Page 56 of Shadows Ascend (Remnant Archives #2)
A thundering knock rattled the metal door of the ship’s cabin and the dual shadow panthers skidded to a halt.
Weaving shadows into my hands and curling them over my arms, I rose, indicating them to stay back. Breathing deeply, I slowly exhaled as I threw open the latch and shoved the heavy metal door open with my shadows poised.
I was met with a blast of icy rain and only half of the sea king’s giant body in the doorway. Bowing down, he roared over the crashing thunder. "Trouble on the horizon!"
I grimaced when the water of his beard spattered upon my upturned face, frigid and icy, with the strong smell of fish and salt. Throwing a look over my shoulder at my soulmate and daughter, I narrowed my eyes, weaving shadow around me to block the storm and to wipe off the water. "Stay here."
Emon growled. "For now."
Riella nodded, her tiny features took on a deadly scowl, like a beautiful avenging baby angel. "For now," she growled, mimicking Emon's tone, stretching her arm out for her shadow spear that quickly responded to her summons. An impressive feat for a faeling who just learned to manipulate shadow.
Looking between them, my lips pressed into a thin line. They were two halves of my heart and just as stubborn as I was. Shaking my head, I faced the water drenched Lir and stepped out into the violent storm with the door slamming shut behind me.
Secretly, I wished it would lock, to keep what was my heart tucked safely inside beside a warm fire. I smiled softly, when the sound of a click could be heard over the bellowing winds. Sending the enchanted cabin my thanks and gratitude, I tilted my chin to Lir with calm resolve. "Show me."
Following him, rain and now…hail, pelted down upon us and I instantly thickened the shadows, not relishing the idea of being bruised by golf ball sized ice. Unfortunately, the shadows did not keep out the cold and my body began to freeze in the sleeting winds.
Lir's hand gripped my shoulder when the ship lurched harshly to one side, forcing me to slam into his solid frame. "There," he thundered, steering me and pointing north. "Mi daughter sings o' a red glow."
I tracked his pointed finger with dread knowing what I would see…and fate did not disappoint. Lightning lit the sky, revealing a deep burgundy haze oozing across the horizon, eating the storm.
The chill that was slowly freezing my body took no time to freeze my heart. My lost shadows, stolen from me by the Sanguine, had finally come. Twisted and perverse, they had been corrupted beyond recognition and there would be no mercy from their deadly intent.
My lips pressed into a grim line with Lir’s strong hand still holding me steady. "So Deirdre finally makes her next move." My teeth clenched harder, hands fisting at my sides.
"Aye, that she has. Yer lead lass."
“How long do we have?”
Lir shrugged, “ye may have ten, fifteen minutes.”
Feeling a sudden weight on my other shoulder, I looked to find Riella's spirit guide hissing into the howling wind. Reaching up, I smoothed down its twitching rabbit ears, scowling with him, my mind racing. "Any way we can avoid them?" I hollered back through the thick sleet.
Releasing me, Lir turned to pick up his large shovel, throwing coal into the hot furnace, steam rolling out as the flames sputtered from the pelting hail, clouding him in smoke. He shook his head at me. "Nay lass. One way in, one way out to The Well o’ Souls."
Lightning cracked open the stormy night followed by the thick rattling boom of thunder. Still stroking Zaki, I assessed the narrow passage through the seas where the Sanguine shadows blocked our course.
"My dormant shadows won’t be enough to take on the corrupted lilin," I cursed.
Zaki hissed at my confession, jumping down from my shoulder, his ear twitching towards the cabin.
Lir nodded at the spirit guide, "Ye be right." Looking at me thoughtfully, he added, "forgive me goddess, bit dinnae ye have a soul wraith?"
My head shot up. "A soul wraith?"
"Aye lass, yer soulmate lover. He is a soul wraith no? N’ they have unlimited power. They're no longer bound by the laws o' the universe."
A soul wraith…they were legends only…myths. Made from broken oaths, sacrificial vows, and deep darkness. They had never been seen, never even existed—the cost to become one was too great. My mother knew that which meant—
“No cost is too great when your life and our daughter’s hang in the balance,” Emon whispered in my mind, his dark presence suddenly beside me.
I turned angrily, my hair whipping across my face, seeing Riella standing beside him using her spear to stay upright on the lurching ship. Quickly, I weaved shadow around her to shelter her from the harsh elements before glaring at my soulmate. “And what of your life—”
His chuckle was dark, lacking the warmth that normally followed his confident smile. “It is tied to yours now.”
I inhaled sharply, taking a small step back, stumbling slightly on the rocking ship.
Seeing my retreat, he frowned, raking his hand through his shadow hair, “You know I will never leave you, my little umbra—”
“Oi! Ye might be wanting to save this bickerin’ for another day,” Lir thundered and we all turned towards where he nodded.
Riella gasped and I reached for her, pulling her to my side.
Gritting my teeth, I assessed the growing Sanguine shadows. Their reach was now massive. Meant for one thing—to engulf us all into its ravenous oblivion.
"Limitless or not Emon,” I stared, clearing my mind, building my own shadows around me. “You cannot do this alone, Sanguine shadows are infinite with the lilin. We will need to weaken it enough to not risk you getting corrupted as well.”
Riella whimpered and tugged on my arm. “Maedere?”
Bringing my attention to her, I noticed her body trembling. “What is wrong, chickadee, are you cold? It is probably best for you to go back to the cabin and—”
She shook her head violently. “No! It’s not that…they hurt,” she whispered looking back at the Sanguine shadows now quickly approaching us.
I dropped down in front of Riella, gripping her shoulders firmly and fixating on the torment swirling in her eyes that I didn’t recognize before. "You hear them?" I breathed and glanced up at Emon.
He frowned, crouching next to us. “What do they say, my cub. It’s okay, just tell us.”
She looked over my shoulder, her face pinched with pain. "They are saying… it takes and takes , hungry, draining, " she let out a shaky exhale and looked back at me with tears, " it kills, lost, forever. Release. Release us. "
I stood, whirling around and gazing harshly up into the storm at the corrupted lilin.
“Lass, what be ye orders? We dinnae have much time.”
The winds stung my face. " Emon? "
"Little umbra," he said wearily, his darkness rising to meet mine.
Shea’s words from our last dinner together crept into my mind. There were two ways to defeat the lilin. One I did not have yet, and the other—he had said was a myth. A myth that was standing next to me, a rising growl rumbling in his shadowed chest.
A soul wraith.
"If they are in pain," I whispered, "then the Sanguine, it is draining them, killing their souls forever, and feeding its power. The blood crystal did the same in The Under, it devours any essence for power."
Emon spun me to him, gripping my shoulders tightly, "What are you asking me, Remnant?"
I closed my eyes, my chest splitting into two. There was no saving my lilin. "They are souls and they are in too much pain. End it."
He snarled. "No. The umbras…they are a part of you. To kill them, would be to kill a piece of you. We will simply defeat them, the Sanguine will retreat back to their master. Deirdre would not risk losing her new power."
"Better to be the hand of a merciful death,” Lir joined the argument. “Ye lass be right, soul wraith.”
Emon bared his teeth at him, the ship lurching at the same time. "There has to be an answer in The Well."
I shook my head, unable to meet his eyes, knowing my resolve would break if I did.
"This is what Deirdre is expecting. She thinks I don’t have it in me, that I will fail.
Leading the Sanguine to The Well, where it can grow even more powerful.
It is why they have not attacked outright, why they linger just beyond. "
Riella cried next to me. “Maedere, they are begging.”
Emon released me, snarling, "Fuck."
Barely able to inhale, my chest splitting into two, I spoke along our soulmate bond, feeling the vows of darkness etched on his skin, ordering them, " I command you, Emon. Be my hand of merciful death, release my shadows to eternal peace ."
A long pause, waves crashed over the sides of the ship and poured over our feet. Riella clutched harder to me.
"So be it," Emon snarled, then roared. A sound of defiance, of anguish, of fury, and of death.
I opened my eyes to see his soul wraith blur into shadow, rising high above us, unaffected by the elements. Lir raised his head with me, no longer jovial, grief etched even into the strands of his beard.
Sensing his powerful presence the Sanguine shadows turned towards Emon, hungry for the infinite power he held. I watched his darkness waver. Both of us sharing this loss, the heartache doubled along our bond.
Waving his hand, Lir wove a huge wave from the very depths of the ocean and Emon shifted.
The bright flash revealing his massive panther, perfectly poised onto a platform of water.
Regal and powerful, his tail curled around him and his fangs flashed brightly through the storm when his jaws opened wide.
He roared, a terrifying and horrible sound, quickly followed by a pure white light, the same light Ethereal used to destroy worlds. The goddess’ power that he had been blessed with since birth. Without his weakened body, Emon's soul could access it easily, even without Ethereal’s presence.
My breath held when his white light hit the Sanguine shadows, and I stumbled when I heard their screams, collapsed when their darkness was burned away, fell when inch by inch my beautiful darkness died.
Tiny hands reached for me, rolling me to my back with begging cries but I could not tear my eyes away, watching in agony as a piece of my soul died with every death of my loving shadows.
When Emon's second wave of light hit them, I threw my head back and howled. I felt my innate power call to me. Infinite shadows, from the seas and skies rose from their hiding, silently watching the exorcism of the Sanguine from their kin. Like attendees at a funeral, they hung suspended in the roaring winds of Wrath’s territory to bear witness to the death of darkness—my most loyal friends.
"Goodbye, my loves," I whispered. "To the life given and the life taken too soon, the goddess take you with her golden light to live freely within our hearts where the devoted and young never die…" I gritted my teeth. "I will avenge you."
And when they burned from existence, it felt as if I did too. My eyes closing to the memories of their protective love, pure in their darkness, one last time.