Page 50 of Unicorn Shifter Academy
Rushing forward, I stealthily crossed the distance as I shifted. My body reworked itself into my equestrian form in a few calculated moments. I was quieter in human form but more powerful in my Unicorn one. I’d learned to shift on the move, something that Guille would not have yet mastered.
I reached the black abyss the moment my hooves slammed against the broken ground, announcing my presence when it would be too late for my adversary.
I lowered my head, aiming my horn for its center. There was a creature somewhere inside the darkness. I’d aimed directly for the middle. With my momentum, it wouldn’t stand a chance.
A face appeared once I had been fully engulfed in the darkness.
Golden eyes stared at me with blind hatred, and a familiar golden tattoo ran around a male’s collarbone.
I couldn’t stop in time when I recognized Professor Soleil.
My horn penetrated straight through his chest, and darkness spilled out all around me.
The Corruption wasn’t just a monster.
It had infected my Professor.
And I’d just killed him.
SEBASTIAN
A few moments earlier…
It was proving more difficult to locate the breach’s source than I’d anticipated. The Corruption Storm had never been this dense before.
Then again, we’d never had a breach before.
In my one hundred and fifty years, I’d never seen the heart of my kind threatened in this manner. The closest thing had been Calamity, but that had been primarily focused on other realms. We fought battles of our own choosing.
This time, the monster had sought us out.
I doubted it was a coincidence that Corruption had breached the barrier while the rogue female had been brought inside.
Was she some sort of spy?
Or was she our savior?
My intense attraction to her and my desire to protect her suggested some strange sort of magic was at play.
I didn’t like to be influenced or controlled.
Shrugging off the strange feelings, I paused when I picked up the faint sound of human boots crunching on gravel.
“Guille,” I whispered to myself. He was the only one powerful and inexperienced enough to be lingering around in the heart of a Corruption Storm while at the same time tromping around like a Unicorn Elephant.
I chuckled when I overheard Samuel in the distance calling him exactly that.
My hearing was exceptional, but depending on the nature of the Corruption around us, if I could hear the two young students, then the threat would know they were here, too.
I wasn’t sure what form the Corruption would have taken this time, but I suspected it wasn’t like the instances I’d come across before.
In the past, it had taken the form of a forest creature.
At least, that’s what my brother had tried to convince me of.
My suspicion? It took on an actual host, and the creatures I had killed thus far had once been native to the Enchanted Forest.
A chill ran up my spine—which was an odd feeling when I was walking on the Sun House Training Grounds. The faint layer of heat that ran underneath the gravel all but dissipated, leaving only the icy darkness of Corruption that pressed in all around me.
