Page 188 of Rebirth Of Order
“Do you want your daggerback?”
“Of course not, it’s a gift.” I smirk, but his horrid expression sends my head towards our incoming friend. They now have another army of glooms trailing their rear. *Sigh*Not a friend.
They raise a hand, and behind us, bones snap into place. Groans and snarls play a symphony of growls and wails. The glooms we killed are beginning to rise, ready for another attack yet remaining still. Unmoving but watching.
“We’re surrounded,” Yasmine announces, panning between both large groups. “Sigils, one of you use them. We should regroup and come back with more students.”
“Sigils won’t work,” Ethan grits. “Whatever’s happening here desires for us to see how it plays out. Their life, or ours.”
A knot twists in my gut, digging deeper by the second. By looking at those left and right of me, I can tell our powers are scraping the dangerous zone.
It’s difficult to determine which group of our enemies will attack first. Those behind that move closer, but cease within striking distance, or the being walking up, coming to a halt about ten yards away.
“Who are you and what do you want?” Alex projects, but it vanishes, leaving trails of phantom-like smoke wisping in their wake.
“I see,” behind us, a feminine voice speaks, arms folded at her back with deep pink eyes shining under her hooded cloak.I hate those fucking eyes.I meet the onlooker of my many failures. “You, unworthy group of…students, managed to take down my creations,” she says, panning between us and them. “Who leads your group?”
“Answer his question, who are you!” I shout, requiring this second name to be added to my list. She pauses, if for a breath, and is on me in the next.
Her hand meets the soft flesh of my throat, and she lifts me from the ground to ensure we are eye level. Pointed nails, biting the flesh around my veins, hold me steady, and my body becomes motionless under the weight of her aura.
Formidable…Ethereal…Alarming…Regnant. This being isnothing short of celestial. Breathing omnipotent magic, she presses her aura on us all. Grunts and curses sound around me from the others not being able to move. Inside, my body screams and kicks for release, but as others watch, I look compliant.Who are you?
“You–how is it possible?” she asks, tilting her head down and back up. “Your name, child, what is it?” I’m given just enough space to answer, but I refuse.
“Who. Are–”
“Your name!” I wince from the intrusion of her nails breaking my skin. Their tips are flush with my throbbing veins. She, in all definitions, holds my life in her hands. “I won’t ask you again,” she seethes, and I believe her.
“Ky-Kyra.” The words stutter out. Releasing her hold, causes me to plummet, collapse to the ground, and I land on my ass. Whatever hold she placed on the others, relinquishes, and Russ helps me to stand.
The way she was able to render us useless with ease is alarming.
Stepping back to view us as a whole, this mystical being removes her hood, leaving gasps and confusion amongst the masses. Raven hair, buttery-brown sugar skin, the deepest forest green eyes behind the glow of pink, and honey tan lips. If beauty had an equal, it sure as hell isn’t her.Thatclaim wouldn’t do her justice.
She is irresistibly bewitching.
“You’re not an ordinary fay. Demigod perhaps?” Angie asks, moving closer behind me. Russ and Caspian stand to my right, Ethan and Alex, my left. Angie, Marcel, Ashlyn, Niro, and Yasmine are a line behind us. All have weapons drawn.
“Goddess, dear female. Your mother would be ashamed if she had lived long enough.” Angie growls at the response, drawing her feather-bladed sword, but stiffens under the magic of this deity. “Come, bringHerwith you and kill the rest. But keep the genie alive. She may be useful,” our newest foe suggests, but to whom is she speaking to?
Ethan grips my collar, turning me and striking his spear’s tip intomy chest. But it falters. His movements are frozen, shy from piercing my skin, and I can feel the deity’s magic blanketing over him. “You’ll perish before you and your mother’s plan comes to fruition.”
Not bothering to fight his hold, I instead, search his gaze. Past the pain, past his anger, hellish flames are spotlighted by a warming light, echoing the many losses he has endured, my reflection stamped between both shimmers of red and gold.
“Ethan,” I whisper, “I don’t know her nor is this my fault. Tell me you don’t believe I would put either of your lives in danger? You can’t be so foolish to believe that.”
He searches my gaze in return. Our auras, scratching below the skin, beg to unite. I can’t lose another life. None of them, including his. Especially knowing what the two of us are meant to become. My hate for him stems from his objection to my life, but it’s not worth this.
“Enough. You’ll meet your end soon. We’re leaving,” the Goddess announces.
A pair of firm hands land on my shoulder, and those facing me morph their faces, revealing deceit and treachery. Pulled from Ethan’s hold, I’m spun around by Caspian meeting my gaze with an emotionless take.
“No.” I shake my head out of disbelief. “No. No!” But he grips my arm, pulling me along. Every fiber of my being pleads he is not the traitor. I yank, pulling back when both armies of glooms scratch and howl, quaking the ground with their advancements.
“Let her go!” Russ shouts, drawing my dagger and slicing for Caspian’s clutch.
A deflecting arm thrust turns into a wrist grab and twist, and is followed by catching my dagger. Caspian drives the blade into Russ’s chest, and my heart shatters. I collapse with shouts of agonizing pain.
