Page 60 of Above (Darkness Reigns #1)

Nova

“I would love to see another planet. If I could pick which one, it would be planet three-six-one. That was the planet where they had wings. Sometimes I wish that I could turn back time and stop us from destroying the planet. Imagine what we could accomplish if we worked with them instead of against them.”

O ur arrival on planet nine-three-four was like a fire suddenly erupting.

The area was beautiful. Large homes built to reach the sky had been stacked one by one with paved paths separating the rows.

Trees were sporadically growing, towering buildings in the distance seeming to touch the pink and purple streaked sky.

But it’s loveliness was quickly stolen, because the second we shadow walked in, chaos ensued.

Screams coated the air in agony and magic tainted it in death. We were the monsters in the night, creatures much like the ones these people had probably heard bedtime stories about.

We were relentless as we slaughtered, and they stood no fighting chance.

I packed my bag with any and all elixirs, poisons, and tonics we had concocted, praying to the stars that all I would have to do would be to supply those in need.

Unfortunately, the second that the alchemists landed we were immediately ordered by a strategist trainee to join a group of combatants that they then shadow walked us to, the fighters cutting down innocents left and right in this denser, more guarded area.

My heart stuttered, maybe it even stilled, as I stared at the carnage.

They looked much like us on this planet, though I noted that they seemed smaller by a significant amount, as if they were stunted in their growth.

Even their children were tiny, the people grabbing them not looking to struggle as they ran and screamed, begging for mercy. To which they would find none.

Breaths coming faster, my palms began sweating, and I bit so hard into my lip that I felt one of my previous cuts reopen. My mask had been secured upon my face, Captain Zade having ordered we all be given them back to wear during this battle, and it was suffocating me.

I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t mindlessly kill. I’d always thought that I was just like them. Had believed that I was capable of being an elite. Oh, how quickly the truth came to light.

They had been right all along. I was a mistake, because when push came to shove, I could not do the stars’ bidding.

Backing away, feeling as if the world were closing in on me, I felt blood rush to my head. I had to get out of there. I had to run. I had to do something.

I couldn’t kill. I couldn’t maim. I couldn’t even fight them. I couldn’t do this.

“Nova!” I heard the sound of Talon screaming my name, but still, I only stood there, looking around frantically for some way out. For some chance at, what, redemption? Who knew. I had been just as much a part of this as any of them. I had planned to kill these people too.

“Nova!” he screamed again. This time I saw him as he ran toward me. His mask and cloak hid so much of him, but I felt as if I knew him so well by now that I could pick him out of any crowd no matter what he wore.

He was running so fast that he had no other option but to shove people out of his way to get to me. I didn’t move toward him. In fact, I wished he would never come near me again, but he did. He always did.

Soon he was in front of me, his hands gripping me by the neck through my hooded cloak. “Nova, what’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

All I could do was shake my head, my panic rendering me speechless. Motionless. Stars, I wasn’t even sure I was breathing anymore.

“What is it then? What’s wrong?” I couldn’t speak, but he knew. Of course he knew. Talon understood exactly what I was even if he pretended not to. “You can do this, Nova. Look at me. You can do this.”

I shook my head so quickly back and forth that my brain felt like it rattled. Useless, pathetic thing—my mind.

Around us, gore piled up.

“It’s them or you.”

Again, I shook my head, this time softer. What did I care if I died? I was so sick and tired of fighting every day, every hour, every minute, every stars-damned second to survive. What was the point?

“Nova, it’s them or it’s your family. You can’t save anybody if you don’t live past today.

Do you want your family to survive? Do you want to give them a good life?

Then do this now, because this is what the stars want.

Do we understand it all the time? No. But this is what they gave us magic for in the first place.

” Abruptly he let go of my neck with one of his hands, using one of his blood-soaked fingers to point at a group of screaming people.

“It’s these people or your family. Choose. ”

That snapped me back into reality, because he was right.

If I died now, so would my family. If I died now, it meant that I forced haya down their throats for years for nothing.

It meant that I joined the elites for nothing.

It meant that I gave up my soul for nothing.

Everything I had ever done would be for absolutely nothing if I didn’t fight now.

So perhaps it made me a monster, but I nodded, summoning my chains of shadows.

Fate was an odd thing. The stars rarely cared about the future. But fate, with its confusing and strange plans, did.

So, when I took a step forward and was immediately blocked by a dark figure, my first instinct was to thank fate for preventing my downfall. Then I locked gazes with him, grey eyes storming with clouds of rage and violence, and I knew fate wasn’t saving me.

Altair was fast. No, he was something more than that. Nearly invisible as he swung at me, his fist connecting so hard with my chest that I vomited and began choking on the absent air. He didn’t care. He didn’t sympathize. He capitalized, like any good little core boy would.

A knee collided with my chin, making my teeth click together and my head whip back so quickly my neck stung.

I cried out from the pain, knowing it would be lost in the sounds of battle.

But I didn’t need to be heard, because Talon was already there, tackling Altair by the waist and bringing him to the grass below, tearing off his mask in the process.

Talon landed a heavy punch to Altair’s nose, but he lost his balance when the snake tipped them to the side.

In a moment Altair was above Talon, throwing one, two, three, four punches into his mask before grabbing it and throwing it to the side.

Talon’s face became coated in thick, red blood as Altair continued, but he didn’t stop trying to fight back, his hands clawing at his former best friend.

I got to my feet just as Altair shoved his forearm into Talon’s throat, cutting off his airway. Stumbling forward, I leapt onto Altair’s back, clawing off his mask and slamming my fists into his head. His chest. Anywhere. Anything to get him off Talon.

Altair stood up, gripping my wrists and forcing me to hang off his back. Then, he slammed his boot into Talon’s face. “Stay down!”

Using my legs, I began kicking at Altair, hoping I could get him to the ground again and find some way to keep him down.

Altair didn’t seem to notice my fight, simply sliding his hands up my arms and gripping them tightly before bending forward.

I flew over his head, my body flipping and back slamming into the grass.

Air once again evaded me, my ears ringing, black spots dancing across my vision.

In the distance, someone was saying something to me. A group of people. They called my name.

Altair’s hands, palms so large and fingers so long that they overlapped, squeezed my throat as he straddled me. But I wasn’t done fighting, I couldn’t be.

Tucking my knees up, I shoved my legs into him, using his surprise to kick my boot into his face just as he had to Talon. His head reared back, my hit sending him to the ground. But I didn’t count on him staying there.

Despite the pain, which started in my eyes and throbbed all the way across my body, I rolled and forced myself to stand.

A battle was raging all around us, and yet all I could see was Altair as he got to his feet. The only sound that met my still ringing ears was a strange chuckle, and maybe a faint call of my name from someone else. All I could feel was his piercing gaze.

“You’ve done good, Tershetta. Far better than many worthy shaytan.

You can go knowing that.” He moved closer, his body seemingly ready for the kill as it tensed.

“And, for what it’s worth, I’ll take care of your family.

They can get off haya and live a comfortable life.

Maybe your sister can even find somebody. I’ll tell them you were a hero.”

“Don’t you dare talk about my family, you filthy snake!” I attempted to scream, the garbled words feeling like shattered glass slicing down my throat.

This time, he was far more precise. When I swung my chains, he dodged them with ease, twisting away from my following kick and then once again forcing me to the ground.

When he kicked my chest, I knew I was done.

Even if he, for some reason, spared me, I was certain I couldn’t possibly breathe again.

Altair practically fell on top of me, his knees lower than before to prevent my legs from slipping out as he pulled off my mask too.

With a sigh, he bent low, our noses nearly touching.

For a split second, his eyes went from mine down to my lips.

Was he checking if I was still breathing?

Would he rip out my teeth? Something worse?

“Little Void,” he whispered, the cold bite of a blade stinging my neck, “I—”

A shrill yell began, the scream so loud it made Altair reach up and cover his ears.

I wanted to do the same, but my entire body suddenly felt like it was on fire.

The burning was everywhere, and soon it was accompanied by a blinding light.

It surrounded me, holding me tightly, and the voices grew louder, the words indecipherable.

All at once, I began to feel a sort of pulse beneath the ground, like something was alive within the layers of earth. For some reason, my instinct was to tug, a shattered scream tearing apart my throat as the feeling came rushing toward me.

I was consumed by it, filled until I was bursting at the seams by what felt like magic. It writhed inside of me, making my body fling around, the pain a reminder that I was alive.

And, while I knew so little about it, I understood exactly what was happening even before the light burst free of my chest and shot like a beam into the sky.

My eyes watched as every visible star brightened in time with the great quake of the planet.

A shuddering began, and I heard Zura scream for me moments before Azazel Altair appeared above me.

His face a mix of surprise and devastation.

“Hello, Nova Tershetta,” the stars cooed into my mind.