Page 44

Draevyn spotted the key again, glittering faintly in the soft light just a few feet away. The krechuums outnumbered them a hundred to one, and Esmyra’s continued screeches and grunts of pain rang through the air.

They couldn’t die here. Not like this.

With a desperate roar, Draevyn threw himself at the key, slamming his body onto the stone floor, reaching with every ounce of strength.

As his fingers wrapped around it, one of the creatures bit into his shoulder, fangs sinking deep into flesh.

Pain exploded through his body, white-hot and searing.

Draevyn bellowed in agony but held on, forcing himself to stay focused.

He shoved the key into one of the locks, twisting it with a snap.

With one hand free, he swung out relentlessly through the onslaught of attacks, yet he still couldn’t summon his flame with one cuff still bound to his wrist. Draevyn swung around with newfound fury.

His free arm lashed out, and his fist connected with a creature’s face, crushing bone beneath the force of his punch.

A krechuum leapt onto his back, the creature screeching, clicking, and hissing into his ear as it tried to bite him once more. Draevyn stumbled and backed up, slamming the beast into the wall behind them.

He knew this was his only chance.

As he repeatedly smashed the monster’s body into the hard stone, he shoved the key into the remaining cuff and twisted the lock.

And then the velsinyte cuffs fell away.

Power surged through him, igniting his entire being. It was as if a dam had broken, the floodgates torn wide, and his magic came roaring back to life with a ferocity that nearly sent him to his knees.

Heat rushed through his veins, spreading from his core to his fingertips as his senses sharpened. Draevyn’s body hummed—the magic crackled beneath his skin, barely contained and ready to erupt. A shiver ran down his spine, his heart galloping as he took a deep breath.

His flames were back, fierce and wild—resembling the woman who stood just beyond his reach. The woman who was on her knees before the monsters, fighting for her life.

Draevyn lifted his hand, igniting a ball of fire that crackled in his palm.

The creatures closest to him hissed and took a hesitant step back.

“My turn,” he said, his voice cruel and cold.

As the first of the creatures lunged, Draevyn thrust his palm forward, sending a wave of flame roaring down the tunnel. The fire lit up the darkness, illuminating the creatures as they writhed in the blaze .

But still, there were too many—far more than they could burn away, and more kept coming down the two forked tunnels they faced.

He ran for Esmyra, lighting every creature atop her in flames. They all began to shriek and scream as they scrambled, the skin of their backs melting away.

Draevyn pulled her to her feet, her clothes and flesh shredded from the krechuums attacks. “Are you?—”

“Shh,” she silenced him, her eyes narrowing on the new wave of monsters now charging at them.

Esmyra stepped forward, her hands swirling in intricate movements, summoning torrents of water from the cave’s moisture. Ribbons of it revealed themselves from the crevices of the cave, coiling around her body like a serpent. Draevyn’s eyes widened as he watched her magic work.

Her boots dug into the ground, as if bracing herself for the power she was conjuring. With a triumphant battle cry, her water shot out toward the creatures, striking them with the force of a crashing wave before knocking them back into his inferno.

The smell of burning, rotting flesh filled the air, and Draevyn’s stomach roiled.

But the creatures kept coming.

“These things are fucking relentless!” Esmyra shouted, her voice edged with rage.

Her arms moved faster, summoning more water from their surroundings as she sent it snaking down the closest creatures’ throats, drowning them on land. But for every monster they burned or drowned, two more took its place, crawling over the corpses of the fallen.

A sphere of water formed around them, a shimmering and protective barrier.

Draevyn craned his neck as he watched the dome form, and he stepped up to Esmyra, his chest brushing against her back.

The creatures pounded against her shield, hissing and snarling, but couldn’t break through, and Draevyn matched hers with his own, burning the creatures alive.

“Pick a tunnel and we have to run,” Draevyn shouted over the roar of the flames, his fire surging brighter and hotter in his veins. Sweat beaded down both of their foreheads from the heat’s intensity.

Draevyn focused his energy into a massive column of fire, sending it spiraling out through the water shield.

The heat intensified, vaporizing the creatures closest to them.

Steam burned his lungs and felt as if it could melt his flesh down to the bone from his fire and her water colliding and forging as one.

“Esmyra!” he roared, grabbing her shoulder. “We can’t hold them off forever. Pick. A. Tunnel !”

She sucked in a sharp breath at his touch, and then her stare shot up at him. “Left.”

“Left it is, then.” Draevyn didn’t waste a moment as he summoned every lick of flame he had and poured it into the left tunnel, incinerating the creatures in its path. “Move! Now!”

They took off in a desperate run. His flames lit and cleared the path while Esmyra held a shield of water at their backs.

Echoes of distant screeches bounced off the jagged walls, growing louder with each passing second. Draevyn and Esmyra moved in sync as they entered the mouth of the narrow tunnel swarming with hunched, pale-skinned creatures.

“They just keep coming!” Esmyra shouted over the echoing wails.

“Then we keep burning through,” Draevyn growled, his palms igniting in a bright, scorching flame. Draevyn hurled a fireball into the mass of writhing bodies ahead of them.

Suddenly, the tunnel widened significantly, no longer feeling like they were in a tunnel at all, but back in some form of a cavern. His flames lit up in a flash of orange and red, the heat searing, as several creatures screamed and thrashed, their skin blistering before turning to ash.

Esmyra thrust her hand forward, and a spear of water shot through the air, slamming into a creature's chest with the force of a rapid river, pinning it against the cave wall before it crumpled, lifeless.

Draevyn’s inferno reflected on the water she conjured as it wrapped around them, looking as if it set her ablaze as she fought at his side .

Wildfire . Every time he caught a glimpse of her, the word reverberated in his mind, tearing through his soul.

“We’re not going to make it at this rate,” Esmyra panted as they halted, her voice tight with strain as sweat dripped down her brow.

“I don’t intend to die here, Esmyra.” Draevyn’s hands erupted into a wild inferno, his heart galloping in his chest, feeling the well of his magic draining.

Draevyn stepped around her, standing between her and the krechuums racing for them in that tunnel, and with a mighty bellow, he dropped to his knees and slammed his fists into the ground.

A wave of fire surged outward, engulfing the creatures in its path, but more filled the space almost immediately, like water through a broken dam.

Esmyra drew a deep breath. “I’ll clear the way.” She stepped around him as he shoved to his feet, his throat tightening as he watched her stride toward them. “If you incinerate me, I will be pissed,” she called over her shoulder.

Draevyn’s brows furrowed, but despite his better judgment, he laughed. Laughed while they were about to be swarmed and meet their end together.

Without waiting for an answer, she thrust both hands forward. A torrent of water gathered and surged before her palms, erupting through the tunnel ahead of them, knocking creatures off their feet.

He didn’t hesitate. Draevyn followed right behind the water's wake, his hands blazing. “Keep pushing them!”

Together, they moved like a storm of flame and sea. Draevyn incinerated everything in sight, leaving the tunnel glowing with molten heat, while Esmyra’s water cooled the stone—steam rose in thick clouds around them as the two forces collided.

The Phoenix and the siren moved as one, their powers creating a deadly dance.

As their magic merged together into an unstoppable force, the hissing and snarling finally ceased. The last of the creatures lay broken all around them as nothing but piles of charred bone and wet ash.

Esmyra’s chest heaved as she stepped up to his side. “Is it over? ”

He noted they stood just beyond the narrow tunnel’s reach. His flames dimmed to a low, cautious glow. “For now.”

“Aye,” she responded, panting.

Draevyn glanced down at her as the runes atop her flesh lit brightly once more. He shielded his eyes with a hand, watching between the cracks of his fingers in awe—until Esmyra’s eyes rolled into the back of her head.

The next thing he knew, she collapsed into him, and he caught her in his arms.

“Esmyra!” He fell to his knees, carefully rotating her body to find her face was still and lifeless, as hard as the stone surrounding them.

A moment later, the markings on her arms returned to their usual hue of a burnt red, and the entire cavern fell once more into darkness.