Page 104 of Shadowlands Omega

“Merlin! Now!”

An enormous clanging sound like metal hitting metal is followed by a roar. Owenna does not turn towards it, starting to come towards me instead, but I’m distracted. Everyone is distracted. How could they not be? Because the peek of a metal contraption appears above the edge of the cliff, one built strangely, in a sphere, without any bolts or seams that I can see. Just smooth metal disrupted by one great black opening, through which massive paws reach. The paws, each the size of my chest, are tipped in claws, black and dripping with what looks like ink. They sink into the soil and cut into the stone cliffs and haul forth the body of an undead Berserker beast.

My blood runs cold as the creature makes it onto land. The rotten head swivels back and forth, sniffing, though the nose is crusted in dirt and rot like the torso, which also boasts fur that might have, at one point, been light brown, but that’s now slimy green and blackened in patches, clearly burned. The jowls are massive and dripping globs of inky venom — but it’s black, not silver like Berserker venom ought to be. The eyes are black orbs shadowed in murky like the scum from a pond. One ear has been torn clean off and its back leg is half exposed bone, but its injuries don’t slow it down any. Instead, it prowls forward and tips its snout up towards Shadow Ridge. It releases a roar that soundswrong,a burst of clicks that has me clutching my hands to my ears because it’s a horrible, grating sound. Yaron returns it with a roar of his own.

A battle cry.

The undead monster takes off at a sprint, running past me in a thunder that shakes the very foundation of the mountain. It meets Yaron at the base of the ridge, Yaron holding higher ground as their bodies collide. I lift up onto my knees and lift my hands, looking for my opening to burn the undead thing where it stands, but their bodies are too intertwined. Long limbs wrap around one another, and though Yaron fights with his axe in his mouth, he’s not able to keep enough distance between himself and the creature. I don’t want to hit him.

“Omora,” Sy shouts up at the sky, “call forth the other undead. Direct them towards the Berserker. Corral him towards the cage.”

A bird hits the ground feet away from me. I flinch, struggling up to my feet. Sy sees me moving and hisses to Noon, “Kill the Omega.”

I canter back, distracted by the sound of feet crunching over rock, scrabbling hands, rocks sliding and then crashing on more rock, and water thrashing below that. Bodies of the undead emerge from the treacherous staircase and start to sprint directly towards my Berserker. I hold up my hands and fire flows freely from them in a gigantic bright blue burst the size of our kitchen oven, taking out the entire line of them. Three fall over the edge of the cliff and four more stagger forward wrapped in flames. They don’t scream as they fall and somehow I find their apathy about the brutal nature of their deaths…their second deaths…theirfinaldeaths…even more sickening.

A blast of wind hits me, followed by orange and yellow flames this time. They wash over me, a cool balm that incinerates my clothes and my hair but not my skin and keeps Noon from coming any closer. I can hear the Berserker that is mine roaring terribly and Owenna screaming my name, terrified, though she shouldn’t be. This fire and I know one another well. It’s my counter, the red flames to my blue, but I run hotter and this fire does nothing to truly hurt me. All it does is slow me down and it will keep slowing me down, giving the Fates time enough to truly hurt the people closest to me. That is, unless I come to terms with the fact that I was wrong in what I told Zelie earlier. I can’t fight fire with fire. No, I can fight fire with something else that the Fate doesn’t have…I can fight her fire with my love.

I open my arms wide, my fire dying, and I pull all of the red flames towards me and then towards me further. Air and wind pick up the red flames, tossing them in the sky, bringing them to me in a cocoon that surrounds me, and then I kill it, cutting off the air around me, sucking it in like smoke. It dies like a candle flame under a snuffer when I wave my hand casually through it. The Fates are stunned and stare at me like they’ve never seen me before in their lives, Odette looking particularly stricken. I drop my arms, woozy now in the fire’s absence.

“Noon,” Odette says, sounding none too certain. Her bottom jaw trembles. “Now! Kill the Omega — ” But before she can finish her sentence, a dark shadow moves past me in a blur. Feet in brand-new leather shoes thump down onto the ground as Owenna charges the Fate of Mind and Madness. She reaches her in the blink of an eye and thrusts her fist forward, wielding a paring knife, which she manages to sink directly into the woman’s stomach.

Sy screams as she falls back, staggering away from the shackled Omega. She lands hard on her back beneath Owenna, who raises up, lifts her blade…and then screams. Owenna releases her blade and clutches her head as she rolls off of Sy. She sounds like she’s in agony. Behind her, still chained to the pole, Sipho seems to have woken up and starts thrashing.

I don’t understand what’s going on, but I turn towards Owenna, wanting to go to her, except Noon stands between us, blocking my path. I rear back, terrified after what Merlin said about Noon’s abilities, and hold up my hands. She’s blinking quickly now and glances down and around, looking so small. She looks so lost.

My desire to comfort her is strong, but I need to get to Owenna first. There’s too much happening. “It’s okay…” I start, but Noon shakes her head, her expression shuttering.

“It’s not…”

“Noon! Kill the Fallen Omega!” Odette screams. A screech shatters the sky followed by the rumble of a mad Berserker roar as Yaron swipes at the undead Berserker with axe and claws. He cuts into it every time, black blood spewing and matting his fur. The whole world shakes and I gasp as Noon starts running towards me. I hold up my hands instinctively, even though I know that, if she were to touch me, it would do me no good, but at the last second, she veers away.

I stagger back, stumbling over stones and my own two feet. I’m about to fall, but arms come around me and I know whose they are only by the smell they carry. She smells of gunpowder and body odor. Death and decay. She wrenches me back against her chest and starts to walk us towards the edge of the island, following Noon at the same leisurely pace she always has — the pace of a woman who has discovered everything there is to know about death and knows how to cheat it. Over my shoulder, I catch a glimpse of Merlin’s face. Her mouth opens and I catch a flash of her pink tongue as she licks her lips and grins.

“This is even more exciting than I thought it would be,” she cackles at the same time that my body starts to heat. “You think you’re gonna muster up a few flames for me, Kiandah?” I didn’t even know she knew my name and I hate the way she says it. Like I’m a child — no, not even that. Like I’m nothing. “You can try, but be warned — I’m fast. You better hope you’re faster.” Merlin’s warning makes sense then when it coincides with the press of the cold edge of a thick knife to my throat.

I hiss out a breath as Merlin turns us around, pushing me out in front of her, following Noon and the erratic path she takes to the edge of the cliff. It’s like she doesn’t see the edge, only a few paces away…

“Noon!” I shout, reaching for her. She may be a Fate, she may be able to kill with a touch, she may even be somehow responsible for the army of the undead, but Ifeelsomething towards her. Like…we’ve already met. And I don’t want to watch her die.

“Merlin, what are you doing? Kill the Omega and stop Noon! We need her!”

But Merlin doesn’t answer. She doesn’t let me go, either. She pushes me towards Noon, who stands on the edge of the cliff. With her heels practically hanging off of the rocks, she starts gathering up her chain, looping it around her neck and shoulders many, many times. She’s looking frantic, glancing over her shoulder every few seconds, looking down at the thrashing waters of Zaoul as if they hold all the answers before returning her gaze to Merlin and me.

Merlin just laughs and gestures at Noon with her knife. “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna stop you.”

“Merlin!” Fire charges towards us, but I shield myself, shielding Merlin in the process.

She laughs, “That’s pretty nifty, there, Kiandah.”

“Let go of me,” I hiss.

She chuckles louder. “I don’t think I will. Your boy’s making good work a’ that thing though.”

“Forget the Omega, Odette! Help Omora! The cage will hold Freya, too!”

I look away from Noon to the birds overhead as fire lifts up from the cliffs to overwhelm them. I look away from the burning birds to Yaron, roaring his way towards us. I look away from Yaron to my sister who writhes on the ground, screaming next to Sy, Sipho raging down at the Fate. I look away from Owenna to Sy, from Sy to Odette running towards her, from Odette back to Noon, from Noon to Zaoul —

“Don’t!” I shout. Grief opens up in my chest like a mouth as I watch Noon take another half step back. “Let me help you,” I say to her, meeting her shattered gaze with determination that I’m not sure I have a right to, given the knife at my neck. I have to get to her. I have to save her.

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