Page 89 of To Free a Soul (Duskwalker Beginnings #2)

But she’d never feel that same relief.

They were gone, Nathair and Aleron. Their breaths had ceased, and they’d left behind those who cared about them deeply. Merikh, too, was beyond reach.

She was slowly losing them.

She feared for Ingram too. That she’d lose him one day if he continued on this path of vengeance. To kill the Demon King? It seemed impossible, even for Lindiwe to achieve.

She feared where he was going when their direction made itself apparent. Ingram was walking across the surface world towards one of the most dangerous Demonslayer guilds she knew of. This will not end well. Zagros Fortress had always been known to be rigid and harsh.

A training facility situated in the barren mountains made any person hard.

The inhabitants destroyed anything that was a monster, and that included monstrous humans.

Their leader was known for being cold and unfeeling – even more so than the one who recently died at Hawthorne Keep, killed by Mayumi, Faunus’ bride.

Lindiwe landed in front of Ingram and thrust her wings out to block his path. Go back. These people will not listen to you. His growl, with his orbs shifting from the blue of loss to the red of rage, warned her to move.

She conceded, flying off before he could charge her.

I don’t know what to do.

“Lindiwe,” Weldir called, and she answered with a hoot as she flew after Ingram. “I know you wish to stay with Ingram, but we have a problem.”

Oh god. What now?!

Lindiwe transformed into a human, landed on a branch, and balanced herself on her feet and a hand. “What is it?”

Her chest seemed to burn more at his voice. Her heart hadn’t stopped sprinting since Aleron and Ingram first started running, and she worried nothing would ever be able to settle it again. That it would always ache in loss, the pain of it as scorching as it was cold.

Those few months of cheer, she’d known they’d come back to bite with horrible little fangs. This was worse than she’d imagined.

“Sayrn has left Earth.”

Dread gripped her around the throat as she jumped to a new branch to follow Ingram. “What do you mean he’s left Earth?”

“We knew this day would come. That one of our offspring would go through one of the portals.”

Terror suffused her so tightly she struggled to get through her next panted breath. “No,” she rasped, her widened gaze pulling away from Ingram to stare at the autumn leaves. “He went to the Elven realm?”

Sayrn, once known as Ari, was exceptionally intelligent. He was also a massive pain in the butt, and violent in a way that differed from Merikh. He wasn’t angry; he was just ruthless. He liked to kill, liked to eat, and his diet consisted entirely of Demons now that he’d grown enough humanity.

“I was checking on all our offspring and noticed his environment was different. It glowed, and only Nyl’theria does this.”

Lindiwe’s eyes bowed in anguish, and her breaths came out more rapidly. Her vision shook as panic clutched her so deep, she was frozen. Within seconds, her lips shook as she let out a sharp sob. “Why?! Why now?”

She was so close to giving up. For a moment, she considered just letting Weldir take her to his realm and forcibly put her to sleep if he could. To let her escape because she didn’t know if she had the will to protect her children, who kept making stupid choices!

But she couldn’t. No matter how much she wanted to escape responsibility, her heart, her burning, breaking heart, just couldn’t.

Her stubbornness wouldn’t let her. Her painful resilience refused it.

I have to choose – again.

Between Ingram, who was about to face off against thousands of humans, or Sayrn, who would be in a world filled with Demons. Both were in danger.

Only one was at risk of death.

Lindiwe managed to shove down the next sob, even if she couldn’t cease her tears. “Do you know which portal he went through?”

“No. Only that he is there.”

There were two portals in Zafrikaan. He’s usually southward, where there are more forests. Where there were more Demons to prey upon.

Lindiwe’s wounded hands gripped the bark of the tree. “Take me to the southern portal,” she demanded.

I’m sorry, Ingram.

Sayrn needed her more, even if that came at a cost.

Within seconds, she was swallowed up by Weldir’s darkness, and she turned transparent for him. She refrained from asking why his form was more solid than usual, considering one-third of him was currently visible when she’d expected it to be barely a fraction of that.

Looking upon him was hurtful. More than ever, she wanted to crawl into his arms and be hugged, even if it was truly just tendrils and barriers and not a real body.

Weldir healed her wounds the moment she arrived, and she was thankful for that. They hadn’t hurt as much as what ached within, and part of her preferred them, as they were a distraction from her inner turmoil.

She hadn’t wanted to admit that.

“Can you please take these two?” Lindiwe asked, pulling away the two babies attached to her, thankful they were asleep and didn’t cry at the loss of her. “I don’t want to take them somewhere so dangerous.”

“Yes. I have more than enough power right now to risk taking them,” Weldir said. “Be careful there.”

Lindiwe nodded as their babies were taken from her person by shadowy tendrils and brought to his side.

“Okay. I’m ready,” she stated firmly, waiting to be sent away.

“One moment. There is something pulsating from you.” A tendril dug into one of her cloak pockets and pulled out the mana stone that had been on Merikh’s table. “What is this?” Weldir asked as he held it in his hand.

“We don’t have time for this!” Lindiwe exclaimed, wondering why he wasn’t sending her away so she could go after Sayrn.

Weldir looked up from the stone, and half his revealed face showed nothing. No emotion, as per usual. “This is Elysian magic, Lindiwe. How did you obtain it?”

“I found it in Merikh’s cave. He had an Elven woman there.”

“I’ll have to ask you for details about that later.” He brought the blue stone closer to inspect the way the centre intermittently glowed a dull yellow. “I’ve never seen this kind of spell before.”

His curious nature got the better of him.

Weldir activated it, and agony like she’d never known cut through her. Lindiwe screamed just as her Phantom form tried to push out of her physical human body. A blinding light brightened his realm, swallowing up all the shadows until only white remained.

It seemed to sear her down to her very soul.

“Stop it, stop it!” she screamed, before everything went dark.

Lindiwe knew she’d passed out. She came to with her muscles twitching erratically, and Weldir holding her limp head from behind to steady it.

“Are you okay?” he asked, a frown marring his chalky forehead.

“No,” she croaked, although she felt nothing, as if he’d healed her or the pain no longer existed anymore.

“It appears to be some kind of sun spell.” He continued to hold her, and for a moment, Lindiwe basked in it – even though there was no warmth of true skin or life.

She’d wanted to be held so badly by him that she kept her limbs loose just for a little while longer.

“This stone is dangerous, but even I can see its potential. This might be the answer we have been seeking.”

“In what way?” she asked softly.

Seeing as she was fine enough to respond, he let go, and she held back the urge to keep him to her.

“Let me experiment with it before I give you a proper answer.” He put space between them while inspecting it inquisitively, his focus solely lost on it.

“You’ll have to take our offspring, though, as it had an effect on all three of you.

The spirits of Tenebris seemed to be unaffected by it. Go to Sayrn.”

“But what about them?” she asked when he handed the sleeping babies back to her.

“It’s unwise for them to remain, as the stone is harmful to them,” Weldir said. “And if it drains my mana, or I have to use a soul for any means...”

She considered telling him she didn’t care if they were trapped here temporarily – no harm would come to them. Yet... the idea of being without them for an extended period, which could be upwards of many years, frightened her just as much.

Reluctantly, Lindiwe nodded and brought them closer to her torso again.

He wants to do it now. And telling him to sate his curiosity later was pointless. He was a fickle demi-god at times.

“Okay,” Lindiwe answered.

There’s no point in arguing with him.

She had a funny feeling her wants would get nowhere with Sayrn as well.

Whatever Weldir had discovered in the stone, she refused to have any hope. She was tired of hoping, only to see things fail.