Page 28 of Gift from the Source (Source of Elementra #5)
Twenty-three
Willow
A wave of power flows across the ground and I watch the trees blow without wind.
Aurora startles to my right and her eyes stay peeled on what’s in front of us. Which is nothing.
“They’ve triggered the alarm,” Neil says calmly, yet his shoulders are bunched up to his ears.
“Then where are they?” Cas asks darkly, casting his shadows out across the grass.
No sooner does his gift leave his fingertips than a single Mastery member comes into view.
Stillness falls over our army as we wait and watch him.
He does the same to us.
The seconds seem like minutes.
When he lifts his hands, his black cape reveals a shade of skin that doesn’t match who it is we’re holding our breath for. Regardless, his movements have us readying our stances.
I realize what he’s doing after a couple flicks of his hands.
“He’s a caster. He’s about to reveal a concealment.”
My men each clench their fists, and we wait .
A united flinch passes through the hundreds of our people lined up.
Wave after wave of black begins popping up behind him as he continues to unravel his concealment. The numbers in front of us are staggering.
My limbs grow heavy.
Their lines travel double the distance back than ours do. The hatred rolling off each of them is potent to the point I taste it on my tongue.
I pick up the sound of Aurora’s gasp as the feeling hits her. Her gift caresses all of us as she tries to counteract the emotion with her own determination. It merely washes over my skin like a pitiful breeze.
My lungs beg for oxygen, but breathing seems hopeless.
In a move far too organized, they all sling their black capes off and my eyes widen.
Exact replicas of E.F. uniforms.
The only way we will be able to tell our people from theirs is the bright red Ms painted on their foreheads.
I exhale painfully.
The caster links his fingers together, steps to the side, then bows low.
In a move so perfectly synced, it sounds like thunder cracking across the sky, the entirety of their army steps to the side, and splits the middle. A prick of pain in my palm forces me to unclench my fist as my claws slice the skin.
My glare stays trained on that path.
Thirteen hooded figures are making their way down and my beast rumbles in my chest. I can assume who they all are.
They all will meet their end today.
They reach the end of the path and split off. Six on one side, six on the other, giving the being in the middle a little room.
As their hoods lift, I make eye contact with each piece of shit.
Starting at the left at the end of their line, I meet the glares of the entire Everglow Nexus and Dr. Drin. I’m a little pleased to see he looks scared shitless. No doubt a lab or fancy estate is where he’d prefer to be.
I don’t look at the Summum-Master purposely.
I move on to the man I hate equally as much beside him .
Donald’s feral smile makes me sneer. I want to knock all his teeth down this throat. I don’t give him the satisfaction of my eyes lingering on him. If I get my way, we’ll have time to get reconnected soon enough.
I know the moment Tillman locks onto Claven standing beside my piece of shit rapist. My chest grows heavy with the weight of a mountain.
Vicki’s, Hunt’s, and Isaiah Gale’s stares are trained on the men they called a Nexus a few feet down from me. The sense of betrayal written across their faces is laughable.
The final person at the end of the line causes my beast to push at my skin.
Silvia Gale.
I’d recognize that yellow hair anywhere and that deranged smile plastered across her face heats my blood. She doesn’t spare me a glance and I can’t bring myself to look at Cas.
It’ll make me snap.
“Willow, Willow, Willow,” my name thunders from the Summum-Master’s mouth and my attention snaps to him.
The echo causes any creature in what’s left of the forest to flee and the hair on the back of my neck stands with their petrified squawks.
His voice cracks me across the chest like a whip, but I swallow it down.
I look at my brother. Our conversation the night before flashes through our minds.
He slowly crosses the few feet from me and gently grips my hand while holding my eyes the entire time.
“Call your magic to your fingers. Command the word speak while you double tap your throat. Careful not to slice your own neck with these claws, little dragon.”
His small smile is forced like it’s paining him to give me these instructions. I return it, though, and wiggle my hand, forcing my deadly daggers back into fingernails.
I face back forward as he steps away from me and do as he just said. The tingling that races down my throat makes me want to cough, but I hold it in .
“Malvolio Choice.” My voice slices through the anticipating silence and I watch as he bristles. It surprises me that he’s surprised.
What did he think I’d call him? Grandfather?
“You do not have the privilege to speak that name.”
Although it carries, it’s whispered darkly.
“You aren’t one to speak on privileges. You lost all those when you betrayed your people, your realm, and your creator.”
“We are past the point of this discussion, granddaughter. I have tried many times now to be fair with you. You continue to push me and this time you’ve gone far enough.”
The mania that colored his tone in my vision slips through just a little. I wish I could find pleasure in the way Donald and Dr. Drin both flinch away, but I can’t. If they are that fearful of him right now, then I should be as well.
“This will be my last compromise, Willow Choice . If you are so very concerned with these people, this realm, or your trifling creator, hand yourself over. Save my people from bloodshed and I will make the deaths of those you care for quick and painless. The last offer I gave you will still stand. I will spare the dragon’s and the Shadow Walker’s lives and they will join Donald’s Nexus. My creature and his treasure will be returned to me, as will my relic. And for you, dear granddaughter, I will spare you. You will be chained to my throne at my feet for all of eternity.”
My ears ring as the laughs of the twelve surrounding him echo to me. I watch with narrowed eyes as Silvia makes her way down the line and places herself in the middle of Donald and Claven.
Her new Nexus members.
Disgusting.
She only needs two more…
I’ll be fucking damned.
With a deep breath, I suck in all the air separating us.
“Today will be your last day on this realm, Malvolio Choice, and for any who truly follow you. This, I command. ”
Blood drips down my hand from the punctured marks of my claws. Each drop sends a wave of power flowing across the land. It whips through their army.
Marking each one of them.
“Bring me my granddaughter,” he bellows, making the earth crack between his legs.
His army rises like a tsunami, running past the thirteen.
Tillman raises his fist in the air and my family follows his lead.
“For Elementra,” he thunders.
“For Elementra.”
The war cries leave our lips as our feet pound across the ground. With every step, the cracking of bones echoes through the air as shifters take form. A roar and a howl shake the earth and an ear-piercing shriek slices across the sky as Tanith zooms overhead.
My bonds surge out and wrap around the hearts of my men and my sister. I flood it as magic fills us to the brim from Draken.
The distance between us shrinks and I call my dragon further forward as the skin beneath my uniform becomes scales.
As I prepare to let her roar ring free, bellowing behind us cuts me off.
“Stop! It’s an illusion. Fall back!”
The warning is too late.
The dark wave of soldiers morphs as Xander tears away the trickery, revealing a real tsunami made of water and earth.
The ground is raised, traveling the surface like raging ripples.
Fuck.
My elements slam out of me and wrap me in a protective bubble that I try to cast out in every direction. I try to grab as many of my men and my family as possible.
I’m too late.
The violent wave crashes into me like a forcefield and my body flies backward. A scream gets stuck in my throat as I crane toward the ground at breakneck speed .
I command my shadows around me and go incorporeal a millisecond before I become one with the dirt. After a few rolls, I jump up to my feet, dropping my shadows and frantically searching around.
Madness is all I see.
The crazed wave didn’t trample through our whole army who’s colliding with their real forces. Only the front lines.
Only enough to separate me from my family.
He knew his best chance was to get us away from one another.
“Where are you?” I bellow in my mind as I start running forward.
There’re so many people.
Bodies, gifts, elements slam together everywhere around me.
“We’re everywhere. Get back to the front center. NOW,” Tillman commands and my feet move faster.
A grunt falls from my mouth as my airways become restricted. My feet kick out from underneath me and my back slams into the ground.
The little bit of air I had in my lungs gets forced out and my eyes squeeze shut for a second as the hit to my head makes them go crossed.
Panic grips me as a weight presses down against my body. The smell of cigars invades my senses, and that panic is swept away by rage. Flames travel to my hands but before I can use them to shove the fucker off me, my head snaps to the side from his fist.
He grabs my wrists and slams them above my head and leans down far too close to my face. “Oh, dear wife. You truly are the stupidest bitch I’ve ever met in my life. You may have grown attractively powerful, but that pathetic little heart of yours and defiant nature is going to be your downfall. Did you seriously think you and those heirs you call men were going to defeat us?”
A small smirk crosses my busted lip, and I allow my body to go limp underneath him. He’s the most ignorant and delusional man I’ve ever met in my life if he truly believes he’ll once again have me in this position without me allowing it.
“You should’ve stayed the worthless, spineless nobody you were in the nonmagical realm, Donald. You should’ve never followed the death sentence your father was giving you when he introduced you to mine. I guess, though, that would’ve just meant some other poor girl would’ve suffered the likes of you. For eight years, I endured at your hands. Mercilessly. I hope you got whatever sick fucking satisfaction you wanted from that because the punishment heading your way is going to feel like eight millennia. I’ll be there to witness every second of it. We’ll talk more then.” I laugh as he howls in pain as my wrists catch fire.
The moment his grip is loose, I buck him off me with my hips.
Rolling us, I coat my hand in stone and lay one solid punch straight to his face. The instant burst of red has my dragon purring.
My shadows wrap around him like a snake suffocating its prey. They part ways for my hand as I lay my palm against his heart. Right on top of his M.
“Just a little something from me to think about while you wait for us,” I say, then light my hand ablaze.
His screams are so satisfying.
My men would be so proud.
Speaking of…
My neck turns in every direction as I look for a familiar face. There’re so many, it’s hard to pinpoint even one that I know well enough to trust with my request.
Until I see a majestic beast trampling through people as he catches them in his jaws.
“Dyce,” I shout as loud as I can.
His tasmonium head snaps toward the sound and he barrels toward me. I hop off Donald and command my shadows to harden into chains.
“I need him alive. Will you take him to Cas’s favorite room for me, please?”
Those massive teeth of his clench together in what I assume is a horrifying smile. He growls as he lowers his head and locks them around the chains. Donald shrieks as Dyce drags him across the palace grounds for longer than completely necessary before transporting out of sight.
Satisfaction and new motivation course through me as I scan the battle raging on .
My bond stretches out, searching for my men, my sister. They’re all okay, burning with anger and determination, but I still can’t lay my eyes on them.
Any Mastery member who comes close to me, I don’t hesitate to hit them with all I got. Any E.F. member I see I help however I can.
My heart continues to race like wild horses as I try my hardest to get back to the front lines. Closer to my men and the Summum-Master.
I move through the light and through the shadows, but my course continues to go in circles. Everywhere I end up, they aren’t there. But there’s always a fucking Mastery member.
It’s like they rode the wave of that illusion and infiltrated all the way to the back of our forces.
A snarling wolf catches me by surprise as they leap through the air and the two of us roll. I grip them by the neck to hold their snapping jaws away from me.
My dragon rushes forward and faster than I can process it, I snap their neck.
My violet eyes whip up as I squat above the dead beast below me.
Warning rumbles continue to flow from my chest.
There’s no containing her now.
We’re on the hunt.
Draken
My claws sink deep inside the belly of the whimpering bear.
Bodies lie everywhere around me as his corpse joins the pile. A flick of my flame has them incinerating in seconds.
A deep growl falling from me along with the smoke flowing from my nose has the little shit that was charging toward me slamming his paws to a halt. His neck nearly breaks as he bows low before me .
My dragon shares the space with me currently but only by a hair. He wants free. He wants to burn the realm to a crisp.
He wants to lay his slits on his other half.
That fucking blast of water shot us everywhere.
One second there was a rolling wave of Mastery bitches, the next a geyser was pelting me in the chest. It sent me flying away from my family.
I’ve got eyes on Corentin and Tillman now, who are trying to get closer to each other. They’re laying waste on any in their way.
I could shift and join them, but there’re so many shifters on this side of the battlefield. Our people are taking a beating, they’re so outnumbered.
Lyker’s pack is fending them off the best he can. Daddy Dyce was doing damage, but he disappeared. Keeper and Tanith are in the skies, attacking from above.
I can’t leave them over here alone.
I can’t find fucking Cas.
Or Willow.
I need to see my little wanderer.
Where the fuck is she?
“Willow,” I growl as I slice a claw across the neck of an unsuspecting victim as they jump on the back of one of Lyker’s wolves.
“I’m fine. I’ll get to you all as soon as I can,” she grunts back, and my beast growls.
The primal urge to hunt intensifies and the roar I release has shifters hitting the ground. Both ours and theirs. I pull the command back from my own people and join them in their pursuit.
Animals.
That’s what we are as together we tear apart everyone in their second skin.
The thrum of a flight fighting together slithers its way through my veins. My breathing quickens and my dragon’s chest preens as they look to me for commands and orders. The same creatures who once looked at me in fear, look to me for guidance now.
And I give it to them.
Because despite my blood-drenched claws and jaw, I’m not a monster .
I am the King of Creatures.
V’s words pulse through my mind.
The first time I heard them, I wanted to deny such a title being placed on someone such as myself. A bastard child raised in a brothel where he thought it was normal. I was just a bigger version of the snot-nosed kid who had to beg for scraps of food at people’s feet. Except now it wasn’t food.
It’s acceptance.
He gave me no choice but to accept I am what I am.
It continues to prove true as I stare out across the blood and gore brought before me by the vicious beasts that are more animal than man or woman right now. They look to me for the next plan of attack or approval for their current kill.
Because I am the strongest and most dominant of them all.
I am and will always be the one and only natural-born dragon shifter.
I had to be the weakest to become the strongest.
I know what it's like to beg to survive. I refuse to lord over them or bring them to their knees where they beg for what they need. It’s my responsibility to guide them, teach them, and show them how to be one with the other half that lives inside them.
I will take care of them.
My claws drive through the head of a snake as it rears back, readying to strike the pup it’s suffocating. Its long body becomes dead weight as it uncoils and I rip it in half, roaring to the heavens in warning.
A soul-piercing screech responds.
It’s loud enough that I flinch.
The body of the beast in my hands drops to the ground and shakes me to my core. My beast whimpers within me.
Time slows.
I can’t hear anything but the ringing from that shriek as I watch Tanith’s body rapidly descend. My gaze traces the burning spears sticking out of her sides and wings.
The painful sound that continues to rip from her throat is coated in fire as she lights a horde of Mastery on fire in her fall .
My feet are frozen in the ground.
I can’t move as I watch.
Her body collides with the ground and my stomach bottoms out.
No.
“Help him, young lord. Help your father.” Her voice invades my mind and it’s so weak, so fragile.
There’s no humor or sass.
It’s nothing but pain and worry.
My feet slowly begin to work, but it takes concentration to get my eyes to focus.
It takes me far too long to realize that’s because of the bodies moving so fast. There’re so fucking many of them.
Ruby eyes meet mine just before they bleed crimson. I lose sight of him as his traitors descend on him.
Our little bit of time together flashes before my eyes. The flights we’ve taken together in the skies. The stories he’s told. The plans we’ve made for our future.
I just got him.
Now I’m about to lose him.
No.
No.
Keeper…Dad…
“DAD!”
My roar shakes the foundation of the earth, and all the shifters turn their focus to where I’m running. My legs move as fast as the wind whipping around me.
Heads fly from the pile, but the death toll is slowing.
There’re too many.
He can’t get out.
Tanith continues to shriek in pain as she flicks with her tail any who try to get closer.
Her battle roar reigns and rings in my ears. It forces me to move faster. The love she has for my father won’t be slowed by the damage done to her.
I won’t give up on them .
On her next swipe, another kind of roar fills the air and makes my heart hammer with hope.
Riding on the spikes of her tail, Vince in all his massive golden lion glory leaps into the pile with his jaws open wide.
Half the group of vampires go down in his tackle, and I move in.
I twist and turn in every direction, swiping my hands across their throats as hard and as deep as I can. If beheading is the only way to kill them, beheaded is what they’ll be.
They won’t take my father from me.
The breaking of bones is music to my ears, but the shoes sticking out of the unmoving pile silences it all.
I drop the head in my hands and kick it to the side as I rush over and begin throwing bodies.
The mound feels endless, but my muscles scream for me to go faster.
“Dad,” I whisper, standing above his prone form.
My hands shake as my knees hit the ground beside him.
Cuts, bites, slices.
There’s cobalt blood everywhere.
He’s covered in the lifeforce that screams royalty, but his head is still attached to his shoulders.
“Wake up,” I command. When he doesn’t move, I gather my magic in my hands and scream as I shove them to his chest. “Wake the fuck up.”
He sits straight up, gripping me on the back of my neck.
Eyes crimson, fangs elongated.
Ever so slowly, they fade back to the ruby and air rushes out of me as he leans his forehead to mine.
“Thank you, my son.”
“You scared me there for a second, Dad.”
The words taste right.
“Draken…” Tanith’s weak whisper of my name has the two of us rushing closer to her.
“Tanith. No,” I choke.
“I will be fine, young lord. Your father will remove the spears, and I will feed on the knowledge of all that are among us. But, Draken—”
Her words are cut off as a pitiful meow sounds from behind me.
Everything within me turns to ice. My fire sizzles out.
I slowly turn toward the sound.
A head rolls from Vince’s teeth as he staggers around, unbalanced.
My knees hit the ground the same second his human form hits the grass.
Tears prick my eyes.
Please no.
Crawling to him, my hand hovers over the tear going through his stomach. So much blood.
So much…
“Healer,” I bellow. “Get me a fucking healer now. Vince, stay with me, stay with me, man.”
“Draken,” he mumbles as his eyes flutter.
“Yeah, kitty cat. I’m here, just hold on. Someone who can actually help is coming.” I look around, only to see a fucking war still raging on. Our people are fighting for their lives. And currently losing. “Someone’s coming,” I choke out the lie.
“I’m ready, Draken,” he says with a small smile.
“No, no, no,” I beg, clutching his outstretched hand. “You’re not ready. Just hold the fuck on for me, okay?”
“I never wanted to be an instructor. Did you know that?” He gurgles.
“Shut up and stop wasting your energy,” I demand as I shove magic into him, only for it to be given right back to me. He chuckles as blood dripples from the corner of his mouth.
“My pride’s been gone for a long time. I promised them I wouldn’t follow them. I’d find a purpose. And I did. First it was the shifters who couldn’t control their beast, then it was you. I’ve learned so much from you.”
“I haven’t learned enough from you. You can’t go, Vince. Layton, Carrington, Walker, and all the other students. We need you,” I beg as his eyes start drifting closed.
“They don’t. They have you now, dragon.”
A single breath falls from his chest, then he falls still .
“Vince,” I murmur, shaking him. “Vince.”
Nothing.
My roar burns through my throat as I scream at the sky.
I give myself over to the grief of losing the only person who’s ever accepted me from the moment they met me outside of my own family.
He was family.
My beast takes control.
Corentin
One hour and forty-six minutes.
That’s how long it’s been since Willow woke us up and we found out about her true nature and gift.
Then her vision that led us to where we are now.
Sixteen minutes.
That’s how long it’s been since the Mastery’s illusion washed over us and pulled us apart. That was the last time I had eyes on her or Caspian.
Twenty-two out of twenty-three of our direct family stepped onto this battlefield with us.
I only have ten in my line of sight.
Tanith fell out of the sky four minutes ago.
Draken moved out of my peripheral one minute later.
Nineteen E.F. members have died in front of me.
Ducking, I flip over the Mastery member who charges directly for me. As his back slams into the ground below me, I shove my light straight through his heart.
That was the twenty-third Mastery member I’ve killed.
They just keep coming. I don’t see the end of them as they continue to charge past where the Summum-Master stands guarded by the cowards who betrayed us and the mad scientist .
I’ve kept him in my line of sight since I hit the ground and moved back through the light as quickly as I could to reach him.
I should’ve been prepared for that.
I should’ve known he was going to do whatever he could to get Willow away from us.
From his protective ring, he’s not sitting idly watching the madness he’s created unfold.
He’s actively hunting my family.
Wave after wave of forces are being sent in Tillman’s direction as he fights like a machine mentally and with his element. Ry’s Nexus, including Oakly, stand with him, keeping each other protected from all angles.
To my right, my mom stands between three of my dads, Theo, Roye, and Neil. They dance around like I’ve watched them do so many mornings now. Theo’s constantly having to recast his forcefields around them. The power pumping off everyone who attacks them is next level.
Fortified.
Malvolio Choice is finally showing the strength of his original gift.
Its level is not one to be taken lightly.
Trex, Codi, Dec, and Xander fight mercilessly at my back as illusions are thrown at us. The number of times I’ve moved with my gift and popped up behind someone only for my hand to move right through them makes my teeth grind.
Fucking mind games.
A harrowing roar beats across the battlefield and my soul screams out as the pain of my brother hits me.
“Draken,” I shout.
Nothing but a growl comes through.
It’s deeper than I’ve ever heard.
Seconds later, a blaze of blue glory shoots into the air. His flames lick across his auburn scales as a devastating sound comes from his beast.
There’s no rhyme or reason for what he burns as a fireball lights the forest in front of him up.
Someone didn’t make it.
My throat constricts on who it can be .
My bonds are all still intact, but there’re so many others who I care about on this battlefield that I don’t share a connection with.
His rage bleeds into me.
There isn’t enough air in this realm to fill my lungs right now. They scream in agony as I multiply myself. The twelve of us move through the rays of light and cut down any who aren’t on our side.
Twenty.
The twentieth E.F. member falls before me. I count the seconds it takes for his knees to hit the ground. The life draining from his eyes is even faster. I force so much air into the man that just killed him from behind, his stomach explodes.
That E.F. member was a man named Brock. He was stationed here at the palace with his brothers. No Primary.
Now he’ll never have one.
There’re so fucking many enemies taking everything from us right now.
Everywhere I look. Everywhere I turn, we are so outnumbered.
We have the heart and the will to win this war.
But we’re severely lacking in numbers.
We’ll end up fighting until there isn’t a single one of us left.
At this rate, that time will come just as fast as this war began.
The screams of those watching their brothers and the ones they love die bounce around in my brain. The noise is taking over every thought and drowning out the mental list I’ve been keeping to stay in control.
The agony from each of them will haunt me for the rest of my life.
“Tillman, incoming,” I warn.
Another surge rushes both Tillman’s area and my parents’. They keep coming with more ruthless strikes and the promise of death flies from their hands with every command.
We need more bodies.
Five…four…three…two…one.
Stop. Breathe. Control yourself.
My exhale sends the next fucker that was running toward me flying backward into the oncoming soldiers .
My mind doesn’t settle, but the racing thoughts finally slow to the point I can see a plan.
“Where are you, princess?”
“Fuck if I know at this point,” she shouts and a growl filters through my mind from her. “Draken took off from way over to my right. I’m closer to the woods than him.”
Shit. She’s way too fucking far from us.
I need her here.
“Is Cas responding to anyone? Does anyone see him?” she asks.
My heart crawls up my throat.
“Where the hell are you?”
Silence.
“No,” I grit out.
“Find him, little warrior, then the two of you get your asses to us. I don’t give a fuck if you have to open a portal to pop up in front of me. You get to where we see you. Sooner rather than later,” Tillman orders.
He’s trying to hide the fact that our people are getting annihilated up here, but she doesn’t miss it. Her bond is rummaging around in my chest, keeping me breathing.
Plan B.
Until she gets here.
Moving through the light, I join the fighting ring surrounding Trex, Codi, Dec, and Xander.
“Xander, can you make your illusions solid?” I ask.
“Depends on what it is,” he grunts.
“A person?”
“No. Not completely like our bodies.”
“If not solid, at least realistic to what theirs have looked like?”
“I can do that. Can’t really concentrate on what they’ll be doing at the moment, though.”
“I don’t need you to concentrate on them. I’m going to multiply myself and you’re going to cast an illusion of those same replicas. Of me. As many as you can. Just make them run straight ahead at their forces.”
My head turns both ways and above me .
Tillman, Oakly, Ry, Nikoli, San, Jamie, Draken, Mom, Roye, Theo, and Neil.
I have no eyes on any of Lyker’s Nexus although I’ve heard the howl of his wolf a few times. None of which was devastating like Draken’s roar but commanding. That’s enough to convince me he, his brothers, and Aria are fine.
I can’t fathom the possibility that something happened to Keeper or Tanith.
No fucking clue where Willow, Caspian, or Dyce are.
“Cas?”
His anger bleeds through his bond and into me. That’s the only response I get.
It makes me clench my fists.
My skin pulls tight from my gift. It’s been freer today than I’ve ever allowed it to be, and it knows I need it to do more.
I look around at the destruction and death. So many lives gone. So many futures ruined. So many paths changed forever.
The bodies are piling up for both sides, but more so ours.
We’re losing so much.
Soon it’ll be the realm.
Deep breath.
Five…four…three…two…one.
I silence my mind.
I slam a block up around everything within me but my gift.
Today I’m not fearful of the destruction it can and has caused in my time of grief.
Right now, I need it.
The more I think about the mourning so many out here are going to go through, the more heartbroken I feel. There’re countless right now, who, when this is said and done, are going to ask themselves a thousand times what they could’ve done differently. What they could have done to save the one they love.
The answer to that…nothing.
There’s nothing more any of them could do.
There was nothing I could’ve done to change any of it.
There’s something I can do now, though.
Deep breath.
Be free. Protect our family and the people who fight by our side.
I won’t restrict you anymore.
My outstretched palms glow as though I’m holding two stars in my hands. Warmth rushes through me from head to toe and I sigh at the sensation.
I gaze at the low morning sunrise that’s shedding light all around.
Multiply.
A grunt falls through my lips when my gift bursts out of me. Panic tries to rear its head, but I shove it down and let my blessing run free.
My first replica forms beside me.
Then he burst into two. Those two into four.
And so on until I strain to hold the forms of all thirty-four of them.
Not quite an army, but these soldiers won’t die. If they’re cut down, I’ll command them to rise again.
Go. Protect them.
“Now, Xander,” I shout.
Those thirty-four of me turn into hundreds.
There’s the army.
The ones that run through me dissolve on impact, but more keep coming. They won’t be any help whatsoever in fighting, but they’ll be the distraction we need to catch up.
My replicas wipe out the first group heading straight for my mom. She and my dads flinch for a moment, and I sigh when I see Dyce’s form bouncing around them.
Her eyes whip around and immediately find the real me.
A mother always knows.
The smile on her face is short-lived, but the nod she gives me is full of pride.
“Draken, burn their army from the back,” I command.
His resounding roar has me smirking. The elements shot in the sky at him can’t penetrate his scales or the flames licking across his body .
There’s nothing they can do about the beast in the clouds.
I send fifteen of my replicas to join Tillman and protect Oakly.
From the time I lost my concentration on him until now, I barely can see his head.
He’s fighting viciously right now, but they’re completely surrounded.
There’s a united shift in energy.
For the first time since our entire front line was flung all over the place then pounced on while we got our shit back together, we push forward.
I weave in and out of light.
I cut down any I come across while commanding my gift that’s spread out all over the place.
Each time one of me falls, my gift returns to my chest, and I send it right back out.
There’s a sense of calm in the routine.
Floods of Mastery continue to pour in. Now, though, it’s because they have no choice. They have nowhere to flee from Draken’s unforgiving flame that’s hitting the back of their forces, and they run past the Summum-Master straight into our gaining strength.
Heat flares at my back.
I spin around, not hesitating or second-guessing my decision as I shove my hand through the chest of the person sneaking up behind me.
Both of our eyes widen.
“Give up, Corentin. Before it’s too late.”
“Never. You picked the wrong side, Gean.”
“I know,” he breathes with his last breath.
Gean Everglow’s body slowly crumbles as I pull my hand back out of him. I can’t help but stare at his lifeless eyes. It seems everyone always has something profound to say in their last few seconds of life.
He should’ve decided before death that what he was doing was wrong.
A whoosh of air forces its way out of my lungs when pain like I’ve never experienced slices its way across my chest, then wraps around my body.
My gift rushes back to me from all angles as I struggle to stay on my feet.
My gaze follows the familiar black smoke that’s snaking around me .
I thrash, calling on my element and gift, but they shrivel inside of me. The coils tighten their grips, slithering up my neck and forcing my head to face forward.
Feet in front of me, I stare into the face of Malvolio Choice.
“Corentin Vito. I’ve heard much about you. Although I will say, mirroring yourself was a nice surprise,” he says, and I grit my teeth as the smoke caresses my face. “Shame I’m only finding out now.”
There’s nothing for me to say to him. I’m not sure if I could speak even if I wanted to. His all-black eyes feel like they’re seeping into my soul, infecting me.
I don’t know if Xander was finally able to strip his illusion or if he’s allowing me to see his face just to horrify me.
Either way, that’s what’s happening.
Evil most certainly has a face.
It’s petrifying to flash back to only last night when for a brief moment, this is what Willow looked like. Not to the extent that he’s reached, but her eyes, her skin, the veins coursing through her. They looked as dark as his do.
I continue to glare, and he grows impatient with my silence.
“I assume as much, but tell me, how did my granddaughter react when she took my power?”
My eye twitches involuntarily and I try to smooth my features once again, but it’s impossible as I focus on blocking the pain. He sees it. His pearly white teeth and black gums prove it as he smiles.
“She couldn’t handle it. Glorious. It’ll make me claiming ownership over it once again that much easier.” He throws his head back, laughing manically, and I shake my head as best as I can.
“That…will be your downfall,” I croak.
The harrowing noise slowly fades away as he looks back at me and cocks his head to the side.
“Downfall? Now, Corentin, my boy, I’ve pegged you as being a smart one. I’ve always assumed as much, knowing who your uncle is, or shall I say was. Don’t go making me think otherwise now. Look around you. My forces are clearing out the worthless space as we speak. Once Willow joins us, there will be nothing left of this mockery.”
“You are preaching of something you don’t even take in consideration yourself. I too have always known you to be smart, yet you continue to underestimate the greatest force to walk this realm against you. Why? Because she is your granddaughter? A female? A daughter of Elementra? What makes you truly believe you can defeat her? You may wipe out our armies, my family, myself, but you are no match for her.”
A violent coughing fit rushes through me as I used far too much of the little bit of air I have in my body. A painful tear splices my throat, and I spit the loogie of blood on the ground at his feet.
“She will be defeated,” he says low. “If she wasn’t strong enough to hold the power within my relic, then she is not strong enough to take me on.”
A reckless laugh leaves me. Each breath expands my lungs and fills them with smoke. I choke on the tainted air and let a feral smile cross my face.
“She was strong enough. Strong enough to hold it, defeat it, and free it. There is nothing for you to reclaim because she’s already destroyed it. Just like she will do to you.”
His shoulders rise and fall with his heavy breathing. The ground beneath me vibrates from the rage coursing through him.
Those voided eyes bleed. The black trails down his face, then sinks below his skin and starts again.
My legs finally give out on me.
My knees crash into the ground with a finality that cements in my heart like stone.
“We shall see about that, Light Bender. Let’s see if her soul will come to the call of her Nexus member dying.”
She will come.
She’ll just be too late.
Tillman
“Find him, little warrior, then the two of you get your asses to us. I don’t give a fuck if you have to open a portal to pop up in front of me. You get to where we see you. Sooner rather than later.”
My mental order to Willow is followed up immediately by moving into the minds of the four Mastery members moving in on us.
The second I rip through the rune weaved through them, they hit the ground, clutching at their chests where their hearts will soon fall out.
Fucking traitors. All of them.
“Lyker, check in,” I command, focusing my thoughts on him.
A ferocious howl pierces the air. Even though it’s much farther away from me than I’d like, it’s enough for now.
The grief pumping in my chest has me both raging out of control and on high alert to everything.
One of our oldest friends has fallen.
Draken’s roar scared the shit out of me. It was so mournful, even my soul shivered. I shoved my way into his mind to see who it was.
Fuck, I wish I hadn’t now.
“Keep your back to one of us. Do not break away,” Ry yells at Oakly as another full-fledged group of Mastery members charge toward us.
As much peace of mind it gives me having my best friends and Oakly by my side, I need to lay my eyes on Willow and Cas. Not knowing what they’re facing in this onslaught is fucking with my already chaotic thoughts.
Nothing is right. Nothing is balanced.
We were just warned not even twelve hours ago about how our numbers would never hold up to theirs.
I knew it to be true .
Between Maxima’s mind and everything Pran laid out. No matter the work I’ve put in over the last few years as E.F. Leader, nothing would prepare us to be outnumbered this bad.
What else were we to do, though?
Abandon the palace and the realm now?
Not a fucking chance.
But he knew where to hit us from the get-go to gain the upper hand.
Breaking up our family was the best advantage, and he took it.
Strategic evil fucker.
The illusion that separated us hit us all differently.
I don’t even know if they had time to see that.
The only reason I could was because of the illusion barreling at me.
I had enough time to cement myself to the ground to block the wild winds from that raging tornado. While I was planted in the ground, I tried my damnedest to reach each of them while they got swept away in a multitude of different forces.
The muddy tsunami sent Willow flying in a bubble of her own making.
Corentin was sprung back by stones shooting out of the ground.
Draken was shot directly in the chest by a vicious stream of water.
Cas took a little piece of it all as he tried to shadow out the illusion.
Each different fortified element tore through our front line, which consisted of our entire family.
The strongest Nexuses in the realm.
It separated us all from one another and they pounced like vultures.
They haven’t stopped coming since. Our numbers are dwindling by the second.
“Duro Nexus. Assign,” I bellow to the savage team beside us.
“Rebels assigned, midday, closing in. Orders?”
“Blow them the fuck up.”
I cast my element and gift out the opposite way while they take the targets they called out. Their blazing earth balls knock a whole row of them down, but there’s more waiting right behind them.
They leap over the bodies like they don’t give a fuck who just fell in front of them .
They have one thing on their mind.
“Tillman,” Oakly shrieks and I send a vine behind me to hit whoever’s coming close.
My element hits a solid wall.
I shoot her a sinister smile after quickly peering behind me. You can’t even see the guy through the block of ice he’s covered in.
“Watch your back, you massive little shit,” she bellows in her mind furiously.
The look on my face melts away as my eyes widen.
It scares the hell out of her and she spins around, readying herself. Only to flinch when she sees what I see.
Holy shit.
Hundreds of Corentins sprint through us.
They pass through me and dissolve instantly. Then just as fast another reappears taking its place.
Illusions.
The moment the thought crosses my mind, I watch one of them shove their hand straight through the chest of an enemy. He moves on to the next and then the next.
Replicas.
And they’re working.
The Mastery soldiers stagger back as the same face they see in every direction fools them long enough for us to move in.
“Push forward,” I bellow.
I charge through the opening I see, and I take no mercy.
My element shoots out of me in all directions. Necks snap, screams are silenced, and hearts fall at my feet. I open the earth and swallow as many as I can whole.
Every command has my mind finally slowing to the point I think clearly for the first time since this bloodbath started.
Breath in. Breath out.
My feet pound across the ground to join the small ring of Corentins getting in a formation on their own.
Not on their own. My brother is a fucking beast .
A crazed smile crosses my face as another Corentin cuts down men left and right. There’re no thoughts in his mind and the absent feel of his bond when I focus on him is the only two identifiable things for me to know this isn’t really my brother.
But damn, his replicas fight just as he does.
They’ve given us the first upper hand we’ve had since stepping onto this bloody field.
“Ry, on your left.”
He spins, impaling the guy on a sharp spear of wood just as I lift another off the ground by his neck. Dropping him like a sack of cement, my gaze bores into the eyes of a traitor.
“Once again Leader Tillman is getting the upper hand thanks to the Headmaster,” Claven sneers.
“You lost, Claven. It’s far past time that you accept that. It’s fucking pathetic. Die with some dignity today and admit it.”
His chest heaves just as mine does. My fingers relax at my sides as I wait him out. The hatred continues to brew in his eyes. The temptation to just snatch his mind apart and watch his heart fall out is strong.
I won’t, though.
If he wants to get up close and personal…
“Over my dead fucking body.”
Our elements explode between us as we cast them out just as strong and as fast.
The eruption of earth and fire has the need for vengeance burning through me. We’ve always been the closest matched. He always had the potential to do so fucking much for himself, this realm, everyone, but he chose this.
He betrayed us all.
Our stream of lava grows as we move in on one another. The second we’re close enough, I coat my hands in stone, and he covers his in fire.
His first jab sends heat flashing past my ear as I dodge it. I return the blow tenfold as I pound into his stomach repeatedly.
Each crack of his ribs sends satisfaction down my spine .
I take a hit to my side and grin smugly in his face as his fire sizzles out against my uniform. The pain spreading though sends another wave of anger through me.
So I break his fucking nose with my forehead.
His enraged bellow echoes around me as he stumbles back, then quickly rights himself. He charges at me with a guttural shout and blood pours into his mouth.
Gone is the professionally trained man I’ve sparred with so many times. In front of me is a man crazed by bitterness. He’s lost himself to it.
Pathetic.
I brace myself for the tackle.
Ducking low at the last minute, I flip him and we hit the ground with a quaking thud.
I waste no time rearing back and punching him dead in his already broken nose. My stone-covered fist turns red.
“For selling our training secrets to these scum.”
Punch.
“For betraying your E.F. brothers who fucking fought beside you.”
Punch.
“For letting that fucker take it too far with my Primary on her first day of school to get back at me. To fucking hurt Draken.”
That last one sends me over the edge.
I could’ve made this cleaner, quicker.
The thought of him intentionally allowing that to happen to her and putting Draken in a position to be made out as a monster clouds any other reasoning I had to end his life.
That’s reason enough.
My vision turns red. I don’t stop swinging my fist until I’m punching bone fragments and solid ground.
A hand to my shoulder has me spinning around, snarling like an animal.
“It’s done, T. He lost again. Fair and square,” Ry says, offering me his hand to pull me up .
I tremble from the adrenaline pumping through my veins. My mind and lungs beg me to regulate them both.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Get up.
We still have a war to win.
Placing my hand in his, he pulls me up and in as he claps me on the back. My gaze quickly scans our surroundings and motivation sears through me as I see our army still pushing ahead.
I pull back from him and give him a nod. “Let’s finish these—”
My words cut off as pain laces across every pore in my body.
Ry catches me as I smother down a grunt and stumble forward into him.
Not my body, my soul.
I search my chest and the depths of my being.
I try to latch onto the piece pulling from me. It continues to slip away no matter what I do.
He’s dying.
Core.
Caspian
The fleeting screams pierce my ears, and a smile crosses my face.
They should be grateful I spare them such quick deaths.
I wish they could see it was me laying waste to them.
Their ingenious illusion may have separated me from my family, but all it did was put me in the belly of the beast.
I allowed my shadows to carry me out of the turbulences of the elements and they led me right here.
Right on their side of the line .
The fools run past me, mistaking me as the shadows of all their bodies as they plow headfirst toward my brothers. My Primary.
Some slip by. It’s inevitable with this many fucking pests, but some unfortunate many won’t get free of me.
Somewhere near the tree line, a collection of bodies is starting to pile up as I pluck them from their stampede and kill them on their way to their final destination.
I’ll continue to erase as many of them from existence as I make my way toward the line of traitors and rapists ahead of me.
My gaze trails over the back of the heads of those who will die painful deaths if I get my way.
Why the fuck is there one missing?
I furiously look around for the one I was most looking forward to getting my hands on.
He will not escape me.
I’ll hunt the ends of this realm to find that rapist fucker who dared touch what’s mine.
My anger seeps out of me as I shove a shadow dagger through the neck of a man as he runs through my shadows. I drop him into my black abyss and shiver as his body hits the ground wherever my darkness releases him.
The Everglows.
My Primary has already rid the realm of their vile, delusional, stalker daughter. The entire Nexus has proven to be dangerously delusional. The fact they believe they can promise ownership of someone is disgusting. How they die doesn’t matter to me. Just as long as they don’t breathe past today, I’ll be happy.
Dr. Drin.
For all the times I had to experience the way he shoved a needle into my Primary. The blood-curdling screams that tore through her throat as a child haunt me. She was a sweet, curious, innocent baby. He gave no fucks as he traumatized her when he drew her blood.
Claven.
Traitor. For Tillman, I will string him up and deliver him to his feet.
Vicki Gale and her sorry-ass excuse of Nexus members .
Pran and Dillon may have not admitted it to themselves in their two hundred years of torture, but I will not excuse it. She raped them and she will pay dearly for that. They have convinced themselves that it was consensual. The only way. Consent by coercion is not consent at all.
Malvolio Choice. The Summum-Master.
His crimes speak for him. His death may have to be quicker than I wish for. As much as I loathe to admit it, he will go down in history as the most formidable foe we will ever know. He will die as soon as one of us can get to him. It will still be satisfying for me, but I won’t be able to risk toying with him first.
And that bitch.
Silvia fucking Gale.
My darkness takes the reins.
I allow it.
I let my demons out to feed as I push my way closer to the bitch who nearly destroyed me. Instead of haunting me, they purr like pleased little puppies who are thrilled at their time to run free.
My gift swallows men whole as I march through them. My element drowns them on dry land.
I slash my shadow-made sword through the air and relish every surprised scream as I close in. Each death I soak beneath my skin.
It fuels me on.
“Worthless fool went straight for her. Someone bring me my granddaughter,” Malvolio orders hysterically, his voice carrying back to me, and I zero in on them.
“I’ll get her, Master. She won’t be able to resist me,” Silvia practically moans, and I pick up my pace to reach them.
“Go. Do not fail me, daughter.”
I hold in my bellow as the bitch transports away from him with a laugh that makes my teeth grind.
She’ll go nowhere near my Primary. My soul.
“Cas?”
My head shakes to push my brother’s voice out of my mind. I’ve had to block them all out to stay focused on killing everything in front of me. My bond keeps me informed that they’re all fine. If I pick up anything different, then I will break my concentration to communicate.
Find her.
I command my shadows to carry me away.
My gift moves me around the edges of the battlefield as fast as smoke blows in the wind. I no longer bother to hide the trail of bodies I leave behind me. There are already mounds forming from both sides.
I stop dead in my tracks at the edge of the forest.
A sinister sound blows through the trees and bounces around my mind. The evil melody has my heart racing and red coloring my vision.
My gift wraps around me tighter as I cross the tree line and step into my past. I zoom around the forest, hunting for the broken record that continues to echo around me.
My body grows heavy as my shadows slam into my chest. The sudden forced restraint has them pushing against my skin and I gently coax them to calm down.
The four Star gems activated like a snare.
Their commander steps out of her hiding place, smiling and laughing.
“I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist following me. I felt your eyes on me,” Silvia says as she twirls her hair.
I cringe at the look of teenage her.
It’s the same facade she wore when she fooled me.
Bile collects in my throat.
My eyes narrow as she morphs through the years.
Finally, she stands before me in the body she had when she sat on top of me and took what she pleased without my permission.
“Don’t look so angry, honey. We both knew this would happen. I told you, like it or not, you’d be mine.”
My head falls back as a laugh I couldn’t suppress falls from my mouth.
It’s genuine.
“It seems time has not done well by your looks or smarts, Silvia, but your humor has most certainly improved,” I say as I wipe away a fake tear from my mirth .
Her face contorts in rage, but I shake my finger to shush her as I see she’s preparing to spew a bunch of bullshit I don’t care to hear.
That does nothing but make her angrier.
A series of fireballs comes flying at me and I spin around the little cubicle I’m confined to.
Chuckles continue to slip through my lips as she fires off more strikes. Each dodged and each miss has her bellowing in rage. She won’t step across the line of the Star gems, though.
She knows that would mean her death.
In her blind fury, she sets the entire square I’m standing in on fire. A simple flick of my water has the small little flames sizzling out.
I know what true fire feels like. I’ve allowed it to consume me.
She could never compare.
I tsk and shake my head disappointedly. “What exactly was your grand plan? Capture me or kill me?”
“You will be mine. TODAY!” she shrieks. I wince disgustedly at the tantrum. Her chest heaves heavily as she stares me down with a crazed twinkle in her eye. “You’ll sit in my trap until my Master kills your brothers, your parents, everyone not willing to bow to him. He’ll capture that stupid bitch you all share. Then he’ll come here and collect you.”
My eyes trace over her from head to toe.
Teenage me that I’ve kept locked away for so long pokes his little head through my soul. His mop of messy dirty-blond hair covers his eyes, and he brushes it away so he can see her clearly.
Him and me. Me and him .
Were one and the same, but we perceive what’s in front of us so differently.
He wants to crawl back deep inside of me and hide.
Whereas I find no fear at all. Only disappointment.
I don’t allow him to run. I force him to sit at the forefront of my mind and stare down the monster that’s haunted us for so long.
She’s not as scary as she’s always seemed.
I gently coax him to see what I see. Look at her real good, then think about what we’ve become. Can she really hurt us ?
That answer is no. She could never hurt us again.
There is only one who truly could, and she would never.
The picture of my true Primary fills my mind. He runs his fingers through her wild light brown curls, laughing mischievously as he pulls a strand.
The monster before us is long forgotten as he follows the light of my Primary. He runs free through the crevices of my being.
The final dark piece of tainted sludge slips off my soul and I release a deep, clean breath.
“For eighteen long, long years you held a piece of me you had no right to. I allowed your vile claws to stay embedded in me far longer than I should have. That was a me problem. I no longer have that problem, though,” I say as my shadows slowly start crawling down my arms.
The look of pure fear and shock pleases me, but really, I don’t need or want anything else from her other than her head.
I’m not the boy she trapped once in this same situation.
I’m a fully bonded Nexus member to the strongest Primary to ever walk across this realm.
“Believe this day will go however you want. If it makes you feel better in your last few moments of life to think that you and the Master you get on your knees for will succeed, fine by me. I’ll smile smugly over your dead body.”
My shadows caress the first Star gem and Silvia breathes a shaky no as she steps back.
There’s a slight tug in my chest, then a primal sensation sweeps through me.
I smile darkly.
Calling my shadows back slowly, I relish the premature victory that crosses her face.
“Looks like little Caspian isn’t as strong as he thought he was. What’s the matter, honey? Star gems blocking your way?” She laughs.
“Not at all. I just want you to be formally introduced to my little Primary. ”
“Excuse—” Her words cut off as a growl vibrates the space around us. Her head turns frantically, searching for the sound.
A petrified shriek leaves her lips as the wind blowing in behind me knocks her to her ass. She scrambles up, trying to run.
She won’t get far.
Exiting the rays of light that hid her beauty from us, my Primary in her magnificent silver dragon form breathes a ring of blazing purple fire around Silvia.
Her beast lands hard enough to shake mountains.
Smoke blows through her nostrils as she walks through her fire, and they lick her scales lovingly. She lowers her neck until she’s snout to nose with Silvia.
The harmonizing of her roar with Silvia’s screams is the most beautiful piece of music I’ve ever heard.
That’s the only warning she gets.
My Primary’s massive jaws lock around Silvia and she tosses her in the air. Those deadly claws leave the earth as she jumps up and catches the screaming bitch on her way back down.
Blood dribbles through her teeth and the gut-wrenching shrieks send delicious shivers cascading down my spine.
As Willow slings her head back and forth, I smile wildly.
I thought watching my brother tear apart and toy with that abusive farmer was poetic.
This…this right here is a fucking work of art.
Silvia’s mangled body goes flying high one more time and her final scream is silenced as Willow’s jaws close around her. I hold my breath and force my heart to slow so I can hear the crack and crunching of her body.
The roar that leaves her throat when she’s finished has me humming in satisfaction.
My glorious Primary whips her head toward the sound.
Each step closer to me is calculated, precise.
A predator seeking her monster.
The small little rumble leaving her chest has me smirking darkly.
Dangerous little thing .
Her head lowers to the ground, and she opens her mouth.
A messy ball rolls through her bloodstained white teeth and continues to turn over until it hits the toe of my boots.
With a slight kick of my foot, I flick the ball over and stare down at the severed head of Silvia Gale.
She served me her head. Just as she vowed she would.
Perfection.
“Shift, Primary,” I command as I lock onto those feral violet eyes.
She growls in warning at my tone, and I grin.
“Please.”
She purrs.
Dangerous, naughty little Primary.
The light of her shift flashes in front of me and at the same time the Star gems surrounding me explode. My gift was already free, but having that blinding light out of their way, they erupt outward toward their true master.
“Don’t ever do that again. You scared the fuck out of me disappearing like that and not answering all of us,” she fusses the second she’s on two feet. Her fists pound against my chest.
She looks the most beautiful I’ve ever seen her.
Bloodied and battle-ridden. A few marks decorate her body, and I wish I could cut off the hands that left them there. I know her. So I already know they’re no longer breathing.
I snatch her wrist and bring her body to mine.
“You were fucking glorious, Primary. Thank you for rescuing me again,” I say softly as I lay my lips to hers. She melts against me.
Then she crumbles with a soul-snatching scream.
It’s so pain laced, it rips my chest apart.
No…that’s not her scream.
“CORENTIN.”
Her sobs stab me in the heart as my soul starts to break apart.