I narrowed my eyes, searching through the thickness of his air affinity. To find Ivyana with her hands out, bending them. Every direction she bent her hands, Daelun’s limbs also bent.
Holy stars.
She was a Limb Bender.
A heavy blow to the side of my head sent me reeling. I crashed into a pillar. A bone popped. I wheezed in agony. Head swimming, I blinked and watched my shadow grow. My shadowy limbs stretched, becoming abnormally long. Then they contorted. Every muscle in my body twisted, spasming all at once.
I shrieked. Starfire burst out of me, cutting through the shadow tendrils clinging to my body. But the pain refused to let up. Drawing on starfire, I turned my arms to swords, shooting straight for Quazar’s chest. He dodged the first several blows. I huffed, striking again and again, but the shadowed demon kept evading being struck.
Think, Safah. I chided.
So you’ve been winging it this entire time?Quazar’s voice slipped into my head, full of ridicule.No wonder this feels like dancing with a child.
Angrily I swung.
And missed.
I fumed, ditching the swords for bolts. I began to throw bolt after bolt. And I hit true each time.
Quazar snarled, ducking as a flash of earthen spikes flew past his head. Omarion met blow for blow against another brown-skinned Mortent with Omarion’s same green-hazel eyes, and dreads tied up in a clasp with his head shaved on either side. I couldn’t tell the Mortent’s Bending abilities, but he was making Omarion and his earthen elements work hard for his victory.
These Talons were extremely skilled in combat. I swallowed nervously as I shot for Quazar again. This time, he left myshadow alone. He flexed his hands and let a dark mass of black shadows pour out, trapping me in a dome of darkness.
“What in the stars is going on?” a voice I wasn’t familiar with called out.
“Xadariens…attacked…one of us…so we’re striking…back,” Daelun said through gritted teeth. “Ella…Beth…is missing.”
I threw a star shield around myself, glittering like the galactic stars, refusing to let Quazar strike me again.
“Over-confident temple brat,” he spat. “Let’s see how well you do in the dark.”
“I don’t think so,” I raged. “Let’s see how you handle the light!”
I shot out a canopy of starlight so bright, the sight burned my own eyes as it filled every crevice of the dark dome he’d put around me.
Before I could defend against it, a large form rushed through the darkness, ancient script writhing along the columns of his bare skin, as he slammed into my shield, nearly disintegrating it.
“If you think I’m afraid of the light, Starling,” Quazar whispered, “You underestimate my relentless odyssey to claw my way out of the dark.”
I paused, stunned.
A mistake.
Quazar took advantage of it, punching through my starry shield, shoving his chest into mine, pushing against me until my back slammed into a wall. He gripped both my hands, pinning them above my head with one of his wings, while he glowered into my face.
I wriggled in his grasp, fighting to be free. The movement rubbed my shredded wings the wrong way, making me wince with pain.
“Release me.”
“No.”
I twitched, trying to break free. I drew on starfire, but I was growing weak from fatigue. Tendrils of thick shadow wrapped around my neck. And squeezed.
Tears filled my eyes as Quazar sneered, his full lips curling with hatred. I was consumed by those jade eyes, glittering like jewels.
“Your Granmanmi is the reason I have to suffer like a dog through your temple’s hellish Blood Rites.” His deep voice curled around my ears. Seeped into my chest, and began choking out my hearts. “Your Manmi is why we die like cattle?—”
“If you all weren’t murderous Fallen trying to bathe the empyrean in blood?—”
