Page 156 of Mantle

We’d done the impossible.

I looked out at Velra as she guided us slowly back down to the mortal plane. “You saved my life, little shadow.”

She winked, darkness and mirth shining in her eyes in equal measure. “I guess that means we’ve come full circle.”

I chuckled.

A hearty, unencumbered chuckle without all the weight that had plagued me for so long.

And it felt truly incredible.

33

~Kai~

A deep rumble reverberated through the earth, a sign that the Severance had been completed. The spell had worked to de-power the Wrath of Hades.

We’d sent the True Celestials back into what was really a fucking hellhole of epic proportions, not some divine, righteous plane of existence.

It was proven even more so than it already had been by the sight of the Celestial children gathered around Ketheron over by Ariana who was stunned as she took them in.

Ketheron had reported that they’d all been imprisoned up there. Caged.

Innocents.

It made me fucking sick.

Anything like that did where somebody had their power overruled by megalomaniacs and those with horrific intentions. But this… it was another level.

I sucked in a breath.

They were free now.

Cassius and Ketheron had gotten them out.

Speaking of the former, I watched as he came into view with Velra, floating back down toward the forest. When he hadn’t returned and at Ketheron’s report, she’d come rushing here in the middle of the battle, then taken off to assist.

I looked over at Nyx and Vorzyr with Cornelius, Jaxon and Warlow.

I’d overheard them talking about an influx of dragons to this realm following the revolution that had occurred in the Dracoryn Realm. They were those who’d been suffering under the tyrannical rule of House Titanus and now they couldn’t stand to remain there, even with House Vortimer now reigning instead.

Jaxon was discussing altering his Lupan Stabilization Unit to become the Shifter Stabilization Unit in order to accommodate them, while Cornelius was guiding them from a political standpoint of being Inter-Realm Ambassador. Even as he spoke, he had his arm wrapped tightly around Warlow. Nyx was talking with Warlow about Crossborn matters.

And I was just taking a beat after that battle. I still held Valkrith in my hand, and I started to make my way over to Ariana so that she could diffuse it. I hadn’t wanted to bring it around the children, but it had become clear that she wasn’t going to be leaving their sides anytime soon. Especially as Cassius and Velra arrived and joined in and became a part of it.

I was just a few feet out, when a blast of magic slammed into my back and sent me flying headlong into a nearby tree.

I careened into it brutally hard, smashing my face into it, and hearing a resounding crack as my vision watered, blood spurting from my clearly broken nose.

Instinctively, I went to heal it, but another blast slammed into me, making me choke and double over, all the while fighting to maintain my hold on the sword.

I staggered forward to see Corvin there glaring at me in utter deranged fury.

“You arrogant little shit! Did you really think you could surviveme?”

“Yes,” I grunted.

With a burst of magic, I sent the sword all the way over to Ariana. If I couldn’t hold this battle in my currently depleted state and he got his hands on the sword, everyone would be in severe danger. I couldn’t allow that.

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