36. Raven

RAVEN

Iscream at the top of my lungs, my throat burning as I watch the sword pierce Brax’s body.

Please, no.

No. No. No.

I’m helpless as I watch him become weaker and weaker before my very eyes. The struggle shatters Zane, Creed, and Eldon too. Rising to my feet, I try to move closer, very aware of the green men attacking us, but nothing matters except protecting Brax. My legs give out before I can take two steps, my body still not able to withstand the knock I’ve already taken.

The second my knees hit the floor, my face falls into my hands and I scream. Not just a sound, though, a name.

“Ari!”

The cords in my neck tense as the scream consumes me, the plea for help hanging heavy on my tongue.

Creed, Eldon, and Zane all keep pushing the attackers, but we’re outmatched, unprepared, and struggling. I’ve never felt more helpless in my life. The flames at the doorway grow bigger and wider, slowly taking up more of the room as sweat clings to my skin. It’s not affecting the men dressed in green, but it’s proving difficult for my men.

Creed stumbles, falling to the floor with an attacker hovering over him and my heart splits in two. I can’t lose him too. I can’t.

“Ari!” I yell, but it’s not as long this time as an almighty wail rings through the air.

My eyes sting from the flames as the attackers freeze at the sound, watching the windows as a flicker of gold flashes on the other side of the glass.

He came…

Ari came.

“Please, Ari. Please.”

The fire crackles, wood splintering around us as the room becomes thick with smoke before everything goes silent. Eldon and Zane don’t waste the distraction, drawing their swords on the assailants and driving them straight through their hearts.

I weep with hope and relief, but one still remains. He inches back a step, then another, and another. He thinks he’s clear to escape, but he trips over what looks like a body by the door and Creed somehow manages to scramble to his feet to take aim with his blade.

Silence echoes through the room, each of us waiting for the next hurdle, but after a few seconds pass and nothing startles me, I crawl on my hands and knees to get to Brax. The smoke makes it difficult, my heart galloping in my chest as I roll him over to his back.

“Brax… Brax… Please, Brax,” I beg as a squawk rings through the air from outside. Ari can feel my distress, I can sense his too. “Guys, please, help me with him,” I plead, turning to Zane, who looks down at me with a solemn and pained expression on his face.

“I can’t, Raven,” he rasps, and I shake my head in disbelief.

Running my hands over him, I search for his pulse or his heartbeat, but I can’t get anything with the tremble in my fingers. “Where’s his sword? Find his sword,” I cry, desperate for anything that will confirm that he’s going to be okay.

“I can’t find it,” Eldon states, looking around frantically as Creed curses under his breath.

“Raven, it’s gone.”

“No. It can’t be. It can’t. No, please,” I sob, my heart aching beyond words as anguish consumes me. “I can’t breathe. Please, Brax. Please.” I can’t shake the distress from my tone, but I’m desperate. I just need to see him, hear him, anything.

“Raven…”

“No. No! Nooo!” A gut-wrenching cry tears from my lips, ringing unbearably in my ears as my heart bleeds and despair consumes me.

I lower my forehead to his chest, my cry still burning my lungs, a sob desperate to calm the quake in my chest as I burn from my toes all the way to my head.

“Raven.”

My eyes widen, the pain unbearable as I straighten, blinking in confusion, but the scream continues.

“Raven?”

The cry stops, the flickering of flames stops, everything stops.

Everything except the fluttering of a heartbeat as I come face to face with two colors.

One brown. One green.