Page 83 of Tangled Power
The Suden god must have been waiting for Arie’s attack, intentionally provoking him. Aterra didn’t even move as he tossed Arie, much the same as touching the metal bars around Aurora’s cage had. Arie’s human form once again flew across the room. This wasn’t going well for him.
“What do you hope to gain here?” Luc’s cold voice broke in. “We know where you are. The Compass Points are here to stop you, to do our duty, and to rein in the imbalance you’ve created. You’ve lost. Why can’t we all acknowledge that?”
“I acknowledge nothing. You still have so much to learn, but I can teach you.”
Rose side-stepped in front of Luc, putting herself between him and Aterra’s stare. “He’s not yours.” Her voice was steadier than she felt, and her magic hummed in agreement.
“Some might debate that point, but to address the Suden Point’s question, you may know where I am.” He glared at Arie as he started to pick himself up off the floor. “But stopping meis another story. The Compass Points are incapable of holding a god. You are Zrak’s failed experiment. There is nothing left for the continent but another Flood.”
Rose startled at that. Aterra wanted to destroy the continent again? She thought this was about power.
“No one wins with another Flood, Aterra,” Arie said, spitting blood from his mouth as he stood.
“That’s what you think. With a cleansing Flood of all the magic on the continent and with the strength of my Suden Point, I would be the uncontested power. We could start again without the requirement of balance.”
Rose had only moments to finalize her strategy. Carter and Juliette’s gazes were locked on her. She had their attention, and she would use it. They would unite their magic for an attack. “You’re right, Aterra. The Compass Points haven’t proven they could keep a god in check. But you had your hand in that too, didn’t you?”
She let out a breath as she readied to strike at Aterra. As each element made itself known, she dipped down to her lake of magic to open the channels. Luc’s gaze kept darting toward the cell in the corner of the room. Rose could feel his magic rising, preparing to throw the ring and guide it into place.
A familiar voice in her head offered precisely what she needed. His appearance may have changed, but at least this was the same. “Luc, throw me the artifact, then do what you need to do.”
Luc dipped his head next to her. Arie spoke to them both, taking on the problem of freeing Aurora so that she and Luc could focus on Aterra.
“You ensured the Compass Points were too weak, too divided to stand against you. Well, that ended with Aiden’s term as Norden Point.”
Luc tossed the ring to Arie, and that was her cue. She wanted to pray for luck to some higher power, but looking around this room, she didn’t like her options. All the gods were on her shit list. The Compass Points were the only option to defend the balance.
Earth, wind, water, and fire flared in the small room. Reproducing their successful pattern, Rose shot a stream of the elements, layering them around one another, straight at Aterra. The strength sent by the most powerful fae on the continent. This had to work.
Her body shook as their magic raged through her. They had all listened to Aterra’s plan—the destruction of their way of life, of their continent. She thought the power that flowed through her during their tests had been substantial, but it paled compared to what surged in her now. Their magicwantedto defend the continent.
She wanted to let it.
In the seconds it took the Compass Points to send her their magic, Rose smelled the dreadful, older scent—Aterra’s considerable magic was rising.
The ground shook, the earth splitting below them, sending each Compass Point flailing for balance. The shaking and splitting floor was only his opening move. Rose felt the earth rattle and break on her left, where Carter and Juliette stood. Turning quickly, she heard Luc’s shout. He jumped clear of the collapsing ground and onto a stalagmite that he shot up from the cave floor.
Their joined magic faded as Juliette held herself and the others up with her wind, and Luc built a plateau for them through the wreckage. The other Compass Points’ magic left her as they used it to defend themselves. Unlike Luc, they couldn’t do two things at once with their power.
This would be problematic. Aterra would spend his energy making sure they were defending against his magic instead of attacking with theirs. Red lava bubbled up through the cracks Aterra forced into the earth. Apparently, the volcano below them wasn’t exactly dormant—one more thing to worry about as this battle escalated.
Luc lifted himself with his earth magic as Aterra attempted to impale him with jagged rock spikes from the floor.
This was not going to work. Rose had only taken a single shot at Aterra in the seconds she led the magic of all four Compass Points, and he’d defended. She sent a blast of wind at Aterra in her frustration as she tried fruitlessly to distract him, to bring his attention back towards her.
The telltale creak of unused metal joints swinging open indicated things might be going their way. Arie must have been able to free Aurora.
Now that he wasn’t distracted, Arie sent a stream of lava boiling and bubbling around the ground where Aterra stood, encircling him and drawing his focus, if only for moments. He gave the Compass Points a second to regroup.
“We have to get to the heart of the mountain,” Rose yelled. The Compass Points joined her, running for the door. They would never win against him here. His power was too absolute in the confined space. He could destroy everything on which they stood in one swoop. They needed to be able to spread out to make themselves more challenging targets.
They sprinted down the hallway with Aiden in tow, returning to the initial cavern, the heart of the mountain, a room Rose knew from her journey through Arie’s memories was where this all began for Aurora, Aterra, and Arie.
In seconds, they split up, each spreading as far as they could, positioning themselves by the other various hallways that ledout of the main cavern before Aterra came crashing through the hallway behind them.
It was incorrect to say that he used the hallway. More accurately, Arie and Aurora seemed to have thrown him through the wall, his earth magic helping to break apart the tunnel and guide him through it as rock burst from the new hole his body formed.
Arie and Aurora were right behind him. As soon as Aterra landed, he spun his fist, creating a sandstorm. The crushed rock, silt, and sand flying through the cavern made it difficult for them to aim.
