Page 120 of Dark Fate

"Hello!" I shout into the void. There's only silence—an all-encompassing silence that fills every crevice and corner of this corridor.

I round a curve, and the hall opens into a vast rotunda, ringed by soaring columns that seem to stretch into infinity. Their marble surfaces gleam in the soft light that filters down from above. Filtered sunlight falls across the mosaic floor in dappled patterns, a kaleidoscope of color and texture that dances beneath my feet like a living thing.

I'm zoning out on the pretty decor when a voice resonates behind me, shattering the silence like a brick through a window—

"Dani..."

It stops me dead in my tracks, every muscle locking up tight, every nerve ending singing with a sudden, electric awareness. I know that voice.

I spin around so fast that my hair whips me in the face. My dress swirls dramatically around me, the fabric rustling like the whisper of a thousand secrets.

Now, without a shadow of a doubt, I know I'm dead.

Rhyland

55

Anger fucking burns in my blood like a raging inferno that won't be tamed. I'm panting like a beast, the air heavy with the smell of burning wood and ozone. Those goddamn Shades, the bastards that touched her, they're demolished now, obliterated. My might, unleashed and wild, turned them into ash and wreckage scattered all over the foggy wooded ground.

Trees that are left from my rage stand like blackened sentinels, their trunks split and smoldering, their leaves reduced to ash. I barely recognize this place now—a grim canvas of my wrath. The ground is scorched earth where my telekinetic energy ripped through it, tearing at the roots and soil. And the sky above—a witness to my onslaught—crackles with the remnants of the lightning I somehow commanded.

Each blast nailed those Shade fuckers dead-on. Watching them disintegrate into nothing felt pretty damn good for a second, but now there's just a hole where victory should be.

I'm hollowed out, scoured clean by the intensity of the magic I apparently wield.

What the fuck did I just do? How did those deadly volts answer my call like eager hounds at my heels? I don't recognize myself anymore. My hands still tremble from the power that coursed through them.

What have I become?

Erikapproaches me, his steps measured but sure on the wrecked ground. He's an island of calm in the tempest inside me—a loyal brother extending a hand through the tumult.

"Rhyland," he states, his voice even and determined. "I've never seen anything like that," he continues, his hand gripping my shoulder—a grounding force. "Not even from you."

I peer at him through eyes hazed by rage and an emotion too close to hopelessness. His silver stare locks with mine, sharp and lucid, piercing through the mess in my head. "You need to get this shit under control. Whatever it is."

His words help deflate the storm within. He's right. I need to leash the magic—now wild and unfamiliar—before it damn near controls me completely. I force my fists to unclench and my frame to relax. The energy simmering under my skin slowly settles as I breathe deep and release the lingering vestiges of that deadly tempest.

"I don't get it," I grind out as the final lightning sparks fade into nothing. "The skies—it fucking obeyed me."

Erik's hand tightens on my shoulder, grounding me further as I struggle to rein in this strange new power. "Since when can I command the goddamn sky?" I ask, anger and confusion still churning inside me. The scent of ozone hangs heavy in the air, echoing the havoc I've wrought.

"We'll figure it out together," he assures me. "But right now, you need to focus on calming down."

His words hit me like a goddamn rope tossed into a raging storm. I grip it like my life depends on it, getting my shit together for Dani's sake—for all our damn sakes.

Lucian strides over with Axilya and Faderyn on his heels. Their faces are a picture of worry and befuddlement as they scan the chaos we're standing in.

"Where's Dani?" Faderyn demands, his voice sharp. The mere mention of her name ignites a fury in me, and it's all I've got to wrestle that anger down. My hands ball into fists, then relax, over and over, while my teeth are damn near grinding to dust, my jaw popping from the strain.

Axilya's pale green eyes sweep across the clearing, searching every inch for some hidden hint amidst the ruin. Lucian's quiet steeliness is tangible even as he observes the scene, those dark brown eyes cuttin' through the chaos like they're on the hunt.

Before I can pull my thoughts together to spill the ugly truth, Lucian's got his lips moving, ready to lay it all out. But hell, if I'm letting him drag it out—not when every goddamn tick of the clock without her is a slice of forever lost to the void.

"She's gone," I snap, shutting Lucian down mid-sentence. My voice is rough, but it grabs everyone by the throat. "Someone, some voice—they took her."

"Took her?" Lucian's voice is laced with pissed-off confusion. "Who the fu—"

I'm on him before he can even finish, "I don't fucking know," I bark back. "Some...thing snatched her away." I lay it all out, everything I saw and the shitshow that ended with Dani just disappearing into thin air.

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