Page 56 of Bound By Darkness

Volley after volley of black met its mark, disintegrating whatever it touched.

A young boy, too young to hold a weapon in my homeland evaporated too.

Copper and the overwhelming stench of decay filled my nose as the hillside became a graveyard of bones. Wails ceased to nothing as the once populous mountainside became deserted. Not a single soul escaped.

I alone remained.

Crunch.

The sound of bones snapping echoed up the slick pathway as three distinct voices cackled amongst the stone.

“Did you see how many I hit?”

“It was a test run, not a competition,” a voice grumbled.

There was nowhere to hide.

Everything had been demolished as those voices edged closer and closer to where I sat.

And so I waited for death to find me.

A figure emerged from the mist, cloaked in black and a long, tube-like weapon at his side. “We’ve got one!” he yelled, two other figures appearing from behind.

They carried the same weapons as they aimed them at my chest. It emitted a faint blue glow as raindrops peppered the surrounding area.

The man cloaked in black stepped forward, bile rising in my throat as red water dripped down his sharp cheekbones and chin.

He crouched, the weapon nearing close.

Nausea churned further in my stomach and a deep pounding echoed in my head. A cry of pain escaped my lips as it inched closer.

“Interesting,” the guard muttered. “You’re reacting to the black minerals.”

Black minerals.

Beware black minerals.

“What casting do you use?” he demanded, his finger lightly hovering over the weapon.

Would he shoot me? Would it turn me into bones too? My lip quivered as I raised my hands in surrender.

“What casting do you use?” he repeated, his eyes locking with mine.

“Power,” I rasped, my head swirling as talons gripped my mind.

“You must be his daughter,” he stated. “The new transfer.” A low whistle escaped his mouth. “Take her to the iron chamber and tell Draven he has a new experiment.”

Experiment? Experiment for what?

Would they use the weapon on me or something far worse?

The sentinel grinned. “Rahan High Fae or not, you’re unique. I hope you don’t die quickly.”

Die? I couldn’t die.

But as the other sentinels hauled me from the mud, my voice vanished like it always did.

I wasn’t sure if minutes, days, or weeks had flown by since the sentinel had dragged me down the mountainside and strapped me to this table in the middle of an abandoned cave lit by oil lamps.

---