Rivers of blood and sand

A ripple of black smoke appeared out of nowhere and surrounded the outskirts of the circle, so thick not even the glowing red light could be seen. A ripple of icy energy emanated from the smoke and had my dragon unsettled. A few moments later, the smoke dissipated as fast as it appeared, revealing four beings standing around the circle. I recognized the death mage woman and the blood mage man from the mirrored dimension. The other two were difficult to see through the red light. I assumed one was an elemental, and a sorcerer or a sorceress since it seemed there were two of each race.

Across the circle, the one on the left stomped their foot and the grass rotted and shriveled beneath their feet as a wave of decay spread to the center of the circle. A crack appeared in the ground beneath the glowing red light.

The four royals had been spaced out around the circle, but they backed up as soon as the black smoke appeared. Caspian was standing closest to me and dropped to his knees. He placed his hands on the untainted grass and spread his fingers, releasing a wave of pure elemental magic into the ground. I could feel the magic race toward the center of the circle where chunks of dirt and grass crumbled into the chasm below, halting it from spreading. The hole was maybe two feet in diameter, which seemed dangerous for whoever was getting ready to emerge.

Blood was dripping down the blood mage’s arm as he slammed his bleeding hand to the grass on the outside of the circle. The grass died under his palm and spread around the inside of the circle but in a different way than what the elemental did. It was similar to what we’d been finding around our realm.

At the same time, the death mage raised her hands, and an inky smoke rose from the five dead parasitical beings scattered around the bridge. As the smoke flew through the air, the one that I assumed was a sorceress—based on their small stature, the same went for the elemental—raised her hands and a translucent black barrier of electrified energy circled the rift, allowing the smoke to easily pass through. The smoke made its way toward the rift where it disappeared, and the red outline became more defined.

Fuck.

Based on what Alora told us about death mages, I could only assume she had used their deaths to power the rift. That was probably their plan all along. I hadn’t wanted to jinx us as we fought, but it had seemed like it was way too easy to kill the elemental and blood mage.

All of this happened within seconds, but felt like minutes, like we’d entered slow motion. Roman lunged at the blood mage and pulled the man’s attention from the rift as he slammed his fist into his jaw. He didn’t have any weapons, nor did he summon claws, confirming my theory about drawing unnecessary blood. Even without weapons, Roman was holding his own against him, managing to avoid his sharp teeth and claws.

Reed was no longer kneeling and instead was at the edge of the bridge with his hands outstretched. I had no idea what he was doing, but I knew him well enough to know he wasn’t screwing around. Harmony was still kneeling with her hands buried in the grass, her eyes shut in concentration. Caspian remained kneeling as well, but his hands were out in front of him, tilted upwards. Waves of magic radiated from his hands.

Alora had been closest to the death mage and as a consequence, was the one the death mage chose to attack. Before she could make contact, Ari shot an arrow at her. With the wind being near tornado levels, the arrow barely grazed the death mage’s cheek, but it distracted her enough for Alora to move out of the way.

Adjusting my grip on my sword, I was preparing to join the others—who had already gotten past their initial shock and went on the offense—when a strong hand landed on my shoulder, nearly making me jump. I was relieved to find Titan behind me. His expression was strained, worry mixing with the hint of exhaustion wearing at him.

He opened his mouth to speak but thought better of it. Moving his hand from my shoulder, he tapped the faint symbol on my wrist, and a bolt of electric energy zapped through my arm, making my body freeze in shock.

His expression never changed, and the winds had yet to let up, but somehow I heard his voice loud and clear. ‘They’ve erected a barrier around the rift. By the times I find my way through, it’ll be too late. We need your firw to break through.’ His solemn gaze held mine as I realized his voice had been inside my mind. A handy skill to have when we couldn’t communicate verbally.

Shaking off the weird feeling of having his voice invade my mind, I nodded in acceptance and followed him to the barrier. I didn’t try and get Koa to help since he was busy fighting the death mage, and I didn’t want to distract him. Especially when he wouldn’t have been able to hear me anyway. From what I could see, these beings were more difficult to fight than the others. It seemed my theory about them wanting to be killed was correct.

Titan’s hands hovered over the barrier, moving them until they came to a halt a few feet off the ground. He met my gaze and inclined his head toward his hands. I took that as him telling me this was a weak point. I followed his lead and didn’t touch the barrier. Instead, I hovered my hands several inches away and summoned fire.

I let the fire out in a continuous stream, keeping it focused on the place Titan had pointed to. He remained beside me, using his magic as he attempted to unwind the spell. As time went on, sweat began dotting my forehead and dripping down my back.

My anxiety doubled when the red light of the emerging rift grew and the glowing split in the air became more defined. We were running out of time, and with that thought in mind, I increased the strength of my fire.

From my peripheral vision, I noticed Ashe on the other side of the barrier, painting sigils on the surface. I guessed it was safe to touch it. To remain on the safe side, I still kept my hands where they were. I didn’t have to look to know when Ashe’s spell went into effect. A shudder ran through the barrier. There was a noticeable shift in the energy emanating from the barrier, and I knew whatever we were doing was working.

Time didn’t make sense as I kept pouring more fire into the shield. It couldn’t have been more than a few minutes, but it felt like it had been at least ten. Exhaustion was beginning to wear on me, not enough to cause concern, but enough for my hands to shake.

Threads of black energy began unweaving in the barrier to my right, slowly but surely. The hole grew to be a couple of feet wide and a few feet tall, but it refused to grow any bigger. I could feel the barrier actively fighting against my fire, trying to weave itself back together again.

Titan pressed his fingers against my wrist again, and his calm voice filled my mind. ‘Keep at it, we need this barrier down.’ He didn’t wait for my response, pushing through the gap in the barrier and taking off toward the center of the circle.

His hands glowed as he began his spell. Ashe patted my shoulder as he passed me and squeezed through the shield. As he ran toward Titan, he drew blood from his forearm. Not too long after, Caspian passed through the gap, greenish-black blood staining his hands. Roman shortly followed him, but not before giving my shoulder a comforting squeeze. The four of them circled the rift, and Ashe used blood from the other three to cast.

Once Ashe was done drawing sigils, they each held their hands toward each other, with only a foot between them as they gave the emerging rift a wide berth. It was hard to feel their magic through the cloying and dark energy seeping out of the rift and the barrier.

Koa came up beside me with various colored blood staining his clothes and skin. His eyes were wild with his dragon so close to the surface, the gold was the only color present at the moment. He added his fire to the other side of the hole and with his added power, it grew almost a foot all of the way around.

The rift kept growing in power, with the light nearly blinding, forcing me to drop my gaze.

A crazy thought came to me. The energy that created this rift was from blood and death magic. Not only had my fire worked well against them, but had removed the blood from a portal. Maybe it would help close this rift, or maybe all I’d accomplish was distracting them. I waited a few more moments, slowing my stream of fire as I watched the light of the rift fluctuate. They were affecting it, but not enough to close it.

At least, not in time to prevent something from emerging.

Koa’s features showcased his exhaustion, but his fire was steady. If it weren’t for the wind that made it hard to keep my eyes open as I stared in his direction, I would’ve told him my theory and had him go. But he couldn’t hear me, and this was too important to try and nonverbally tell him.

Releasing my hold on my fire, I slipped between the gap in the barrier and took off toward the royals. I stopped next to Roman and tapped his shoulder. His eyebrows furrowed as he glanced at me over his shoulder. His mouth moved with words I couldn’t hear. But I assumed he asked, “What are you doing here?”

I showed him my palms and nodded to the rift, hoping he understood. Warning him seemed like a better idea, rather than going in guns blazing and risking making things worse. Luckily, he seemed to understand what I was referencing and nodded.

Raising my hands so they were below his outstretched arm, I summoned fire from my dragon, dredging up the last of her energy and hoping it was enough. None of the other royals seemed surprised or lost their concentration as they continued with their spell. The air around us was still tornado level, but there was now an undercurrent flowing through it that wasn’t malevolent. It had an essence of life and vitality, and I assumed it was from Caspian. The hole that had been under the rift wasn’t mended completely, but it was significantly smaller than before.

As I continued pouring fire into the rift, I was able to make out the differences in the royals' energy and their combined magics. Even though summoners didn’t have traditional magic like the other races, we still had energy from our animals that we could share, and not just by offering our blood. Roman’s energy had a wild and untamed edge to it that shouldn’t have been surprising, but it was. For a summoner, he was pretty calm and composed. I’d yet to ever see him lose his cool. But that could’ve been because other than fighting the blood mage, I’d yet to see him truly fight.

Caspian’s magic reminded me of a storm, the kind that could cleanse or destroy based on its mood. Titan’s was full of warmth and light, reminding me of a warm evening spent in the moonlight, under the stars. Ashe’s was similar to many blood mages, with an ever-changing and growing power that spoke of renewal.

The pulsing light of the emerging rifts was becoming less and less frequent as the glowing crack in the air became less defined. Hopefully, that meant we were getting somewhere because my energy was waning fast.

As if to screw with me, the crack became more defined with a growing depth that allowed me to feel something lurking on the other side. The crack was wider than a usual rift, where the glowing split was only a few inches wide. This one was nearly three times the size, and through the swirling red mist in its depths, I saw a shadow.

Ice water felt like it had been injected into my veins as I stared, and it felt like the thing was staring right back at us.

I nearly jumped and lost my tenuous hold on my fire when Koa’s hand landed on my shoulder. He looked as wrecked as I felt, but the determination in his expression said he was here to help. I inclined my head toward the rift—it was pretty self-explanatory—and he nodded, hurrying to stand on the other side of the circle and unleashing his fire.

With Koa’s help, the light dimmed, but I could still feel the ominous presence that made my skin crawl.

Jade joined us, racing toward Koa where she clutched his arms and shared her energy with him. If we survived this, I had little doubt Koa would lecture her about putting herself at risk and wasting her energy on him.

Not only had Jade made an appearance, but Alora had as well, standing near Ashe and raising her hands toward the rift. Cold energy seeped from her hands and into the rift. I wasn’t familiar with necromancer’s magic or their signatures, but this held an icy burn that reminded me of death.

Alora’s magic was the missing piece we needed. We already had multiple summoners, a blood mage, a sorcerer, and an elemental; but no death magic. Five magics were used to create this mess, so it stood to reason that the same five would be needed to undo it.

My fire was beginning to splutter, a sign I was about to not only lose hold of my fire but was only minutes away from collapsing if I didn’t stop. My arms shook as my legs felt like lead, and my head felt like a vice was clamped around it.

A pair of arms wrapped around my middle, but I didn’t jolt or freak out, not when I instantly knew who they belonged to. Using his own blood, Ander drew a sigil on my right outstretched arm. A surge of warm, buzzing energy surged through my veins and into my chest where my dragon resided. The exhaustion wearing my body remained, but it no longer felt like I would pass out in the next couple of minutes. My dragon felt less weak after the energy boost, and my fire no longer spluttered.

Ander didn’t remove his arms from around my waist and remained a comforting presence at my back as the glow began dying down. The process was painfully slow, but it was progress. It got to the point where I could barely make out the outline of the rift. The light pulsed a couple of times, trying to resurge, but each time, the pulse was smaller and smaller. I could no longer sense the malignant presence and I took that as a positive sign.

A wave of magic washed over us as the black barrier finally fell and with that, the rift finally began disappearing faster. The glowing crack couldn’t be seen and the red rippling air became faint as the seconds passed. As all of this occurred, the wind and rumbling bridge also began slowing down.

The rippling air flared red once more before stilling, as did the ground and wind.

I released my fire, as did Koa, and a heavy silence descended upon us as we waited.

We waited for the other shoe to drop. For the stomach-dropping, just kidding moment, and for the rift to make a resurgence. But nothing happened. The rug wasn’t pulled out from beneath our feet. The rift was gone, and so were the parasitical beings.