Sage

Sage

She pushed off the ground and forced her legs to move. She had to get out, get away from him. She raced by the portal, and for a split second considered leaping through. But if she did, she would never be able to return. The only reason she could before was the bond - and now it was broken.

So she flew by it, forcing herself to move.

But she was slow compared to a Demon. Zaniel appeared before her, his arms crossed as he leered down at her. She pinwheeled, trying to backtrack before she slammed into his body. But her momentum carried her forward, and she smacked her face into his chest, forcing her head back violently.

He grasped a fistful of her hair, yanking her to the side, pulling at her roots so violently she felt some hair rip out. Tears bit at her eyes as she called on her magic, but a swift punch to the gut toppled her over. The pain was crippling.

She’d been punched, kicked, and stabbed many times in this world, but the pain had always been dulled by the healing power she shared with Kade. Without it, she was left to feel every second of agony as her body struggled to cope.

She hadn’t realized how much she’d relied on Kade’s healing before. Not until she was on her knees, gasping for air.

“What? Is that all it takes now to shut you up?” He sneered, pulling her head back so she was forced to look up at him. Her eyes widened in stark fear - even with her magic, she might not be able to escape him. “Don’t worry, little girl.” He hissed. “I won’t kill you. That would make Kade furious. But I will have my fun with you.”

She couldn’t block the fist that collided with her face. She felt the pain explode while her vision blacked out and her body went slack.

“You ruined everything,” he roared over her. She tried to grasp her magic, to call it up and blow him away, but her body was shaking with the physical pain and the sudden absence of the bond. How could she have relied on it so much? She was without her crutch now and being asked to run.

His foot collided with her rib cage, and she heard the sicking crack as something broke.

“You with your stupid berries and schemes. If not for you, he’d be dead, and I’d be heir!” He shouted, his voice echoing all around her as she gasped for air.

Fight,she screamed at herself, fight back! Her body was trying to find equilibrium, but it was hard with him beating on her.

She coughed and forced a weak laugh. “He’s going to rip you apart when he sees my face.” She rolled over, forcing a grin. But Zaniel only glanced down at her with mild irritation.

“You think you’re the first toy of his I’ve broken? Father won’t care, which means Kade won’t be allowed to care.”

Her grin faded. She knew he was right - The Demon King was too powerful for Kade to stand up to. He’d tried once when his mother was being sacrificed, and he failed. What chance did he stand now? What chance did any of them stand now?

They were going to release the Demon horde any minute now and unleash them on Neaviah. Many of those Demons just wanted a better life in a world that wasn’t dying - but their King didn’t. They would have no choice either but to follow their King and do his bidding.

Her heart sank as all hope leeched from her. Zaniel was right. This was all her fault. The horrors that were about to be unleashed on this world were all her doing. They stood no chance, even with all seven Maidens, not when the Goddess herself failed.

Sage rolled to her side and let the deep seed of despair wash over her. She deserved this pain. She deserved far worse. She shut her eyes, silently asking Minx to forgive her. There was no going back now.

“You’ve finally accepted your place? Good,” Zaniel landed a kick to her hip, and she grimaced against the pain but did not cry out. Let him break me, she thought. Let him tear me apart.

Another volley of punches landed over her back and he grunted, “You don’t deserve my magic. Only my fists.”

There was a pop of magic, and something in the back of her mind screamed. Kade was back - he’d put a stop to it. But the volleys kept coming, and she realized Zaniel was lost in his anger. He was going to beat her to a pulp and she couldn’t muster the will to stop him.

The sound of a sword singing through the air echoed, followed by a wet squelch. Something heavy landed near her face. She cracked her uninjured eye, focusing on Zaniel’s head, rolling away.

“Sage!” Gabriela gasped. She felt her delicate hands gently touch her back and groaned. “Oh my Goddess,” Gabriela sobbed.

“Quick, get her up.” Naru’s deep voice vibrated through her chest. Fear laced through her. They couldn’t be here! Dragula would be back any minute now.

“No,” she croaked, “Go back. Leave me.” Blood oozed from her cracked lips.

Gabriela rolled her over, her brows knotted in concern. “How can we? We need to get back to the others. We need to come up with a plan.”

Plans. She could have laughed. Where had their plans gotten them? They’d gotten rid of Supreme Capricorn only to replace him with the Demon King and he was about to free his horde to lay waste to this world. Minx was trapped in their magicless world - the poison might have been stopped, but now she had to face their families. Naru’s entire family was gone - all because a mad Maiden wanted to kill them on a whim.

Their plans had been worthless.

Sage shook her head, “No. No more. Just go - go through the portal. It’s safer in my world.” Gabriela looked shocked.

“Sage, no. We will not run away from this.”

“What is she saying?” Naru asked.

“I think she wants to give up,” Gabriela said, incredulous.

“What?” Naru crouched down beside her, his molten eyes burning. “Don’t you ever say that, Sage. Not as long as you have breath inside you. Don’t you ever think about giving up. There is always a way.”

“Whatever the cost, we do not fold,” Gabriela quipped. “You taught me that, Sage.”

Naru held out his hand, “Will you lay there and weep, Sage, while my sister waits for a grave?”

Remorse coursed through her. How could she be so weak? She locked eyes with Gabriela, the meekest among them urging her to get up, to keep going, and knew she was not alone. Not really.

She took Naru’s hand, her entire body shaking under the numbing pain.

He pulled her to her feet, and Gabriela stood before them, smiling. She held out the Tear and reached for Naru’s arm. Sage braced herself for the spinning and prayed Kade would understand. She wasn’t abandoning him - she would free him from his father when she could. Gabriela was right, they needed to regroup and think about their next move. The first Maidens had found a way - so could they.

The temperature in the cave dipped.

Sage saw how Gabriela’s eyes widened behind her shoulder, and her heart nearly stopped. She turned, feeling Naru’s grip on her arm tightening. Dragula stood over Zaniel’s headless body. The Demon King regarded his slain son with bemusement while Kade stood behind him. Four Demons stood on either side of Kade - Sage presumed they were the sacrifices Zaniel had mentioned.

Kade’s red eyes flicked from her to Zaniel’s body. Sage couldn’t feel him, but she recognized how his eyes widened with fear. He looked back up, his body moving quickly towards them as he screamed for her to run, but shadows laced around his legs, chaining him in place.

Fear raced through her veins at the desperate look Kade gave her - he fought the shadows with everything he had, but to no avail. His magic was nothing in comparison to Dragula’s.

Dragula barely looked at Zaniel’s body. “Kill them,” he said with bored indifference. The four Demons charged, racing around Kade as he struggled against the shadow chains. He tried to stop them with his own magic, throwing a bolt of ice at the nearest one, but the chains lashed out and pulled his hands to his sides, pinning them. A wall of shadows went up between them, trapping Kade with his father.

Naru pushed her to the side, placing himself between her and the incoming Demons. Gabriela sent a torrid wind at one, throwing him down the cave until his body slammed into the cave wall, then fell to the ground, broken. Naru unsheathed his sword, engaging a snake-like Demon that reminded her of the first time she’d seen Kade in this world.

They’d been battling Demons, and he appeared out of nowhere, pissed off and broody. She looked at him then and knew this time she could not leave him. Zaniel had been right - his father feared him, and in doing so would keep Kade at his side to watch him. So long as he was chained to his father, he could never be free. He would suffer and be forced to do terrible things.

Sage wouldn’t leave the man she loved to such a fate, not even for a day.

“Kade!” she cried hoarsely, summoning her magic. She would punch through the shadows that bound him to the Demon King. Gabriela’s words rang through her mind.

Whatever the cost, you do not fold.

She thought of how meek Gabriela had been when she first came to them. How much Wraza and some of the others doubted her. She looked at the Vizar Maiden now, striking out at the Demons with her gift with such veracity it astounded her.

She’d lost everything - her home, her father, and even though he was a dick and Sage wasn’t sorry he was dead, she understood the complex nature of toxic parents. Gabriela hadn’t grieved for the father she knew, but the father she wished she had.

Sage reveled in Gabriela’s quiet strength, and then hit the wall of shadows with everything she still had. Her gift seared through her body, making her scream out as it burnt every cell. Had it always hurt before and she never noticed?

The shadow wall and chains melted away, revealing Kade.

“Kade!” she yelled, locking eyes with him. “Hurry!” She held out a hand. He moved, reaching out to her. She felt the brush of his fingertips over her palm before the shadows yanked him away.

“Enough of this,” his father hissed. Gabriela leaped in front of her, throwing up a barrier of air and magic.

Everything moved so slowly, like she was underwater. A bolt of magic flew out, shattering the barrier and striking Gabriela directly in the chest. Her body was flung back several feet until it slammed into the stone table. Sage watched in horror as Gabriela crumpled to the ground, gaping.

No, no, no, no.

Naru screamed her name, the horror and anguish in his voice bringing Sage back to her knees. She fell, watching as Gabriela gaped and gasped, the hole in her chest seeping bands of dark blood down her dress. Naru took a step towards her, then fell to his knees. He kept repeating her name, over and over like a prayer, as he crawled to her side, collapsing before her as he gathered her broken body to his chest.

Sage saw the dimming in her eyes as she gazed up at him, her face etched in pain and stark fear.

The Demon King appeared over them in a cloak of shadows, his cruel, indifferent face peering down over his unnatural smile.

“One less rat.” He said.

Sage saw the look in Naru’s eyes. She moved, scrambling over the ground to grab him, to hold him back, but he was too fast and too strong. He broke from her arms, lunging for the Demon King.

Sage twisted around, falling next to Gabriela.

Dragula caught him by the throat, holding him out and lifting him a few feet off the ground. Naru held on, tears streaming down his scarred face as he struggled to break the grip around his neck. He roared in the Demon King’s face, spittle flying as he fought back.

“Take it,” Gabriela rasped. Sage tore her eyes from Naru to see Gabriela holding the Tear. “Sage,” she pleaded. “Take it.”

Her delicate fingers relaxed, and the Tear rolled out of her palm to land by Sage’s arm. “Take…soul…” she breathed.

Sage gaped at her, but found her arm moving like it had a mind of its own. She pulled, taking the dying ember of her soul and placing it with the others she held.

Gabriela gave her a weak smile, then went still. The light in her eyes died out and glossed over. Sage couldn’t breathe. She stared at Gabriela, her mouth open in a silent scream she couldn’t muster the strength to release.

This couldn’t be happening. Gabriela couldn’t die.

“N-no, Gabriela, you don’t fold, remember?” Sage stuttered, pressing a hand to her bloody chest. “You said that. You can’t fold - not now!” She screamed.

A sickening crack echoed down the cave. She ripped her eyes away to see Dragula holding Naru limp in his claw. A cruel glitter of satisfaction passed over his eyes briefly before he tossed Naru’s body to the side. She watched his limp body hit the ground, the sound heavy as it cracked through her mind.

No, no, no, this isn’t happening,she thought.

Someone was screaming, the sound of pure terror and agony that bounced to her ears and bore into her soul.

It was her. She was screaming, dragging herself towards his body.

The Demon King regarded her with disdain, and she knew somewhere in the back of her mind she was next. Pets. Rats. He didn’t see any of them as people.

Kade appeared, his claws digging into her roughly as he yanked her to her feet. She fought back, screaming, clawing at his face while he dragged her away from his father and the bodies of her friends.

His face was blank, his red eyes void of all emotion while she was shattering into a thousand jagged pieces before him. He ignored her as he pulled her to the portal, then stopped.

Kade held her in front of him, shaking her shoulders until she saw stars.

“Enough!” He hissed, and she froze. His red eyes flashed lilac as he took in her battered face. “Sage,” he said weakly, “enough.” Before she could say anything, he pulled her close to him, wrapping her in a hug and whispering, “I will save them. I promise.” She felt the wetness of his tears on his cheeks as he held her.

“Kade-” she started, but stopped when he pulled away.

His face changed, melting into something different, but familiar. He was no longer the Kade she knew and loved. He was the Demon that answered her family’s call. The one that emerged from the darkness and tore her body apart.

“I love you,” He said.

And then he pushed her into the portal.