only one who will regret, brother,” she growled.
She spun up to her feet, and shot her arm to the left as a whip of water rushed out of her palm, and coiled around Mearic’s ankle. With a snap of Oceanus’s wrist, Mearic was yanked into her clutch. She raised her other hand to his neck, and a long shard of ice snaked off her fingers and pressed against his skin.
My heart throbbed unbearably in my throat. My stomach was knotted in so many ways it seemed impossible to untie. Not Mearic. Please not Mearic.
“Go ahead,” she said, desperation in her tone. “Let’s see how effective Illindria’s training has been. Can you strike me down without also killing the boy?”
I won’t need to strike anyone down if you can’t breathe.
I gritted my teeth and held my fingers in the air as though it were solid. Her face went blank and her grip on Mearic suddenly loosened. I raised my hand to her, and as she grabbed her throat, I grabbed the air in her lungs. My body felt heavier than ever before, besides when Illindria had made me try this on her months ago. Slowly, with my grip perfect and my mind centered, I pulled the air from her body. It hissed as it slipped through her teeth, as her face went blue.
“Don’t let this go any further,” I said calmly. “Agree to leave this place—both you and your forces—and I’ll give you all the air your lungs desire.”
She knelt there, unable to inhale or make even a sound. Any moment now, I thought. Any moment now and she’ll submit. The battle will be won. And Mearic will be safe from all of this. But then she threw her hand forward and immediately my body stiffened.
Her fingers coiled into claws, the bones underneath suddenly visible and scary. So familiar. She had control over me, something in me at least. I could feel it. Every part of my body could. But I just didn’t know what.
She raked her hand back toward her as though she was pulling five hundred pounds. But as she did, I felt my tongue dry up and shrivel in my mouth, felt my skin grow tight as though it was made of paper. And then, I watched in horror as beads of moisture were leached out of my pores and pulled slowly through the air toward Oceanus.
In seconds, the world was spinning. My sister’s face was still blue, her lungs still starved of air. But my body was losing just as valuable a resource, and I knew it would take only moments for one of us to collapse.
I dropped to one knee, my bones growing dry beneath my skin, which at this point, looked like that of a ninety-year-old. A shadow passed over the tower then, and in the reflection of Oceanus’s water on the surface, I saw someone descend from above.
There was a flash of pink and blue light, and when it dissipated, Oceanus
was laying unconscious in the puddle on the floor.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
THE HAND OF THE MOON
I hovered down to the top level of the tower, Ion kneeling feebly before me, Illindria reeking havoc on the battlefield behind me.
Oceanus lay to the side in a puddle of her own water, eyes wide open and strained. All the while, I struggled to hinder the messages Oceanus’s brain was sending to her body. I had rendered her mind useless to her body. Right now, she was as harmless as a baby.
But not for long.
“H-how did you do that?” Ion wheezed, looking aghast at his sister weak on the floor.
“Her anger clouds her thoughts and actions,” I replied, landing gently before him. “It was a hole, a chink in her armor that makes her easier to control. She cannot move, but she can see and hear. My hold over her is fleeting, however.”
“A new power of yours?” he asked, still on his hands and knees.
His skin began to return to normal, its wrinkles slowly filling.
“One of many,” I said dryly. “And I see you have learned a few tricks as well.”
“I have.”
I paused. “You killed my father, Ionikus.”
His eyes went even wider. “Your father?”
“The General in the Dome,” I replied.
I heard him swallow as loud as if he had shouted. He looked over at a boy with golden curls for hair, who was crouched beside the Throne, cowering in fright. Ion looked back at me, and I heard him think, I didn’t. I would never, not that I knew who he was to you. Solara killed him because I couldn’t.
That is because you are no true Endari, I replied in thought.
You don’t understand, he said, his eyes downcast. I have a plan...
I searched his mind as he opened it to me. All the images of the past year, all the thoughts and memories came rushing to me as I saw them clear as day. His plan unfolded before my eyes, and for once, I saw him not as weak, but as strong. Smart, even. Though I dared not stretch it.
Instead of picking the lesser of two evils, I thought to him.
I’ll have the two evils tear each other apart.
I approached, but before I could reach him and see the honesty in his eyes, the boy who had been cowering moments ago was in front of me. His arms were wide, and although his lips were quivering with fear, his eyes were hard and stern.
“You will not harm him, foul creature of Illyria,” he spat.
I examined his golden curls, his dark, innocent eyes—the olive skin and the gangly arms and legs. I read his mind, his thoughts so loud I could hardly hear anything else. And I allowed a smile. The smallest, slightest smile. But a smile nonetheless.
“Take care of my friend, Mearic,” I said, and his eyes suddenly widened in surprise. “Though I do not think your mind would allow anything else.”
I stepped back and bowed to the two. “You are spared,” I said. “For now. And if you are as smart as I think you are, I wish you all the luck the Triplets will allow.”
I turned to Oceanus then, and gasped. She was standing, a sickle of ice sparkling off her pointed hand. She had escaped my grasp without me even realizing. She gritted her teeth, and before I could do anything, she loosed it toward me. But it missed me with much and more room to spare.
For I was not the target.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
THE THUNDER LORD
The sickle flew through the air so fast it was a blur, sailing past Lillian’s armored shoulder before it sank into Mearic’s heart.
“No!” I screamed so loud. “No! No! No!”
This wasn’t supposed to happen. He wasn’t supposed to get hurt.
Lillian had somehow resumed control over Oceanus and as they both flew off under the powers of her kinetic energy, I crawled over to Mearic as fast as my weakened body would allow.
I pulled him into my lap. “No,” I repeated. “No, no, no. Not again. This can’t happen again.”
Where he’d been wounded, a pool of blood had soaked his tunic. I’d never seen so much of it. The sight of it nearly made me sick, but I clenched my jaw, and through my worry and panic, I waved my hands through the air. A few strands of tiny clouds appeared above Mearic, whirling around each other as they turned black as night.
“It has to work,” I said quickly. “Please. Please don’t let this happen again.”
Memories of Vinya laying dead in my arms flashed through my head. Horrible memories. The kind you never forget. The kind that are engraved upon your vision, your soul, for the rest of your life. I can’t have anymore of those. Won’t have anymore of those. Tears filled my eyes as small drops of glowing, blue rain fell from the tiny clouds onto Mearic’s wound. The water washed away the blood. I closed my eyes, feeling the healing waters seep into his wound.
“Please,” I said. “Please, work.”
I opened my eyes and tears streamed down my face. He wasn’t moving. Wasn’t breathing. The blue rain continued to fall, and still I continued to cry. For the first time in a year, I realized. But that was not my only realization.
“You can’t go,” I croaked, cradling his head to my chest. “I’ve held someone like this before, Mearic. My own mother. I watched her die in my arms and I could do nothing. You can’t go. Because I won’t let it happen again. I...I haven’t felt normal...haven’t felt happy in so long. But...when I met you...it was like I’d never had a bad day in my life. It was like I’d never truly known what normal and happy even were...and just from knowing you for only a week. You can’t go, Mearic. You can’t go because...because I feel something for you. Sometimes I’m not sure what, because I’ve never felt it before. But whatever it is...I can’t, won’t imagine my life without getting to know you more. Without seeing your smile. Hearing your laugh. Knowing you’re there.”
Through my haze of tears, I stared down at him. I paused, my hands so tight around his face as I tried and tried to hear his lungs rise and fall, to feel the air fill him with life. But nothing came. No sound. No feeling. Nothing.
It was as though every horrible thing I’d ever witnessed: from the day I was thrown into slavery, to the night I watched Vinya fade from this life—flashed before my eyes, and I cried like I’d never cried before. Why? Why him? Please, someone tell me why?
There was silence. As though the fighting below had stopped in his honor.
But then it came.
And at once I was snapped out my thoughts, I heard the weakest, tiniest voice say: “Who knew gods were such crybabies?”
I looked down, and there, staring up at me, were those dark, mysterious eyes. My emotions rolled over me, and before I could even stop myself, I brought Mearic’s face to mine...and kissed him.
For a brief moment, there was no bad around me. No war. No blood. No need for revenge or nightmares of my Dark training. There was only Mearic and I. And I loved it.
I pulled away, my hands around his face, and smiled a smile brighter than any smile I’d ever summoned.
“Took you long enough, Thunder Lord,” he said, cracking a smile of his own.
I laughed, forcing the last of my tears from my eyes.
The sound of massive, beating winds came once, twice, three times. And before I knew it, the Chancellor rose beside the tower atop his Skyrider. He stared down confusedly at us, but in moments, his eyes were as big as saucers, his teeth bared in anger. He’d registered that I was holding Mearic as no usual man would another.
He flicked his eyes to Mearic, eyes that were watering with disappointment and hate. “You are no son of mine.”
The Chancellor yanked back on the reins of his Skyrider, and when the lizard flung its mouth open, out poured a river of blue fire. I spun my hand before me, however, and a gale of wind washed the river to the side. The heat bore down on Mearic and I as though the flames had actually reached us, until finally the Skyrider shut its mouth.
“Father, please, don’t do this!” Mearic screamed, standing in an instant.
“You should
’ve thought the same thing before you cavorted with this dishonorable god!” he spat, his eyes somehow even more crazed.
He reared the reins back once more, but before the Skyrider could even react, a massive hand of wood and flies and ivy swung up from the side of the tower and squashed the lizard onto the floor. The Chancellor squealed like a child and dismounted onto the floor as fast as he could. The hand swept the lizard off the tower altogether, while five other hands pulled Illindria up to the top.
The Chancellor sprinted toward us, his anger now replaced with fear. Flies flew all around us, buzzing as Illindria shrunk to her original size and walked quickly after the Chancellor. Her jaw was clenched, her hands balled into fists.
The Chancellor wilted behind us, Mearic and I both so shocked by the turn of events we could hardly move.
“Please, have mercy, Illindria!” he pleaded as she approached. “Ion—he’s tainted the mind of my son just as I knew he would!”
But without words, Illindria parted us, and lifted the Chancellor by his thick neck. She stared at him with disgust, and in silence, she flung him from the rooftop.
Mearic screamed, but I quickly wrapped my hand around his mouth, though I was tempted to do the same as him. I’d lost my breath in shock as Mearic crumbled to the floor, and I crumbled with him. He cried through my hands, but I just kept thinking, Stop. Stop or she’ll throw you off just the same.
I snapped my glare up to Illindria. “You didn’t have to do that!”
She flared her nose. “Shouldn’t you be thanking me? You and your new...friend? Seems I saved your lives back there.”
I swallowed, but said nothing.
“Oh, stop with the dramatics, Thunder Lord,” she said, waving a dismissive hand. “You think I’m one to mind such things?” She ushered Mearic and I to our feet, my hand kept tight around Mearic’s, pleading him to be silent. But still he cried. “Hush it!” she snapped at him, as he tried stifling his tears to only sniffles. “Good. You didn’t honestly think I was going to keep your father around after the Throne was built, did you?”