Sapphire Flame - Yasmeen J.
Meanwhile, something ticked within Akantha. Her stomach began to turn and she knew something was wrong. That was proven when her enhanced ears heard the shoes click all the way from outside the castle on the stone path. Her fierce eyes shot to the doors and she waited.
Order to defense positions. Stand down until my signal.
She radiated the command to everyone. But she knew it couldn't get to Griffin where he was.
The clicks grew closer.
Carefully, she moved away from the grasp of Brandon and maneuvered behind the line they had formed across the throne's platform.
She willed her magic to fall over herself, melting down and transforming first her hair from the styled updo, to a long tight braid that swirled into a low bun that rested on her neck-- then to her dress, the burgundy faded into a midnight black then tightened as it formed in a leather bodysuit, the jewelry she wore melted and slid down to her arms and morphing to steel arm braces-- finally, the lace veil-like cloth that hung from her back twirled up into two metal scabbards fastened on her back that held newly forged katanas.
Akantha, what happened? What'd you see? Brandon's voice echoed in her head. She sensed him starting to step down from the platform to follow her.
Stay put. That's an order.
He froze immediately.
She had to get them out, but for some reason, her magic wouldn't lift at the command of her mind. So she let the bright violet energy ooze from her hands and slither to the spot where they began their dance. But when touched the place it shot back to her full force, causing her to flinch as the burning pain seared up her arm.
What in Hades' name? she swore in shock.
She had lost track of the clicks just in time for the doors to swing open. They clicked and clicked. Until Akantha saw the man the shoes belonged to. He wore a black modern suit, he was tall and broad, and he walked leaning on a cane that looked more for the style than anything else.
He walked with his chin high and his stride smooth and rhythmic, a grin of disgusting teeth across his face. Akantha saw that he was heading in her direction but it didn't seem as though his focus was really on her. Panic swirled inside her.
"What?"
"You don't have to say anything, but you already know that I do and you know that we're bonded by more than just a Matebond. That is not the only reason I want to protect you, be with you. It's also because I need you, more than anything. I-"
"May I cut in?"
That was the last thing they heard before they both felt a stabbing pain go down the middle of their joined hands and their world shattered around them. Griffin grunted in pain and Kaena yelled out as they pulled away from each other holding their wounds.
It was a split second that Akantha had seen the man's cane become a blade glowing with light blue energy she'd never seen before. He lifted it above his head and then brought it down at the spot they were standing. Kaena and Griffin appeared back into everyone's sight in a flash, both hurt and confused.
On instinct, Akantha charged at the man, zooming between them as she went on one knee, unsheathing a single blade. Cutting one of his legs, he fell and Akantha jumped back up to her feet, quickly sheathed the blade again, then wrapped her arm around his neck putting him in a chokehold.
Griffin had already shifted to his other form and taken his place in front of Kaena, shielding her. Kaena gasped a little when she heard more growling other than his and turned to see another large wolf beside them in a defensive stance. Her coat was white as snow and those brown eyes shone brighter than ever. It was Cya.
On the other side of her, one stood with a coat of a rich smoky grey color, their eyes were dark and sullen and she recognized them to be Val's.
Kaena quickly turned back to the scene in front of her.
"Who is your leader?!" Akantha yelled through gritted teeth, tightening her hold. "Where is he?!"
The man clawed and gripped at her arm as he coughed and struggled against her. But soon his panic turned into smugness and the same grin spread across his lips. His large hand caught a good grip on Akantha's wrist while he summoned his blue energy.
Streaks of it, which looked like lightning bolts, spread from his hand and up her arm. Akantha gasped loudly and yelped as it was now a breeze to pry her arm away, and before anyone could even blink, he stood and tossed her across the room. A piercing crack was heard as Akantha's body slammed into one of the thick pillars in the room.
Kaena heard the thud when she hit the ground and the small painful groan that escaped her. But while she paid attention to that, Brandon zipped toward the man but instead of ripping his head off as he intended, the man caught him by the throat in mid of his enhanced speed then lifted and slammed him onto the ground, cracking the marble beneath him. His body went limp-- he was out cold and so was Akantha.
The man slowly let go of him and looked up menacingly at Griffin.
"All of this... just to kill you... and your whore of a mate," he spat, standing straight. "Well, what more can I say besides..."
He chuckled dryly.
"This is going to be fun."
The next thing Kaena knew, chaos reigned as soon Griffin and the man charged at each other. Griffin started off superior when he jumped on him, knocking him to the ground, then started to snap his jaws at his face and neck. But he caught every strike against the metal cane.
Around them, however, Kaena watched as in almost every group of people someone amongst them pulled a knife and stabbed a warrior as they were facing away, a brawl breaking out afterward. Traitors.
They started to come from everywhere at that point. Crashing down from above, bursting in through windows, and nearly flooding through every door.
Kaena only now realized she had been frozen in that spot. It only took a body to be thrown over her head for her to scatter away from the battle. Now she was curled against a wall just behind the throne platform.
Suddenly she felt a warm liquid splatter over her face and chest, her eyes jumped to where it came from. A wolf almost the size of Griffin was tearing away at the face of the body it had pinned under its paws. Its fur was a golden brown. It glanced over at her- icy blue eyes. Ryker.
There wasn't much time before he pounced on the next enemy. Kaena couldn't help but reach up and wipe the liquid on her face. She knew what it was, but when she looked down at her hand covered in crimson, her breath quickened and she felt tears brimming her eyes. She couldn't take sight of slaughter much longer.
"Dove..." she heard faintly. Only one person called her that. "Dove!"
Her head turned to the pillar. Akantha was struggling to get to her feet, leaning against the broken pillar and holding her injured arm.
She jerked her head backward in a beckoning matter. "This way! Now!"
Kaena's eyes darted around her surroundings. There was so much going on. How was she supposed to get through it all? Her gaze found Griffin once again, he didn't have power over the man anymore.
As soon as Kaena looked he had swung the cane in one swift motion and it cut across Griffin's face. She gasped and covered her mouth. Griffin jolted back and let out a painful howl and brought his paw up over the wound. When he did that, the man took the opportunity to swing the cane again-- with the dull end this time-- hitting him hard enough knock him a few feet away.
"Kaena!" She cut her eyes away at the sound of Akantha's firm tone. Carefully, she got to her hands and knees then slowly to her feet. She gathered the skirt of the dress and took a deep breath before bolting to the other side of the room where Akantha waited. She was able to avoid the fighting and slipped past.
Her gaze was glued to Akantha's arm, the sleeve of the suit was burned off and her arm itself was nearly charred all the way up to her elbow.
"Are you okay?"
"I-I'm fine..." She groaned.
"Now, I have to get you out of here," she said, grabbing her hand and dragging her behind the pillar they were standing against.
Akantha searched the room for an exit she would be able to slip Kaena out of without much of a fight. She then remembered a passage that was just behind a curtain that was over the stained glass window just above the throne.
Akantha grabbed her again. "Keep up."
With that, she started to race toward the other side of the room. Kaena tried to move her feet as fast as they could go but she still tailing behind Akantha. Before they could reach the passage, they felt a large force of energy, sending them both flying into a wall.
The impact knocked the wind out of Kaena and she hit the ground gasping and panting for air. She rolled over on her back as tears blurred her vision. When she let her head fall to the side, she saw him stalking towards them with that same cocky sway, the fighting a blur behind him.
Soon, his clicking shoes came to a stop in front of her terrified eyes.
He eerily looked down at her and slowly tilted his head to the side.
"You don't look so powerful to me, phexus," he said, the unfamiliar name echoing in her head. He grunted bitterly. "No matter. You will die anyway."
Kaena held her breath and squeezed her eyes shut as he raised the pointed end of the cane, preparing for her last moments.
The stabbing pain of the cane piercing through her skull then her brain never came through.
She let go of the breath and slowly pulled at her eyelids to open.
It was right between her eyes. Frozen. An inch away. One move and it would pierce her.
That's when she saw the violet energy around it, around herself.
In a swift move, Akantha had willed her magic to shoot around Kaena as a shield. Cutting off the blade right before it could harm her.
"You didn't kill me, you son of a bitch." She got to her feet and unsheathed both of her katanas in a flash. "Which is something you're gonna have to do in order to get to her."
Griffin's broadening beastly figure appeared behind her.
"Both of us."
The man scowled menacingly as he yanked the blade back and faced them.
"You heal fast, Vreko," he taunted, using the ancient tongue of Aedezia. A few of his followers gathered behind him. "But I bet not fast enough."
They clashed into a vicious battle once again, Griffin having pounced on him again and Akantha being surrounded by his followers. Kaena eventually found the strength to scoot away and curl up against a wall once again.
She watched as Akantha started slicing through them one by one.
The first one to charge at her got the blade thrown straight through his neck. Another had his leg cut down, and as soon as he dropped she used that opportunity to jump up on his shoulders and bring the sword down into the top of his skull. She then quickly launched herself off the corpse and in mid-air, she snatched out the other sword only to swing it across another's throat as she landed.
She didn't even have it for a second before she turned and launched it at one that was approaching her from behind, sending it straight between her eyes. After turning again she brought up the other katana and ran head-on to another man, sliding down between his legs and jamming it up before he could do anything. He screamed but the sound halted when she used her strength to pull it up through him, slicing him in two.
The final two she wanted to do with her fists, which that always more fun for her. She threw down her weapon and beckoned them. The woman was the first one to swing, Akantha blocked by moving her shoulder in the same direction as her fist then grabbed her arm and bent it with a sickening crunch before the woman could yell out though, Akantha put an arm over her shoulders and a hand on her chin then snapped her neck.
On to the man, she exchanged a couple of punches with him, him only landing two on her. But soon she got tired and caught one of his fists and twisted it until it cracked and while he was doubling over she sent a kick to his face. He did an entire 360 and could barely stand when she faced her again.
She then flipped backward on her hands and wrapped her legs tightly around his neck then brought him in the air and used the force of her body weight to swing him down, crashing his head into the floor.
Finally, she rose up, her chest heaving from exhaustion with a satisfying grin across her lips.
"One thing I've always loved about battle..." She ran a finger down her cheek, gathering the warm blood, then brought it to her mouth and animatedly sucked it off with a look of delight.
"The mess."
They then heard a loud growl. Akantha looked over her shoulder to see Griffin struggling against the man. He had him in a chokehold and he couldn't shake him off or bite at his arms.
Akantha immediately used her magic to wrap him up and pull him off. Her energy held him tightly against a wall while Griffin regained his strength.
You won't win against him in that form. Change.
I can't. Not in front of her.
You have to! You want to save her, don't you?! You only stand a chance in the other form. Now do it! I can't hold him much longer.
I won't! I'm just as strong in this form. And you know I can't even control it. It only happens when I'm--
Furious.
Her eyes burned bright as she focused on keeping the man hostage but also walked over to Kaena. She made the shield disappear and snatched Kaena up from her spot. Kaena shook in her grasp, petrified of the way Akantha looked at her. She dragged her close enough to Griffin so he could see her but not get to her too quickly.
She formed a dagger out of the energy in her other hand.
"Oh dove, forgive me for this."
Kaena shook her head frantically. "W-wait! Ple-"
She was cut off by Akantha driving the dagger into the side of her stomach. Kaena's mouth formed an O shape as it seemed her scream got lodged in her throat.
The tearing pain shot to every part of her body making her legs give out but she still held on to her, but she wasn't finished until she dragged it across her face. Kaena felt the blood ooze and pour down her cheek before Akantha let go and she hit the ground.
His body knew what happening before he even did. That's why he felt like his bones beginning to crumble and break but then grow again, the painful process only more intense than his normal transformation.
He felt more of himself come to the surface. His paws growing into hands but larger and his claws longer and sharper, his broad chest and muscular stomach breaking out beneath his fur, his legs coming out so he could stand but still hinge and his feet stayed the same but became longer, and finally his head as the same but massive with a jaw wide enough to swallow more than two people whole and canines to crush a skull with ease.
The roar he let out was so mighty and filled with rage, all of Aedezia shook at that moment.
Kaena could still see him, which was what he feared the most.
She held onto her bloody wound still in shock, she didn't even realize how hard she was breathing and shaking.
Much better.
The man was breaking free as Akantha stared on at Griffin's transformation.
Eventually, he was able to release himself and send a charge of his own blue magic back at Akantha. The shock brought Akantha to her knees in pain. She screamed and screamed as it held her down and never spared her a second of relief.
Griffin-- or whatever he was now-- turned and stalked towards him, each step shaking the room and cracking the ground beneath his feet. When he picked the man up and squashed him into a pile of muck with a simple clench of his fist, it was just out of her line of sight, she only heard the pop and splatter of his head exploding.
He still couldn't calm himself enough to change back as much as he wanted to take her in his arms. So he turned to Akantha who had now been released from the effect of the man's magic.
I should fucking kill you, he growled in her head.
Do it then. I did what I had to do, and now look, it is finished.
She made a gesture for him to look behind him as she got to her feet. When he did, he saw the fighting had ceased.
The Defiant Ones that weren't using their corpses to decorate the floor, had stopped and began to back away from whoever they were fighting it out with.
Akantha assumed it was because their leader had been killed so suddenly, but something was... off. Even with his head filled with rage and disgust, he could still see something wasn't right.
My king... He heard Cya's voice. What's happening? Why are they just standing there?
He couldn't answer that himself. The panic looks on their faces sent a little chill down his spine. Their eyes looked as if they were staring into death itself.
"What are you all just standing around for?! Kill them and take some for interrogation!" Akantha yelled at their people.
Some sort of inkling told him to turn around then. He couldn't believe that Kaena was standing on her feet. Her dress was ripped and he could see blood spilling from between her fingers and down her leg from the wound on her stomach.
Looking at her face, he couldn't recognize her. That childlike glint he'd only seen minutes ago had disappeared, not to something evil exactly, but innocence no longer shone through.
Akantha turned too and was taken aback.
"Kaena?" she said, actually wondering for a second if that was her.
It can't be... Adonis chipped in suspiciously. Her... her eyes.
To his horror, he was right. The color of Kaena's pretty brown irises was no longer there... but replaced with a deep sapphire blue.
He still wasn't sure what was happening. Not even when he started to hear their screams of agony. Akantha watched as the people let howls of pain as they clawed at their skin. When she stared closer she realized it was because their skin began to crawl and bubble and turned slowly into a dark shade of black.
"They're... they're on fire..." she said, astonished.
But there are no flames, Akantha.
She faced Kaena again. "Yes, there are..."
Suddenly, every single one burst. Blood, brains, and intestines flew everywhere and onto everyone still standing. They all gasped and shielded their eyes before the liquid could get into them but did not hesitate to direct their vision back to Kaena.
"What the fuck is happ-" Akantha was cut off by a heated sensation spreading around her neck. She felt around but nothing was there. The pain got more and more intense as the seconds passed, the feeling getting hotter and tighter so she couldn't breathe.
"Akantha!" Brandon yelled as he swooped in, taking her in his arms, his face scared and bloody from battle. "Akantha! Speak to me, my heart!"
Akantha's wide gaze shot straight to Kaena and their eyes locked.
Her weak figure leaned sideways, her chest heaving, and the blood dried on her face, a dead expression across her features.
She suddenly changed though. Her eyes went back and the choking pain stopped. She looked panicked and guilt fell over her face. She took a couple of steps back searching around for what she had done in her daze. That familiar horrible daze.
"No..." The word fell loosely from her lips. "No... no no no no no no!"
As her gaze met Griffin all she could do was mouth 'I'm sorry' before bolting out of the room. She had never run so fast in her life. She made it through the hall and out the doors in a second and down the outside stairs then the path in under a minute. She could hear him shouting after her and the patter of the others chasing her-- she never stopped.
Instead of following the path directly back into the town, she ran off to the side of the grass and straight into the woods. No matter how many rocks she drove her foot onto or how many branches whipped against her face leaving stinging cuts, she kept her legs moving. She was going to keep on and on and go deeper and deeper into the mystery of Aedezia's wilderness until she couldn't go on anymore.
Her legs ached and her breath became thin yet she still pushed. Even letting out the screams of pain and terror helped none. The thorns of the bushes she passed by caught her dress but she forcefully pulled it away, ripping it halfway off, her heels had long slipped off after the third rock she hit her foot against so the rest dug into her soles.
Only when a wall of blue flames shot up in front of her did she halt.
"NO!" she yelled, turning in the other direction and taking off again.
She didn't get far before another wall appeared, the heat of it just barely kissed the tip of her nose. She yelped and turned again but this time they jumped at her, burning the skin off her arms when she lifted them to protect her face. She screamed again and jerked back so hard she fell to the ground.
"PLEASE!" She crawled up on her knees, tears breaking free as she clawed at the dirt beneath her in utter frustration, anger, desperation, and sadness.
"HOME!" she shrieked, throwing her head back as if she were yelling at the sky, or calling out to the Gods. "I WANNA GO HOOOOME! PLEASE! PLEASSEEE!"
She screamed and shrieked until her throat went dry and cracked. Until her brain felt as if it began to swell and pound against her skull. Until she was blinded with hot tears. Until her limbs went numb, the blood running through her veins feeling like molten gold.
The flames came again, circulating around her, fanning her with searing heat. She tried to scramble away but it held her in place as a hollow black hole appeared underneath her.
It swallowed her whole, silencing her deafening screams.
Published ~ 5/16/19
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