Zodiac Academy 8: Sorrow and Starlight

I’d managed to cast a roughly hewn metal blade in my hand before the Nymphs had stolen away my magic, and I flew through the canopy above them, cutting down as many as I could. But the tide was unending, Lavinia’s entire Nymph army spilling onto the grounds as she summoned them to her aid. Their tree-like forms turned grimacing faces my way, hatred seeping into their hell born eyes. The rattles of so many were weighing down on us, my magic impossible to reach as they worked to keep it subdued.

Orion shot between them with his Vampire speed, stabbing and gutting them, bringing them to their knees as he evaded the deadly stabs of their probes. His blows were feral, fuelled by the strength of his Order and the rancour in his heart.

A flash of The Sight dashed through my head, the black sword in his grip lighting with purple fire, and I knew at once that it had been Hail’s weapon. I pushed deeper into The Sight and saw myself doing an accidental hand movement with that sword that sent Hydra fire bursting out in all directions in a deadly inferno.

I sensed a shift in the air as I hurried to catch Orion, flying after him through the trees and moving as fast as I could. It was almost as if another presence was with me, and a glimpse of the past stole through my mind of me splashing in the warm, summer waters of the lake on the palace grounds while Hail taught me to swim as a child.

“Go on, Gabriel!” he cheered.

Those words seemed to echo in the now instead of the past, giving me a flare of energy. That memory had been lost to me; the powerful blocks I’d had put on my mind when Ling Astrum had hidden me from the world may have been broken years ago, but there were lasting effects, gaps in my childhood I couldn’t perceive. But in time, I hoped to uncover all the precious moments I’d lost.

“Orio!” I called, and he glanced up at me as he slowed to drive his sword between the shoulder blades of a Nymph.

It turned to ash before him and I landed at his side, catching my breath and bracing my hand on his shoulder. But lingering there for even that small measure of time allowed us to be surrounded in seconds, too many Nymphs to count stepping through the trees with rattles in their chests, closing in on us with probes raised and a thirst for death in their eyes.

“Give that to me.” I snatched the sword from Orion’s grip, and he bared his fangs, turning to our enemies, ready to rip their throats out with nothing but his teeth.

“Stay close,” I warned and despite how near to us the Nymphs were getting, he knew to obey me, to trust in my visions. He’d learned that lesson long ago.

I may not have been able to see the Nymphs’ movements, but I could see this fire and its potential. If only I could move the sword in just the right way, and ignite those flames.

“Noxy,” Orion pressed urgently. “What’s the plan? Because as much as I’m enjoying this playtime in the woods with you, I think we’re about to be as fucked as Goldilocks when she broke into the three bears’ house and got herself eaten for breakfast.”

A Nymph ran at him with a magic-locking rattle rolling from its tongue, and Orion stooped low, grabbing its legs and flipping it onto its back with a cry of effort, the ground trembling as it hit the earth. A sharp and brutal kick to its head finished it, and Orion picked the corpse up, hurling the body at the line of Nymphs and knocking them back.

“Noxy!” he barked, putting on a spurt of Vampire speed to get behind me, and the sound of grunts and shrieks came as he fought to keep them at bay.

“Just a second.” I swung the sword again, calling on the memory I’d seen once more, but it wouldn’t come to me now.

“Hurry the fuck up.” Orion sped around me in a circle, knocking away all the Nymphs who were trying to get to us, a line of tension on his brow.

I twisted the sword just so through the air and purple fire raced out of it in a spiral, making me grin in delight.

“I did it,” I announced as Orion went soaring over my head, thrown from the arms of a towering Nymph with a sneering face. He hit a tree trunk to my right, slamming to the ground with a groan.

“That’s great, Noxy,” he spoke into the grass, shoving himself up and shooting back to me, a line of blood trickling from a cut in his hairline, but he was thankfully alright apart from that.

I swung the sword as our opponents rushed in once more, gazing out at them menacingly as I wielded my father’s blade. Alright, so he wasn’t my blood father. But I’d seen enough of our relationship to know he had loved me down to my roots, and I was inclined to feel the same way.

The purple fire exploded away from us in every direction, and I yanked Orion against my side to make sure not an ember of it touched him. The tornado of savage flames carved through our enemies like they were made of paper, turning the first rows of them to soot while the others ran for their lives, screeches of terror rising into the air all around us.

“Ha,” I laughed, looking to Orion.

“Cutting it close, don’t you think?” He plucked my makeshift earth sword from my sheath to arm himself, then his gaze turned to the sky. “Where is she?”

“You should keep this.” I offered him the black sword, knowing it was far more likely to protect him than a roughly crafted blade was.

“No,” he said firmly. “It’s a family heirloom. All yours, Noxy.”

There was no time to argue with him, so I nodded, looking to the future once again and finding a path for us.

“Let’s get into the sky so we can see better.” I moved behind him, hooking my arms beneath his and drawing him tight against my chest.

“Is this our Titanic moment?” he murmured, and I sniggered before kicking off the ground and carrying him high above the treeline.

My gaze fell on Darcy where she hovered above a sphere of red and blue Phoenix fire swirling on the hillside close to the palace, and I assumed the shadow bitch was contained within it.

“Damn,” Orion breathed.

“Do not get a boner over my sister while I’m touching you,” I warned.

“Too late,” he muttered, and I cursed, flying us towards Darcy as fast as I could.

A roar caught my ear before I made it to her and I turned in the direction it had come from, a host of Dragons materialising beyond the golden gates. Some were still in their Fae forms, a regiment of Lionel’s Bonded men in their navy robes, striding forward with intention, shouts of fury leaving them as they spotted the battle raging out this way.

“Capture them!” Lionel boomed as he shoved his way to the forefront of the mass of Guardians he’d bound to himself.

Those of them who hadn’t yet shifted did so, taking off into the sky with Lionel’s gigantic jade form among them, heading right this way.

“Fuck,” I hissed, then turned my gaze to the clouds above and flew for them fast. “Darcy – move!” I called, and her head whipped around, fire daggering off of her skin and a wild fury burning in her gaze. She looked to the Dragons speeding this way, nodding to me and I shot towards the clouds for cover, leading the way for her to follow.

As soon as we got high enough, the Nymphs’ power released us, and magic crackled back through my veins. I released Orion and he stepped out onto the air, using his newly restored Element to hold him in the sky.

My sister still hadn’t appeared, and fear trickled through me at the sound of nearly two hundred Dragons bellowing below us.

Don’t do anything stupid, Darcy.

“I’m going back for her,” Orion growled, already descending and I nodded as I followed, steeling myself for what it would take to get us out of here now.

A huge set of jaws broke through the clouds beneath us, so wide, Orion was doomed before he could even try and get away. Sharp teeth slammed shut around him, blood pouring and a scream tearing from my throat, giving away my position as another set of jaws broke free of the clouds, green and gleaming. They must have scented us on the wind, and even as I blasted ice blades in my hand and sliced into the roof of Lionel Acrux’s mouth, I was already lost, the jaws closing, teeth shredding through my skin-

I jarred out of the vision with a yell of horror leaving me, finding Orion gripping my arm, anxiety in his eyes.

“What is it?” he demanded.

I took a moment to assure myself that neither of us was dead, the pain and grief of that experience clinging to me as I reached out to clutch my friend’s arm and hold tight to him, the thought of losing him too terrible to conceive. We were still in the woodland, our feet firmly planted on the ground. No doom had befallen us yet. But the Nymphs were regrouping, already turning back this way as the flames from the Hydra sword simmered out where they’d been licking the trees around us.

“The Dragons are coming,” I rasped, a ripple of visions crossing my mind as I followed all the paths of fate, trying to seek out a way to survive this night. But if they showed up, there were too many to face, and we would certainly be killed. “Death awaits us if they arrive. Our only chance is to fight our way past the Nymphs then run before Lionel decides to come home.”

“Then let’s find Blue and get the fuck out of here,” he said firmly, but a terrible roar filled the air and my stomach dropped as I wondered if my vision had come too late. That the Dragons were already here, and the iron bars of fate were closing in around us, setting us on a final path towards an imminent, gory end.

But as I turned to seek out the source of the sound, it wasn’t Lionel I discovered there, but Tharix, the barbaric son Lavinia had sired for the false king.

He was running across the ground on all fours, his face fixing in a snarl and bloodlust gilding his black eyes as he closed in on us. He was a creature designed to rain death down upon this world, and I couldn’t perceive a single one of his actions, the core of him built from shadow.

The Nymph rattles still filled the air, more of them returning already as the purple fire from Hail’s sword extinguished against the charred tree trunks circling us.

“I’ll get up above him,” I decided, flexing my wings. “I’ll strike at him from above with Hail’s sword while you distract him on the ground. At least the fucker can’t fly.”

Tharix leapt into the air and a shift tore through his body that made me stagger back a step in shock, an enormous black Dragon shredding through his skin and taking off into the air on leathery wings that stole away the light of the moon.

“Oh yeah, by the way Noxy, Tharix can shift into a shadow Dragon,” Orion deadpanned, then shot towards me, giving me a shove in the only direction that was open to us between the trunks.

I took off, flying at his side as the two of us used our Order speed to put as much distance as possible between us and the Dragon born of shadows who was already taking chase.

“Any chance you can do that fancy tornado fire thing again?” Orion called, zig-zagging through the trees.

“It needs time to recharge,” I breathed as I saw that fact.

“Great. Got any more good news for me or is that all of it? I suppose my numbers didn’t come up on the lottery this week either?” Orion asked dryly, the sound of Nymphs crashing through the trees somewhere to our left telling me precisely how fucked we were.

I glanced back at Tharix as he swept through the air above the canopy in hunt of us, flexing his wings and opening his lethal jaws, revealing a tornado of shadow swirling in his mouth. His deathly black eyes locked with mine and I shoved Orion as hard as I could, sending the two of us tumbling to the ground, narrowly missing the blast of shadows which poured from Tharix’s jaws as we went rolling down a steep hill.

The woodland behind us was decimated by Tharix’s immense power, bark, soil and debris flying everywhere in its wake.

“I hear the Veil is lovely this time of year,” I said, leaping upright and pulling Orion with me, ignoring the echoing pain in my side as we kept sprinting away through the trees.

“Fuck you,” Orion panted, then he yanked me to a halt so violently I almost got whiplash. He tugged me down into a huge, hollowed-out log and I ducked low, the two of us crouching side by side inside it.

“Nymphs,” Orion growled. “Straight ahead. I’ll listen and see if I can find a clear path.”

The roar of Tharix above set my heart pounding and Orion cocked his head, focusing as he listened for the sound of their footsteps.

We were running short on time; Lionel and his Dragon army could arrive at any moment, and death seemed to keep creeping closer at our backs.

“Anything?” I hissed low, the sound of the Nymphs searching for us making the hairs on my arms prickle to attention.

He looked up at me through the gloom, and I felt the weight of that look, the answer I couldn’t bear to accept. There was no way out. And my Sight was useless to help us.

“So…do we try to run through the Nymphs or take our chances in the sky with the Shadow Dragon?” I asked, keeping my tone light so I didn’t unveil the terrible fear that was ricocheting through my body.

“If we can get high enough, we’ll get our magic back,” Orion suggested, and I nodded in agreement to that.

“I’ll move us as fast as I can,” I promised.

“You’d move faster without me,” Orion said darkly as if he was about to construct a new plan where I left him behind.

“There’s no future in which I leave you here,” I spoke before he could dare voice that idea.

He sighed. “Alright, let’s go take on the unkillable asshole,” he said.

“Love you, Orio,” I muttered.

“Likewise, Noxy,” he answered, and we moved as one, rushing out of the log where fifty Nymphs shrieked as they spotted us. They tore towards us, their probes reaching, their beady eyes locked on their prize.

I grabbed Orion, my wings flapping hard, and I took off with all the speed of my Order burning through me. We moved fast, breaking through the canopy and Tharix roared as he spotted us, sweeping this way on wings as black as midnight.

I kept my gaze on a patch of cloud above, my wings beating furiously and my heart thundering out what could be its final beats.

I was desperate to feel the rush of my magic returning, begging to grasp it, but the air boomed behind me, and a roiling blast of shadows collided with my back as they were propelled from Tharix’s lungs.

I cried out as my right wing snapped, but magic tingled in my fingers as we sailed higher, propelled onwards by the blast. I waved a hand, casting an illusion that I prayed would give us a chance if nothing else. The illusion tore away from our bodies, looking just like us as it shot across the sky while I cloaked the real Orion and I in shadow.

Tharix bellowed, falling for my bait and flying after my false cast. But the small lurch of victory I felt was swallowed as I lost momentum and began to fall, my magic locked down once more and my broken wing failing me in our moment of need.

Orion scrambled to cast air, retaining scraps of his power, and slowing our descent just enough as we clung to one another, pinwheeling down towards the waiting ground. But as we hit the treeline, his magic was stolen entirely, the Nymphs’ cries of hunger below tempered by their deathly rattles.

Orion caught hold of a branch as we fell, holding onto me with his other hand, straining to haul me up onto it with his strength as a grunt of effort left him. He held me in place and the Nymphs below us screamed in anger, jumping up to try and reach us, their probed fingers grazing the branch we rested on.

I wasn’t ready to die. Not when my family waited for me, and the thought of never seeing them again made my heart cleave open. I may have seen visions of my son growing up and of the life he would lead, of the day he met his perfect match, but I wanted to truly experience it. I wanted to be there when he was Awakened and cheer him on when he graduated. There were so many possibilities for his future, but there were moments of happiness he could claim if we could only find our way through the dark. And I had to be there for him.

I winced as I tried to move my broken wing, but it hung limply as a promise that I wasn’t going to be flying again anytime soon.

The branch cracked loudly, and Orion and I shared a look, the knowledge of what was about to happen shattering between us like broken glass. At least if I had to die this day, then my best friend was here with me. But I wasn’t giving up until the final door of fate closed firmly in my face.

The branch gave away and the two of us drew our swords as we fell, hitting the ground heavily between a circle of monsters.

The first Nymph grabbed me, and I swung my blade with a feral noise leaving my throat, my determination to see my family again ringing right down to my core.

I cast my first enemy to ash, hearing Orion colliding with another Nymph at my back, but I couldn’t turn to look his way, and I prayed I hadn’t already seen him for the last time.

The next Nymph made it to me, and I severed its probed hand from its wrist with a bellow of determination. It made a noise of anguish that sounded an awful lot like the word Gabe and I slammed my sword into its heart with a snarl.

“Don’t. Call. Me. Gabe.” I yanked the sword back out and it turned to ash before three more took its place.

I was surrounded in an instant and I was thrown down between them onto the mossy ground. One of them stamped down on my broken wing while another locked its sharp probes around my throat to choke away the cry of pain that pitched from my chest.

I severed its arm with a powerful strike of my blade, a thud sounding as the limb hit the ground and the Nymph reared back in agony. Another Nymph lunged at me, tearing the sword from my grip and tossing it away.

A yell of pain carried from Orio that echoed mine and I writhed madly, my muscles bunching as I tried to get up. But the biggest of the three reached for my chest, its probes slicing through my skin and making me bellow. My heart thundered as those probes dug deeper, hunting out my magic and my lifeforce.

I was dead, pinned down, and at their mercy. The sound of Orion being struck by an enemy of his own sent a wave of despair through me. It was over. Our fight lost.

I sought out the night sky between the ugly, horned heads of the Nymphs leaning over me, mourning my death before it had taken me, because I had so much I wanted to experience in this world. So much love to share with the people I adored. Life was this fleeting, precious thing and it had barely begun. Let us have more.

A furious roar cut through the air that made the ground tremble and my first thought went to Lionel, our fates sealed by his arrival. But then the Shadow Beast slammed into the three Nymphs above me, taking them to the ground and pinning them beneath its huge paws. It ripped their heads clean off, spraying black blood all over me before it leapt right over my head and snarled at the Nymphs coming our way, placing itself between us and them like an attack dog.

They hesitated, backing up in the face of the powerful creature, and I took hold of its fur, hauling myself to my feet, my right wing hanging awkwardly at my back and pain shuddering through me.

“Holy fuck,” I breathed, and the Shadow Beast turned my way a little, grunting at me affectionately.

“Orio?” I turned to find him behind me, his lip split and his left leg pissing blood, but relief echoed through me at finding him alive. I moved to pick up Hail’s sword as Orion limped my way with exhaustion in his eyes, taking in the Shadow Beast, his expression shifting to shock.

The Shadow Beast hounded forward, nuzzling my arm and grunting again like it wanted me to do something. It took me a second longer to realise it was urging me to climb onto its back, and as I was totally fucked regardless, I did, hauling myself up its side and swinging a leg over its shoulder blades.

Orion gazed at me astride the Shadow Beast, hesitation pouring from him, but at a forceful jerk of my head he shot forward and climbed up behind me. It wasn’t like we could be picky about our allies right now, and this animal had just placed itself between us and certain death.

“Are you sure about this?” he asked.

“It saved our lives,” I said with a shrug, knotting my fingers in the Shadow Beast’s fur. “Get us to Darcy,” I commanded it, hoping it would understand and it seemed to because it lunged forward, knocking Nymphs down like bowling pins then charging away through the trees.

Tharix roared in the sky, and I craned my neck, finding him no longer fooled by my illusion as he spotted us below. He turned to take chase, but the Shadow Beast was well ahead of him for now, moving furiously along on its mighty paws.

We were on borrowed time, and if we didn’t get to Darcy and make our escape before the Dragons arrived, there was only one way this was going to go. And it would be a bloody, harrowing end.