My jaw clenched, fingers drumming against my combat pants as every muscle in my body tensed, preparing for what I was about to do.
No one spoke as we stared at what remained of Solis, watching how the Quarter continued to fall, even after its residents had succumbed to the darkness.
“It has to be done,” Axel emphasized as he stopped before me, clapping a hand on my shoulder.
“Aeternus himself has commanded it,” Eleana added as we stared out at the Quarter, watching the summer winds encourage the flames to grow higher. The Quarter was burning from the inside out as plumes of smoke coated the vicinity.
I nodded my head solemnly, feeling the weight of our actions weighing on my soul as I stared at the carnage.
“I know,” was all I responded before I began to draw deep within me. Saying a prayer to the Eternal, I began to call on my vitas affinity and brought it forth. I could feel the push and pullof overwhelming power . . . the ability to feel those around us as I called my affinity to the surface.
I knew this was what the Eternal had commanded—that we were to leave no one and nothing remaining in Solis Quarter. Not that those commands relieved the burden—the pressure—that fell upon us as we destroyed everything remaining in the Quarter.
There wasn’t much close to our vicinity. The Temple District was already demolished—utterly destroyed. No heartbeats or pulses were even detectable in the areas closest to where we stood. As I pushed out my affinity even further, I began to pick up on the faint collections of weakened heartbeats, my affinity latching on to those it could feel. I felt the weight of each heartbeat, of every pulse, as I pushed my vitas affinity over district after district, scanning . . . hunting through the Quarter for any remaining signs of life. For any angels still clinging to the corruption spread throughout Solis.
I kept pushing, casting my affinity out further and further, until I was certain I’d covered the entire expanse of Solis Quarter. I could already feel the toll on my body, my strength waning as I cast my affinity over such a large section, grasping any remaining pulses I could feel.
I felt far and wide, pushing my vitas affinity further than I ever had before. I felt every lifeline, every corrupt heartbeat that still remained in Solis Quarter. And with each heartbeat I felt, I grabbed hold, ensuring that there was no chance this darkness would spread further into Aurum . . . That every citizen, every RSG, every corrupt angel in power in this Quarter was held firmly within the grasp of my affinity.
And once I was certain, beyond a shadow of doubt, that the only remaining angels standing were the two members of my Shade beside me . . . only then did I tighten my hold more firmly on the corruption.
I took a deep breath, feeling the pressure of my affinity bearing down on me, feeling the pull of its power, feeling the demand to tug . . . to end the corruption that had cast its shadow over Aurelia.
I released the breath slowly, before breathing in once more, closing my eyes as I concentrated on controlling the pull. And then I sent a prayer up to Aeternus, and I exhaled, yanking against my vitas affinity as I felt its pull ripple across Solis.
I felt it—the moment my affinity leashed out across the Quarter. The moment it rippled through the streets, cutting off everything in its grasp, leaving no one behind.
Every pulse stopped—cut off mid beat as I yanked my affinity back in a powerful rip.
Every enemy, every last thread of corruption, of darkness, met its end as I called my affinity back to me. I felt the brutal rush of power coursing through the Quarter as my vitas ensured every last tie to corruption fell.
My affinity came slamming back into me. The weight of casting my affinity so wide hit me in an onslaught of overpowering exhaustion as I sank to my knees in the dust and rubble. It took everything in me not to collapse from the overwhelming force I’d cast through Solis. Time itself seemed to stretch on, the summer winds battering against me as I hung my head, exhaustion and anguish coursing through me.
Axel and Eleana stepped beside me, each resting a head on my shoulder as my head lowered further, my fingers clutching the ground for stability, exhaustion seeping through every inch of me. I could hear the winds howl throughout the streets, plumes of smoke clouding the skyline as flames crackled and burned.
No one spoke as we stayed there, an entire Quarter burning in sections around us. Moments stretched on in silence as flames began to crackle higher in the Quarter, buildings still collapsing around us.
Elion’s words ran through my mind as I lifted my head up, my lips forming into a tight line as I stared at the carnage before us. Bodies lined the streets, blood spilling down the roads, lights flickering and combusting. The summer sands whipped through the destruction, sand covering the streets as the suns began to lower in the distance.
It was time to finish this once and for all.
For Solis to fall in its entirety . . . never to be rebuilt again.
There was not a soul breathing, save us three.
You know what must be done.
Elion’s words rang through my mind again and again.
Burn it. Burn it all.
Burn it so that the darkness and corruption can spread no further.
Leave nothing and no one behind.
Burn it.
Burn it all.
