Page 27 of Soul Bound (Cursed Descent (MistHallow Academy) #2)

27

DRAVEN

The forest is different at night. It is darker and more alive with magick. I can feel it beating through the earth, responding to our presence, as Luc, Vex, and I wait at the boundary between the Academy grounds and the deeper woods.

It’s 10:00 sharp when Matilda appears, Chaos perched on her shoulder like a tiny sentry. She’s carrying the ancient book and wearing that determined expression.

“Follow me,” she says, not waiting for a response. She sends up an orb of light with ease, and we follow it. “The clearing’s deep in where Morrigan and I train.”

We remain silent. The forest floor crunches under our feet. We’re all on edge tonight, waiting to see what eleven o’clock might bring.

The path Matilda leads us down isn’t really a path at all. It twists between ancient trees, their branches reaching out like gnarled fingers in the darkness. The deeper we go, the stronger the magick feels. Old magick. Wild magick.

The energy here is different from what we work with in Hell. Less controlled, more feral. It’s a raw force that is drawn from the earth itself.

“Here,” Matilda says, pushing through a curtain of hanging vines into a perfectly circular clearing.

“Well, this isn’t ominous at all,” Luc comments.

“I agree in the dead of night,” Matilda mutters.

“But perfect for testing power spikes then,” Vex notes, already starting to set up wards around the perimeter. “We should contain whatever happens here.”

Something catches my attention. It’s a subtle shift in the air. Looking at Matilda, I can see she feels it, too. Her hands are shaking and a magickal breeze is gently floating her rainbow hair.

“It’s starting already,” she says quietly. “The energy’s building. I’m right about this. I know it.”

Chaos leaps from her shoulder to a fallen down tree, his fur standing on end.

“How do you want to start?” I ask.

“Maybe with some defensive spells?” she says. “But go easy on me, I’m not used to Hell magick.” She gives me a weak smile.

I give her a stronger one back. She may not be used to Hell magick, but whatever she carries inside her is just as ancient and deadly.

“Defensive spells it is,” I say, positioning myself opposite her. “Ready?”

She nods, dropping the book on the ground and planting her feet in a fighting stance.

I start with something basic as Vex and Luc look on. It’s a wave of dark energy that she should be able to deflect easily. But before it reaches her, the spell warps, drawn into a swirling vortex of magick that she doesn’t seem to be consciously controlling.

“Did you mean to do that?” Vex asks sharply, moving closer to observe.

“No,” Matilda answers, staring at her hands. “It just happened. Like the magick moved on its own.”

“Try again,” Luc suggests, his eyes gleaming with interest. “But this time, both of us.”

We launch simultaneous attacks. Nothing lethal, but enough to test her defences. Again, the magick behaves strangely. Instead of deflecting our spells, Matilda’s power seems to absorb them, transforming the Hell magick into something else entirely.

“10:30,” Vex announces, checking an old pocket watch. “The energy’s definitely building. You can feel it in the ground.”

He’s right. The earth beneath our feet pounds with power.

Something’s not right. The power building around her is growing too fast, too strong. There’s an urgency in the air that sets my teeth on edge.

“Matilda,” I start, but she cuts me off.

“I’m fine,” she says through gritted teeth. “Keep going. We need to understand what’s happening.”

Luc and I exchange a look. He nods slightly, and we send controlled bursts of Hell magick toward her. This time, instead of absorbing the power, she redirects it, but not with any technique I recognise, instead with pure instinct. The spells spiral around her before shooting straight up into the night sky, where they dissipate harmlessly against Vex’s wards.

“Interesting,” Vex murmurs, making notes in his notebook. “The interaction between Hell magick and Praxian is transformative.”

“That’s one word for it,” Matilda gasps. “Gods, it feels like my skin is too tight.”

Chaos yowls from his perch on the log, reacting to whatever has his mistress in a tizz. I just hope he doesn’t resort to type because none of us will stand a chance. The ancient book beside Matilda flips open, pages turning rapidly in the magickal wind.

“10:45,” I announce, trying to keep my voice steady. “Maybe we should?—”

But before I can finish the thought, Matilda doubles over with a cry that sounds more frustrated than pained. “No,” she growls, “I need to control this. I need to understand it.”

The air grows heavy with death magick, but not from me. I can feel the spirits stirring beneath our feet, drawn to whatever power is building in Matilda. My Necromancer’s senses are screaming that something ancient is awakening.

“The dead are dancing,” I murmur, feeling them press against the veil. “Whatever you’re doing, it’s affecting the spirit realm too.”

“I can feel them,” she whispers, her eyes filled with rainbow fire. “They’re searching for something.”

Luc steps forward, Hellfire crackling around his fingers. “Tilly, if you can’t control it?—“

“I said I’m fine!” But her voice has a double echo now, like something else is speaking through her. The ancient book’s pages are blurring, symbols rearranging themselves into patterns I’ve never seen before.

“10:50,” Vex calls out, his wards straining against the building pressure. “Ten minutes to go.”

I reach out with my death magick, trying to calm the spirits, but they aren’t responding to my commands. They’re focused entirely on Matilda. Chaos’s fur is standing completely on end now, his amber eyes blazing that same rainbow madness as his mistress.

The ground beneath us trembles, and I catch glimpses of ghostly figures moving through the trees beyond the clearing.

“Skellies,” Matilda breathes. “I’ve raised an army.”

“What?” Luc snaps.

“How?” I ask, giving her a narrowed eyed stare.

“I don’t know!” she cries. “But they are coming.”

They burst out of the ground like grotesque flowers blooming. Dozens turn to hundreds, their bones glowing with that same rainbow energy that surrounds Matilda. This isn’t normal necromancy. These aren’t the controlled, orderly undead I command. These are ancient warriors, their bones etched with symbols that match the ones swirling through her book.

“Oh, this isn’t good,” I mutter and exchange a look with Luc.

“Do something!” he snaps.

“This is the same shit that Night pulled,” I grouse. “It’s going to take me a fucking minute.”

“Then get on it,” he states and strides forward, ready to do some damage.

“10:55,” Vex says, his voice tight.

The skeletal army holds position, their hollow eye sockets fixed on Matilda. They’re not attacking. They’re waiting.

“They’re here to guard something.”

“Guard what?” Luc demands, hellfire now wreathing both hands.

She shakes her head, and the ancient book suddenly slams shut with a thunderous crack. The skeletal warriors snap to attention, moving in perfect synchronisation to form concentric circles around Matilda.

“Draven,” Vex murmurs, moving into place beside me. “Whatever you’re going to do, do it faster.”

I nod and crouch down, pressing my palm to the cold, wet earth.

I close my eyes, reaching deep into the earth with my necromantic powers. They don’t respond to my usual commands, just like underground. Another force, more powerful and older than I can fathom has control over them.

Suddenly, Vex makes a choking noise, and I open my eyes to see that the awakened spirits are infiltrating the rib cages of the skeletons. They are giving the skeletons souls, a secondary master to control them. As the spirits settle, seeping into the bones, the skeletons become more whole. Flesh forms, but it’s rancid and rotting. Within seconds, we have an army of zombies surrounding Matilda, and I am no closer to getting control of them.

“Unholy fuck,” Luc gags. “That is fucking disgusting. Do something, brother, before I vomit up my dinner.”

“I’m trying,” I say, closing my eyes again. I focus harder, pushing my power deeper into the earth, searching for a way to connect with these ancient spirits. But it’s like trying to grasp smoke. Every time I think I’ve found a hold, it slips away.

The clock from the spire of the academy strikes eleven, resounding around the forest, and for a moment, everything goes still. Then, with a deafening crack, the ground splits open at Matilda’s feet. A blinding column of rainbow light erupts from the fissure, engulfing her completely.

“The Praxian!” Matilda screams as it rips through her body, tearing her clothes to shreds.

“Move,” Vex says to Luc, and they step forward, magick at the ready. I fist my hand into the earth, jaw clenched so tight I give myself a headache as chaos erupts around us. The army moves to stop Vex and Luc, but is ignoring me for the time being. I have probably seconds.

I plunge my power deeper, past the surface spirits, past the ancient warriors, down into the bedrock of death itself. If I can’t control them from above, maybe I can reach them from below, where all death magick ultimately flows from.

The zombies are engaging Luc and Vex now, moving with a terrible grace that no undead should possess. Luc’s Hellfire burns through them, but for every one that falls, two more rise. Vex’s magick tears them apart, but still, more rise.

I feel something then, deep in the earth. A current of familiar power. Not the ancient force controlling these warriors, but something older still. The original source of all necromancy, the power that Hell itself borrowed and twisted to its own ends.

“That’s it,” I whisper, letting go of my usual techniques and surrendering to this primal death magick. It floods through me, cold and vast and somehow familiar, like remembering something I never knew I’d forgotten. My Demonic form bursts forth with a roar as the Praxian takes hold of me, flooding me with a kind of magick that makes me want to vomit while crying and curling up into a ball. If I thought Hell’s powers were vile, this is downright heinous. The magick feels like acid in my veins, corrupting everything it touches with its sickly-sweet rainbow taint. It’s worse than anything Hell has ever shown me. It’s a violation of the natural order that makes my Demon form recoil even as it manifests. Wings I’ve never had before, rip through what is left of my skeletal flesh, sprouting from my back in an agonising few seconds that cripple me.

The zombies freeze mid-step, but not in submission to my power. Instead, their hollow eyes flash with rainbow fire, and several of them move with terrifying coordination. They lunge for Matilda, bones clattering, flesh slapping wetly as their rotting hands pin her limbs to the frost-hardened ground. Her clothes, already shredded by the power surge, tear away completely in their grasp. Her scream of terror slices through me like a blade.

“No!” I roar, fighting through waves of nausea as the iniquitous magick courses through my system. My attempts to control them are futile. The harder I push, the more it slips away. The rainbow energy mocks my efforts, twisting my necromancy into something I don’t recognise.

Luc unleashes a wall of Hellfire so intense it turns the night to day, with a roar straight from the bowels of Hell. “Get your fucking disgusting hands off her!” The flames incinerate the first line of the undead, but more surge forward through the ashes of their fallen comrades, their rotting flesh knitting back together even as it burns.

Vex’s spells tear through the horde with increasing desperation. His usually precise movements grow frantic as zombie after zombie rises to replace those he destroys. They crowd Matilda, clawing at her naked body, spreading her legs and holding her down as she thrashes with everything she’s got.

But it’s not enough.

We are outmanned and overpowered.

But that never stopped me or Luc before.

Spotting Chaos yowling in fury between stripping these creatures back to their bare bones with just his teeth, I silently thank Xavier for bringing him here. We need all the help we can get, and this creature is insatiable after being kept on his leash for too long.

My vision blurs with Demonic rage as I watch Matilda struggle, her rainbow hair fanned out against the dark earth. The ground trembles as I pour every ounce of power I have into reaching her.

Then everything stops.

The air freezes, charged with an ancient malevolence. At the edge of the clearing, reality ripples like heat waves over desert sand. A figure materialises from the distortion, which Vex recognises instantly by the low growl that rumbles around the clearing. The zombies part for the figure, although the ones holding Matilda down don’t move.

I exchange a look with Luc, and he nods. We aren’t even going to give this arsehole the chance to take his next breath, let alone rape our woman in front of us. Undead army or not, newly Demonic form that feels like maggots are crawling under my skin or not. This ends now.