Emre mumbled incoherently.
A massive concussion struck nearby, and both were thrown from their feet, Emre’s body striking a column base. He crumpled, too dazed to care or protect himself. In a bit of clarity—or a fitting moment of it—he realized the scars along his forearms did not itch. Those physical memories he used to fuel his anger, his desire for revenge, they no longer fed him.
And here is the end.
His mind was nearly empty now, the moment coming for him like the dawnbreak sun coming for the day. A chasm spanning the breadth of Emre’s connection to the world of Life. He struggled to open his eyes, head groggy, breathing shallow. Shadows poured over him, draping him in their peaceful darkness. Rough claws grabbed him by his arms, his legs and body.
“Perhaps it best I let my daemons show you the way to the Pit, Emre Benld.”
The ground underneath began to tremble. Statues toppled from their columns. Aged vases plummeted and shattered. The billowing shroud of onyx fog rippled.
From the mist emerged two figures. Wrinkled figures with claws and spikes. Figures with thick banded scars around their daemonic necks and a singular horn warping upward. Figures with bright crimson eyes.
Edric and Alandy Benld. His parents.
“By the Arbiter’s bloody axe,” Lojen swore. Emre could barely register them as the pair of daemons who had once been his parents circled closer. The drakken looked his way. “What do we do, Em?”
He couldn’t imagine taking any other route to this point. To get closure from Cadrianna. To get Brynn back. It had been all for them. For his family. It’d been worth it.
“Sur…vive.”
Edric Benld bent over, the former regent’s front claws digging into the sandstone as the daemon’s back legs pushed with a sudden burst of speed. The daemon in the body of Alandy Benld threw back her horned head and bellowed an ungodsly sound, then charged. Their claws scrapped the earth, their crimson eyes illumining hatred.
Stepping in front of him, Lojen crouched, his talons extended on one hand, the Hammer of Mother Marrow in the other. Emre tried to tell him to stand down, but his words came out as a babble. The drakken braced himself as Edric tackled him, Alandy a mere heartbeat behind. The three tumbled backward, missing Emre completely as they fell into the copse of columns.
Emre’s head lolled to the side as he saw Lojen kick his powerful legs and thrust the daemonic version of his father away. His sweet, loving, caring mother tore at the new wardkeeper’s snout with her claws, his exoscales taking a beating, some ripped away, leaving exposed meat and purplish blood. Lojen screamed in a berserker rage as he grabbed the lithe daemon by the waist and tossed her. She slammed into a column, sending the cyclopic statue crashing down.
Lojen, they are…
The drakken’s freedom was short-lived as Emre’s doting, honorable father bore down on him anew, the former regent’s claws rasping across his back, ripping through his sleeveless furred vest, tufts of mammoth hair flying everywhere as the vest was ripped clean off. Lojen brought the Hammer to bear, swinging with all his strength, the muscles of his back and arms stretched to their limits. The greenish-ironed head whirred as the runes glowed ferociously. The Hammer shattered the scaly flesh of Edric’s chest, the skin parting like ripped linen threads. The beast howled but Lojen brought the Hammer down upon the creature’s horned skull, crushing its daemonic life.
Father… Tevun… like you…
Alandy leapt at Lojen like a harpy smelling offal. She scrabbled up the drakken’s back, ripping and gouging with claws like steel. Lojen’s exoscales gave way under the daemon’s blows, daemonic fire from beyond the veil of Life scoured his muscles. The drakken dropped the Hammer. Lojen grabbed the daemon’s head with both his claws as Emre’s mother tried crawling towards his prone body, and yanked her away with the last of his will. The beast vaulted over Lojen’s head, shoulders grazing his wardkeeper horns, which elicited that ungodsly howl, and the berserk drakken slammed the former regentress into the sandstone. She tried to flip, but Lojen brought his boot down into her withered face, smashing through leather and bone alike. The regentress’ legs flailed as life fled from her.
Emre’s arm reached for his mother’s clawed fingers. Mother…
“I grow tired of this game.” Lu Har stepped into view.
The drakken wardkeeper stood over Emre as the Fallen’s hands became encased in blackened aether. The Fallen’s palm came up and lightning sparked above, dancing from his fingers. The electric blast struck Lojen clear in the breast and the wardkeeper went sprawling, his exoscales smoking. Emre’s torso bled freely, his eyes rolled back into his skull.
This is it. Papa, Mama, I’m coming. Brynn…
LV
Cadrianna
VALERIA WHEELED AROUND a large dune as the sands tremored below.
Soldiers dawdled about the edge of a canyon underneath Gargantua and when the truck came bearing down on them, they opened fire with bullets and Ignis alike. Cadrianna and the Dunleiths ducked as the bikrome floored the vehicle. Bullets clanged off the metal grill, shattering the windshield, thin smoke rising from the engine. Valeria spun the wheel, jerking the truck off-road, sand spraying as Ignis flames flashed overhead. Panging of more gunshots as they wove into the heavy fog that was so black it was as if the void had come into the world of Life. Cadrianna half-expected the sound of wailing souls to be heard.
The ground undulated even more, as if something was coming closer.
“We’ll worry about these bastards,” Finnus said, his peridot pupils glowing as he burned his aetheurgy. Yellowed air of Aere whirlwinded around his hands. “You find Emre. Protect him for us.”
The bikrome slammed on the brakes, tires skidding through the sand, truck nearly flipping sideways. Cadrianna jumped out as bullets ripped into the side of the vehicle. Finnus unleashed his twin yellow tornadoes in the direction of the gunfire. Valeria hit the pedal and flung arcs of sand everywhere as the Dunleiths raced off.
Cadrianna sprinted to the edge of the canyon. A figure stood in the center of the Temple grounds, looking up. Lu Har. And he was waiting for her.
“CAD, I DON’T LIKE THIS. THESE QUAKES, THEY ARE DRAKES.”
Gripping the Strix tight, she made her way to the trail leading into the canyon, steadying herself against the quaking dunes. Predators lined the trail, soldiers with their wheellock rifles. All watched her, not gunning her to shreds. Seems she was expected.
Lu Har looked a bit worse for wear, his long locks disheveled and sandy. There were tears in his bloodred robe. The black mist blew about his feet. Cinder circled above, the drake’s great wings flapping.
Emre lay at the Fallen’s feet.
“DON’T BE HASTY. HIS SOUL HASN’T YET CROSSED THE VEIL. THESE DRAKES, THEY COME FOR THE SEAL.”
Seething, Cadrianna stopped a dozen paces from the Fallen. She gripped the daemon blade so tight her hand started to throb. Emre was lying face up, breathing, but barely. His suit jacket and shirt were soaked with blood, his vest ripped apart in his abdomen. Face ashen.
“Remember your place, Cadrianna, my love,” the Fallen said in his silky tone, the one that she up until recently thought devilishly handsome. Gods, how could she ever? “You were bonded for just this purpose. To be here and finish what was mine own plan. To kill in mine own name.”
“I was never yours in the first place.”
“You are mine. Always have been. I’ve put too much into your molding. Spent too much time making sure your heart and soul were beleaguered enough to become my weapon. You were made to be my scourge. See how it fits you. The blood of Nightingale flows through your veins. Diluted, but still it flows. Nocturne wouldn’t have bonded you if you weren’t meant to rule His blade.”
