Page 64 of Chasing the Flame
Dahlia watches with narrowed eyes, lips curled in a smirk. “Told you she didn’t need saving.”
“You said no such thing,” Dad replies, huffing in indignation.
“Maybe not out loud…” She argues with a wicked grin.
I tune them out, completely enraptured by the sight before me. Averie is agoddess. The sounds of scuffling footsteps fill the air, and my attention slips to the sight before me.
Masses of robed figures dart in our direction, their shrieks like music to my ears. Dahlia darts past me, tossingblades that hum with every throw. Ten are struck down before we even make it halfway across the massive space.
She’s vicious, but efficient, never hesitating as she works to cut them down.
I spring into action using every bit of elemental power I can, sending shockwaves of wind and rock flying. It slices through the crowd like a knife in warm butter.
They soar in the air, collapsing in heaps on top of one another. Most were knocked unconscious by the impact, but for the stragglers… Dahlia flicks her fingers in their direction and they pass out instantly. She smirks at me, “Nothing a little dream binding can’t cure.”
With that she runs into the fight, tossing blades left and right. I follow behind her, ready to end this shit. I’m going to help Averie kill that sadistic asshole if it’s the last thing I fucking do.
I don’t bother keeping track of my father or Dahlia, I can’t afford to be distracted. My main focus is her.
I dodge and weave through the crowd, ignoring my beast’s bloodlust. Averie is the priority, and my job is to get across with minimal damage.
She’s doing just fine on her own, and it doesn’t appear she needs my help. I nearly burst into laughter at the huge ass fireball she sends toward Luke’s head. Shaking my head, I focus on clearing the mass of people.
I don’t make it twenty feet before I’m accosted again. A huge cloaked figure swipes at me, nearly clipping me in the head. Using veilstep, I bend space and time around me, dissolving into mist, and reappearing behind my attacker.
Grabbing hold of his neck, I jerk my hands in a clockwise rotation that snaps his neck. He’s gone in an instant. My eyes scan the mayhem,looking to where Averie just was. What I see sends a ripple of dread down my spine.
Flames thunder across the cavern in golden waves, each one pulsing with the rhythm of her breath. Averie is still tethered to the altar by shards of molten metal and crumbling stone, but her body—her soul—radiates like it’s no longer bound to this plane.
She isn’t just wielding magic.
She is the magic.
I try to get to her, but another wave of figures pours in from the east—more masked zealots, their mouths moving in unison with the ritual chant that still echoes through the chamber. “Exsurge, Ashbraith. Exsurge per flame et umbra…”
“Shut them the fuck up!” Dahlia snaps, leaping into the fray again, her twin scythes slicing symbols into the air. Every line she draws glows, then detonates in bright flashes that send the enemy flying.
Elliot joins her, casting sigils mid-sprint, magic snapping and crackling at his fingertips. “Keep the chanting broken! If they finish the call, it won’t just be Luke we’re dealing with!”
The robed cultists scream. They surge toward us in waves—but none of them touch me.
I’m already in motion, tearing through them, storm and earth in each strike. But my eyes never leave her.
Averie is fighting with everything she has, straining to gain control of the beast inside her. She shoots another blast of fire, screaming with the exertion. It covers Luke in a blanket of smoke and flames.
My pulse races, my lungs begging for air. The smoke clears, and Luke emerges through the fire, untouched. Shadows cling to him like armor, and the earth beneath his feet splits with every step. There are runes on his arms that glow black—not etched into skin, but burned into bone.
Dread coils in my stomach, and my heart stutters when Luke gives Averie a vicious smile.
He raises a hand—the flames surrounding Averie twist and she screams in pain. She jerks forward, suspended, the veins in her arms flickering gold and then red.
“You thought you could destroy me?” He says, his voice echoing through the cavern. “Here’s a taste of real power.”
Lightning cracks above, not from the sky, but from her.
Averie throws her head back in a defiance—her eyes glowing like molten lava. And then—a deafening roar.
Averie
