Page 38 of What Blooms from Death

Instead of replying, he broke into a run.

I was too shocked to move at first—until I realized he was sprinting straight for the wall.

“Come back,” I called, taking a few numb, confused steps after him. “Come back!”

He only ran faster.

I followed against my better judgment, racing all the way to the wall, to the broken gate, and watching as he fell to his knees before it and bowed his head.

A mass of shadows had gathered in the opening. They bulged and billowed furiously, as if some beast stalked at the center, occasionally kicking and clawing and trying to fight its way free. I didn’t need magical Sight to see the tumultuous energy surrounding this beast. To know that this was bad—very bad.

Elias never moved. Never lifted his head again, even as part of the dark mass pinched off and flew toward him, swallowing him up with a ravenous hunger. I watched, horrified, as his body disappeared. His hand reached out at the last second, his fingers stretching desperately toward me, like a drowning victim trying to flag down a savior.

But it was far too late.

He was gone.

A moment passed before the smaller mass began to churn almost as violently as the larger one behind it, swirling into the shape of a small cyclone. It roared and spun, flinging outwhat was left of Elias—a limp corpse drained of all life and color, which continued to shrivel and fade out of existence as I watched.

Chapter Ten

Nova

The shadowy cyclone receded,revealing the true devastation it had caused.

There was little left of Elias aside from piles of splintered bones, scattered ash, and tattered scraps of clothing.

With my pulse racing furiously, I ran toward the gruesome remains, trying to read the energy swirling around them. Trying to understandthe death that had come so swiftly, so completely, so…so…

Devastatingly.

I dropped to my knees and reached a hand over the bones, desperate for answers. Maybe I could divine something with a touch. Maybe I could absorb the deadly magic still clinging to its victim, let it settle inside of me and make sense of it from within...

But the only things that settled in my gut were fear and nausea.

This realm was proving more and more brutal by the minute. My throat felt tight. For an instant, tears threatened. I was reaching a breaking point, a horrid realization—

I never should have come here.

I was in over my head—but nevertheless, I blinked away my tears and kept my head up.

What else could I do?

Footsteps pounded close by, followed by a furious voice: “What is going on?”

I turned toward that voice, expecting to meet Aleksander’s glare. He wasn’t looking at me, though. He was staring at something behind me.

Glancing over my shoulder, I saw the deadly cyclone of shadows reforming, moving away from the wall and toward us once more.

I leapt to my feet and hurriedly backed away. Ribbons of smoky darkness peeled away from the main swirling mass as it thundered our direction, each strand sweeping wide and wildly about with a whip-like quickness—there would be no outrunning those dark appendages.

Aleksander’s golden eyes flashed in my direction. “Chaos,” he breathed, “what the fuck is going on—”

Ribbons of shadow clawed toward his body.

I sensed their impending strike even before I saw them, so I managed to shove him out of the way and then dance aside myself. The shadows split apart as they stretched away from the cyclone, turning into smaller spirals that swirled menacingly around Aleksander for a moment before dissipating.

He was still glaring at me likeIhad something to do with the attack. Pushing him to safety had been an automatic reaction, really—I should have just let the shadows hit the fucker.

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