Page 78 of A World of Ruins

‘Don’t you see how weak the Isle is?’ I hiss at him, but he doesn’t care. Why would he? ‘You’ll achievenothing.’

Aurum’s gaze is fixed on the waterfall as he chuckles in ignorance.

I look over at Gus, who is also staring at the ditch.

Dread scrapes along my skin, knowing his thoughts must be straying to everything he wishes to have.

There’s always an urge with the Isle. The king of Terranos already warned me once, yet even when I was here with Darius, my mind would drift to other hopes and wishes rather than what we needed. I was ready to ask for my parents back, for the Tibithian and the Ardenti dragon I killed to be alive again.

For now, though, I need to get Gus and me out of here.

My gaze shifts to a rock the size of my hand on the ground beside me, the edges sharp.

Keeping my eye on Aurum, I inch towards it.

‘Do you know what I’m going to wish for, Nara?’

I freeze, but luckily, he still hasn’t turned around, so I snatch the rock from the ground and make my way to Aurum. I don’t answer him either because I know what he wants. He wants all four kingdoms at his feet. He wants to save himself from the rotting corpse he will become.

‘A new world,’ he muses, and my stomach turns. ‘Zerathion has become everything I despise. Starting with you, Nara.’

My fingers clench around the rock, numb to the edges embedding into my skin.

He wants to eradicate all the people of Zerathion. It is so much worse than we had all thought to begin with.

‘A human,’ he spits, disgust filtering through his tone.

I close in on him. ‘I’m not human any more.’

He scoffs, aware of my presence behind him yet unwilling to face me. ‘You’ll always be a human deep down.’

I feel something warm and thick trickling down my hand. I can tell it is my blood from the rock. ‘Then . . .’ I swallow. ‘Let me show you what a human can do.’

As he turns, I smash the rock across his head, blood splattering all over my face – whether it is mine or his, it doesn’t matter.

Watching him crumple to the ground with a hiss, I rush over to Gus, helping him by placing his arm around my shoulder. My hand reaches for his wound, and I take a long, steady breath, concentrating on healing it.

‘Nara—’ Gus says, but a force abruptly stops me, slamming me against the opposite side of the cave.

My body vibrates with intense pain as I gasp and drop onto the ground. My vision quakes, everything spinning before I’m grabbed by the throat and lifted off the floor.

‘Do you know why I hate humans so much?’ Aurum’s face comes into view, the palpable waves of his anger reaching out and drowning me. ‘Because they are fragile, yet they cling to their illusions of strength. They are nothing. Merely useless beings on earth that dare to defy those above them.’ His voice tightens along with the grip on my neck. ‘They’re liars, and worst of all, they destroyeverything.’

I wheeze, staring at the patch of gold covering his eye. ‘You . . . you fell in love with one, didn’t you?’ I ask him between gasps, and his expression darkens.

‘No,’ he says. ‘But they did kill my witch.’

My chest compresses from his hold as I try to make sense of his words until I’m let go, and I plummet, gagging and coughing for some air to make its way back into my lungs. I look up through blurred tears, finding Gus standing near the waterfall pit with Aurum on the ground.

Aurum lets out a laugh, lifting himself to his feet. ‘You really are like your son.’

Gus cracks his neck to the side and rolls back his shoulders. ‘As long as he’s not like you, I’m fine with that.’ Shadows coil and dance across Gus’s body, his powers coming to life as he unleashes them.

Aurum counters with a rush of air from his palms, disintegrating the shadows. I wince, attempting to stand as Gus lunges at Aurum, his shadows slicing through Aurum’s clothes. The ground quivers, sending a rumble of rocks tumbling from the walls.

I’m blinking and crawling on my elbows towards the ditch. Gus and Aurum are on the ground, but I can’t make out who is on top of whom through the mist in my eyes. There’s this raw energy of shadow and light distorting my reality.

‘Gus,’ I say, but I don’t think his name really leaves my lips.

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