Page 40 of A Rising Hope

The General laughed. That hateful sound rolled through the darkness.

“Oh, genius, and how long did it take you to think of this?”

“You cannot kill me. And perhaps I can’t kill you either. But I don’t need you to be dead. I just need to keep you impaired long enough to siphon your magic from you while you are coming back to life.”

A flick of my hand and a Basalt Glass arrow appeared out of thin air.

“If you had the luxury to live as long as I have, General, you’d understand that love makes you weak. You sacrificed yourself for her, and in doing so, you shall expedite the destruction of your own people.”

“Quite the speech you have prepared for me, dearauntie.” The General yawned. He didn’t even attempt to raise his fiery shields.

“I dosoenjoy my speeches,” I sneered. In the blink of an eye, I jumped between shadows right to him, the Basalt Glass arrow piercing his heart entirely. “But not as much as I’ll enjoy killing you again and again until all your magic is mixed with mine.”

Blood gurgled from his throat and his body dropped to his knees as thorns and shadows violently tore through him.

“Not veryfamilialof you,” the General grumped, choking on his blood.

“Oh, General—family is overrated.” I scoffed, watching him slowly die.

28

FINNLEAH

The shadows seeped through my thoughts. My mind, as if in the thickest fog, was blinded and lost. My old memories were indistinguishable from new ones, as images flashed before my eyes, haunting me. Torturing me.

I should’ve crumbled and should’ve broken down.

Godric’s screams behind my back told me that he definitely did, now that the shields were broken and shadows devoured him.

I let the nightmares swallow my mind wholly until the horrors and the screams filled every cell of my body.

Only a moment ago, it was just a hunch.

But now that I stood surrounded by palpable darkness, I felt the unfamiliar power within me drum, rising above the nightmares, waiting for me to command it.

So, unbeknownst to me how, I did.

I let the foreign powers guard me, cleansing me of every terrible dream that occupied my mind, like a vessel protecting me from storms.

The black mist sensed the sudden shift too, parting before me in a path. I took a step. The shadows shook, slithering away, wary of my presence.

So I took another step forward. And then another.

No longer haunted or afraid as I descended the rocky mountain of western Esnox.

I walkedfor the entirety of the day and when the night came; I didn’t stop, continuing on my path forward, indifferent to the hunger and the ache in my feet. Guided by some ethereal vision to propel me forward.

By the next day, I had finally reached the first town. More so, a small village at the foot of the mountain.

I stepped over a frayed body, nail marks covering the entire face where the man must have clawed his own eyes out. The town was swallowed by horror. Windows broken, doors ripped off their hinges. The smell of rotten bodies was nauseating, and I swallowed hard, fighting the bile rising in my throat. I let myself take a breath just a big enough for me to function before continuing my walk forward with clear vengeance in mind.

The loud cries and constant wailing rattled the eerie darkness. The sounds of haunted screams never stopped. The ones that were lucky enough to not be dead were too far lost in their nightmares to notice the shadows parting for me as I made my way through the town.

It was only then, when I noticed a young woman sitting on a old porch.

A mother.

Her eyes locked with mine.

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