Chapter Thirty-Four

C HAPTER T HIRTY-FOUR

The sky splits with a thunderous crack above me as I shift onto my side. A dull ache throbs at the back of my head, but I push it aside. ‘Gus?’ I croak, and he turns to me, steadying me as I rise.

My eyes meet Aurum’s as a mischievous gleam dances in his working eye.

‘ You ,’ I seethe, wrenching away from Gus’s grip. Aurum grins, tracing his thumb across the pendant Freya made.

In a burst of rage, I raise my hands, intending to spill every drop of Solaris’s power upon him. Yet nothing comes.

What?

I look at my palms, lips parted in astonishment, as I desperately search for what I must have done wrong.

Aurum chuckles, revelling in my confusion as I attempt to use my powers again and fail. ‘Even Solaris needs to recharge her powers when they’ve been overused.’

No, no, no—

‘You knew this,’ I say, realisation dawning on me as to why he wouldn’t fight me back in the arena.

His smile is like a viper, poisoning me with just one look. ‘You can’t always use magic and expect to be fine, can you?’ He sighs in amusement. ‘A shame you used it all on me.’

Searing rage flares through me as I take a step towards him, but it’s Gus who storms his way, his fists balled at the sides.

‘Ah!’ Aurum holds out a finger while calmly pocketing the pendant in his coat. ‘I wouldn’t try anything, Augustus. Not with that wound that isn’t healing near your heart – looks like you were struck with Neoma blood.’

I turn to look at Gus. Part of his shirt is ripped, exposing a cut on the left side of his collarbone and down to the upper part of his chest, coated in bright blood. I hadn’t even noticed.

Gus shakes his head at Aurum. ‘Aurelia was right about you.’

Aurum’s smile falls. ‘Aurelia is dead.’ His one visible eye narrows. ‘So I wouldn’t dwell on her words too much.’

My fists clench as my chest falls and rises in harsh waves.

‘Now.’ Aurum claps his hands and rubs them together. ‘Shall we get going?’

‘The Isle won’t help your state,’ I tell him as if that will do much when I am dealing with a psychotic man.

Aurum’s eye latches on to me, the green in it darkening to something sinister as he slowly walks up to me. ‘Then I will use the one thing they can’t deny.’ He grins in my face. ‘Solaris’s vessel herself.’

My palm flies out to connect with his face, but his reflexes are still too sharp as he takes hold of my wrist and extends his other hand towards Gus, who suddenly grimaces in agony, collapsing to his knees and clutching his chest.

My face pales. ‘What are you doing?’

The wound near Gus’s heart tears open, unravelling and extending, as if Aurum is magnifying his injuries by using the very thing I don’t have right now.

Magic.

Rivernorth magic.

I look between him and Gus, panic cinching my gut. ‘Stop!’ I yell, trying to pull away from Aurum, my free hand trying to grab at him to stop his power from causing more harm. ‘Stop hurting him!’

Aurum whips his hand away, stumbling slightly on his legs as I notice another rotting tear appear on his neck.

When his grip loosens, I yank myself free and kneel in front of Gus.

He’s swaying, drawing back long breaths as I scan the wound on his chest.

‘It’s okay,’ he says weakly. ‘I’m okay.’

I shake my head. ‘I can heal it,’ I whisper. I did it once with Darius when he had Neoma blood in him. I can do it again.

‘How sweet,’ Aurum says from behind. ‘A father and his daughter-in-law, looking out for one another. If only my nephew could see this precious moment.’ He starts to laugh. ‘Then again, he hates your guts.’

My molars grind together.

Aurum must notice my intentions as he tugs me away from Gus, making me stand. His fingers dig into my upper arm, turning me to face him. ‘Don’t even think about helping him.’ I squirm in his hold. ‘You’re with me.’

In my peripheral vision, Gus struggles to rise. He presses a palm to his chest and winces as Aurum jerks his chin, forcing him to go ahead of us.

‘Now,’ Aurum says to us both. ‘ Walk .’

The cave where the power source lies crumbles and shakes once we enter. Aurum still holds me tightly, his eye wide and gazing around in lunacy as he follows the golden light, paving the way to Solaris and Crello’s magic.

I put as much distance between us, hoping to slow him down as much as possible so that I can regain my strength in power. But he’s as ruthless as they come.

Gus’s breathing seems to worsen, as does the gash on his chest. Regardless, he keeps looking back at me, ensuring I am okay.

As we turn the corner, Aurum jerks to a stop, his grip loosening.

The cascading waterfall of Solaris and Crello’s power gently flows into a pit with the four pillars standing in place around it.

Though I have seen this all before, nothing prepares me to witness the last standing element barely functioning.

The flame. Now, it is a tiny flicker of what it once used to be.

My heart yearns to fix it.

‘Beautiful,’ Aurum says, mesmerised. The enchantment of the power source is messing with his already screwed-up mind.

‘Don’t you see how weak the Isle is?’ I hiss at him, but he doesn’t care. Why would he? ‘You’ll achieve nothing .’

Aurum’s gaze is fixed on the waterfall as he chuckles in ignorance.

I look over at Gus, who is also staring at the ditch.

Dread scrapes along my skin, knowing his thoughts must be straying to everything he wishes to have.

There’s always an urge with the Isle. The king of Terranos already warned me once, yet even when I was here with Darius, my mind would drift to other hopes and wishes rather than what we needed. I was ready to ask for my parents back, for the Tibithian and the Ardenti dragon I killed to be alive again.

For now, though, I need to get Gus and me out of here.

My gaze shifts to a rock the size of my hand on the ground beside me, the edges sharp.

Keeping my eye on Aurum, I inch towards it.

‘Do you know what I’m going to wish for, Nara?’

I freeze, but luckily, he still hasn’t turned around, so I snatch the rock from the ground and make my way to Aurum. I don’t answer him either because I know what he wants. He wants all four kingdoms at his feet. He wants to save himself from the rotting corpse he will become.

‘A new world,’ he muses, and my stomach turns. ‘Zerathion has become everything I despise. Starting with you, Nara.’

My fingers clench around the rock, numb to the edges embedding into my skin.

He wants to eradicate all the people of Zerathion. It is so much worse than we had all thought to begin with.

‘A human,’ he spits, disgust filtering through his tone.

I close in on him. ‘I’m not human any more.’

He scoffs, aware of my presence behind him yet unwilling to face me. ‘You’ll always be a human deep down.’

I feel something warm and thick trickling down my hand. I can tell it is my blood from the rock. ‘Then . . .’ I swallow. ‘Let me show you what a human can do.’

As he turns, I smash the rock across his head, blood splattering all over my face – whether it is mine or his, it doesn’t matter.

Watching him crumple to the ground with a hiss, I rush over to Gus, helping him by placing his arm around my shoulder. My hand reaches for his wound, and I take a long, steady breath, concentrating on healing it.

‘Nara—’ Gus says, but a force abruptly stops me, slamming me against the opposite side of the cave.

My body vibrates with intense pain as I gasp and drop onto the ground. My vision quakes, everything spinning before I’m grabbed by the throat and lifted off the floor.

‘Do you know why I hate humans so much?’ Aurum’s face comes into view, the palpable waves of his anger reaching out and drowning me. ‘Because they are fragile, yet they cling to their illusions of strength. They are nothing. Merely useless beings on earth that dare to defy those above them.’ His voice tightens along with the grip on my neck. ‘They’re liars, and worst of all, they destroy everything .’

I wheeze, staring at the patch of gold covering his eye. ‘You . . . you fell in love with one, didn’t you?’ I ask him between gasps, and his expression darkens.

‘No,’ he says. ‘But they did kill my witch.’

My chest compresses from his hold as I try to make sense of his words until I’m let go, and I plummet, gagging and coughing for some air to make its way back into my lungs. I look up through blurred tears, finding Gus standing near the waterfall pit with Aurum on the ground.

Aurum lets out a laugh, lifting himself to his feet. ‘You really are like your son.’

Gus cracks his neck to the side and rolls back his shoulders. ‘As long as he’s not like you, I’m fine with that.’ Shadows coil and dance across Gus’s body, his powers coming to life as he unleashes them.

Aurum counters with a rush of air from his palms, disintegrating the shadows. I wince, attempting to stand as Gus lunges at Aurum, his shadows slicing through Aurum’s clothes. The ground quivers, sending a rumble of rocks tumbling from the walls.

I’m blinking and crawling on my elbows towards the ditch. Gus and Aurum are on the ground, but I can’t make out who is on top of whom through the mist in my eyes. There’s this raw energy of shadow and light distorting my reality.

‘Gus,’ I say, but I don’t think his name really leaves my lips.

Something is then thrown to my feet.

All I catch is the brassy gleam before I realise it is the pendant to open the rift. As I grab it, my knees slam onto the ground, my head lifting to find Gus amidst the shadows.

A gust of wind circles the cave. I can hear their struggles as I finally focus on Gus battering Aurum everywhere possible.

He fights like Darius. Savage and more human than a dragon.

Gus notices me as he turns his head, but that crucial moment allows Aurum to send Gus tumbling back against the edge of the pit.

‘No!’ I scream, lunging to my feet and running towards Aurum and jumping on his back. I put my all into hitting and scratching before he pulls me off him. I land on my forearms, glaring up at him as he looks at me. I find the strength to grin maliciously at the state of his bloodied face, the ruined clothes and the decayed cuts along his neck and chest.

A seething energy emanates from him; it’s almost suffocating. ‘How I would love for Darius to be here while he watches me rip you apart.’

I tip my chin up at him, gritting my teeth. ‘Fuck. You .’

He raises his hand to strike me, but Gus’s arms wrap around his neck, dragging him backwards.

Growls escape Aurum as he spins around, but Gus adeptly dodges each blow Aurum aims at him. Their feet are close to the edge of the pit. They’re on the precipice, going at each other’s throats. One wrong move, and Gus will plunge into the hole.

‘Gus, stop—’ I yell at him as he sends another punch Aurum’s way and seizes the collar of his coat. He twists Aurum around so his back is to the pit. ‘No—’

‘I hope you rot along with the rest of those who served you.’

I shake my head, and my legs move of their own accord as I sprint to intervene. If Gus pushes him in, the flame will die.

Aurum’s head sways, bloodied teeth exposed as he laughs. ‘If I rot,’ he says, ‘then you’ll rot with me.’

Wide-eyed horror fills me as Aurum clings on to Gus and pushes himself backwards into the pit.

My hand reaches out, fingers brushing the back of Gus’s shawl, but not enough to catch him as he steals a final glance over his shoulder and closes his eyes.

I call out his name, the sound scratching the surfaces of my throat as I collapse onto the ground with my chest halfway over the pit. I watch them both drop into the abyss, and sorrow pierces my chest as silence falls. My gaze shifts to the pillar, and the Isle seems to wail in agony as the flame extinguishes.

Mountains crack, the cave shatters and the waterfall releases its last bit of magic into the pit, shaking me to despair.

‘No,’ I whisper, paralysed, and as I look down into the pit, chilling fear grips me by the throat.

What appears to be a crack along the walls of the ditch soon oozes a black substance that looks like tentacles reaching towards the surface. Staggering back, I witness a surge of green shadows and inky liquid erupting from the pit.

Shrill roars and cries fill the air as creatures – no, dragons – emerge. Their bodies are comprised of shadow and decay as they swarm above me. There are dozens of them, with still more flying from the ditch.

A rotten hand then slams against the edge of the ditch, and without waiting, I rush out of the cave, knowing who the person is, climbing out of there.

Rocks fall around me as I reach the outside, where once-grey clouds have turned pitch black.

‘Nara.’ The singsong voice of Aurum echoes from the cave. ‘No point in hiding now! After all, it was Gus who made the wish, not me.’

My chest cracks, but I don’t look over my shoulder.

His maniacal laughs near, and I run.

I slip and slide down the sloped pathways, debris coming down on me like rainfall as I dodge and cover my head.

I pick up my pace and focus on getting as far from the cave as possible. Yet my throat burns with lodged tears, picturing Gus by the pit, his eyes closing right before he fell in.

I think of Darius, and a sob wracks my body.

The shrieks of ruined dragons follow me as some are now out of the cave, flying high in the skies. I grip the pendant, ensuring I still have it before throwing it to the ground as it opens the rift ahead of me.

I can see the arena through the portal. I can see my home.

My leg muscles burn, and I cry out for help as I leap through the rift, falling to the ground. The first person I see is Darius, and I let out an anguished sob as I push onto my hands and knees, trying to stand but buckling under my tired weight.

Darius grabs me by the waist, then grips my face in his hands. He’s repeatedly saying my name, but I can’t seem to respond, my head lolling back and forth.

When he asks me about Gus, I shake my head. Sharp pains pierce my chest all the way to my heart. ‘I’m sorry,’ I say hoarsely. That’s all I can manage to say. ‘I’m so sorry.’

The instant realisation on his face destroys me, but he tucks me into his chest, not allowing himself to show any other emotion.

I pry myself from his hold, staring as I see that the whole arena is in flames, bodies burning in the distance.

Darius is covered head to toe in soot – his own doing, I imagine. I look on and find Illias on the side with freed Venators now standing behind him, and Leira and Lorcan with my brothers and friends. They’re okay. They’re alive.

I shake my head, murmuring, ‘The portal.’

I twist around where the portal is still open.

Lightning strikes the sky inside the Isle, and through the portal, far beyond the destruction of the Isle, I see Aurum gracefully navigating through the dragons surrounding him. Decay coats him head to toe, dark veins protruding from his mottled skin as our eyes lock, and he maintains a steady stride like nothing can hurt him.

I feel Darius shift while holding me, preparing to go in there himself.

My frantic heart won’t allow it.

I go to reach for the pendant when my eyes land on a dagger on the ground.

Something wild snaps inside me.

Lorcan seems to realise as he says, ‘Nara, don’t.’

I don’t listen as I lunge for the blade and kneel before the pendant.

Aurum pauses from a distance, his head tilting as shadows slither around his ruined face like serpents seeking refuge in his mess.

I stare at him with the dagger poised in my hand, and that is when he registers what I plan to do. He breaks into a sprint, a torrent of fury within his gaze.

Flipping my finger at him, I swiftly bring the blade down upon the pendant.

This is for Gus.

A surge of air courses through the space around us, almost sending me back.

I hear Aurum yelling in the distance and slam the blade down again. This time, sparks fly off the pendant as it shatters into pieces, severing the connection to the Isle of Elements.

Aurum’s remaining eye is the last thing I see before the portal vanishes and I succumb to exhaustion, not having realised I’ve dropped myself back into Darius’s arms until he whispers in my ear, ‘You made it out, Goldie. You made it out.’

I rest the back of my head against his chest, my brothers and friends coming to stand by Darius and me. All of us glance at the sky as dark clouds roll in, and for the first time in the history of Emberwell, it rains down upon us, calming the fire.