23. Cinis

No harm will come to you.

The words that I spoke to Serena when I rescued her from the experimental beast so long ago ripple through my head as we approach Aldris Eruca's towers.

I look at her, and I am, as always, taken aback by her fragility. Her skin, pale and bright as the snow, is soft and supple. Her body, strong by human standards, is soft and breakable by the standards of the magical beings who we are about to go up against.

For a moment I am tempted to tell her to leave, to go back to the dwelling, to hide. Even though I know she would never agree.

She looks at me then, noticing me staring. Something twists painfully in my chest at the beauty of her.

She raises an eyebrow – maybe she interprets the worry on my face – and her lips clamp together in a thin, straight line.

"We are in this together." The statement is simple. Her voice isn't loud.

But her voice is steady and strong.

She isn't leaving, and nothing I can do or say will make her turn around. This is her fight after all.

Aldris' chambers are at the top of a long, winding staircase. To my surprise, there are no guards at the bottom of the staircase.

I make sure that Serena remains behind me as we make our way stealthily up the staircase.

There is a sudden crack and boom of thunder as we pass a large, arched window, and I do not miss the little, breathy gasp that escapes Serena as a vicious snap of lightning lights up the dark staircase.

She remains behind me as we come to the landing, at the very top of the tower.

I turn to look at her one last time before we enter the ornate wooden door that stands slightly ajar.

I use our mental link to communicate – we do not need to alert Aldris to our presence unnecessarily – and take her hand in mine at the same time.

Stay behind me. You know what to do. We need to get your amulet off him. But stay behind me, whatever you do.

My mental voice is strong and stern. And I can only hope that she will listen to me.

Light, not unlike the lightning that just illuminated the staircase, flashes across her kaleidoscope eyes. Hard, stubborn light.

Her jaw tightens, and I know she is clenching her teeth.

When will she learn to see her fragility?

I ask this of myself as Serena nods once, slowly.

But I know, as I turn back to the doorway, that stubborn human that she is, she will never know how truly breakable she could be.

But this is why you're here. To make sure that nothing happens to her.

I give up on stealth then. I am quite sure that Aldris must know that we're right outside his door by now.

Surely he must have magical wards or enchantments that would have alerted him to our arrival, no matter that he doesn't have guards.

I summon fire to my hands, and barrel through the door, with Serena just a few steps behind me.

Aldris leaps back, away from the table where he was writing, and throws magic at us almost immediately.

I burn the magic away with my fire. The crackle of the flames is deafening, the sound muted only by the roaring rain and thunder outside.

Serena reaches into my mind then, tentatively as Aldris and I circle one another. The feel of her in my head is comforting and warm.

Don't get hurt. I love you.

Aldris does not slow down, despite the fact that I have burned away his desk and chair. He stands, facing me, and with a flick of his wrist, he pulls dozens of ornamental knives and daggers that hang on the walls of the room.

They float menacingly in the air, their blades pointed at me and Serena. Aldris grins, his smile sharp and jagged.

"Today you will learn, fire demon, that the heroics will never get you anywhere. Fighting for humans, trying to save them from us, will always destroy you. You should be ashamed of your actions. You could have been all-powerful! You could have helped us rule this world!"

I cock my head to the side and then allow my mouth to stretch into a wide smile that matches Aldris's.

A sudden look of trepidation crosses the dark elf's face.

He must not expect this. He must have expected his words to scare me. But now, he is looking at a being made of rock and fire, a being that towers over him, with a mouth full of fire.

The look of unease vanishes quickly though, and I exhale a cloud of fire, as dozens of knives and daggers fly at me.

I dodge some of them and melt others into nothingness. I hear Serena back away from the onslaught, and when I glance to the side, she is cowering in a corner.

A sharp, thin blade does pierce the rock carapace that serves as my physical body.

I pull it out and throw it aside, not missing Serena's gasp of shock. It bounces tinnily on the floor, and Aldris laughs loudly, wickedly.

A flash of lightning illuminates the room then, and throws his face into harsh relief, his head thrown back as he laughs and laughs.

I leap at him, as I see, from the corner of my eye, that Serena stands close to him, next to a tall, dark bookshelf.

She does not seem to notice me but keeps her eyes fixed on Aldris's neck. On the amulet.

Suddenly, I know what her plan is.

And I know exactly what my place is in her plan.

Aldris pulls a magical shield out of the air, but I exhale flame and rock, and my assault rips through it.

He stumbles backward but does not give up and does not submit. Instead, he uses more elemental magic and summons a pool of water, intending to drown me in it.

I focus my magic on the walls of the room and pull, and they come collapsing inwards. The water, instead of drowning me, spills through the cracks and rubble of the newly destroyed room.

Aldris screams and shrieks as the floor beneath him shakes and crumbles. I throw fire and rock at him, not with the aim of harming him, but of distracting him. Serena, who is steady, despite the destruction of the tower around her, runs up behind Aldris and rips the amulet off his neck.

He must feel it. That sudden nakedness of his neck. That sudden vulnerability. He must know what is about to happen next.

I smile widely at him again, my mouth full of fire.

I can touch her.

And I can destroy him.

And my smile becomes wider and wider as he screams and tries to scramble away from me. But I grab him by the lapels of his jacket and place my mouth over his.

His soul does not come easily, though it isn't as stubborn or as strong as some of the souls I have devoured in my time.

He doesn't, I think reflectively, have the soul of a true monster. Aldris's kind of evil is commonplace and mundane.

Somehow, Aldris manages to speak, even as he is dying. He splutters the words out as I devour his soul.

"More will come!" he croaks the words out. "More dark elves will come! This is not the end!"

His body goes limp in my hands as I savor the taste of his soul. It tastes like salt and burnt starlight.

When I am done, with Serena looking on with a grim smile on her face, the amulet hanging proudly around her neck, I let the dark elf's body fall to the ground.

His head meets the ground with a thud. In death, his eyes become cloudy, and his skin goes dark. His mouth is slack and open, and he suddenly looks much smaller and more fragile than he ever did while living.

"Is it over?" Serena asks wonderingly, as we stand in the ruins of the tower. Aldris's body seems to shrink with every passing second.

A loud creaking alerts me to the fact that this building is no longer stable, and I do not answer Serena's question. Instead, I grab her by the waist and lift her into the air.

The rain has stopped when I step out onto the air, as easily as if I am walking on flat ground. The lightning has faded, and the thunder has subsided.

Serena buries her face in the crook of my neck, and I cannot help but wonder how she finds it comfortable. She certainly did not find the rock bed that I first made for her comfortable.

Now though, she strokes my chest as we travel through the air, towards the little hovel that is surely destroyed now.

I want to tell Serena that it is over now. That she is safe. That she does not have to worry any longer.

But Aldris's words ring in my head.

More will come!

More will come!

More will come!

The words ring in my head over and over again, and I find myself clutching Serena even closer to me.

I see the edge of the forest then, where the little hovel is situated. I direct my body towards it and decide to think about Aldris's last words later.

For now, Serena is safe.