A Sea of Broken Glass

by Sonya M Black

  I didn’t think twice. I dove past Bran and toward the Heart. Wind pounded into my back and drove me face first into the ground. I scrambled to my knees and crawled forward until my fingers closed around the blackened stone, and it swallowed my mind in shadow.

  ***

  Never in all of Michel’s wildest imaginings did he think Bran would succumb to the Darkness. Sorrow sharp as a knife cut him. He didn’t want to kill Bran, but he would do what he had to, to protect Ris.

  Wild magic surged in the air. The crackle and tang of something that hadn’t been felt in the world for centuries. The hair on Michel’s arms rose, and lightning spiked into the sky.

  Michel ignored it and focused on Bran, who glared daggers at him.

  “Get out of my way,” Bran growled. He swung his sword, aiming for Michel’s head.

  Michel blocked, his muscles straining with the effort of holding Bran’s blade in check.

  Demon’s balls, Bran was strong.

  Fear for Ris howled in his mind. He resisted the urge to look over his shoulder and check to see if she was safe.

  Michel counted three breaths before he retreated. Careful to keep his body between Bran and Ris, he feinted low and with a flick of his wrist, speared Bran in the shoulder with his flame-coated rapier. Michel danced back, ready for another attack. Black blood seeped from the wound and filled the air with the scent of rot. The flames hissed and spat when they touched the blood, but they didn’t consume Bran as they would a normal demon.

  Bran growled, a low feral sound that made fear crawl through Michel’s veins. Wind battered him. It launched him into the air, and he landed on his back. Relentless, the wind pounded him to the sand and held him there.

  Where were Aeron and Cre? He couldn’t turn his head to look. Earth magic shook the ground. He opened his mouth to call for help, but the wind whipped the words away.

  Michel drew deeply on his magic, pulled water from deep within the earth and from the flask at his belt. His paladin’s flames burned in the heart of the water, cleansing and pure. He coated his skin, his mouth, his soul with it.

  Bran straddled him and wrapped his fingers around Michel’s throat. Stars flitted across Michel’s vision. He pushed his hands up and through Bran’s arms, breaking the lock on his throat.

  A fist connected with Michel’s jaw, stars danced in his eyes, and his magic slipped from his grasp. He had to protect Ris. Had to help her. He was losing this battle.

  Lady, he prayed, please keep Ris safe.

  Bran pressed a hand to Michel’s chest, over his heart. Fear churned in Michel’s gut. He couldn’t hold out much longer. Darkness exploded into him, dragging him deep into the abyss until he knew no more.

  ***

  Darkness closed around me and pulled me into its embrace. It was a lover that whispered pretty words before it stabbed me in the back. I wrapped my magic around my soul, let the song calm the raging beat of my heart. Of the Heart.

  The steady thrum-thrum echoed in every pore, every particle of my being. I was the Heart. The Heart was me. The corruption that filled it was thicker, older than any I’d touched before.

  My healer’s fire sputtered as it connected with the slippery threads of Darkness. The notes warped, the clear tones turning flat and sharp at the same time.

  Again, I tried. Again, the taint twisted the song.

  A scream of frustration escaped me. This had to work. I wouldn’t accept defeat. Not now. Not with so much riding on this moment.

  You need one more piece of magic, the Lady said.

  She appeared in front of me, a translucent figure with a sad smile that caused an ache to form in my chest. So much loss, so much heartbreak was contained in her expression that I thought it would swallow me. Bitter frustration burned away any sympathy I might have felt for her. Always there was another step. Always something else I needed. My friends were dying and I could do nothing to save them.

  I threw my hands in the air. “Was all of this for nothing?”

  The Lady offered a tight smile. No. You’ve done well to come this far. I promise. We will get through this together.

  She placed a finger over my heart. Pure notes sang as magic filled a space inside me that I hadn’t consciously known existed. Magic slowly unfurled like a bud in spring. Fire. Water. Air. Earth. It mixed into a single song deep within. I was complete. Whole. The pieces of me that I had always been missing came together.

  Your Shield unlocked the door before the Darkness overwhelmed him. I have opened it and unsealed all of your magic.

  “What do I need to do?”

  First, you must destroy the bonds that tie me to the Heart.

  “How do I do that?” My body was vulnerable, laying out in the sand. Demons and Bran could easily kill me while I hovered in the Between. We didn’t have much time.

  You must shatter this Heart.

  “What!? Won’t that destroy the world? Don’t I need the Heart to restore the balance?”

  Have faith, Marissa. The Heart must be made anew, and with your help, I can do that. If you do not do this, then your friends will die.

  A window opened in the sky. Bran stood over Michel, filling him with Darkness. Cre and Aeron fought demon after demon. Their shoulders heaved and sweat dripped down their faces. They wouldn’t last much longer.

  Have faith. I’d accused Bran of having lost his, but where was mine? I’d led Michel and Aeron into the Bonelands because I believed in the Lady and her vision, so why was I hesitating?

  Aeron and Cre fought desperately to get to Michel, but there were too many demons blocking their path. I was the closest to him. To save him, I would need to act fast.

  My magic—all of it—came together in a symphony. Fire. Water. Air. Earth. I’d never used all four of the elements before. I closed my eyes and drew on them, a careful weaving of trumpets, violas, oboes, and drums. The song had to be crafted note by note as I learned how to use the new magic.

  It was a slow and arduous process. Several times I lost the thread of music and had to start over. Impatience made my hands shake. I resisted the urge to check on my friends. To see if they were still alive.

  The Lady offered no help. Frustration churned in my gut and anxiety for my friends turned into a weight that dragged at my shoulders.

  Note by note. Measure by measure. I wove the song into a diamond-hard spike, held it above my head, and slammed it deep into the Heart. It screamed a high, shrill wail that deafened me as the world went white and a shockwave lifted me. A second later, I slammed into the ground, the force punching the air from my lungs.

  The Heart hovered above me, cracks radiating across the blackened surface before it shattered. I curled into a ball, arms over my head as another shockwave battered my body. Light—so bright my eyes watered—formed a miniature sun where the Heart had been.

  Take it.

  Slowly, I climbed to my feet. The Light pulsed. I reached for it and hesitated, my fingers just out of reach. Should I? All the fears that had consumed me on my journey through the Bonelands roared to life. I wasn’t worthy of this. I’d led my friends into danger. Led them to their deaths. Bran had succumbed to his curse because of me. Michel. Aeron. Cre. They were fighting an army of demons because of me.

  Take it.

  Memories surfaced. Bran smiling as I took my Healer’s vows, pride puffing his chest out. Aeron teaching me how to pick pockets, his fingers darting deftly forward and coming up with a piece of candy from Mistress Ester’s dress pocket. Cre rubbing at a stone, his magic filling the air around me with a steady calm beat that he infused into the rock. The tender look in Michel’s eyes as he held me and comforted me. I didn’t want to lose those things. The Darkness threatened to destroy everything that I loved.

  I wouldn’t let that happen.

  I would find a way to get Bran back. Find a way to get all of us home safely.

  I grabbed the Light. It filled me. Consumed me. Remade me.

  Y
ou are born from both Light and Darkness, Marissa.

  Magic swept over me in a tidal wave before spitting me out. All the disparate pieces of my life, of my existence, came into sharp focus.

  You are the balance. The vessel meant to carry both my Light and the Darkness’s seed of taint.

  “The taint…” I shuddered. “Will it corrupt me?”

  There is a chance that it will. It exists in everything. As it should. But, you are strong. With my Light, you should be able to keep it contained.

  The Lady’s words brought little comfort. She was a goddess, and even she hadn’t been able to keep the Darkness contained.

  “Now what?”

  The Lady smiled softly, and the light surrounding her brightened until I had to squeeze my eyes shut. The brightness faded, and I opened my eyes. A new Heart hovered in the air, waiting for me to take it. I stretched my hand out, and it dropped into my palm. The warm and steady thrum-thrum was comforting.

  The Darkness moves from host to host. Destroy one, and he will find another. He has his own object of power, much like my Heart. You must find it and return both it and the Heart to the Void. Be wary of him. Do not make my mistakes.

  “Do you know what the object is?”

  The Lady shook her head. There was a serenity in her expression that I’d never seen before.

  We were never meant to exist physically in this world. May the Light preserve and guide you.

  A soft breeze caressed my cheek, and the scent of jasmine filled the air before it faded and the world shattered around me.

  ***

  Aeron slashed at another demon, his daggers coated in green flames. Wet pops filled the air as he and Cre worked relentlessly to keep the demons away from Ris. His magic was sluggish from the days spent wandering the Bonelands. Fear for Ris, for himself and his fellow paladins, lent him strength.

  “On your right,” Cre yelled.

  Aeron spun and pushed his daggers into the chest of a demon. It dissolved only to be replaced by another. A gut-wrenching scream filled the air.

  “Demon’s balls, Bran’s got Michel.” Aeron dove through a cluster of ghouls, narrowly avoiding their claws.

  “I’ll cover you.” A thrum of Cre’s drums enveloped the demons in sand.

  Light, how was Aeron going to save Michel. Threads of Darkness crawled over his friend’s skin, a sure sign he was already corrupted.

  Bran stood, his attention focused on Ris. He took a step toward her unconscious body.

  Aeron dove in between them. “I won’t let you have her.”

  Bran cocked his head to the side, his eyes pools of shadow. “You cannot stop me.”

  Aeron shivered. He hadn’t heard that voice in centuries. It sounded wrong coming from Bran’s lips.

  He offered Bran his cockiest smile. “Don’t think I’ll go easy on you, old man.”

  “I will not allow another man to touch her. She belongs to me.” Bran lobbed a ball of writhing shadows at Aeron’s chest.

  Dive, roll left, spin right.

  His daggers flashed in the sun before they slid across Bran’s throat. Black blood sprayed in the air.

  Aeron stepped to the side, regret a weight across his shoulders. He didn’t want to kill his friend. Together, they’d protected Ris for more than twenty years. It wasn’t a long time in the grand scheme of things, but it had been long enough to form a deep friendship.

  The cuts healed almost instantly, but Aeron didn’t give Bran a chance to retaliate. He plunged his daggers into Bran’s back, stomach, and heart in quick succession before he danced away. There was no way he could win this fight. He just had to hold Bran off long enough for Ris to wake up.

  If she could wake up.

  Aeron pushed the thought away and focused on his task.

  To see Bran consumed by his curse and willing to harm Ris cut Aeron’s heart into pieces. Bran had fought so hard to protect all of the Lady’s progeny. Had given his life over to it.

  “Don’t do this. This isn’t who you are.” Aeron knew the words wouldn’t have any effect on Bran, but he had to try. “You know you don’t want to.”

  “Oh, but I do.” Bran licked his lips. “I want to taste her fear again. Want to hear her screams.”

  “Again?” Aeron had to keep him distracted. Keep him talking and away from Ris.

  Bran attempted to circle closer to his target. “All those hours spent wearing Tolbert’s face. Looking through his eyes.”

  Bile rose in Aeron’s throat at the unholy look of glee that crossed Bran’s face. He blocked him, throwing up a wall of sand around Ris.

  Bran teetered as the earth shook.

  Aeron took the opportunity to attack. Bran spun, knocked Aeron’s daggers aside, grabbed his arm, and flipped him to the ground. The breath whooshed out of his lungs and stars danced in front of his eyes.

  “Got you,” Bran crowed. His fist, coated in Darkness, descended toward Aeron.

  Aeron raised his arms to block the blow, praying he could hold Bran off long enough for Ris to wake up.

  ***

  Bran hammered corruption into the paladin’s body, driving it deeper. Hatred surged through him. He pushed a ball of writhing Darkness into the paladin’s chest.

  The paladin squirmed in the sand, his back arching as his fingers dug deep into the earth. Bran smiled. This was how it should be. Pain. Torment. Despair. Fear. He devoured it. Inhaled it. Ecstasy filled him as he consumed it.

  Base magics filled the air with whining, buzzing notes. He brushed them aside. He needed to reach the woman. Rage burned through him. She had killed his wife. Destroyed everything he loved. He would make her pay.

  She lay in the sand, something glittering in her hand.

  Fear whispered in his mind.

  She would never succeed. It was impossible. The Darkness had tainted the Heart long ago and no one could undo that. It was lost and so was she.

  Bran knelt next to her, his hand raised high with a spike of pure Darkness ready to plunge into her chest.

  Her eyes flew open; the familiar blue irises replaced with Light. It bled from her pores, from her mouth when she opened it to speak. She touched his face, and he froze. Then like glass, he shattered into a million jagged pieces. Her Light shredded him. Until nothing remained.

  ***

  I gripped Bran’s face between my hands. Strands of Darkness coated his soul, strangling him, suffocating him. I poured Light into him, into our bond, burning away the Darkness and corruption. The shadows that clouded his eyes cleared.

  They attempted to cling to him, thorny parasites that wormed their way deeper, attempting to escape my Light. I wouldn’t allow it. Bran was mine, my Shield. I wouldn’t let the Darkness destroy the people I loved.

  The bond between us stretched, pulled, and thinned. The Darkness fought back. Fought to keep Bran in his grasp. We played tug of war with Bran’s soul as the prize.

  Our bond rippled and torqued, sending jagged shards through my chest. I panted as my heart beat erratically. Confusion and panic screamed in my brain.

  Bran’s eyes flew open. “Forgive me.”

  The gold and blue braid that ran between us snapped. For a second my heart stopped before Light kicked it back into an even beat.

  Pain seared through me. Desperate, I grabbed the ends of the bond, wrapped them in Light, and pinned the threads together, refusing to accept defeat.

  As I held Bran’s thread, a scream from Cre knifed through the air. Demons swarmed him. Michel flopped in the sand, Darkness coating his body. Aeron lay nearby, his eyes wide and filled with shadow.

  I held the Heart high, letting its Light into the world. The Darkness that filled the air, the sand, the men I cared for burned. Demons screamed. Men screamed. Still, the Light came. Building until I felt I would break apart, piece by piece.

  The Darkness touched everything. Every bit of the world. It was woven into the tapestry of life. Every person. Animal. Plant. The r
ocks and dirt—everything—held a seed of Darkness.

  I wasn’t the Lady. I wasn’t a goddess made to create and destroy. I was a woman. A healer. A conduit. A vessel made to be filled and emptied.

  The world needed balance. It had lost it when both the Lady and Darkness chose to walk the world in physical form. Their purpose was to exist formlessly, in perfect balance, giving choice and free will to the creatures which inhabited this world. But, they had defied the will of the Void. Defied creation. They made themselves flesh and forgot their purpose.

  The Light opened my eyes and brought understanding. It directed my actions as I bled the excess Darkness from Michel, Aeron, Bran, the demons, and the land. A seed of Darkness was all that was left when I finished stripping it from them. Just as it should be.

  Bran slumped, his eyes wide and vacant. The Light pulsed with the rhythm of my heartbeat. Bit by bit, it rebuilt me. Rebuilt the bond. Rebuilt the surrounding land.

  Time slowed.

  Each breath took a millennium. Each heartbeat a thousand lifetimes. Stars wheeled overhead. Suns were born and died. The world stood still as the Light remade what had been destroyed. Our bond became whole and time shuddered back into normal speed.

  My hand shook as I reached for Bran. His heart beat in time with mine. Blood pumped through his veins. His lungs drew air. But, Bran—the man who was like a second father to me—was gone. His soul had been untethered from his body. Trapped somewhere Between. Our bond was the only thing keeping him alive.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered, laying my forehead against his chest. “I was too late.”

  A warm hand settled on my shoulder. Magic mixed with mine, sweet, full of honey and tenderness. I turned and wrapped my arms around Michel, sobbing into his shoulder. My chest felt hollow and achy. I closed my eyes and shut the world out.

  Cre knelt next to Bran, one of Bran’s hands pressed against his broad chest. “I failed, old friend. I couldn’t stop you.”

  I turned my face from Michel’s shoulder. Aeron crouched beside Cre, a hand pressed over his mouth, eyes closed. Blood and dust streaked both of their faces and pain etched itself in lines as their tears fell.