Page 56 of Steeling Light (Shadowed Debts #3)
There are few among my enemies that I respect.
Even most of the gods have not earned that.
The Champion of Hope and her husband hold a place in my heart, though.
Inni says I should care about them because they were my parents’ friends, but I am not my parents.
No, I will hesitate to kill them because I would join their cause if it were in my power.
Sadly, it is not, and I am sure they’ll die by my blade one day.
~Azric Cyrus, Champion of Death, personal journals
Ainslee
Today is going to be a hard day. Draeven the Ironbound’s armies are marching against Erelith’s. Erelith’s troops are ready, though, and the villages between the two have been decimated.
Sidon carried Rhion and me to the place where the battle would rage the hardest. The House of Steel is racing between the villages to evacuate the innocents before the armies get there, their speed and strength capable of covering ground far more quickly than the gods’ armies.
The House of Light is erecting safe houses for them and preparing hospitals for the injured.
I am the Champion of Hope, the only person in the world with a direct tie to my mother, but the City of Moonlight is her army.
She has enhanced all the powers of the Lesser Houses in Selithar.
The House of Calm no longer only stops a person from feeling emotions, they can stop a person’s body from moving.
The House of Webs have been given more powers within dreams, capable of healing those with broken and fractured souls during their sleep.
The House of Green has been given the ability to regrow the body, as well as plants.
And the House of Light has been given the ability to make its light solid.
None of them can fight like the Great Houses.
Even with these newly gained powers, they couldn’t protect the people we help.
Luckily, Rhion is my husband and has pledged himself to the Goddess of Hope just as all of us have, and his House is uniquely suited to fighting even the god-created creatures that prey upon the powerless.
“The Chained are coming from the west,” Sidon says in that steady rhythm that he always speaks in. “And the Burning Ones are coming from the east. They will meet in this village in minutes. I will do what I can to stall them.”
Old scars crisscross his massive body, but he doesn’t hesitate.
Once upon a time, we’d believed dragons were undefeatable until Maeve proved otherwise when she forced Calyr’s hand and set all of this into motion.
These new creatures were born to fight dragons, though.
Unlike the High Fae, their claws can get through the thick scales that would stop even Nightforged steel.
He leaps into the air. The force of his movement shakes the ground, and a cottage built of wood and thatch collapses.
I hear a scream, but Rhion is already in the air, wings sprouting from the slits in his armor.
He grows as he flies, preparing himself to move entire pieces of the cottage at once.
We’re not here to save buildings. All we have time to save are the lives that would otherwise be lost.
“Come out of your homes!” I shout. Golden light streams from my body, and even here in a forgotten corner of the world, the villagers have heard of us.
I don’t suppress the smile that comes naturally when I see the children and parents running out of the cottages, so similar to the image that my mother showed me.
Dozens of people of all ages crowd around me, and then Rhion lands with a man and woman in his arms. The woman is very pregnant, but luckily, it’s the man who looks like he was injured in the collapsed building.
I focus on the bond between Rhion and me, and he channels his powers through it. From nothing but light, a mirror appears. It’s an obvious twin of the one we placed fifty miles away.
An explosion of fire scorches the countryside as Sidon burns the first wave of the Chained, Draeven’s shock troops.
Midnight black spears the size of wagons are hurled at him, and he dodges, twisting through the air.
This is not Sidon’s first foray against the Chained, nor is it their first fight with him.
On the other side of us, the Burning Ones crest a hill, their bodies wreathed in flames. “I’ll slow them down,” I say as Rhion digs into his pocket and pulls out a burin and a handful of spellstones.
I don’t know exactly how he does it, but the man is unparalleled in enchanting, and it’s the only way to evacuate this many people this quickly.
I raise my arm, and walls made of glowing stone appear around us, giving Sidon just enough room to land.
If the Burning Ones focus on the walls for too long, they’ll break them down.
Light just doesn’t have the same strength that true stone does, and it certainly doesn’t last forever.
Wings made of gold appear on my back, and I take flight. The Burning Ones are setting fire to all the people’s homes, but again, that doesn’t matter. A single lost child is far worse than an entire village of burnt homes.
I look down at the Burning Ones. Once upon a time, they were humans, but they were taken to Erelith’s world and forced to endure torment and training for years until their pain became living flames they command.
Their skin is as hard as stone after years of being flayed alive and infused with magic.
They’re as strong as Steel soldiers who have become giant.
But they cannot fly. Eyes that burn with flames as hot as any dragon fire are set upon me. I Steel my Light, creating spears and swords from nothing, and they attack the assembled enemies. Most of them are blocked or bounce off hardened flesh, but a handful leave trails of blood in their wake.
Not a sound comes from the line of Burning Ones. No amount of pain that I can cause will begin to compare to what they’ve already endured. Flames explode from a dozen of them, and shields come into view for a second, stopping the flames and then disappearing.
They recognize they won’t be able to use fire to stop me, and instead, attack the stone with weapons made from glowing metal, harder than Nightforged steel, and especially good at breaking through hardened objects.
I fight back, creating more and more weapons to attack them, but they simply ignore what I’m doing, accepting their wounds and continuing to break down the wall.
Luckily, that’s when Rhion shouts, “It’s ready. I’m sending them through to the other side.”
Thank the gods. I can feel the wall cracking.
I push more light and power into the cracks, but it won’t hold.
Massive fractures are already appearing.
It’ll be seconds before they get through, and though Rhion and I can hold our own against a handful of Burning Ones, an army like this is far too much for us to survive.
Then Sidon is here, and he glides past the wall, his clawed feet decimating the ranks of Burning Ones below me. They throw fire at him, but nothing on Nyth can compare to dragon’s fire in heat, and his burns second hottest.
Rhion flies up beside me. “Everyone’s through. I’ve broken the enchantment. It’s time to leave.”
I nod to him, and we fly up to where Sidon is hovering. The scent of human flesh is gone now, and the Burning Ones turn their attention to the Chained who have made it through the fire. Battle cries fill the air, and we don’t stop to help either side.
Maerlix told me that darkness would be coming. He told me that Morvael was only a taste of the true never-ending night.
Now I know he couldn’t have spoken truer words. Our single fight with Morvael was nothing compared to this. Morvael was the God of Nightmares, but right now, for the powerless, Nyth is a living nightmare.
This battle isn’t ours, but the screams of the dying Chained hurt me. I can’t help them. I can’t swoop in and save them. So, we watch silently as Burning Ones’ flames go out and so many of the Chained fall, the metal that covers their bodies turning to rust before our eyes.
Once upon a time, these were humans. Once, they had led peaceful lives. Traders, farmers, and craftspeople. Now, each of them has been infused with a god’s power, just like I and the rest of Selithar have. The only difference is that the Goddess of Hope wants us to live rather than serve.
“Do you ever regret accepting your mother’s offer to be her Champion?” Rhion asks from beside me. Sidon is listening to us, but he doesn’t talk very much unless it’s necessary.
That’s a question I’ve thought about a lot recently. Especially after baby Azric was born a decade ago. One day, I will save people from his armies, too. I’m sure I will stand on the battlefield and see him atop Inni, and I will finally, truly be afraid.
But it doesn’t matter if I’m afraid. Catastrophes will come.
Tears will always be shed. That’s life. “We’re saving people, Rhion.
Not just their lives, but their chance to care about tomorrow.
We’re the only ones who could do it, and I’m not being a martyr.
There’s simply no other option, and I don’t think we’d have gotten out of this war completely, no matter what choice I made.
I’d rather fight for the forgotten than take part in wholesale slaughter just to become better at killing people. ”
Then Sidon says, “Vesper used to tell me she mated me because I was strong, not because I fought. Killing tears at the soul, and she wanted my soul to be just as strong as I am, not weaker. What we do is what your people should have done from the very beginning. It is a terrible sadness that only now have you realized what power is best used for.”
I arch an eyebrow at Rhion, and he shrugs. Sidon doesn’t talk very often, but when he does, it’s always like this. And it’s always regarding Vesper, his mate, who died at the hands of the ones the world is preparing to go to war with.
It terrifies me to think of what the world will be like when they come. Even the gods fear the hunters.
But catastrophes will happen. Tears will fall. And we will laugh and smile and dance throughout it all because those are the only things we can truly control. The world is a terrible place for so many, but even the ones who are nothing but prey to the legions of nightmares find ways to smile.
If they can do it, then so can we. We cannot control the tragedies, but life deserves to be lived. The long walks and dancing with fireflies. The touch of hands and lips. The whispers under the sheets. Even now, as my fingers find Rhion’s on the edge of a battlefield, I smile at him.
Life is what matters because, in the end, everyone dies. I want to live until the very moment that I return to the void. And I want to do it with Rhion beside me.
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