Page 100 of Rising Out of the Darkness (Divine Guardians Duology #1)
Killian
N othing could have stopped the gaping wound that had torn through me the moment I’d found their lifeless bodies.
We had been searching for Declan and Elena for over a week. Every one of our scouts and spies had been sent out on a massive hunt for them both. I was still torturing myself for not being on guard that night.
The night they’d gone missing, I’d ignored my instincts and decided to let them have some privacy. I’d become too comfortable in Oria, and now I’d lost two of the greatest people I’d ever known because of my lapse in judgment.
A group of us had gotten a lead on Alastor’s lair and were making our way to it when we were blown back by a powerful gust of wind and light.
Violet light. Liam and Nayla shot me knowing looks, because they had been with me that night when Declan and Elena had combined their powers in the city.
Violet light had beamed out of them, both beautiful and devastating as they destroyed the beasts threatening to hurt us.
We’d zephyred immediately to the spot where the blast had been the brightest. However, we were far too late.
The sound of Warren’s broken yell as he fell to his knees beside Elena still haunted me, as well as the image of Nayla’s swollen red eyes and Liam’s pale face as he kneeled before our brother.
However, the hardest thing to push to the back of my mind was the image of Clara sobbing over their broken bodies in the middle of the field, as she tried over and over to heal them.
She pushed her dynamis so far that I had to rip her body off them before she fell to the same fate.
Thick gray clouds now hovered over Oria, covering the stars of the night sky, as if fate was trying to tell us we were drowning in the darkness. The cruel joke being that the only light we would now see was the embers of our beloved friends as they went up in flames on their pyres.
With a solemn sigh, I placed the last layer of branches over Declan and Elena’s bodies. “I’m so sorry I failed you,” I whispered as pressure built behind my eyes and my emotions swelled within me.
As the Guardian of the Light, I’d been responsible for protecting Lena. As Warren had reminded me several times in these past two days, I’d failed my duty.
“I’ve failed you both, but I vow to make it up to you. Even if it takes my entire lifetime to do so. Go in peace, my dear friends.”
Tears wet my cheeks as I made my way down the ladder from the top of the pyre. Once my feet hit the ground, I swiped the evidence away. On heavy feet, I made my way back to Clara’s side where her warm hand interlaced with my own.
Not a sound filled the air except the crackle of the small fire that had been built to light the arrows. Warren’s watery eyes met mine and Liam’s as he picked up the bow. We joined his side and we each lit our arrows, aiming at the pyre.
Warren’s deep voice crackled when he spoke.
“May the light always guide you, and the gods surround you.” Then he released the flaming arrow into the sky as we launched ours behind him.
Sobs and sniffles played a melancholy tune behind us as we watched the shining lights of our kingdom go up in flames.
After a while, many of the city’s members retreated to their homes. The few of us closest to Declan and Lena were all that remained. Warren had an arm wrapped around Bri, trying to console her heart-wrenching sobs. The rest of us huddled close, mourning our friends together.
Guilt consumed me, and my dynamis prickled against my skin. With Clara wrapped tightly in my arms, I whispered one final blessing.
An explosion shattered the silence, and a blast of wind knocked us all off our feet.
Liam and I regained our footing, grabbed the nearest quivers and bows, and took aim. Warren and Nayla flanked behind us. We inched closer to the fallen pyre when another explosion halted us in our paths.
Bright light blinded us as it shot straight up into the sky. A deafening cry rang out in the air as I rubbed my eyes to regain my vision.
My breath hitched at the sight before me. It was such a shock that I could no longer hold up the weight of my body, and I crashed to my knees. The others must have joined me, as I heard similar grunts of discomfort as they hit the ground.
“How…It’s not p-possible,” Warren stuttered, at a loss for words beside me.
Two beings hovered before us, illuminated in golden light. One’s gilded wings blazed with a fiery glow, while the other’s onyx-feathered wings reflected the light of the fire like a mirror.
A violet hue pulsed around them both as they fluttered to the ground. Both tucked their wings, and with a flash of light they became hidden from sight. Now, all that stood before us was two people we had never imagined we would lay eyes on again.
Declan and Elena.
The clouds cleared away, leaving behind a perfect view of the stars. It was in that moment, I knew the gods had given us another chance.
Tomorrow would be a new day to rid the evil from our land once and for all. Those bright stars shimmering above us were a reminder to keep hope alive. Whatever the darkness decided to throw our way, we will continue to rise against it.
Even death couldn’t stop the power of hope .