AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The pain doesn’t lessen. Instead, it intensifies with every second until my vision swims and my grip on the elements slips, leaving me in darkness.
I know it’s bad. Losing my grip on my light magic is a problem. Of all the elements, that one comes the easiest, almost effortless. I only hope that Serena turned around and went back to shore. As much physical pain as I might be in, the thought that she might die for me is another kind of pain—the kind that digs itself into my soul and threatens to pull me apart from the inside out.
My limbs stop responding–not that they were doing me much good to begin with–but knowing I can’t do anything as my eyes fall closed and darkness surrounds me sets my fate in stone.
‘I’m sorry, Rena.’
With the last of my strength, I push that thought through the bond and pray to all the gods that she gets it.
My chest is on fire as I cough, and I feel the burn of liquid as it’s forced from my nose and mouth.
What the hell?
More liquid comes up as my body tries to clear my airway. I feel as if I cough for hours, my chest heaving as I gasp for oxygen. My mind is foggy as I work to pull my eyes open against the soul-crushing exhaustion I feel.
Unfortunately, opening them isn’t exactly helpful. A dense fog surrounds me, dark enough to block out any actual light, leaving me almost as blind as when my eyes were still closed.
A roar sounds from my right, and while I can’t see what made the noise, I know it’s huge just by the sound of it.
My body jerks to the side, and I feel the tight grip of something wrapped around my center, moving me around like a rag doll. I try to fight against it, but my body isn’t up to the task, and I sag in defeat.
Beats getting eaten alive.
The thought comes to me, and with it, the memories of the lake with Rena being pulled under and shoved in the mouth of the giant squid.
Shit, Rena!
The thought of her is enough to push me through my pain and exhaustion as I squirm to escape whatever might have a hold of me this time.
How many damn tentacles do I need to fight today? Too damn many.
“Stop squirming!”
Rena’s voice startles me, sounding far closer to me than I would have expected. Her voice sounds rough and strained, but I do as she says without question. I might not see what’s happening, but I trust her above even my own instinct to run and fight.
The beast roars again, and I look around, straining my eyes, willing myself to see through the darkness, but it’s just too dense. Calling on my magic is useless. Even with my adrenaline boost, hearing her, and remembering the beast that was trying to eat me, I can’t muster enough energy to call my light.
I can hear movement, grunts, and splashing before Serena shouts, and it’s like a fucking shot to my heart. The pain of it is so intense it’s as if I can feel it as my own.
My light shoots out of me in every direction without me even reaching for it this time, illuminating everything around me until I can see Serena and the fucking beast she’s still fighting below us. We float high in the air, above the lake that houses the squid, which looks worse for wear. From Serena’s back, her shadows have formed large wings, much like the ones she uses to fly with me as a mimic of my beast.
I’ve never seen her shift partially. I didn’t know she could do that.
A thread of her shadows comes from her lower back, almost like a tail. It wraps around my waist, keeping me in the air just to her right. With her attention below us, I can’t see all of her face, but it’s impossible to miss the blackness of her eyes or the darkness that drips from them, like a tear of tar.
She’s still in her swimsuit from our swim. Water beads on her skin, but that’s not all. Welts cover her right leg, each one looking red and angry and dripping a concerning amount of blood from her ankle to her hip.
White hot rage fills me. The air suddenly feels too thick, as if I can’t get enough oxygen, but I can’t look away.
With a shot of pure frustration, Serena hurls shadows from her hands. They snake out of her like dark roots, flying toward the squid below us, reaching it and wrapping it up tight. The squid thrashes, but she only pushes harder. They struggle for a few minutes, and I can see the strain it’s putting on her.
Serena doesn’t use her element much. She doesn’t want to give people more reason to fear her, and I think, secretly, she’s afraid of it herself. The one exception is when she flies with me, but this is different. I doubt she knew she could do any of this before it pushed her to it.
The shadows finally get a good enough grip, and she pulls it from the water, her arms shaking from the strain on her body. What I wouldn’t give to be able to help her, but I’m drained and too far away to even offer physical comfort. I reach down to the shadow that holds me and drop my hand to it, hoping she might feel me through it. The shadows move and shift under my hand, snaking up my wrist, but they lack the same malicious feeling I can see from the ones attacking the beast who put Serena in danger.
With the beast in the air, Serena yanks her arms apart, and the shadows mirror her movement, ripping the giant squid in half before she lets it drop back into the water below as her arms fall like lead to her sides, and she sags forward.
She killed it.
