As Elysand continues to parry with this dangerous adversary, he sneaks a glance back to the periphery—tous.
“We need one more person for the formation. Quickly!”
With the fallen male unable to stand up, the formation is useless. It needs someone else to fill in the spot—now while the individual is being kept busy by Elysand.
I look around, thinking that someone with a higher level than me would volunteer—even a level one would be better than zero. But no one does.
Elysand begins to struggle. If at the start he could keep up with the attacks, the difference in levels becomes more clear with each passing second. Soon, he’s going to be overpowered and the individual will escape the formation. When that happens… we’re all going to die!
With no one wanting to take the initiative, I instinctively step forward. After all, whether I die here or within the formation, the end is going to be the same.
Elysand notes me sliding into the formation and gives me a small nod. As I take my position, the individual’s movements become sluggish, more restrained.
This gives Elysand enough time to finish chanting the ritual. The amulet’s ruby flashes a deep red, and threads come out from inside the gem, this time thicker and much more powerful than before. They wrap around the individual’s body, reining in his power. But the result isn’t immediate.
“Just a bit longer,” Elysand says. “The ritual is almost done.”
I’m rooted to the spot, helpless to do anything but to watch Elysand’s attempt to subdue him. And just as I think he’s going to succeed, something else happens.
The threads struggle to get close to him, to bind him completely.
A strange light surrounds his body, making his form lose its materiality until it becomes mere particles.
“Oh no,” Elysand mutters. “Quick, everyone! Put on your eye masks!”
Everyone scrambles to put their eye masks on. I reach into my pocket to grab it, but my entire body is trembling. I manage to grab onto it, but my movements are slow and unsteady as I try to raise my arm.
Just a little more…I tell myself. I must force myself out of this state of pure terror otherwise it will be bad for me.
My arm moves, just a little. But before I can put the mask on, a blinding light erupts, detonating like an explosive just a few steps away from me.
It isn’t my body that hurts at first. It’s something else—something coming from within. It feels as though that light has permeated every cell of my body, sinking deeper and deeper until it reaches my soul, searching for it, trying to neutralize it.
A fear unlike anything I’ve ever known envelops me, swallowing my consciousness whole.
I am no longer a person. I am only atoms and molecules, made entirely of fear. I can’t see what’s in front of me. I don’t even know if I’m still in my physical body. There is only a quiet pain, spreading through every sense, consuming them.
There is a red river before me.
The water is red—red like the lake, and yet it is not the lake. My mind is fractured, unable to fully comprehend what I’m seeing or how to name it. Still, despite the similarity in color, I know with absolute certainty that this is something else.
From the depths of that crimson liquid, seven figures rise.
They are shrouded in darkness, their features indistinguishable. I don’t need to see them to understand what they are. They are dangerous. The aura I felt from the being in the lake is nothing compared to the presence of these seven.
Seven.
The word echoes in my mind.Seven.
Then, in the span of a heartbeat, they merge. The seven become one—collapsing into a single, roiling mass. A river ofblood surges toward me, flowing downhill, intent on drowning me.
I gasp—for air, for breath. I don’t know if this is real, but it feels as though the entire river is pouring down my throat. The red floods me, staining both my body and my soul.
Marking me.
Rheus. Rhea…
A million voices whisper in my mind.
