Page 154 of Mantle

And then I saw the children from earlier huddled together over on the far side of the room.

Terrified.

I cursed under my breath.

How was I going to get them out of here now?

Getting them past the True Celestials when I was now lesser would be difficult enough.

But to send them through a portal down to the mortal realm would be impossible in my current state unless one remained open.

“Cassius.”

I spun to see Ketheron bursting into the space.

“What are you doing here? Ariana needs your power or this spell will drain her.”

“The spell is done. The link is broken. She sent me here because you’re taking too long, and the portals are closing. Forever.”

I gestured at the dozens of children cowering and hugging themselves, some huddled in groups together, so much fear. “They were keeping them here. Caging them.”

A roar tore from his throat. “We must help them.”

“That’s what I’m trying to do. But I can’t get them out alone. There are too many enemies to fight through, and the children could be harmed.”

He stepped forward and walked right up to the children. “They hurt me too. Like you. They trapped me. You can trust me. Come with me and you’ll be free. No one will ever harm you again, little Celestials.”

They all stared at him, gauging his words, and I watched in amazement as some sort of connection was formed to him. Were they imprinting on him, like he had on Ariana?

They walked to him, gathering around.

Yes, they were seeing him as a savior, somebody to be trusted.

“Let’s go, little ones,” he said, and then he was leading the way out, blasting back anyone in his way.

I covered the children while he fought brutally and impressively.

We were a few feet out from one of the shimmering portals when Ketheron had to shield the children with a quickly erected golden dome as three dozen unconscious bodies of True Celestials were tossed through from the other side.

I smiled through my shock.

They’d done it.

Back on the mortal plane, they’d beaten back the onslaught.

Returning them here just before the portals shut forevermore was absolutely necessary. They couldn’t afford toremain on the mortal realm. They were too far gone and indoctrinated unlike me, Ketheron, and the little children with us now.

I thrust a wave of my magic at the unconscious and drove them out of the way, sending them miles into the distance, and clearing the way for Ketheron and the children.

They reached the same shimmering white portal that was already struggling to remain open because the Severance was almost complete.

Ketheron hurriedly helped them through, while I blasted back more enemies trying to stop it from happening.

When the last one was through, he turned back at the portal and held his hand out to me. “Come on, friend.”

I was about to step forward when a blast of white light tore into my chest, burning the hell out of me and blasting me back.

Ketheron bellowed and went to assist, but then he was pulled into the portal back to the mortal plane.

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