Chapter 30

CHAPTER 30

O nce the initial shock and fear releases me from its icy grip, I take stock of my body as they drag me out to a large open area.

I can't move, the shadows too tight, constricting. I try to use my powers, but it is like dragging up a brick wall from the bottom of the ocean, the attempt alone already weakening me.

It is as if the shadows coiling around me are draining me, pulling every sliver of energy from me and ensuring I can't use my powers or do anything else for that matter.

We stop moving and I find myself glancing up at a dark night sky covered in stars. We're so high up that if I weren't tied up, I would think I could reach out and touch them.

Huge white columns lie in a circle around us, rooted directly in the mountain itself.

The shadows move me to the center of the area just as a familiar face comes into view .

Amaro.

"She has the orb?" he asks.

Levon steps up beside him, coming into view. "She does. But it is inside her."

Amaro's smile only grows. "Kill her if you must. But get the orb."

"With pleasure. But let us be certain."

A beaming light is placed in front of me, blinding me. I blink away the light from my eyes, only to find the Breaker there with an eager smile on his face.

"I knew I sensed something inside you," he says before stepping back.

His shadows spiral around me, expanding slightly before constricting once more, leaving me completely drained before pulling away.

I drop to the ground with a thud and a groan.

Sliding my hand under me, I try to push up, but my arm trembles and shakes so hard I have to stop and drop it back to the ground.

Drawing on my abilities, I try to pull up even a sliver of power, but nothing comes to my aid. I try again, not ready to give up yet, when a whip of pain slashes down the center of my body, burning me from the inside out.

I cry out as the pain builds and builds, expanding and shrinking inside me as it twists and turns and moves about before centering around my chest. As if someone has physically placed their hand directly into it and is trying to pull out something from the inside.

"There," I hear the Breaker say from somewhere far away just as agony like nothing I've ever felt before surges through me, rippling outward and striking again and again as it tries to cleave me in two.

A crack rings out as something fractures inside me. Something more vital than bone or body.

A light glimmers, a luminous shine from within me, and I scream out as the pain becomes too much to bear.

The illuminated light expands, sending small pulses that create a growing sphere, but as it grows, it slashes and slices across my body.

Lost beneath the layers of pain, defenseless and without power, my mind fills with despair and my heart grows defeated.

But something small begins to grow inside me. An ember of power that reaches out and curls around me, giving me hope. I focus on it, and it expands, just like the sphere of light around me.

The familiar thread of power slides through me, helping me gain control over my body, slowly strengthening it and easing the pain within.

A storm builds and builds inside me, and on instinct, I reach a hand out and push it outward and straight at the Breaker, Amaro, and Levon. A small twister of wind quickly grows into a whirlwind of power, growing and gathering more and more strength before rushing through them all and unleashing the hold the Breaker has on me. The whirlwind continues to rush forward and slams into Levon and Amaro, knocking them off their feet before disappearing completely.

My moment of reprieve quickly disappears as the sphere of light continues to spread inside and around me, expanding and growing until it bursts out of me in one giant blast.

" Seren !" a familiar voice shouts out as I drop to my knees and can only watch as the light passes through everything until it hits the shield.

Once it touches it, the shield ripples and cracks open, revealing something that should not be possible.

A gurgle of pain sounds out from somewhere beside me, but I can't look away from the sight in front of me.

Another kingdom sits farther across the black sea, its outline and magnificent palace close enough to see, and straight across from it is another.

"They've escaped," Veles says to someone as he moves beside me, but my eyes don't leave the sight before me.

Two kingdoms. Each on other islands far enough that one would have to sail a boat to reach them but close enough to be able to see. And yet when the shield is up, nothing but the sky and sea exists.

Kestral moves in front of me, checking me over, his face growing more furious the longer he looks, but I can't look away.

And then the shield ripples. Once. Twice. Before pulsing around the kingdom and closing off my view of another world.

Asra and Cyra arrive just as the two kingdoms disappear completely.

"What. Was. That?" I breathe, my voice hoarse from screaming so much.

They share a look between them, and I see it in their eyes. The worry, the guilt, the fear. They know. They know what it is and what it means.

And it is about time I also find out.