Page 86 of Midnight Reign
He freezes, his eyes darting around, searching for the unseen threat. “What is it?”
Before I can answer, the ground beneath our feet begins to move. At first, it’s just a slight tremor. But then, with a sound like ripping fabric, roots burst from the earth, writhing like snakes, trying to entangle our legs.
“Fuck!” Ignatius shouts, leaping back and sending a burst of flame towards the attacking roots. They recoil from the heat, withering and blackening, but more surge up to take their place, an endless army of tentacles reaching for us.
I tap into my magick, focusing my energy to create a shimmering barrier around us. It’s like trying to hold back a flood with my bare hands, the pressure of the forest’s malevolent energy presses against my will. The roots slam against the barrier, unable to penetrate but not for lack of trying.
“Well,” I pant, sweat beading on my forehead as I try to maintain the barrier. “I think we’ve found the right place.”
Ignatius snorts, his hands wreathed in flame that seems to burn brighter and hotter than usual, responding to the forest’s hostility. “You think? What gave it away? The homicidal plant life?”
Despite the gravity of our situation, I grin. Ignatius’s sarcasm and his ability to find humour even in the direst circumstances are some of the things I’ve come to appreciate about him. “Come on,” I say, gesturing forward with my chin, “let’s keep moving. The Moonshade has to be around here somewhere.”
We move forward, keeping in step with each other so that the barrier holds, keeping the aggressive flora at bay while Ignatius’s flames light our way. The forest closes in around us, branches reaching out like claws, tapping at the barrier, but not getting through.
Yet.
“You know,” Ignatius pants as we push through a particularly dense thicket, “when I signed up for this whole ‘save the world’ gig, I didn’t realise it would involve fighting an entire bloody forest.”
I laugh, the sound strained but genuine. “What, you mean this wasn’t in the brochure? I’m shocked.”
As we banter, trying to keep our spirits up in the face of the forest’s relentless assault, I think about everything that has happened in such a few short weeks. When we first met Adelaide, we were just a group of rebellious students, each with our own secrets and struggles. Now, we’re in the heart of a malevolent forest, searching for a mystical herb to perform a ritual that could change the fate of multiple realms. It’s surreal, to say the least.
“Is that it?” Ignatius asks, his voice cutting through my musings. He’s pointing ahead.
I follow his gaze. In a small clearing, bathed in an ethereal silver glow that seems to emanate from the plants themselves, stands a cluster of flowers unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Their leaves are a deep, midnight blue, shot through with veins of silver that pulse with an inner light. The flowers are even more stunning - delicate, star-shaped blooms that seem to absorb the darkness around them, creating pockets of pure, inky blackness.
“That’s got to be it.”
As we approach, however, the plants begin to quiver. The silver veins in their leaves pulse faster, like a heartbeat quickening in fear or excitement. Suddenly, without warning, a cloud of glittering pollen explodes from the flowers, filling the air around us and destroying the barrier.
“Don’t breathe it in!” I shout, but even as the words leave my mouth, I know it’s too late. The pollen is everywhere, swirling around us, sparkling in the light of Ignatius’s flames like a galaxy of tiny, malevolent stars.
I feel it settle on my skin, a cool tingle that quickly turns into a burning sensation, as if each speck of pollen is trying to burrow its way into my flesh. The world around me begins to blur and shift, reality bending in impossible ways.
“Fuck,” Ignatius gasps beside me, his flames sputtering and dancing wildly as he staggers. “What’s happening?”
I try to answer, but my vision is starting to swim. The forest around us seems to warp and twist, trees bending and swaying like they’re made of rubber. Colours become more vivid, bleeding into each other in psychedelic patterns that hurt my eyes to look at.
“It’s... it’s the pollen,” I manage to say, my words slurring as if I’m drunk. “Some kind of... hallucinogen.”
Ignatius laughs, the sound taking on a hysterical edge. “Oh, brilliant. We’re about to trip balls in a forest that wants to kill us. Perfect.”
I struggle to focus, knowing we need to complete our task before the pollen’s effects fully take hold. We can’t afford to fail now, not when we’re so close. “We need to get some of the herb,” I say, taking an unsteady step towards the Moonshade.
As I reach for the plant, the world around me explodes into a kaleidoscope of colours and shapes. The trees seem to breathe, their bark rippling like water. The air becomes visible, swirling patterns of energy that I can almost touch. It’s beautiful but scary as fuck. A glimpse into a reality beyond our normal perception.
I hear Ignatius gasp behind me. “Zaiah!”
I look down at myself and nearly lose my balance. My body is shifting, my usual solid form becoming translucent, revealing the swirling energies that make up my djinn essence. It’s like I’m seeing myself for the first time, the true nature of my being laid bare.
“Whoa,” I mutter, watching in fascination as my hand passes through a nearby branch. It’s disconcerting, but freeing. I’m no longer bound by the laws of physical reality.
Ignatius isn’t faring much better. His skin seems to flicker like a flame, heat radiating off him in visible waves. His eyes have become pools of molten lava, and wisps of smoke curl from his mouth as he speaks. “This is... fuck, this is intense,” he says, his voice echoing strangely, as if coming from very far away.
Somehow, through the haze of hallucinations, I manage to focus on our task. The Moonshade beats in front of me, its silver veins calling out to me. I reach for it again, my fingers passing through the leaves at first before I concentrate hard enough to make them solid.
As I pluck a few sprigs of the herb, tucking them carefully into my pocket, the plants around us come alive with renewed aggression. Vines shoot out, wrapping around our legs and arms with surprising strength.
