Page 107 of Riftborne

---

All I could see was black.

A void.

I fought to break free from the Wraith’s grasp, but my hands wouldn’t move. I wasn’t strong enough.

I slammed my eyes shut and summoned the web, commanding it to find my attacker. To kill it.

It shot out around me, desperate to find its target.

But nothing.

There was nothing to latch onto.

Impenetrable darkness.

A void.

The air around me began to thin as the shadows twisted into a tighter vortex.

I was going to die.

“Nazul…” I managed to croak out in a last act of desperation. My eyelids were heavy, my limbs burning with numbness. The webbing was going wild around me, still snaking through the darkness, on the hunt with a maddening fury.

It was going to die with me.

Ma. Osta. I wouldn’t be able to save them.

Fog enveloped my mind as I kicked, my lungs begging for air that wouldn’t come.

It would be over soon.

My body slowly lost its will to fight, and I went limp, suspended in complete darkness. Accompanied only by the Wraiths that were sucking the life from me.

My powers were useless against this enemy.

I was completely and utterly useless.

Laryk had been wrong about me.

My mind began shutting down. My pulse was weak.

The pain from my fractured rib subsided. I couldn't feel anything at all.

Suddenly, something tore through the whispers. My body convulsed, waking up my lungs and sending me into violent gasps. I felt a hand on my arm as the vortex around me disappeared.

I fell to the ground, still retching. I couldn’t get enough air, my mind still drenched in mist. Even the tendrils lay limp, braided loosely around my spine. They seemed to be heaving.

Nazul dragged me to the perimeter once again.

“I tried to get to you sooner. I fought my way through the shadows and was able to project my shield onto you.” He sounded winded, frantic.

“Control…room…” I whispered. It was all I could manage at the moment.

Nazul’s powers had grown in the face of the Wraiths, and mine had proved futile.

“We’re close now. Can you run?” he asked quietly.

I nodded, allowing him to pull me up.

---