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A loud boom echoed through the trees, and I felt a chill run down my spine. The earth beneath us buckled and heaved. I sensed the tang of magic in the air and looked to find my suspicion mirrored in the eyes of my companions.
“What’s going on?” Ray shouted as he looked around for an explanation.
“Something’s happening underneath us. Powerful forces are at play here,” Taneisha said.
The ground beneath us suddenly quaked and then erupted open, sending us tumbling into the darkness below. I hit the ground hard, my breath knocked out of me as the shock of the fall set in. Ray, Caden, and Taneisha sprawled out beside me, their faces contorted in pain.
The manticore roared above us, its giant claws reaching down into the cave as it tried to grab hold of us. We scrambled to our feet backed away from the opening above into the cave, our only hope being that we could lose it in the pitch-black. But instead of getting darker, a soft light filled the room, and the air crackled with magic. The magic had a familiar tang, but where was it coming from? The earth itself?
“I smell Sera in the air,” Caden said. “She can’t be far.”
“We’ll find her,” I replied.
But then an oppressive aura of dark magic swept over us. Separate from the manticore above us, I could feel a new dangerous presence before I even saw it. I sensed that whatever creature lurked in this cave was out of place, even for faery.
A giant black creature with glowing red eyes and razor-sharp teeth and claws emerged from the shadows. Its blackened fur shimmered in the dim light, and its howl echoed off the walls of the cave like thunder. It was a creature that belonged in nightmares, not reality. But I stood my ground, determined not to let fear take over me. The beast snarled at me as if it could sense my courage, but I refused to back down. This was my fight now.
“As if one deadly beast wasn’t enough,” I muttered, looking around for anything that might help us fend off the beast. Instead, it just stared at me with those eerie glowing eyes as if trying to decide what to make of me before finally turning its head away from mine in irritation or disappointment—I couldn’t tell which—and then walked away from us as if we were unimportant pieces on a chessboard that had been swept aside by an invisible hand. Instead, its attention went to the mound of dirt at the far end of the cave.
When it began digging, Taneisha pulled us into a huddle. “I can’t fight the darkness, it feeds on fae magic. Anything I throw at it will only strengthen it.”
“The darkness? That’s its name?” I asked.
Taneisha nodded. “I’ll send up a beacon for aid. Since it won’t be aimed at the darkness, it won’t be able to feed off of it. Hopefully, some are nearby and my call will summon forth some help from faery for our fight against the darkness.” Taneisha closed her eyes for a moment as she moved her fingers in an intricate pattern, focusing her energy. The fae lifted her hand toward the sky and a flare shot up from her hand like a giant sparkling firework, shooting red and orange sparks in its wake.
I stepped forward, my eyes widening as the mound began to shift and heave.
“What’s it doing?” Ray asked, his voice full of awe. “It’s like it’s alive.”
Taneisha shook her head slowly. “I don’t know, but it is clearly not a natural thing.”
The creature dug deep enough that a bright light burst through the dirt. It yelped and stopped digging, backing away from the mound, which was now glowing brighter than ever before. The light seemed to beckon me closer, and despite my fear of the beast I found myself compelled to step forward.
My heart raced as I watched the beast pick a new angle and resume digging into the mound of dirt. I didn’t know what was underneath, but whatever it was, it seemed to be alive and emanating a powerful magic. A magic the beast craved.
“We have to do something before it reaches whatever is inside,” I said. “Something, or someone, is under there,” I said. I shared a quick look with Caden, and I saw my concern returned in his red-tinged gaze. I didn’t understand why, but I feared Sera was under there, and I knew he worried the same. “It’s Sera. It’s got to be.”
Caden swore under his breath and stepped forward, his eyes narrowing in determination. “I say we take the fight to it. It’s our only chance at saving Sera.”
I swallowed hard and nodded my agreement before turning back towards the beast that was still digging away at the mound of dirt like an excavator on steroids. As if sensing our presence, it paused for a moment and looked up at us with those glowing red eyes before continuing its work without fear of our presence. That’s when I realized this creature wasn’t just some mindless beast—it knew exactly what it was doing and why we were here.
“Taneisha, can you push back the dirt?” I asked.
“Now that, I can do,” she said with a decisive nod. “But it’ll draw the beast’s attention.”
Ray stepped between Taneisha and the darkness, willing to use his massive frame to protect her. “I’ll hold off the beast.”
Taneisha gasped, and I swore her eyes glistened with unshed tears over Ray’s show of valor. She recovered a moment later, focusing on the task and waving her hands again in an intricate pattern toward the mound as Taneisha began chanting quietly under her breath. The dirt magically swept away from the top of the mound, pile after pile pushed to the side.
As the light in the room intensified, it was as if someone had turned a spotlight on. All eyes were drawn to the mound in the center of the cave. The light grew brighter and brighter until finally, a beam of light shot up from within the pile of dirt, illuminating the cave like daylight.
The beast let out a howl of pain, as if the light had burned it. It scurried away from the mound and into the shadows, disappearing without a trace.
The light continued to grow until a spiderweb-like dome of light became visible as the dirt shifted and cleared, revealing two figures within. Freed of the weight of the dirt, one figure stood up and the web of light dissipated, revealing our mate.
“Sera!”
We flew towards her, Caden and I. Our arms seemed to move of their own accord and wrapped tightly around her. We could feel an electric surge of joy as the warmth of her hugged us back - our missing mate was reunited and safe with us again.
