Lyric
I kept moving. I couldn’t stop. Just because one of ours was dead, Teagan’s eyes now unseeing, Easton standing stiffly at my back as he tried to work through his rage, didn’t mean the war was over.
I lashed out, four of my Wieldings moving as one, pushing towards the enemy. Fire, Water, Earth, and Air, as much as I could gather, pulsated from me in an eruption of anger and grief and horror.
I could hear the screams penetrating the magical wall of silence around me, but I didn’t let it be the only thing I focused on. I couldn’t.
Teagan was dead. And so was Heath, and Arwin, and Lance, and Megan, and Moran, and the man who’d helped to bake bread for our people. The man who had picked up my sword when I tripped and was still learning how to use a blade.
The woman who had helped me sew myself into my battle leathers so they were a good enough fit and could protect me and not shift while fighting.
The woman who had sold flowers when I first entered the realm.
The family that had sold food on the territory between Fire and Earth.
They were all gone. Dead.
So many names that I did not know, all erased in an instant because of a war we were still losing.
So many names, too many faces. But they would not die in vain.
I would mourn when this was over.
For now, I had to fight. We all had to fight.
Wyn stepped over Teagan’s body as our healers took him away, doing their best to take care of the dead as well as the living. Water gushed from Wyn’s hands, a tidal wave of fury as it crashed over The Gray’s men in front of us.
My heart shuddered at the amount of power my friend was using. I wasn’t even sure I could do what she was doing now. But there was so much anger in her, so much pain, and it was propelling outwards, agony and grief all wrapped in power and death.
Rhodes was at her side then, using his Air and Water to push her tidal wave towards The Gray’s forces. I heard shouts and screams, and then there was nothing, a swath of their army gone by the anger of loss.
Wyn glared at Rhodes and moved forward, slicing her hand through the air as Earth lifted from the ground and pelted the enemy in front of us.
Slavik moved to her side, using his Earth Wielding to add to hers.
The three of them worked as one, no words needed between them.
I looked over at the others, trying to find the people I knew, those of my heart, but it was too hard to see.
People bled and cried, and it seemed Ridley and his team couldn’t get to everybody who needed them.
But they were trying. We all were.
“We need to get Teagan’s father,” Easton called as he joined me, Fire flying from his hands as he fended off another League member who got too close.
I wiped the blood and grime from my face and nodded.
“He’s going to hurt somebody if we don’t get to him fast.”
But we were too late.
I knew we were.
The Lord of Fire, the one who had stayed in our realm after losing his soulmate, stood near The Gray, Fire in his outstretched hands.
He had separated from the Unkindness of Fire, so he had no backup. Somehow, he had made it through the melee and was now surrounded by the enemy.
He had lost his wife, had somehow survived the mortal wound that killed her.
I knew it was likely sheer force of will and a need to be here for his son that had let him remain in our realm and not go where the Spirits roamed.
But now his son was gone, and there was nothing left for the Lord of Fire to fight for.
“Face me, Gray.”
The Lord of Fire’s words might have been quiet, but I could hear them as if he were screaming in my head.
Was that because of the crystals?
Or was I just hearing what I needed to?
“Ah, Griffin. Do you think you can defeat me? You are but a shade of the man you once were. The blood on your hands is even darker than mine.”
The Gray wasn’t shouting, but we were close enough that I could hear.
I kept fighting, focusing on saving as many as I could. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get close enough to the Lord of Fire. We were going to be too late.
Griffin was so wrapped up in his grief and his rage that he wasn’t going to get out of this.
I did not want to watch another friend die.
But I knew my choices were limited.
“We should have ended you a long time ago.” The Gray threw back his head and laughed, his hood falling away from his face.
His skin was so pale it looked like marble. His cheekbones were prominent, yet he had an effervescent kind of beauty. Still, he was almost…put together wrong.
It didn’t make any sense.
Perhaps holding all of those souls within him was so intense, that after corrupting the world as he had, had only created death and agony within beauty.
“You couldn’t take me out when I was a mere aide to the king. Why do you think you can do so now?” The Gray asked mockingly.
“We tried to kill you back before the Fall, and you did nothing. We will take care of you now.”
“No, you won’t. You never will. We both know you are worthless. That you were weak before in the Obscurité, and that it was the Lumière who were the strongest. We both know that you are nothing. You couldn’t even protect your own mate and son.”
I shouted, trying to get Griffin’s attention, to convince him to come back to us where we could fight as one.
But nobody could hear me.
I could barely hear myself over the battle and the dampening spell.
Griffin growled. “You brought the Fall with the old kings. You took everything from me. And now, you’ll pay.” The Lord of Fire raged, Fire bursting from his body, from every pore in his skin as if he had been waiting for this moment forever. The power was unlike anything I had ever seen before.
It wasn’t mayhem, wasn’t a casual display of strength. No, it was targeted. He knew exactly who he was aiming at. The Gray ducked, but he didn’t fight back, not right away.
However, he did look a little scared.
I would relish that look for the rest of my days.
For as long as I had them anyway.
Griffin and The Gray circled each other, shadow against flame as they fought. Finally, The Gray was using his powers and not hiding behind others.
No one seemed to want to get in the middle of this skirmish, but nobody was helping them either.
Red against purple, light versus dark, I could barely see what was happening as I was still fighting off other foes in front of me, sweat dripping from my brow, my body aching as I lost strength.
But I kept fighting—my eye on The Gray and Griffin the entire time.
You created the Fall,” Griffin shouted again, flinging more Fire.
“And you didn’t stop me.”
Everything that happened next did so in a cacophony of silence, the vacuum created by the shadow magic. By the screaming of souls that had been silenced long ago. The ones he’d twisted into his own kind of strength and malice and mist.
I screamed, but still, nobody could hear.
There was nothing left to do.
We had been silent for too long.
The Gray let out some smoke, the long tendrils of death he wielded, and wrapped them around Griffin’s neck. Griffin let his arms spread out wider, his Fire filling the area, burning those on The Gray’s side but not touching a single hair on any of ours.
He looked directly into The Gray’s eyes, then turned to me and nodded.
I held back tears, knowing they wouldn’t help anybody.
Instead, I slammed my foot into the ground and did my best to let the Spirit Wielding within me try to stop the ropes of smoke and death The Gray had let loose.
But it wasn’t enough.
I wasn’t strong enough yet.
But I would be.
I had to be.
Griffin turned back to The Gray and…exploded.
His entire body erupted in flames that shot out as if a bomb had been placed there, the flames burning through the masses.
I ducked, but the Fire didn’t even touch me.
“My goddess,” Easton whispered beside me. I looked up to see The Gray staggering back, his people holding him as they doused the flames that covered his body.
The Gray had a single singe mark on his face, angry and red and bleeding.
It wasn’t enough, yet still, I smiled.
I smiled despite the death and the pain.
Because this proved that The Gray could be hurt.
And I knew that Griffin had done what he needed to do.
He was no longer in pain.
But we were still here.
We moved forward, all of us pushing through the enemy ranks to get at The Gray. Once he was gone, it would be the beginning of the end.
Because the realm was still fracturing, and I needed to piece it back together.
Yet I knew the crystals within me were what would get that done. They were scratching at my skin even now, bursting to get through. But they were not ready yet.
It felt as if there were knives under my flesh, trying to burrow out.
Maybe I wasn’t in the right position yet, or perhaps this wasn’t the right time.
Either way, I knew that once the crystals emerged from my skin, it would bring the Maison realm together as it should be.
At least, that is what I hoped.
I wasn’t sure what else I could do, so I kept moving, kept fighting.
And hoped to hell we got out of this.
Because we needed to.
“You’re out of lords, aren’t you?” The Gray spat. “No more territories, no more leaders. Just a lost king, and a prince who never got his title.”
“And you are megalomaniac who isn’t long for this world,” I shouted back.
“Look at you with the big words. But it’s not enough. You will never be enough.”
The crystals shimmered beneath my skin, and I moved forward, one arm outstretched, the other pushing Water towards those who might come against me.
I could feel my people surrounding me. Delphine and Lanya moving next to Rosamond and Emory, taking out our enemies one by one. The ladies were covered in blood and soot, but they were still moving. Emory limped, but she was still fighting.
Wyn and Rhodes and Slavik came around the other side, all of them covered in blood and bruised and bleeding themselves.
But they were still fighting, as well.
Justise fought with Fire, burning through the enemy as he covered his husband. Ridley was on his knees by a member of the Creed, who was bleeding out.
Ridley was saving him. Saving as many as he could.
And Easton was by my side, fighting, a warm presence that I knew would always be at my back. He would always be there to help me.
I refused to let any more of my friends and the people I cared for die for a man who believed he was owed the power of a realm.
The Spirit Wielders beckoned me from beyond. I could feel their presence around me.
We were going to win.
I would take out The Gray.
Suddenly, the prophecy came back to me, and I knew my sacrifice was coming.
I knew what I had to do. But first, I needed to get closer.
I moved in front of The Gray, and he smiled.
“Tired of letting the innocent die for you?” The Gray asked.
“You’re the one hiding behind the lines, barely fighting. But I see you still have a mark on your skin. You weren’t strong enough once you finally raised your hands to try to save your measly life.”
His hands moved to his face reflexively, but he didn’t touch the scar. Instead, he narrowed his eyes before smiling at me again.
The cruelty in that smile was like an effervescent lullaby leading to nightmares. It slid over my body, but I ignored it.
He was malice wrapped in a package of beauty.
But he would not defeat me. Not today. Not ever.
Because I was the Spirit Priestess.
And we would win.
“I created the Fall. The kings died because they were weak. And now, the King of Lumière and the Queen of Obscurité are gone, taken out as a result of their own failures. Every knight and chess piece I put on the board has brought us here. And you were always two steps behind, falling because you weren’t good enough. You call yourself a savior? You can’t even save your friends. They will die knowing you were weak. Knowing that they put their faith in the wrong Priestess.
“You don’t even know how to use your Spirit Wielding. You are weak, and you have always been. No amount of training and leather will pull you from the path I have set for you and me. The path of death. At least for you. You will die by my hand.”
“No, I don’t think I will.”
He shot out his arms, shadow magic and Spirit Wielding blending into a rope as it wrapped around my chest. I threw out my arms, my Spirit Wielding pushing against the shadow. It sliced through the rope easily, and The Gray eyed me for just a moment before he smiled. Fear slid through me.
I had figured out how to stop the shadow magic.
But I didn’t think it was enough...
No, not yet. This wasn’t the end.
I was proven right as The Gray moved forward in an instant, the deafening cacophony of his dampening spell making my ears ring. I felt a trickle of blood as an eardrum burst, and others screamed, falling to their knees—even those on The Gray’s side.
He was killing everybody.
Easton appeared, staggering forward with his Fire Wielding at the ready, but The Gray moved his shadow, slamming Easton to the ground, burying him in earth.
I screamed, using all of my elements—Fire to slash across his face, Water to drown him, Air to pull the oxygen from his lungs, Earth to bury him.
He took each in stride, never even moving.
I wasn’t strong enough.
I couldn’t use all five together. At least, not yet. But I was trying.
I could do this.
The Gray finally moved, and I barely felt the pinpricking sensation that assaulted me.
I couldn’t hear the screaming anymore, but I looked down at the rope of shadow penetrating my chest, piercing my heart. I blinked up at him, wondering how he had done it.
This couldn’t be the end.
No. I was the Spirit Priestess, and I hadn’t yet pulled the realm back together.
At that thought, the crystals erupted from me, shards of pain slicing my skin like a million pieces of glass erupting from my body. I looked into The Gray’s eyes and knew he thought he’d won.
And then there was nothing more.
This was death.