Page 132 of Ecliptic

They were evenly matched.

Demil beat down on his twin in a barrage of hits.

My heart was in my throat as Dyani blocked each violent swing, but her arms were beginning to shake. She was tiring.

Then, the demon hit Dyani so hard she lost her footing and opened up her side. Demil struck her unguarded ribcage, and a cry warbled up my throat. But Dyani twisted away at the last second. She dropped to the ground and swept her leg out in a precise semi-circle, kicking his legs out from under him. Her brother staggered and crashed into the mud.

It was just like the first day I’d seen them sparring on thetraining grounds. Demil must have remembered, too, because something flashed in his eyes, and the darkness receded.

“Sister,” he grunted. “I’m so sorry.”

“I’m here. Everything is going to be all right,” Dyani wept, dropping to the ground to gather her brother in her arms.

“Please, end this.”

“I can’t,” she sobbed.

His voice was different as he tried to speak around the tusks. “I beg you.”

“No!”

“Mother wouldn’t want this for me.”

“I can’t!” she cried again.

“Do it! Please.”

With a gut-wrenching scream, Dyani bore her star blade down on her twin. His guttural scream echoed through the air as his body shook and slowly disintegrated into motes of starlight.

Dyani’s gaze darted up to the Voro-Kai army, savagery burning in her feline eyes.

“Dyani, come back!” I screamed, but my plea fell on deaf ears.

The formidable warrior stood as the light bounced off her hair and star blades. Her chest heaved as she lost herself to her grief.

With pain etched on her face and a cry on her lips, she sprinted into the army of darkness.

I raced after her without hesitation. Our strategy to lure the Voro-Kai away from Indrasyl was shot to hell, but I would never make Dyani face the demon army alone. And neither would Rowen. Together, we ran across the barren field to join our friend in battle.

“Attack!” Alvar roared as ten thousand demons launched into a thundering stampede.

The Wyn and Viltarran soldiers obeyed. The ground trembled beneath my feet as we ran towards a head-on collision.

The brave warriors charging beside me had a chance of surviving.

But I? I charged toward certain death.

The tide of darkness enveloped me. Shimmering blades crashed against talons and tusks as a canopy of arrows whizzed overhead. Blood sprayed past me, staining my comrades and the earth in red and black ichor.

I battled through the chaos, carving Mithrion through the air in exacting strikes.

Adrenaline heightened my senses as I took in my surroundings.

Takoda’s healing hands were deadly as he unleashed a flurry of arrows. His gaze shifted slightly with each pull of his bowstring, his eyes locking onto target after target.

Rowen hurled an ax from each hand, hitting two different demons. Empty-handed, he reached behind his back and unleashed two more weapons. He swiped and slashed, losing a blade in the skull of a Voro-Kai.

Another demon lunged at Rowen’s unprotected side.

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