Page 99 of Darkness Births the Stars #1

CHAPTER

THE GOLDEN DAYS OF LYRHEIM

Rada

S lowly . I pushed myself forward, the rough stone of the rocky outcrop I was lying on scraping against my leather armor, my bladed staff clasped in one hand.

My entire attention was fixed on the alarming sight in front of me, the untamed magic of the Other a mere whisper at the edges of my awareness.

I had been tracking that particular group of Kritak for a while now, intrigued by their inexplicable movements as they returned to the Abyss again and again for no discernable reason.

It was as if they were waiting for something, but what could—

A hard grip closed around my ankle, yanking me down without warning.

My lips parted, a scream building in my throat, only to be stifled before it could break free as a warm hand covered my mouth.

The wild panic that had surged through me subsided almost instantly as a familiar, enticing scent wafted into my nose.

Shadowy tendrils captured the sparks of Light that had instinctually escaped me, ensuring our location remained undiscovered.

My entire body came alive with nearly painful awareness as a larger form pressed me down on the stone, preventing any escape.

Not that I planned to escape. I could only stare up at Belekoroz, the hard, beautiful lines of his face bathed in the eerie glow of rising Chaos magic.

My heart hammered as if it would burst from my chest.

Six hundred years. I wanted to scream. I wanted to weep.

Yet all that escaped me was a tense whisper of his name as he removed his hand after giving me a curt nod.

He hovered above me, his expression unreadable.

I bit my lip, unsure of what to say now that he had appeared so suddenly.

Aramaz had traveled to the north to reconcile with him, but I had not expected him to come here so swiftly, or that our reunion would take place away from the sharp eyes of the entire court.

Fire ignited in his obsidian gaze. “Don’t look at me like that,” Belekoroz groaned, a hint of frustration in his tone.

I frowned up at him in confusion. “Like what?”

His hand slid around my nape, holding me captive in a way that sent a visceral thrill through me. That burning gaze flitted down to my lips. “As if you want me to forget every single one of the thousands of reasons why I am fucking furious with you.”

He was furious with me? When he was the one who had left? Who had not contacted me one single time in centuries, only because of his cursed, stubborn pride? “You—”

I had no opportunity to voice my displeasure with him. A flurry of agitated clicking noises sounded from below, and we both ducked down on the stone again, now side by side, our gazes fixated on the Kritak.

“What are they doing?” I murmured, watching the spider-like creatures sway back and forth. Chaos magic poured out of the Abyss and gathered around them .

“You tell me,” Belekoroz grumbled in my ear.

“You have been spying on them without any regard for your safety. What if one of them had snuck up on you? What if you had been overwhelmed without anyone here to help you? You should be grateful I decided to search for you immediately upon my return to Lyrheim. Even after you sent me that bloody letter.”

A stirring of power in the air, the flashes of Chaos-tinged lightning in the Abyss increasing in intensity. I tried to interrupt his tirade, a sudden unease coursing through me. “Belekoroz…”

“Reckless, foolish, and completely—”

The dark chasm before us ignited, gleaming beams of amethyst and emerald light shooting into the sky, setting it ablaze. Raw energy exploded upward. The Kritak screeched, their forelegs rising as if in welcome.

“Belekoroz!” I screamed, icy tendrils of Chaos magic biting into my skin.

“Run!” Belekoroz’s hand closed around mine, pulling me up and dragging me after him so swiftly I had no time to protest. His other hand thrust forward, his shadows following, tearing an opening in the Veil in front of us with unrelenting force.

As we stumbled through the gate, I cast one last look over my shoulder. The Abyss was alive with sheer power, a maelstrom of pure Chaos that flooded the Other as far as I could see. Within the swirling cataclysm, something was moving. Something so immense my mind struggled to grasp its true size.

Abruptly, the gate to the Other snapped shut as Belekoroz severed the connection.

Panting heavily, I leaned on my staff, attempting to steady myself by taking in the soothing sight of the green hills around us, their gentle slopes leading down to Lyrheim.

Mortals and Anima bustled around between the city’s elegant wooden buildings on this sunny day, their cheerful chatter drifting up to us .

“That was a close call,” I said with a slightly incredulous laugh. It hadn’t been the first time I’d been to the Other alone, and I had believed I was familiar with every conceivable danger that dark realm harbored. Yet it appeared there were still secrets I had to uncover.

Belekoroz remained silent, his expression tense as he stared at the spot where the gate had been.

“What’s the matter?” I asked, worry stealing into my temporary relief. “Do you think—”

The air rippled.

Initially, it was a faint stir, akin to the heated gusts above a fire.

Then it became a violent pulse as if some invisible force was breaking through.

One leg appeared first, tearing through the blue sky with an eruption of flickering Chaos magic, embedding itself deeply into the soft earth below.

Another followed. Then the head and the body emerged, so impossibly vast that they obscured the sun’s light, casting an all-encompassing shadow over the green hills and plunging the city streets into unnatural darkness. Confused screams erupted below us.

“I fear,” Belekoroz said, his voice trembling in a way I had never heard before, “this is not over yet.”

I stared in dread at the colossal creature that was slowly crawling out of the tear in the Veil. Chaos crackled over the black chitin covering its monstrous body. This couldn’t be real. How could we even hope to defeat this nightmare?

“Baradaz!” Aramaz’s mind-voice cut through my stunned disbelief like a searing flash of light. “Where are you?”

“Belekoroz and I are here,” I responded, sending him an image of our location, my hands tightening around my staff. “We will try to hold it off.”

Despite the worry that trickled back through our connection, the king’s voice remained calm and resolute. “Be careful. We are coming as quickly as we can.”

I reached for my magic, not a moment too soon.

The giant spider lunged forward, hauling more of its terrifying form out of the Other.

A raging wave of pure Chaos followed in its wake, slamming into my hastily woven shield.

The impact reverberated through my very core.

I gritted my teeth and channeled more power into the protective barrier.

Horror pierced through me as I watched tendrils of Chaos gnaw at the edges of the shield, dissolving the strands of Light into nothingness as if they had never existed.

The next attack ripped into my magic and flung me backward, tearing a scream from my lips. Shadows caught me, softening my fall, a tall, familiar presence behind me. Adamantine shields replaced my own, sliding into place with a surge of Darkness, protecting both me and Belekoroz.

I watched in fascination as he countered the attack, smoky tendrils of his shadows intertwining with the strands of Chaos until both dissolved into each other. My gaze snapped up to his. I immediately recognized the shimmer in his eyes, the faint whisper on my skin where we touched.

“You learned how to control Chaos,” I gasped, relief and worry warring within me.

Belekoroz glanced down at me, a tight smile lifting his lips. He had summoned his armor, dark metal scales covering his defined muscles, his sword by his side. “To a point,” he answered. “Though I have no idea how to harness such a large amount of it.”

I stared at the giant Kritak—for that was what the monstrous creature resembled—slowly fighting its way through the Veil into Aron-Lyr. “How is that beast able to command so much power? Where does it even come from? ”

Belekoroz began to retreat, pulling me with him, all the while maintaining his shield, his eyes never leaving our foe.

“If I had to guess, I’d say it comes out of the Abyss, like the other Kritak.

” He glanced down at me once more, his expression wry.

“We nearly completely locked out the powers of the Other, giving them nowhere to go. So, they grew and grew until they became strong enough to overcome our wards on the Veil.”

“You think we inadvertently created that monster with our warding?” I gasped in horrified disbelief. Maker, that made far too much sense.

Belekoroz nodded grimly. “It seems Chaos always finds a way, my queen.” Stark worry darkened his gaze as he stared up at the monster. “And it has never been more ravenous.”

Before I could respond, the giant Kritak finally accomplished its goal, dragging its entire body into our world. The waves of Chaos crashing over us became vicious. Belekoroz’s shield shuddered. He grunted in exertion, his grip on me tightening.

Then the Kritak lifted its massive head and screamed. A shrill, bloodcurdling sound that pierced my ears, making me cry out as well.

A scream that was answered.

They spilled forward from beneath the creature’s belly, a dark, unrelenting flood of countless sharp legs and black bodies, streaming toward us. Kritak. Hundreds—no, thousands of them. Drawn to the Light, to the lush beauty of Lyrheim’s hills, and united by one simple feeling: hunger.