Page 73 of Devastation
I improvise as I go, and the grin on my face is maniacal as my body begins to seize with the overload of electricity coursing through me in tandem with Erebus' darkness seeping into me once more.
Shoot this energy at Thanatos.
The darkness whispers to me but I hold onto my ball of light in my center like a beacon of safety and push through the thoughts, demanding the wind to take me these final few feet between myself and Erebus.
Thanatos pops up behind Erebus, but somehow Erebus senses it and, without turning around, summons a dagger similar to one he drove through Gaia's chest. He plunges it into Thanatos’ stomach before Thanatos even has a chance to attack.
Erebus laughs as if he’s having the time of his life as Thanny's eyes plead with me to stay alive and that he's sorry as he too falls through the sky.
No!
Erebus' eyes never leave me during all of this, and they scream triumph as I leap toward him. He doesn't bother constructing a barrier, thinking himself impenetrable as he spreads his arms out almost like he’s welcoming me into his embrace.
“I thought you would actually put up a decent fight, but it seems you are as weak as your mother.”
I scream all of my pent up anger and sorrow into the sky as I channel the lightning into him the second my hands make contact with his hood.
I knew getting close would likely mean having no defense, but it is my only option.
Our attacks are simultaneous.
I feed the electricity into his body, imbued with his own darkness, overwhelming his mind and body with a dose of his own medicine. In the same instant, his hand shoves itself into the wound in my stomach, opening it again, and this time he doesn't hold back, giving me all of his vile darkness.
He wheezes out, “How? How can you be channeling my own powers against me?”
Through the pain, I grind out, “You...you are going to die.”
The ruby orbs of his eyes flicker, as if his life is hanging in the balance, and it’s the only thing that brings me comfort as we plummet to our joint deaths.
My mind becomes a mad house of thoughts that aren't my own, screaming at me and preventing me from being able to formulate a thought as Erebus attempts to stop my assault on him.
My hands are practically melted into his skin as I hold onto the flow of electricity, focusing the majority of it into his heart and brain.
I’m not letting go.
His red eyes dim to almost nonexistent, but it's not good enough for me to accept that he's dead.
With the screams in my head, I focus on summoning mental pictures of the ones I love to give myself strength to focus.
They filter through my head one by one and with each one, I ground myself and my soul in love, denying the darkness enough to come up with one final plan.
Eros said that I share a connection with my mates so deep that our powers and lifespan are tied together. One would think that this works both ways. If my powers feed theirs, I should also be able to access theirs.
I likely did this subconsciously already with my control over the elements, but there was one that I had never tried to tap into before.
Soul magic.
Pulling my tether to Ash to the forefront of my head, I open that connection and allow it to flood me and guide me. I picture the mist that I saw seep out of him before, and I picture it being funneled into Erebus, suffocating him and forcing his soul from this body.
Darkness pulls at my vision and black spots litter my view, but I hold on as long as I can until I see Erebus' hood fall back and his mouth forced open by the teal mist as we tumble through the air.
Even as I see the ground approaching, I don't let go, needing to feel his energy evaporate from within to confirm his death. If he dies, his power will as well.
We're maybe five hundred feet from the ground, and falling fast, when I feel his power lose its grip on me, followed by my lungs sucking in a deep breath as I allow myself to stop being a conduit for all of my powers. My eyes close in utter exhaustion.
I took the fucker out, is my last thought before my body hits a hard surface and I whisper, "Goodbye, my mates."
"Why would we say goodbye when our souls are destined to be entwined for eternity? This isn't the end. You can't get rid of us that easily," Luke soothes me and runs a hand across my cheek as my eyes close, giving into the lull of unconsciousness.
