Page 113

“The power is too great! The earth is going to cave in!”

“Save me! I’ve barely sprouted into a shrub!”

Commotion erupted, and Evan swayed with the tremors wrecking the place. It turned out his bluff had manifested into reality.

Who else in Emberlyn right now was powerful enough to tear open this ancient array with their bare hands?

Only one person.

Even though it was probably fruitless, Evan tried to call to Xen in his mind.

Is that you trying to break into the Enclave Passage?

There was no response.

But it seemed like Xen was waiting for confirmation that Evan was really inside and, upon hearing his voice, started tearing through the array more aggressively. The forest bed groaned, cracks splitting the earth and lightning roaring across the night sky. There was an earsplitting screech, like a nail grating against a ceramic plate. It made all the creatures in the Enclave Passage, along with Evan, groan in pain.

This was bad. If the Nightshades came back, they would not even spare Evan a glance before killing him on the spot for this wreckage. Then they’ll probably dance naked around his body and drink his blood.

Gross.

A chill ran down Evan’s spine.

He cupped his ears shut to drown out the deafening sounds of the lightning and shrieks of the trees around.

Stop it.He said in his mind.Stop tearing down the array!

Of course, Xen didn’t listen. Stubborn little piece of—

Evan groaned, remembering he was talking about a literal Demon King before he diluted his thoughts.

What was Xen’s dealbreaker? What could possibly rattle a furious Eternal into reconsidering his actions? He didn’t know much about Xen to begin with, so coming up with a solid solution was nearly impossible.

But Evan had another weapon. His vivid imagination. If he didn’t have a solution, he’d conjure one out of thin air.

After quickly racking his brain, a presumptuous thought rose in his mind, and in his panic, he blindly grabbed that thought.

If you don’t stop, this place is gonna collapse on itself! Along withme!

Abruptly, everything stilled.

Even the air and the lightning in the sky froze, as if it wasn’t reality but a picture that captured a horrifying prelude before destruction. The earth sighed beneath Evan’s feet in gratitude as the quakes ceased, and the trees quietly whimpered, waiting for another round of tremors. But it never came.

Evan blew a breath of relief, dropping his hands from his ears. Who knew hanging his own life as collateral damage would actually startle Xen enough to make him stop?

“That was dramatic,” Evan wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead, then glanced at the tree with the gaping mouth. Two of its old branches were broken, swaying limp in the aftermath of the assault. Guilt flamed in his chest. “Sorry about that.”

The tree groaned. “On second thought, I think it’d be better if you left too.”

His companions from around agreed out loud, waving their branches aggressively like a human would wave their arms.

“Send him away! Out of here!”

“He is a pawn of great evil!”

“I’d just started growing new flowers! Now they’re dead!”

Evan scratched his neck and cleared his throat. Why was he getting berated for someone else’s actions? He wasn’t really Xen’s accomplice or anything.