Zodiac Academy 8: Sorrow and Starlight

The shadows were thick, twisting around my skull in a vortex, the Shadow Beast roaring deafeningly loud inside my head.

I clutched my ears, trying to drown it out, knowing I was screaming but unable to hear my own voice over the noise of the beast. Something was tearing down the middle of me, magic cleaving me apart and driving an axe into the centre of my being.

It was going to kill me. I was sure of it. There was no way I could survive a pain this deep. It was entrenched in everything I was and everything I could ever be. And I could have sworn the Shadow Beast felt it too.

There were whispers in my head, the shadows frantic, rushing through me like ghosts darting into the space between my soul and my physical being. They were biting, clawing, trying to find a way out of this body because it was about to be ripped in two.

And all I could think of was Tory and how I’d never get to say goodbye. How I desperately missed the fire in her eyes and the way every atom that made her was an answering call to the atoms that made me. We weren’t meant to be torn apart; it was unnatural. And I was so fucking terrified that I couldn’t claw my way out of this darkness and find my way back to her, letting her down and leaving her here on this forsaken earth alone. We weren’t made to exist apart, we couldn’t, and it was my duty to return to her as well as my most desperate, heartfelt desire.

I heard my screams at last, the Shadow Beast’s roars sounding suddenly separate, booming around the room.

I was thrown violently backwards against the wall as a thick, blackish smoke poured from my chest and I gasped, my eyes flying wide as I fell prey to this excruciating torture.

Orion was before me, calling my name, his magic restraining cuffs broken at his feet and a Faelight hovering above us to light the dark chamber.

He tried to get to me, but the power pouring from my skin was like a raging hurricane blasting through the room, and it knocked him back time and again.

The howling noise grew to a crescendo and I could have sworn my soul was being severed clean from my body as a violent sucking feeling dragged at my chest. The shadows sped from me in a tornado of black, and where it landed the Shadow Beast began to form.

I couldn’t move, pinned there against the stone wall as the Shadow Beast somehow materialised without me, my skin still my own, while it stood solidly before us as its own, snarling being.

Every last scrap of the shadows left my body and I hit the floor, collapsing there in a heap, looking up at the monster who was no longer one with me, at a loss to what was happening.

The Shadow Beast seemed momentarily dazed, sniffing the air and gaining its bearings as I pushed myself to my knees and Orion shot towards me, looking me over in concern.

“Her blood was my blood,” he said in explanation. “She paid the price of your curse in her death. You’re free.”

Before I could have a second to register that, the Shadow Beast collided with us, throwing Orion away from me. He tumbled over the floor, swearing as he hurried to cast air magic, but the Shadow Beast slammed into me before he could. It swung a paw for my head, and I ducked low, its claws slashing and tearing through the wall at my back instead.

We went flying through the bricks into another dark chamber and I scrambled away from the monster, darting beneath a wooden table to hide. I was naked, bruised, covered in blood and dust too, probably looking like some sort of wild creature who’d just crawled out of the depths of hell. My body ached from the impact with that wall, but I’d miraculously avoided anything life threatening as I did a mental scan of my injuries.

The Shadow Beast prowled away from me, sniffing the air and I lifted my fingers, trying to bring magic to them, but the well in my chest was just as empty as before.

Panic stole over me as I considered what that meant. Had my magic and Order been stolen forever, even though I was free of it? I flexed my hands, feeling stronger than I had in weeks, and that meant I could fight, even if only with my damn fists.

Orion appeared, silhouetted in the hole in the wall as his Faelight trailed after him, his expression stricken with worry.

“Blue?” he hissed.

His Faelight offered me a better view of the room and I peeked out from my hiding place. The long chamber was an armoury, rows of shields and weapons stretched the length of it, hung on racks on the walls between beautiful coats of arms and suits of armour. The Shadow Beast was at the far end of it, sniffing the air and searching for me.

“I’m here,” I whispered, waving to catch Orion’s attention and relief washed over his features.

“Stay there.” He shot past me in a blur of speed and The Shadow Beast roared, wheeling around to intercept him. My teeth clenched together in refusal of his words.

“That’s my goddamn kill,” I growled as Orion worked to capture the Shadow Beast in a sphere of air at the far end of the room.

I slipped out from under the table, and I stole the time Orion was buying me to grab a breastplate with two gleaming silver Harpy wings across it, pulling it on along with a pair of training shorts and some boots.

Then there were weapons, beautiful, shining weapons all hanging on the wall in front of me. My gaze locked immediately on a gleaming white sword with the Aquila constellation running the length of the blade, which I could have sworn was linked to the Harpy Order.

My hand closed around the hilt, and I felt certain this had once belonged to my mother. There was an expectant energy in it like it had been waiting for me for a long, long time and emotion burned hot in my chest. It was like she was just behind me, a hand braced on my shoulder and her love winding around my heart.

My gaze turned to the Shadow Beast which Orion was working to contain, my pulse slowing to a steady thump as destiny whispered my name.

“Move aside,” I called to Orion, and he looked back at me over his shoulder, his brows lifting in surprise as he found me ready for battle. “This is my fight.”

“We can do it together,” he said firmly.

“No,” I demanded.

“You have no magic,” he said, protectiveness sparking in his eyes, but I wasn’t backing down on this.

The Shadow Beast and I had unfinished business, and I was going to make it pay for the suffering it had caused me and my mate, for stealing Geraldine from this world, for killing so many rebels.

“I don’t need magic, I have fury and my mother’s sword.” I hounded forward, raising my sword to point at the beast within the shell of air magic Orion had forged, its huge claws tearing against the barrier as it fought to break through.

I felt terribly mortal, and the fact was, I may never feel another drop of magic blazing through my blood again. This creature had taken that from me, and I didn’t care that I would be risking my life for revenge. I needed to do this, to kill this beast which had stolen the crucial part of me which made me Fae. My Order, my power. But it hadn’t stolen my ability to fight. And while I still drew breath into my lungs, I would do so with every ounce of energy I possessed.

“I can’t let you do this,” Orion said as I moved to his side.

“I’m not asking,” I said darkly. “I’m ordering you to.”

Our gazes locked and a heavy hum of energy passed between us, his desire to protect me clashing with his want to obey his queen. His features were strained from the effort it was taking to hold the Shadow Beast back, and I knew it was going to break through his shield at any moment.

“Do you believe in me, Lance Orion?” I asked and his throat rose and fell.

“My belief in you is without bounds,” he said heavily. “But-”

“Then why would you steal away my chance to fight the creature who has tormented me, stolen my will and forced you to bleed and bleed for my curse?” I hissed. “Would you truly deny me this kill?”

He opened and closed his mouth, fear and love chasing each other in his eyes, but then he relented, bowing his head to me.

“Of course not, my Queen.” He stepped back and I nodded to him, encouraging him to dispel his air shield.

I lifted my newly claimed sword, muscle memory igniting in me as I stood as a warrior before the shadow who had enslaved me, ready to meet it head on.

Orion released the shield of air, and a cry of purest fury left my lips as I charged forward, sword high, ready to carve the Shadow Beast’s head from its neck. I may have been a shell of a Fae, and this might well have been the last fight I ever fought in this world of twisted fates, heartless stars and extraordinary magic, but I’d fight it well. I’d do my twin proud, and I’d try my very best to provide some justice for those who had fallen prey to this monster.

I sprang onto a table full of deadly blades, sprinting across them as the Shadow Beast leapt to meet me. A battle cry fuelled with all the grief in my heart poured from lungs, and I jumped off the end of the table, the white sword glinting with power as I swung it towards my target. But the Shadow Beast veered sideways to avoid the worst of the blow, the blade’s edge tearing down its shoulder instead of piercing its heart, spilling blackish blood.

It howled in agony as I landed beside it, and the animal threw out a paw which slammed into my gut and knocked me flying into a suit of armour. It came crashing down and I rolled away from the heavy metal, shoving to my feet and running to engage the beast once more.

Its bear-like jaw peeled back in a snarl as the Shadow Beast lunged, gnashing those deadly teeth while I swung my sword in an equally deadly arc, carving a deep cut into its muzzle and forcing it to retreat.

I pressed my advantage, but the Shadow Beast turned to smoke before my eyes, my sword slashing through the heart of that dark vapour and making a curse of frustration leave me.

I kept my gaze on the hellish shadow as it whirled around, trying to get behind me and I kept my sword high, ready to attack the moment it rematerialized.

“Come on,” I encouraged. “Stop hiding and fight me!”

The shadow surged forward, latching onto my ankles and dragging me across the floor at high speed before swinging me towards the wall. I smashed into it and my grip on my sword loosened as my knees impacted with the floor, the wind knocked out of me.

I tightened my hold on the hilt of my blade, but the shadow threw me into the air towards the high, arching ceiling and I cried out, forced to let go of my weapon as I reached out wildly to catch hold of something. My hands wrapped around a large wooden chandelier hanging from the roof and I held onto it with all my strength as the light swung violently above the chamber.

The Shadow Beast returned to its animal form, leaping from the floor and snapping at my ankles. I gasped, hooking my leg over the circular wooden base of the chandelier, and holding on tighter, my stomach flipping over as I swung above certain death.

A scuttling noise caught my ear and dread pounded through me as I turned to look in the direction it had come from, my gaze settling on the monstrous form of Tharix as he crawled upside down along the ceiling, coming right for me, a wicked smile on his handsome face. The whites of his eyes were showing and his black pupils were locked on me, tongue slicking out over his lips as he closed in on me.

Fear twisted through my chest, and I gazed from one fatality to another, trying to figure out which one was likely to reach me first.

Orion appeared on a magical gust of air, a cutlass in his grip as he swung it into Tharix’s stomach and drove it forcefully through him into the ceiling.

Tharix shrieked like a banshee, swiping at Orion who ducked the blow before soaring higher and stabbing at Lavinia’s son with blades of ice, over and over, everywhere he could land a strike.

Black blood spilled down over Orion and shadows poured out of Tharix from every hole punctured in him, the coils of darkness wrapping tight around my mate and reeling him in like a spider preying upon a fly.

Orion cast ice shards out from his skin, severing clean through the shadows holding him and wheeling away from Tharix before Lionel’s new son could take a bite out of him.

The Shadow Beast caught my boot in its grip, and I screamed as I was ripped from the chandelier, tumbling through the air before hanging upside down from the monster’s jaws. My foot slipped out of my boot, and I hit the floor, scrambling underneath its furry belly and hurriedly searching for a weapon. The white sword was just beyond the beast and I dove for it, my knees crashing clumsily against the stone floor as I took the blade into my grip.

The Shadow Beast swung around before I could drive the vicious sword into its stomach and I leapt to my feet, forced to run as it snapped at my heels and I had no room to counter the attack. I needed to get some space between us, but I could feel its hot breath on my neck and knew one single stumble would see me dead.

I couldn’t turn to look for Orion, all I could do was run and hope he found a way to kill Tharix while I found enough strength in me to slaughter my own opponent.

The palace walls were rumbling, and the stones beneath my feet were humming like the building was coming to life. The ghosts of this royal place were roused, long lost magic stirring in the walls and crying out for vengeance.

I would damn well live up to the reputation of the Vega name today, and prove why I was a queen of fire and ruler of death. The shadows had haunted me too long, kept me subdued when I should have been rising like the Phoenix I was. I may have been deep in the ashes now with no magic or Order to claim, but the embers were catching in my soul, and it didn’t matter if I was practically mortal, because I was still a Vega Queen, and I wasn’t even close to finished yet.