AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Swarms of masked creatures fell around me like an ominous shroud. I had my sword ready, but it wouldn’t be enough, not with the fifteen or so monsters all eager to tear out my throat and make a meal out of me.
I swore, twisting out of the way at the last second before a blade sank into my gut. I was already covered in small cuts and scrapes, having brought down five of them. Now I’d be lucky if I didn’t lose my other eye before they eventually ended me.
Something shifted from my right, and I spun, thrusting my blade between a pair of ribs. Yanking on the hilt, I twisted to my left, slicing my weapon cleanly across a throat.
Two down. Thirteen to go.
As one, they inched forward, ridding me of any hope of escape. If they all lunged at once—
A scream filled the air, and the hair on the back of my neck rose.Kiara.She let out another shout, sending a dose of white-hot rage into my blood. If they hurt her…
I jabbed forward the second I noticed the air ripple in my blinded eye, taking out a monster who thought he could sneak up on me from behind. Flesh squelched as I turned the blade and gutted him until he exhaled his final, wheezing breath.
Kiara shrieked again, and this time, more than my chest warmed; my entire body became a living and breathing beacon of wrath, every inch of my flesh prickling with ire.
I sliced the throat of another faceless enemy. He went down without a fight.
I couldn’t stay here, not when she was likely bleeding out or…shit, I could barely think of her dying. The mere thought fanned the flames within until all I could hold onto was the carnage of the battle. The only thing that had ever made sense.
I couldn’t think straight, could hardly move; there was only her face in the night,hereyes glowing with affection. I refused to let that die, that warmth that I knew was meant just for me.
Call it selfish—and perhaps it was—but I couldn’t allow that to happen, because if I lost her, there was no chance I’d ever recover. Kiara was my tether to the world, a beautiful, fearless, disastrous reminder of what could be possible.
I screamed, though it didn’t sound like me.
Then I exploded.
The noise that came bubbling up my throat was guttural and primal. Every inch of me buzzed and a white light pulsated, blinding me to all else.
It could’ve been seconds or hours, but when it eventually dimmed, so did the intense warmth flooding my veins.
I hadn’t realized my eyes had shut until I opened them.
Bodies surrounded me. Men writhed in agony as burnt orange and red flames licked at their clothes, their skin, their cold eyes. I stumbled back, my own body overheated, exhausted, and full of adrenaline.
What just happened? Or more importantly,whathad saved me? It didn’t feel evil, that source of light, seeing as it had left me unscathed.
Dazed, I fumbled a step toward the sound of Kiara’s cries, my body aching everywhere, that blasted heat burning my throat with every breath. I fought, thinking of her once more, shoving aside flailing bodies alight with fire.
Rounding a cluster of tents, I saw her…in the arms of the enemy.
I took a step, about to unleash the monster I was, when something hard and jagged struck my skull. Black spots clouded my sight, but I never tore my eyes away from her, not even as I heard footsteps behind me and thewhooshof a blade being freed from a sheath.
Kiara screamed a final time, right before my lids shuttered closed.
I awaited the cold edge of the blade, but it never came. Instead, I heard a voice, though I couldn’t place it with how my reality bled into nightmarish chaos.
“Shit. Heisthe other one,” the voice said, cursing softly.
I heard footsteps pound the earth, and then darkness swallowed me up.
Chapter Forty-Two
Kiara
She is too wild and too untamed. I fear that after the attack, there is not much I can do for her. She is touched by so much darkness, and I do not have faith in the prophecy you sun priests whisper about. Truth be told, she’s likely a lost cause. As is our world.
Letter from Micah to unknown recipient,
