Page 153 of Soul Forge

Sypher pushed himself to his limits, only stopping long enough to drink something and wait for his aches to subside enough to carry on. Each landing was a fraction harder than the last, but his endurance was astounding. He managed the whole journey in two days with minimal sleep.

Elda ate when he did and snatched short bursts of sleep on his back, just enough to keep her going. By the time they saw Rift in the distance, Sypher was almost spent. She knew he could draw on Vel if he had to, but she got the sense that he was saving the power of his demon soul for when they needed it most.

The ground gradually changed as they made their way out of Eden and into the beginnings of Rift. When the mountains they were aiming for loomed on the horizon, the trees thinned out, the rolling hills flattening to create a wide, empty plane. Lush green grass turned coarse and dry, the dirt beneath paling from brown to gold. The further east they flew, the higher the temperature rose until Elda was sweating inside her armour. There were no clouds to offer shade, the sun beating down on them from above.

The golden sand began to rise and fall in gradually increasing mounds until they soared over vast dunes, some of them exposing the craggy orange rocks beneath when the wind whipped the dust away. Up ahead, the mountain range was coated in a heat haze, its edges wavering and rippling under the relentless sun.

Elda heard a growl rumble through Sypher when he spotted his target, picking up the pace even further to try and reach it.

Elda squinted through the rising dust, thankful for the cloak shielding her from the sun beating down on them. Movement up ahead caught her eye, a black speck against hazy orange stone. It winked in and out of existence, appearing further away from the ground each time. When they drew close enough, a shock of arctic blue hair could be glimpsed through the haze, the glint of a blade flashing as it tore a hole in the atmosphere for the wielder to pass through.

Lillian.

“Fuck!” Sypher hissed. “She must be insane!” His eyes were wide, his throat bobbing when he swallowed. Elda’s heart dropped into her boots when she saw that he was afraid.

“What’s wrong?”

“The mountains. I didn’t sense it when Nova fell. We must have been too far north for me to pick her up.” She could feel his panic pulsing through the mental link between them.

“Her?” Elda echoed.

“Ose. It’s unmistakable.”

“I don’t understand.” Elda frowned.

“Ose is the only Behemoth to ever escape me. We almost killed each other the first time we crossed paths.” He was still flying towards Lillian at breakneck speed, intent on catching the fae despite the revelation that a giant demon was apparently hiding somewhere nearby.

“I don’t see a Behemoth.”

“It was six hundred years ago. I knew she went into hibernation so she could heal, but I never found her afterI recovered. She must have concealed herself inside the mountains to hide from me.”

Terror skittered down Elda’s spine. “How can you be sure?”

“Remember back in Grimgarde when I said I could feel the demons in the soil? This is the same. I can feel her heartbeat like it’s my own. And now Lillian is using ancient magic right beside her.”

“She’s going to wake her up,” Elda gasped.

“She’s going to get us allkilled.”

His voice became a growl when he allowed Vel to take the reins, hands clamping around her thighs. His skin paled, dark veins spreading out around his left eye. The pupil expanded to swallow the red, blacker than sin, as he shot forwards like a cannonball. Elda flattened herself against his back, stomach lurching when his speed threatened to unseat her.

“What are you going to do?” she called out, eyes watering in the gale.

“Rip her off that fucking mountain and drag her back to Saeryn myself,” Vel snarled. "Lillian!" At the sound of his voice, razor-sharp and laced with ice, the fae dropped onto a rocky ledge and turned, her head whipping round to gawk at them. She yelped when Vel switched courses at the last second and grabbed her around the waist, the very tip of his left wing skimming the mountainside as he yanked her from the rock.

“Let go of me!” Lillian screamed, slamming the hilt of her katana against his hands, but Vel was enraged. He kept a firm grip on her, wings beating fiercely to put distance between them and the mountain before the beast inside could wake.

“Lillian, stop! You don’t know what you’re doing!” Elda called.

“Oh fuck off, Princess!” the fae screamed, swinging her legs to try and throw him off course. When that didn’t work, she slashed the air with her sword, opening a gaping slit in the air right in their path.

“Lillian, no!” But Elda’s scream was futile. Vel threw out his wings, grunting when they caught the wind and strained in an attempt to arrest their flight.

It was too late. They hurtled through the portal and straight into the mountain side. All Vel could do was turn his body to stop the two women from taking the brunt of the impact.

There was a crunch as the fine bones of his left wing shattered, and Elda gasped when the air was pushed from her lungs, her brain rattling in her skull. Vel’s grip faltered, and she fell. Lillian dropped too, landing heavily on a ledge of rock and rolling until her back touched the flat side of the mountain.

Elda was in a free fall, hurtling towards the ground with enough speed to smash her bones to dust. She knew Lillian wouldn’t try to use her portals to help – if she was even conscious. Elda couldn’t even close her eyes when the ground rushed up to meet her.

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