Page 79 of The Cruel Dawn
Am I still dreaming?How is Jadon here?
The giant closest to me roars, bearing down on Separi, who runs from the battle, dragging Philia in her arms, with my bag containing theLibrum Esotericaon her back.
“No!” I gasp, staggering toward them, Fury clutched tightly in my hand.
Elyn and Jadon give chase. The realm slows all around us.
Elyn hurls a lightning bolt at the giant, which hits his back and explodes in a shower of sparks. The giant falters but changes course, swinging a massive fist at Elyn.
She ducks, moving like the wind.
Jadon ducks in between the giant’s legs, slashing that enormous blade across tendons and bone in a spray of black-green blood. The Devourer howls in pain. He reaches for Jadon, but he is already gone, chasing the next giant.
This one Jadon left behind may be injured, but he isn’t dead.
Lightning crackles through my veins. I swing Fury, and a beam of radiant light strikes the Devourer in the chest. He stumbles, and his skin hisses and festers where the lightning bolt struck him. His fiery eyes lock onto mine.
Why isn’t he dying?
The giant raises his massive hand again, but before his blow lands, a flash of light shoots past me. Elyn descends from the sky on blue-and-gold wings, sword blazing as it sinks into the Devourer’s neck. Flames consume him from the chest outward as she severs the giant’s arm in one swing. He collapses to his knees, his cries of agony shaking the ground.
More giants pound toward us, and I spot the red-eyed creature soaring over the battlefield. As it bathes us all in golden light from its open mouth, giants that we killed rise to their knees, resurrected.
“We must destroy the resurrector,” I shout to my comrades, pointing to the sky. “Destroy it and the rest will fall.”
Elyn soars toward the leather-winged creature, her silhouette a blur against the sky. The resurrector flaps its colossal wings, its glowing red eyes trained on Elyn even as its light grows brighter, even as the dead giants stagger to their feet, their wounds knitting together in flashes of gold.
“Kai!” Jadon shouts.
Another Devourer lunges for me. I bury my sword in the giant’s left leg.
Above us, the resurrector shrieks. Its massive head comes crashing down onto the bloody earth.
“Now!” Elyn shouts.
Jadon and I sprint toward the oncoming giant; I hurl a cyclone, and the giant topples. Jadon swings Chaos and cuts off the Devourer’s head. We don’t pause to celebrate. We keep fighting, and all around us, giants are slain.
One Devourer remains. He falls to his knees, his eyes flickering with hate.
Jadon, Elyn, and I stand before the giant. The Raqiel guards stand behind him. While Jadon’s chest heaves with fatigue, Elyn stands tall and calm, her eyes and the dove hanging from her neck burning bright. I pause with my sword above the giant’s head, Fury’s black blade gleaming with blacker blood.
No.This execution requires Justice.
I pull that clean, silvery-blue sword from my scabbard. Elyn gasps at the sight of her old weapon.
“Who do you belong to?” I demand of the fallen giant.
The Devourer coughs, and his blood speckles my breastplate. “Bring him.”
“Bringwho?” Elyn says, the Devourer’s face starting to burn and hiss in the light of her pendant.
The giant stares at Jadon. “Bringhim.”
“Who do you belong to?” I ask again, my heartbeat thudding in my ears.
“He will leave if you bring him,” the Devourer says.
Both Elyn and I look over at Jadon, who says, “And if she refuses?”
