AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Guilt churned in her stomach. Wouldn’t that contradict her reason for this second life? She’d bargained in order to save lives, not doom them.
Channels throbbing with dark power, she carelessly burned another hole between worlds and leaped through it. A gnarled tree root hooked her boot, and she tumbled down a small hill, nails scraping moss. She caught herself on a rock just in time to witness a pincer snapping out of the rift. She blew out a hot breath, thankful the creature’s body was too large to escape.
“Found her!” a voice yelled.
Whirling around, Tenah came face-to-face with the Chaos caster. Her ruby mouth lifted in a smile. Beside her, Mias’s outstretched arms shook with the effort to maintain his illusions as Corrupt flung themselves inside his enormous sphere of warbled magic.
“We need her alive, Svetlana,” he said through gritted teeth.
Tenah didn’t wait to see what Svetlana had in store for her. Scrambling back up the hill, Tenah tore the rift wide open. The leathery, segmented monster that emerged twisted such horror on Svetlana’s face, Tenah didn’t know whether to feel elated or disgusted with herself. Unleashing monsters from the Void brought her too close to her father.
The feingrot unfurled its body, stretching up to the treetops. Haunting orange eyes locked on Svetlana, and its mouth unhinged, offering a view of too many sharp teeth.
Svetlana bumped into Mias, jarring him. He cursed as his magic rippled and dissolved.
“Thank Renix,” Vesara exclaimed, kicking a Corrupt off her growing mountain of bodies.
“Tolroc!” Gireth hollered, pointing a finger in the direction of the monster Tenah had set loose. He stabbed his glaive into a mutated body and clapped his hands excitedly. “What a treat this is! Wanna take bets on how fast it rips their limbs off?”
As the tolroc rushed Svetlana, Tenah’s focus shifted to Renton. Her chest ached at the slash on his cheek. He was panting heavily but intact.
Renton turned to his eldest brother.
“Go ahead and try, filth,” Mias uttered, spitting on the ground.
Lightning-tinted flames burst from Tenah’s palms. She gathered them into compact spheres she planned to hurl at Mias. Except, the overwhelming metallic scent of a brewing storm lured her attention back to Svetlana.
What was left of the tolroc hit the ground, its tattered body still steaming from the woman’s attack. Svetlana had charged herself with so much Chaos, it was impossible for Tenah to ignore. She shuddered. Her body craved the heat and thrum of something more potent.
More powerful.
More sinister.
More.
Growling, Tenah launched her bolts of magic at Svetlana. They were sucked right into her expanding storm of crackling lightning. Chaos exploded from Svetlana’s marred hands, forming a crackling net of lightning above them. All heads, including the remaining Corrupt, lifted to witness death given physical form.
Time slowed as Tenah’s gaze darted between the storm, Renton, and the others. Renton was shouting for her to run. He seemed to enjoy doing that, telling her what to do as if he knew best. Vesara chanted prayers in old Denesè. And Gireth…
He held out his arms as if to embrace death.
You’d be disappointed.
What Tenah had deduced from Chaos thus far was that it was attracted to power. It wanted to grow. Toexpand. If she could charge herself with enough of it, maybe she could become the sole striking point for the woman’s detonation.
Bracing, Tenah invited darkness in. It was a stretch, but the dark magic in her channels seemed to rumble in approval, scorching through her muscles and rattling her bones.
About time, little one,voices cooed.Let’s devour our enemies.
Only the Corrupt,she commanded, as if Chaos would listen.
Laughter echoed in her head as strands of her own lightning whipped out, leashing Svetlana’s magic and tugging it down into every single enemy in sight, including the woman herself.
Tenah expected pain. However, the rush of euphoric power was so much worse. Tingles crawled from her head all the way down to curl her toes in her boots. With this magic, she never had to fear anything again.
Let them suffer.
Burn them. Incinerate their flesh and bones.
