Page 14 of Shadows of Air and Earth (Remnant Archives)

R iley shifted uncomfortably while we watched Remnant fade into the darkness, and I found myself wishing she would come back, if only to save me from the awkward silence between us.

I was hurt and confused, afraid of the answers to the questions burning in my mind.

Who had he used his power on? Why? When?

What happened to them? Did he kill them?

And as these thoughts echoed over and over in my head, none of the answers Riley could possibly have seemed adequate enough and that… terrified me.

"Xi—" he attempted but was cut off by a sudden sonic blast bursting from the far reaches of the tunnel. Flying backwards, I grunted when I hit Riley’s solid body, his hands firmly gripping my shoulders to place me back on my feet while we both gagged on the sudden concentration of that vile smell the general so lovingly called troll ass .

But that wasn’t the worst of our worries, no it could never be that simple. Like a quake that broke the surface of the earth, the sound of quartz cracking and the thunderous booms of large slabs of stone caving in all around us was terrifying.

"Shit!" I screamed, my knee slamming into the floor, my hands slapping against the smooth surface while I gritted my teeth, willing the stone to mend.

My eyes widened, feeling the utter destruction of the tunnel itself and the pressure of the lac above, trickles of water already seeping into the stoney layers.

Pouring more power into it, I cursed again.

It was too much, compromised almost beyond saving.

I snarled, almost . I wasn’t about to let the one thing that had been my salvation and my freedom end so tragically.

If I did, then what was it all fucking for?

The never ending training, the tortured labor to build character, the faeling dreams of escaping, the hopes to one day be stronger so that I would have my vengeance and take back my life.

"How can I help?" Riley knelt beside me.

Turning to face him, I was close enough to see the anxious lines on his handsome face, knowing that it wasn’t for the worry of being buried alive, but out of concern for me. It pissed me off. “If I refuse your help will you collar me and force my hand?” The words escaped venomously from my lips.

Green brows furrowed together, hazel eyes flashing with hurt and anger.

“Be angry at me all you want now terrella but not at the sacrifice of your own life. Please. Tell me how I can help, and when this is over, I promise, I will give you the answers you seek, I will walk away if that is what you wish but only when I know you are goddess damn safe.”

Eyes watering with bitter tears, I whispered the truth while my heart broke for the tunnel and what was already beginning to feel like the loss of him, "I won’t be able to hold it back."

More roars and bellows, thunderous booms, and falling rocks surrounded us, all of which Riley ignored, his gaze never leaving mine.

The air stirred and I closed my eyes against the familiar calming feel of it while my hair was brushed back from my face.

Snapping my eyes back open, I stared straight into Riley’s glowing hazel ones, two perfect andalusite gems, ones that I could horde like a dragon, peering deeply into for the rest of my life.

I wasn’t sure if I could ever let him walk away but also was not sure if I could ever stay.

His entire body leaned towards me as we shared one breath.

"I got you terrella and I always will even if you don’t want it. "

I gasped when violent forces of air exploded all around us and I sighed with partial relief. The combination of Riley’s pressurized air and my earth powers forced the stone to shift back in place and the cracks to mend, taking the strain off my body but not my heart.

That was us, an unlikely pair of elements weathering the storms, manipulating our fate with air and earth—smoothing surfaces tarnished and blemished by scars and broken dreams.

Except those dreams were slipping away.

Ear-splitting roars, a thunderous crash, and another shuddering quake through the tunnel tore our gazes from each other and we peered deep into the darkness where large mounded forms appeared.

Riley’s eyes narrowed. “Something is coming and coming in fast.”

I nodded in agreement, I could feel and hear the forceful skid of a creature heading quickly in our direction. Steel glinted in the darkness as Riley drew his scimitars, its metal sliced through the air.

Our breaths collectively held as the sliding sound came to a forceful squeaking halt right at our kneeled bodies. Riley’s blades were poised across a pale throat, emerald green eyes encased in a halo of dark hair sparkled from the general of Faerie.

I blinked slowly with understanding, Remnant Dark had been fucking thrown several feet back through the tunnel and had ended up sliding across the quartz to be delivered at our feet.

“Oh hello, amicis .”

Friends. I blinked again, she had just called us friends in ancient fae.

“Fucking goddess,” Riley cursed, quickly removing his blades.

A feral grin of her white teeth flashed in the darkness. "That didn't quite go according to plan," she snickered, "I can't imagine why? Even the shadows attempted to slightly coerce them."

I quirked a brow down at her. "Slightly?" Goddess help us, this could not be the deadly general they recounted terrifying stories about to keep fae in line—she was…she was…

"One of us," Ri finished my unspoken thought but there was worry underlining his words…because for now there really wasn’t an us. Snapping his hand down with a masking chuckle, he held it before Remnant Dark. "Need any assistance, General?"

Grunting, she clasped hands with Riley and we all stood in one fluid movement, facing the roars that were getting closer and closer to where we stood.

Sighing, Remnant straightened her leather vest, sweeping her hair back from her face and giving me a quick second look.

"Not to make you uncomfortable or anything, but did you know that you are absolutely irrevocably stunning with your hair back? "

Riley choked next to me and I felt my eyes widen more than they had when I first saw her gazing up at us after having been tossed like a sack of potatoes by fucking trolls.

Grasping my hair, I flung it back over my face.

"I hardly think that should be the point of our conversation, General.

The tunnel is caving in and I can't stop it quickly enough to fight trolls.

Riley's air is the only thing holding it back from fully collapsing…

" The burn of bitter emotion seared my throat as I spoke that truth aloud for a second time today.

"That's not all," she added, pressing her lips together and shaking her head, "these trolls. They are protected somehow, my shadows can't touch them."

I sputtered despite myself. I had seen her shadows take down possessed spirits from beyond the veil. There was absolutely nothing that could ever defeat them. "What do you mean your shadows can't touch them, what kind of power can do that?"

I could just make out her shrug in the darkness. "No idea but killing them is out of the question."

"I'm sorry," I added dryly, "did I just hear you say you don't plan to kill the horde of trolls trying to annihilate us by bringing this tunnel down on our heads?"

Green eyes sent me a sharp look. "Whatever has shielded them has also hurt them, it is driving them feral." She shrugged again. "Besides you would be mad too if you were a giant troll stuck in a tunnel with no end in sight and smelled like that."

On cue Riley gagged. “Not to break up this lovely tête-à-tête,” his nose wrinkled with disgust, “but I am pretty sure we better come up with a plan soon because I can’t take another moment of this putrid air.”

Tilting his chin to the tunnel, we could see the clear outline of darkened shapes charging towards us, clubs bashing against the walls, their escalating howls and sweet goddess—red eyes? Trolls did not have red eyes. This must have been what the General had meant by protected .

I shivered when a deep sense of foreboding shot up my spine. I was never one to ignore these kinds of feelings. It was a warning…of something beyond our understanding, something I didn’t want to know.