Page 134 of A Rising Hope

I took a slow, steady breath, calming my racing heart, blocking out all my flooding thoughts with one.

For Gia.

Yes, our eyes were useless in this dark, but just like we had practiced so many times during the poisonous darkness, we let our powers guide us. To feel the heat of the bodies comingtowards us, to feel the moment around us, to let our minds see beyond darkness.

I turned back to face the Ten, and like a moving image, my powers shaped their bodies in temperature. All marked by the mask on their faces.

It didn’t take long, but soon the first few Destroyers appeared on our horizon. Lost and distraught.

“For Gia!” I loudly announced, jaw clenched, and then seven voices echoed me behind.

“For Gia!”

“A dead Destroyer a day keeps the gloom away,” Ioanna snarled, grabbing an arrow from the quiver on her back. The disoriented soldier swung his sword aimlessly before his body thudded against the stone.

More soldiers came flooding into the square. One by one we picked them off until their group was dead and then onto the next, hunting any Destroyer we came across, relying only on our powers. The bodies slowly piled through the streets as we held our ground, not allowing any more soldiers to reach the front lines.

Sweat rolled down my forehead and my nostrils flared as a group of more than twenty of them appeared, their blades drawn, their stances cautious as they stumbled over the dead bodies near them.

“Give them hell,” I uttered, wiping away a drip of sweat running down my chin.

Like a pack of predators, each one of the Ten lunged in unison, only paying attention to the colorful heat signatures of the bodies falling to the ground as the enemy collapsed.

My thoughts fell quiet, focusing only on the sound of my chain swinging again and again until their blood stained every street in Svitar.

77

FINNLEAH

“Ifucking hate running.” Priya hissed next to me as we barged through the castle corridors. I let my dagger fly at an archer aiming for us. The shadows slithered in through every crevice they could find filling up the Royal Castle. The two guards emerged from the metal gates leading to the courtyard. They reached for their swords but fell dead before their blades were fully drawn as Priya flashed a look. A trickle of blood seeped from their ears and noses decorating the already macabre stares of their dead eyes. I flinched, stepping over their bodies as we entered the luxurious courtyard full of carved marble statues and exquisite fountains.

The beautiful enclosure was in a whirlwind of panic as Royals, servants and their guard all frantically rushed for any possible cover away from the growing black fog.

“Let’s go.” Priya motioned with her chin towards the tower leading to the dungeons.

We raced, hoping that the chaos was enough to let us slip by unnoticed.

Panting, we scaled the stairs leading to the bridge over the lush gardens below. I stumbled as my eyes froze on the horizon.

The Kinderby River was gone.

Entirely. Wholly. Not a single drop of the grand waters left.

“Damn,” Priya mumbled, looking at the deep ravine separating the two shores void of any moisture. “Your husband better figure out how to fix that, because I am not wasting my time traveling by carriage everywhere.”

Shouts and a wave of steps echoed behind us, and we resumed our run.

“Why are you smiling?” Priya asked, winded.

“You called him my husband.”

“I am under duress,” Priya grumped. “You can’t take my words seriously.”

We descended down the towers until darkness buried us up to our necks. Tall, mossy walls blocked the sunlight we needed as we entered the dungeons. Cold air prickled against my flushed cheeks. The musty smell of thick air coated my lungs.

We stood before a pair of massive iron doors. My heart skipped a beat as I knew exactly what stood behind them. The monsters. The creatures. The demons we faced before.

I let my fire form, melting an entrance for us through the two-foot-thick iron.

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