Hisface was hidden in shadow. “Everyone.”
Thereality of the chamber shifted, andJunpulled away from me. “No!”Butit was too late.Thebranches of the cherry tree whipped down and held me like chains.Nolonger blossoming, they were gnarled and barren.Rootsthrashed up from the ground, pinning me down asIfought fruitlessly to escape.
AsIwas pulled below the earth, my mind was filled with even more visions.Theimages came at me too quickly;Ionly caught small glances, butIfelt pain, pervasive and inescapable.Thepain of an ancient body that fought on despite howDeathclawed after her.Batteredand broken but unwilling to surrender.Withevery new image, the pain flared.
Menin golden armor chased down a large, magnificent stag, whiter than freshly fallen snow and with antlers containing hundreds of splits.Arrowsflew, piercing that vulnerable flesh, and blood stained the ground.Theblood flowed into theVardaRiver, wider than any castle.Butthe blood didn’t stop until the banks were overflowing and forests and towns were swept away.
Heatfrom the sun blasted at me as fae surrounded a cave carved in dry sandstone.Inside, a terrible rattling echoed off the walls as a serpent, nearly as large as a dragon, was poised to strike.Hisgiant triangular head split as he flashed his fangs, but the fae shouted, and glyphs flashed, collapsing the cave on top of his head.Whenhis rattle finally ended, sand pelted the fae as the wind whipped up, pulling all life from the sparse surrounding plant life until only heat and the scorched, cracked earth remained.
Amassive harpoon flew from the deck of a ship, this time finding its mark in the heart of aLeviathansmaller than the oneIknew.Hisbody flashed a terrified red before turning a ghostly white, and he floated listlessly in the waves.Thewaves grew, tossed by raging winds and pelting rain until a storm violent enough to rip apart cities swallowed everything.Therain was her tears.Thetears of a mother, begging to spare her children.Iheard it in my own mother’s voice.Please, don’t take my son.
Ifelt roots digging into me, wrenching me apart as they split the earth that was my skin.Thoseroots led to golden flowers, hundreds of thousands in neat rows, waiting for their fae master.Theywere not kind.Itwasn’t like the forest, where roots gripped the earth with reverence and danced between tree and fungi, life and death.Here, there was no rot, no rebirth, only death.Theroots dug down and stole mana straight from the earth.Manathat had been stolen year after year after year for an age until what should have been rich soil was nothing but dust.Theroots grew down, pulling the mana directly from the ley lines that flowed underKoron.Theypulled and pulled until the lines barely had anything left to give.
Thoseroots kept growing until they spread everywhere across the continent, across our entire world.Theyreached into everything and everywhere, andIsaw them climb up into the heart of every man, woman, and child, wrapping and squeezing them tight.
“No!”Itried to scream, but dirt filled my mouth.Ithrashed, andIfelt the dirt dig under my nails and the roots tightened, threatening to cut off my limbs and crush my heart.
“Tori!”Jun’svoice called to me, and my heart flared, but not with green dragonfire, but instead a burning bright white light.Itcut through the roots, and my fingers broke through the dirt above me.Igasped, pulling as much air in asIcould asIhauled myself out of the hole.
Myhands gripped onto huge cobblestones,andIwas standing on the mist district bridge, but it was shrouded in darkness.AllIcould see was littleJunwaiting for me.
Iran towards him, and asIdid a shadow swept over him.Hewas back to himself, tall with his hair cut short.
“Wehave to fix this rift between us,Tori.”Anenormous crack formed in the bridge, separating us.Hepulled away.
“Jun!WhatdoIdo?HowdoIfix this?”Thebridge pulled further apart.
“Trustme.”Heheld out his hand.
Iran to jump across that great divide when erratic violet light flashed off the metal around his neck, andIfroze.
Outof the shadows, a hand curled aroundJun’sneck.Hadeon’swicked face appeared, and his tongue snaked over my brother’s jaw.
“He’smine now,Princess.Youshould have been there to protect him, and now his heart belongs to me.”Lightningerupted fromHadeon’sfingers, andJun’sskin turned black as his power coursed through flesh.Mybrother didn’t move or cry out.Hejust stood there, as his heart turned blacker before my eyes.
“No!”Iscreeched and dove for them. “Jun, please fight!”Helet out a horrible scream that wasn’t human or fae, and the bridge beneath me shattered.Iwas falling down into nothing.Itumbled, head-over-foot for what felt like an eternity untilIstopped with a bone-crunching thud.Myface collided with a dirt floor, andIfelt my nose snap on impact.
Igot my hands beneath me and rose on shaking arms.
“Jun?”Hewasn’t there.Somethingelse was.Ifelt hundreds of eyes latched on me in the dark, the creatures lurking just beyond my sight.
Fae!Traitors!Liars!Murderers!Theyemerged from the dark, dead, and horrible.Theywere the vestiges of the dragons who had once called this place home.Somewere no more thanskeletons given life while others still retained some of their rotting flesh.Ithung off their frames in chunks, and every once in a while, a single eye would glow from inside a hollow socket.Talonsraked into the earth around me as they came closer, some breaking off the hollow bones.Idrew my sword, but it was pointless.Therewere too many, and in the back of my head,QueenSorayawhispered,you can’t kill what is already dead.
Shadowsslunk between the dragon’s legs, andIsaw the fledglings.Somewere larger than oxen and some were so smallIcould have held them in my arms.Children, the future of their people, all murdered.
Liars!Liars!Liars!Theypounced, ghostly fangs and talons ripping into me.Ididn’t fight back.Theywere just babies, babies the fae had destroyed.
No,Junwas still out there.Ineed to save him.Ineeded to protect him.Asthose razor-sharp teeth flashed in the dim light and their tongues wrapped around me,Irealized something for the very first time.
Ididn’t need to save him; he needed to save me.
“Jun!Don’tleave me, please!”Ireached into my heart, deep into that well that now glowed with brilliant white light.Itwasn’t just my power but also his.
Jun,Ineed you.
Tori!
Hisvoice felt far away, butIcould hear it coming closer as my body transitioned from pain to bliss.Hewould be too late, butIwould get to see him again.Itwas selfish, so very selfish.Itried to tell him to run, butIcouldn’t even think the words.
