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Lord Everan stops his assault, still poised to attack. He lifts one delicate eyebrow in my direction.
“And why should I?”
“I’ll go with you,” I beg. “I won’t fight or complain. Please… just let him live.”
Zyranth’s roar interrupts whatever Lord Everan says next, and the two of us turn to watch as he starts charging toward the both of us. Lord Everan grins and grabs my wrist to pull me towards him, but all I can do is lock eyes with Zyranth.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper.
Lord Everan chuckles behind me, even as Zyranth gets closer and closer.
“You will be,” he says, and darkness envelops everything.
15
ZYRANTH
She’s gone.
I watch as Ariella’s sad smile fades away into nothing as pitch-black envelops both her and Everan. His smile over her shoulder taunts me, and I swear he takes long enough to cast his magic so that it seems like I’ll make it. I’ve seen him teleport before when he would mock my weak attempts at attacking him when I was his captive, and the flair that he gives his retreat is in character for his madness.
When I launch myself toward them, toward Ariella, I’m met with nothing but thin air, and I have to catch myself before the force of my jump sends me sprawling out onto the ground. In their place, there are only the remnants of dark magic, wisps that keep deteriorating until there’s nothing left. The sharp, sour smell of pure energy and malice in the air is gone.
I howl in pain. For Ariella, for my failure.
For Lord Everan’s death I so desire.
After screaming my throat raw and sitting with the emotions that come with this defeat, I realize just how much this fight has taken out of me already.
My body aches with a tiredness I thought was never possible again after I escaped into the forest from Everan. Blood oozes from some of the deeper wounds, a steady trickle that will soon stop after some rest.
I do not plan on taking a rest.
Looking around amongst the carnage, it seems that Everan did indeed take his most able-bodied men back with him and left behind those that are nothing more than future stains on the ground. I did not pay too much attention to the measly dark elves, only when they strayed too close to me or Ariella. I never planned on making their deaths quick or efficient, nor do I feel bad that this entire time, many of these monsters have laid awake but unable to move.
They deserve it.
I hear one of the piles of meat groan in pain, and I lose myself.
None of these demons deserve to live.
Why should they? When it is their fault Ariella is gone.
When I come back to reality, the forest is silent and my belly is full. Fresh blood drips down my chin, and my face and hands are more red than black. The hunger within me is satisfied, but there is still a pain in my chest.
I should’ve been faster, and I will be next time.
“This day was always going to come, Everyman,” I say, intentionally butchering the name he is so proud of. “I promised you your death, and I meant it.”
Despite the state of my body, my wings flare out and I take off in flight. I don’t normally rise above the tall trees of the forest, but the faster I get to Ariella, the faster I can put a stop to the ache in my chest.
I sweep my gaze along the horizon even though I know exactly where I’m going and find myself looking at the silhouette of Everan’s manor in the far distance. Claws dig into my palms at the familiar sight.
Despite being situated alongside the same forest, I had purposefully made my home as far away from the manor as I could. I would not be able to escape this place completely, but I made the rest of the forest mine, though I was never able to get myself closer than several hundred paces once I was out of that hellscape. Even with all the anger I held in my body, I couldn’t break through the fear.
Looking at it now, there’s a sickness that grows in me.
I remember Everan taunting me when I froze due to the sight of the same magic circles used to put every single scar on this abused body. Even in my anger, I could not forget the layers of torture, and in the same way that I avoided the areas surrounding the market and the manor, my body refused to go near the thing that caused me so much pain.
