30. ~Talon~

30

~Talon~

The ground reverberated beneath our feet like violent aftershocks after one hell of an earthquake. And although it wasn’t actually splitting, the arched gateway over in the distance emanating Ore’s purple magic sure was.

If that hadn’t been enough to cut into our training session, it had gotten worse moments later, drawing the attention of the several hundred troops up toward the purple-hued sky of the dimension that had been created by Ore. Thunder had begun to rumble, then the fake sky had begun blinking rapidly, straining to hold its form.

I spun from being surrounded by the members of the Obsidian army to see the foundations of some of the troop housing buildings cracking, walls even crumbling to pieces.

“Holy shit,” I breathed.

Gasps, shouts, and a whole lot of shocked chatter erupted into a deafening cacophony all around me.

Before chaos could take hold, Marlowe, Xavier, and Alena started directing everyone, getting them to take their battle stations, ready their shields, their weapons.

Through it all, though, I could only think of one thing.

Orpheus.

I went to call on my senses to locate him when a cloud of silver smoke erupted and there he was just outside the central quarters being held steady by his father.

I unfurled my wings and I was there before them in the next second.

“What’s happened?” I demanded, my urgency unchecked as I took in his unsteadiness and the pain all over him.

“It’s Lenora. She’s breaking through my magic forming the pocket dimension,” he told me.

“Shit, no. This wasn’t supposed to go down yet. Not until Elliot has his magic back and we can put down Constantine, plan it out where we catch her off guard in a sneak attack and then—”

“It’s happening, Tal,” he told me, laying his hand on my shoulder. “It’s happening right now either way.”

“Stop resisting her attack,” Saryan instructed him.

“He’s right, it’s hurting you, Ore.”

He looked between us. “If I give in, this entire place will be destroyed.”

“I’m aware,” Saryan said. “With celestial magic at her behest, she’ll succeed in breaking through either way. Holding out is futile and it will only serve to weaken you when your army needs you to lead them.”

Ore looked out at his army taking position in front of the gates, standing tall in spite of everything crumbling around them. Even one of the buildings finally lost its structural integrity and collapsed in a thunderous crash of stone and metal, until it was nothing but mere rubble.

He gritted his teeth, then I saw his eyes flame with his telltale purple, a moment before a huge sigh of relief escaped him. “It’s done,” he told us, easing away from Saryan’s support, no longer needing it now he’d let go, and he stood tall, squaring his shoulders.

“Go, Father,” he said. “Perform the spell for Elliot. We need him back at full power for this. Alena needs him as an anchor before we can open the portal.”

I saw his hesitation to leave his son right on the brink of battle, but being a tried and tested leader, he was also able to think in big-picture terms, and it had him giving a nod, then teleporting away to do what needed to be done.

Ore grabbed my arm and teleported me down to Obsidian with him.

We rematerialized right by Alena and Xavier, while Marlowe was on the frontlines guiding the soldiers into position, the werewolves in one unit, vampires in another, the Light Fae recruits with the magic-wielders. The latter he positioned at the front like he and Ore had agreed upon when they’d been strategizing our assault that was supposed to happen in the next few days, on our terms.

But now there was this.

This shit-show and chaos that Lenora had brought about.

“Reinforce Constantine’s cell,” Ore told Alena. “An additional ward around Tal’s phoenix fire. The building itself will fall, but we need to keep the cell itself intact.”

“Got it,” she said, teleporting away to take care of it.

“You sure she’s gonna be okay to do that?” I asked, X looking as concerned as I was.

“She visited him a few hours ago and came out of it well. She’ll be fine, she’s got this.”

“Wow, that’s really something.”

X smiled. “Good for her. Very good.”

Ore told him, “I need you with the vampires, directing them, leading them.” He eyed me. “You’re with the wolves. Lay down cover for them.”

“And you?” X asked, clearly worried like I was that he’d try to take on Lenora by himself.

Before he could answer, the magically-created sky exploded, the full force of it headed straight for us.

Ore threw up his palms, his purple fire flaming wildly, and he stopped it in mid-air holding it off us.

“ This is what I’ll be dealing with,” he grunted, as he started levitating it out of our vicinity, bit by bit.

Holy. Fucking. Shit.

It was rare to see massive, ultimate displays of his power like this.

And it was something else entirely.

Incredible—and hot as hell.

He noted my reaction and rolled his eyes. “Go. Take position,” he told us both.

In a burst, X was gone into the throes of soldiers.

I soared toward the wolves, only just landing when the entrance to the pocket dimension imploded, Ore’s magic shattering at the site, a second before a wave of blinding white light tore toward us like a tidal wave.

“Shields up!” Ore’s command sounded over the battlefield.

I flew up above everyone again just before it hit, slamming into the shields of everyone on the frontline.

A collective groan sounded as it forced our soldiers back a couple of steps.

Those shields were good, but even they couldn’t hold off the full power of celestial magic for long.

That fucking cunt, Lenora, was trying to magically-nuke us all to death.

I let my phoenix fire loose as I rapidly flew along the frontlines, transforming completely in the process so I could call on every ounce of my power.

Within moments, I created a wall of ferocious fire barring the way to Obsidian , shielding them from the celestial magic with one of the only things that could actually hold back that shit—at least for a time.

It wouldn’t last forever, though, and given that my entire being was shuddering under the strain, that was made abundantly clear to me.

I could hear myself crying out in phoenix tongue as I fought to get a complete handle on every part of the flames I’d just let loose.

And then I did something I never had before on this scale, and I thrust my hands forward, sending a massive tidal wave of phoenix fire straight into the path of the celestial magic.

I watched it tear into it, fighting like crazy with everything I had, until it finally managed to cut a path through, the white celestial magic flickering wildly.

And then it tapped out, dissipating entirely.

I heard cheers and whooping from everyone and I pulled my fire back, then touched down, stumbling in my step from the over-exertion. Arms grasped me and I turned to see Xavier there, grinning at me.

“Fucking impressive, Tal.”

“I thought so.”

“You all right?” he asked, looking me over.

“Yeah, just need a second or two.”

That was denied us all as the gates were breached, Ore’s magic shattering, along with the shimmering purple wall in front of us. I heard creaking and crashing and swung my head to see absolutely everything falling then, the whole pocket dimension collapsing.

And then I saw Ore flying high in the sky, his Dark Fae wings outstretched in all their glory as he streamed his magic forth, levitating away the dangerous collapse of so much, his hands moving rapid-fire to accomplish it.

Even the central quarters building had come down and I saw Saryan there, one hand batting away the debris and heavy stone as his other held a shield over him, Elliot, and Vanessa while he also completed the spell to return Elliot’s magic to him, a beaker levitating, shining with his magic and bubbling blood.

Hell almighty.

At the same time, an explosion of white smoke erupted right by the frontlines, and then Lenora materialized with several hundred acolytes flanking her.

The crazy bitch hopped up on way too much celestial magic noticed Ore there trying to spare everyone from being crushed by all the debris and the destruction. Her gaze flicked to Saryan and Elliot next. But then it moved to Alena over by what was now a field of magic and my fire surrounding Constantine, keeping him trapped, with Alena having already added another layer of her magic to reinforce it.

“Kill them!” she commanded the acolytes. “Kill them all.”

In the next second, she disappeared in a cloud of teleportation.

X and I searched the area frantically, trying to pinpoint where she was going to rematerialize.

And then the worst happened.

White smoke erupted right over by Alena.

Before Alena could even react, Lenora blasted her with a massive bolt of her power that sent her spinning out several hundred feet away in what was just a field now.

She landed on her back, choking up blood.

Lenora sneered, then turned to Constantine’s cell and thrust two streams of celestial magic at it.

A battle cry rang out from Ore, and then Obsidian charged, while the acolytes ran into the fray too, their sheer numbers, although smaller thanks to Ore, still threatening to overwhelm us.

Within moments, we were all immersed in a battle to the fucking death.

The last thing I was aware of before it all became a blur of immediate violence, pain, and blood, was Ore finishing up protecting us, then soaring over to Lenora, Constantine, and Alena.

Fuck me.