Tainted roots

The floating rift rippled in the air as it vanished from sight, but I still felt its oily energy. Kain placed the second necklace around his neck, the two crystals showing through the gap in his shirt.

“Now that we have the boring part out of the way.” He chuckled as if he made such a funny joke, and the crowd ate it up, joining in his laughter. Fucking cults. “Let us get to the main event. My mating to the lovely Alora.”

We were out of time, whatever we were going to do, it needed to be now. I sent out a mental plea to Rowan, begging her to hurry up. The ball of energy lit up in my chest with a vague sense of determination.

I was regretting not having Gemini on our team, her magical trinkets would’ve been helpful with causing a distraction. I didn’t allow myself to dwell on that possibility, since she wasn’t here, and focusing on what you lacked was never smart. All it did was waste time.

Sometime during Kain’s speech, Alora had been chained to the floor. I couldn’t tell from this distance, but it appeared the metal was a mixture of gold and some sort of black metal. The chains binding her to the floor were long enough for her to lift her arms to her waist in front of her. But was unfortunately not long enough for her to punch Kain’s lights out. She didn’t stop struggling, pulling back against the chains until they were taut, and trying to use her body weight to snap them. All her effort was in vain. If they had gold in them—not the same kind of gold in the human realm, ours was stronger—there was no way she’d be able to break free. Not without help.

“Can you cast some sort of spell to distract them?” There was no hiding the desperation in my voice.

“The question isn’t if I can distract them, it’s will it be enough for us to get to her and leave without being caught?” Despite his words, Wyatt pushed up the sleeves of his shirt to his elbows and began casting.

A ball of light formed in the middle of the room, hovering several feet above where the rift had been. It grew in brightness, becoming blinding within a couple of seconds. Cries of shock and pain at seeing something so bright rippled through the crowd. I shielded my eyes, not wanting to put myself in a vulnerable position by closing them. In my peripheral vision, I watched Wyatt create a portal. Once formed, I didn’t hesitate before stepping through.

The portal led directly to the dais. I was still shielding my eyes from the bright light above as I approached Alora. Her head was bowed, and her eyes squeezed shut. Because of the length of the chains, she was unable to cover her eyes. She, like many of the necromancers, had never seen the sun before and was panicking.

Rather than look around to see the necromancer’s reactions, I put my back to the spell and kept my head down as I observed the chains. They were spelled with some sort of icy death magic, that sent numbing tingles through my hands and arms as soon as I made contact with the black chains. The gold shackles had her wrists red and raw and unfortunately, didn’t have a keyhole or anything like that. They were also snug on her wrists to inflict the maximum amount of pain possible on her. There was an undercurrent of energy in the floor near where the chains attached.

I adjust my grip on one of the spelled chains and began tugging, trying to rip it free from the floor. It felt weird to be doing so, with the numbing tingle in my arms. Other than some slight groaning, nothing happened. While I continued yanking on the chain, Koa joined me, grabbing the chain above my hands and helping pull. Small cracks formed in the ground around the chains, but it still didn’t give way.

Letting out a long sigh, I released the chains and wiped the sweat from my face. The continued use of the solar flare was making the room unbearably hot. I wouldn’t be surprised if I had a sunburn for the next half hour after this. Using the spell for so long was a serious risk. It was essentially like talking a tiny piece of the sun and bringing it down into the room. If Wyatt wasn’t careful, he’d cook us all. Or worse, set off a small supernova.

“We need to remove the shackles, otherwise we’ll never be able to bring her through a portal or rift,” Wyatt yelled to be heard as he joined us. Sweat dampened his hair and the front of his shirt. He briefly touched the chains, shuddering slightly as he observed them.

Around us chaos still ensued, screams filled the air as well as the shuffling of feet. I didn’t know where Kain was, and as long as he didn’t interrupt us, I didn’t care.

“You both will need to break the connection, otherwise this will never work.” Wyatt gestures between the chains and the floor, where a current of energy was running from the floor and into the chains.

Not needing to be told twice, Koa and I renewed our efforts. More cracks formed in the stone, and eventually the chains came free, breaking off the connection to the numbing energy. While we shifted our attention to the other one, Wyatt began using his magic to free Alora’s hand.

Wyatt’s ability to not only maintain the solar flare but also cast another spell at the same time was impressive. He didn’t show any signs of exhaustion, and I was beginning to understand what Koa said last month, about him being a powerful sorcerer.

Sweat stung my eyes, but I didn’t stop. Not until the second chain came free. The first shackle fell from her wrist with a clack, and Wyatt moved onto the final one. Blue energy flowed from his hands and wrapped around the shackle. Low words were spoken as the energy wrapped tighter around the metal. A split formed in the shackle, small at first, but grew in size until the metal split completely and it too clattered to the ground.

The temperature in the room had reached unbearable heights when Wyatt extinguished the spell. Before I could check our surroundings, now that I could do so without being blinded, arms banded around my waist and yanked me back against a cold and sweaty chest. The crystals hanging from his necklace dug painfully into my back as Kain lifted me off my feet and pulled me away from the others.

I threw my head back, cracking him in the face. The back of my head ached and I saw black spots, but it was worth it. I tried wiggling my body, hoping he was distracted enough that I could get free. I only stopped my movements when searing white hot pain licked my neck. Silver.

He had a silver blade pressed firmly against my throat, to the point blood trickled down my neck. I was no longer being dragged back, my feet now making contact with the ground.

Koa’s wide eyes met mine, showing the pure terror flowing from him to me. His terror quickly gave way to rage. Sparks of fire formed in his hands as his dragon made an appearance. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you dragon. You wouldn’t want to force my hand.” To emphasize his point, Kain pressed the blade down even harder, causing more blood to trickle down.

I don’t know when I moved my hands, but one was on his wrist trying to pull it away, while the other was on the one still holding my waist. If I could get him to loosen his grip, maybe I could find a way out of this without getting my throat sliced.

“You will give me back what’s mine, or I’ll kill her,” Kain threatened, earning a growl from Koa. I tried shaking my head, telling Koa not to even think about giving Alora to this creep. The blade pressed even deeper drawing more blood. “It seems this one has a death wish. Is that what this is? Would you like to die?”

A growl built in my chest at his patronizing tone. “Don’t even think about it sorcerer,” Kain said when Wyatt’s hand twitched. To use magic a sorcerer had to either use words or gestures, and with Kain watching so closely, Wyatt was unable to do either.

The room was still filled with footsteps and shouts, and I had no clue what was happening. They could either be running away or planning out their attack. In all the loud chaos, I hadn’t heard the creatures approaching. They were sneaking up behind Koa, Alora, and Wyatt, who were unaware of their presence.

“Behind you!” I shouted, not caring if it got me into more trouble. They whirled around in time to avoid the blow the three ogres were about to deliver. It was clear they were given orders not to harm Alora, since all their attention was aimed at Koa and Wyatt. An advantage she used, and threw herself at one, despite not having a weapon.

I watched in horror as goblins and vampires joined in on the attack. With how firmly the blade was pressed against my neck, I couldn’t move to help them without having my neck sliced open. Now I was forced to watch as the others were surrounded by more creatures than they could fight.

Strain now lined Wyatt’s face, as well as Koa’s, along with a trickle of blood that had my claws shooting out of my nails. Alora was weaponless, and weighed down by her heavy and unforgiving dress. We were well and completely fucked.

Wyatt couldn’t avoid a swipe from a harpy in time and was slashed across the stomach, blood immediately staining his shirt. Harpies had many similarities with sirens, with their taloned feet, and wings lining their arms. But that’s where their similarities ended.

Wyatt lashed out with his curved blade and caught part of her wing. Koa was surrounded by vampires, fighting off six at once. Blood stained his arms and back, from the times he wasn’t so lucky. There was no stopping or pushing down the growing panic, dread, or despair. I was about to watch my mate be killed right in front of me and there was nothing I could do without getting myself killed.

The commotion throughout the room became louder and different. Enough to distract Kain, to the point where his grip on the blade relaxed. No longer was it digging into my throat, searing my flesh as it drew blood. The blade now hovered over my throat, and I wasn’t one to waste an opportunity. I lashed out, jabbing back with my elbow as I maneuvered out of his hold. Rather than move away, I lunged toward him and closed my fingers around both crystals, giving a sharp yank. The chains of the necklaces easily gave way.

Kain attacked, but before he could make contact, he was thrown away. He flew off the dais and crashed into the nearest column. I hoped that shit hurt, a lot.

Koa spun me around, his eyes tracking over my face and neck. Once he was satisfied I wasn’t too badly hurt, he grabbed my hand and pulled me away from the approaching figures.

They weren't creatures or necromancers, but the tainted. Because of course they were working with the necromancers. There were nearly twenty, each race accounted for. Something was different about these, versus the ones we saw in the water court. The elementals had black veins, but they were no longer just in their faces and necks. Prominent veins stood out in their arms and hands, as well as their chests.

The veins shadowed in comparison to the other changes to their appearances. A couple of them had black scales lining their cheekbones and foreheads, as well as their necks and collarbones. The other elemental’s hands were completely blackened, covered in what looked like crusted-over lava. Cracks formed on the surface, where bright orange shone through. Smoke billowed out of their mouths and noses. Their eyes were the color of lava.

The summoners, blood mages, sorcerers, and sorceresses weren’t looking much better.

Fur sprouted along some of the summoner’s skin, along their forearms, on their chests, and along the perimeter of their faces. They too had prominent black veins, as did the blood mages, who had sigils carved into every available inch of exposed skin. Their eyes were crazed and blood red. The sorcerers' and sorceresses' vein patterning was slightly different. On the shirtless sorcerers, I noticed a blackened circle seared in the middle of their chests, where black veins branched out from.

None of them gave off scents, just as Starling had said. I guess that was one thing about them that remained the same. They weren’t crazed like they were the last time I saw them. Instead they slowly stalked us, forcing us to retreat to the middle of the dais as they spread out to prevent us from escaping. I unsheathed the small knife, wishing it was bigger. In my other hand, I held a dagger, just in case this knife was useless.

I bumped into someone, and when I glanced over my shoulder, I saw Ari. Gemini, Reed, Harmony, Wyatt, and Alora were huddled near us, their attention on the tainted surrounding us.

I didn’t have time to be relieved they hadn’t been captured, or think about how they must’ve been what caused the commotion earlier. All I could focus on was that there were now almost fifty of these assholes. There was no way we were getting out of here alive without killing some of them.

Hell, I wasn’t even sure they were still Mythics, not with the new physical changes.

Shoving the keys in one of the pouches on my leg holster, I dodged a blow from an elemental with lava hands. As I sliced out with the knife, I felt ridiculous using such a small weapon. The blade slashed across his bare chest, and where the metal made contact, his skin sizzled, the black blood pouring out of the wound bubbled. Smoke poured out of his mouth as he tilted his head back and screamed. I attacked again, pressing the blade against the side of his neck, holding it there this time. Sizzling skin bubbled under the blade, my stomach rolling in disgust. This seemed way worse than when that silver dagger had been against my throat.

Black streams of energy came from his eyes, adding to my disgust, and floated toward the invisible rift and disappeared.

Fuck, fuck, fuck. I should’ve realized the two were connected.

I didn’t have time to think about this new revelation. The elemental man in front of me didn’t return to normal as the tainted had back at the beach houses. His face and body remained the same as he collapsed onto the floor. Another tainted took his place, not giving me time to process this. The summoner I fought had claws way longer than normal. They had to be at least half a foot, with curved and wickedly sharp tips, and some sort of black liquid dripping off of them.

I soon figured out what the black liquid was when burning pain bloomed in my left arm where her claws made contact. A numbing sensation spread through my arm, branching out from the scratches.

She screamed as I stabbed her in the side, bubbling blood pouring out from the wound and over my hand. It stung my hand, but I didn’t let go or pull the knife out. Like with the elemental, black energy exited her body and disappeared into the invisible rift.

Lucky for me, the numbing sensation stopped around the top of my arm and didn’t spread throughout my body. Still, it threw me off having a numb and useless arm, allowing a few of the tainted to get in several more blows.

It turned out the elementals with crusted-over lava for hands, could indeed shoot lava from them. A small droplet hit my leg, and that tiny amount was so painful I began seeing black spots. A blood mage nearly tore out my throat with his sharpened fangs. He still managed to bite my shoulder, unfortunately right above my numbed arm, so I felt his fangs tear my skin. An elemental, this one with rocks embedded in her skin, smashed her fist encrusted with rocks against my shoulder blade. And fuck if that shit didn’t hurt.

Every one of them I fought went down due to my tiny ass knife, howling in pain as it made contact. Every time the tainted were expelled from their bodies, they’d flop to the ground, still retaining their changes. While the black energy would return to the rift.

I didn’t need to be an expert in them to figure out they couldn’t survive or remain out here without a body. When they were expelled, they were forced to return to whatever realm they came from. “We need to close that damn rift.”