A BLOOD-CURDLING scream spewed from Clara's throat. She tried to catch her breath, but her skin was alive with red-hot burns. Everything hurt; it was a pain beyond all previous thresholds, and she saw stars behind her eyes. Only a moment later, Emir met the same fate. Clara could only imagine behind her closed lids as Emir's welcome cry of agony pierced her heart.
"You, monster," she growled. "Wait till I free myself. You'll regret this."
The master turned and took a few steps toward her. He stared down at her writhing form. There was interest alight in his eyes at her pain. "I want to be as gentle as possible to you, Princess. But it is a false move to speak ill of the mighty Dread and doubt his power. You'll see soon enough. Before the Dread grants you death, he might be generous enough to let you watch the first years of his reign." His mouth split into a menacing smile. "Let us begin, shall we?"
The night stretched longer, but the stars hid behind the clouds and the clouds parted for the moon. Under the moonlight, the Guardian Deity's crown emitted an intense glow. The more it sparkled, the more the moon's glow dimmed.
The master dipped the dagger tip in Clara's wounded flesh. The dagger sipped the blood, its blade turning a crimson shade of red. He repeated the same step to Emir's blood until the crimson blood turned darker, close to becoming black.
Blood dripped from the tip of the blade. A stone basin—the same one where they peered through the past of the Hiestoran clans—filled with water was placed between the two stone slabs. The master let the dagger drop into the basin and the water assumed the color of the blood.
The moon shone a light on the small pool of blood as if drawn to it. The master breathed in the air, spreading his arms above his head. Then he began to recite, "Blood of the Moon, Blood of the Sun, let your power tear through Heaven and cast an eternal Light upon the Earth. Summon the tides with your union. May you open closed doors and unite all fourteen affinities under your command. Gather your Brothers and Sisters together. The Sun shall rise with the Moon. In Heaven they'll be One."
Clara's breath hitched. The Dread, the master. They weren't just planning to open the portals to the other world. They were summoning the One Magic.
"With the blood of a true Blood Att—" he sliced across his palm and his blood mixed in with Clara and Emir's life essence "—I give life to the One Magic, the magic long gone and dead from this world. And for the last tool to make all this happen..." The master lifted the crown off his head. Eyes wide and hands shaking, he positioned the crown directly above the basin of swirling blood and dark mist. "With the Creator's crown bathed in the blood of the Sun, Moon, and a true Blood Att, the world and beyond shall heed the command of its bearer."
The world had gone slow when the master relinquished his hold on the crown. Clara screamed for it to stop, to stay frozen in its place, but everything was muffled and gray. Even her voice failed to reach her ears.
And then the crown was gone. It vanished when a blur of wind passed. Even the master was caught off guard. Mouth hanging open, he looked around to search for the crown. "What in the name of the Guardian Deity is happening!"
His outburst was met with silence. The master was on the brink of explosion. "You fools! Search for the crown and bring me the culprit!"
"But m-master..." One Fyrian stepped forward and pointed at the sky.
The recently barren sky, void of stars and clouds, was thronged by a battalion of winged humanoids and dragons. They circled overhead, scouring the treetops. Feathers of different colors rained down on the sky. One landed on the tip of Clara's nose and for the first time in a few days, she found a reason to smile.
"That thing!" a Fyrian shouted, pointing between a cluster of trees where a tiny cloud-like creature holding the crown. "It's got the crown!"
Clara's eyes shone and relief blossomed in her chest. "Willow."
"Get it! Give me back the crown!" the master shouted. He clutched his head and muttered to himself, "This can't be happening. It can't be. We're so close."
His eyes flashed red and looked at Clara and Emir. A menacing grin split on his face. Clara's heart pounded and as the master balled his fists, the air was squeezed out of her body.
She couldn't breathe. Clara wheezed, gasping for air. Tears rimmed her eyes as her surroundings blurred. A viscous liquid trickled from her nose and her vision turned red.
Clara turned her head to the side and found Emir's rigid form. His face scrunched from the trouble breathing. He found her eyes and scanned her face as if memorizing it from memory. She wanted to reach for him and Emir's hands twitched to do the same, but there was only so much they could do from being tied up.
The legion swooped down and the battle between the Eirinian force and the Fyrians and Hollows commenced.
A force of the wind threw the master off balance and his control over their life force slipped. Clara breathed in a lungful air and noticed that the tie that bound her loosened and pooled at her feet. She collapsed on the ground.
"Your Highness!" Holly said as she kneeled beside her.
Clara's tearful eyes widened. "Holly?" She looked around her and found Maxwell and Flynn exchanging blows with the master. Air and Blood battled. Red and gray clashed.
"We must get you to safety." Holly helped Clara to her feet. "This battle can't be won as long as you're—"
"Anneliese!" Clara was suddenly locked in an embrace. She felt her feet leave the ground an inch. Clara flinched a little but relaxed the moment she recognized that warmth. And she savored the feeling of Emir's arms around her.
"I-I was weak. I cannot protect you." His voice quivered. Emir cupped Clara's cheeks and roamed around her face. Then his gaze traveled down the gash on her chest and heat flared in his eyes. "He'll pay for this." His hand hovered over the wound. "He'll regret doing this to you."
Clara pressed her forehead to his. "You also got the same wound. How are you feeling?"
Emir shook his head, stroking the sides of her lips with the pad of his thumb. "I feel nothing worse than the wrath I feel for those who wish to hurt you."
Then something caught his attention behind me. His face drained in color as he pushed Clara and himself to the ground. "Look out!" Emir rolled over and atop her. A sickle was buried on the ground next to them.
A shadow leaped back, clinging unnaturally to the tree trunk like a frog or spider. Its claws were extended nearly to the size of sickles. Its mouth was permanently opened, a crackling noise reverberating between its four fangs.
"What the..." Clara breathed in shock.
As soon as she made the sound, the creature's head jerked toward them. It let out another blood-curdling scream. The sound was in her teeth. Clara's eyes watered and her ears rang, dizziness overtaking her. The world suddenly had a sickening swirl.
"Prince Emir!" Maxwell's voice boomed not far from them.
"It's a Fallen!" That was the only reply Emir had a chance to give before the monster was on him.
The beast is shadow and wind—a roar of claws and death. Emir was unflinching as he positioned himself between the princess and the monstrosity. Clara watched; the world slowed. She captured every detail as Emir raised his arm and slashed down. The wind rippled in a sharp wave. The beast howled and fell. Clara thought it was over.
She was wrong.
She watched with horror as it slowly rose once more. An unrelenting nightmare.
"There's another!" Clara bounced onto her feet as movement distracted her from the opposite corner.
"What—" Emir didn't have a chance to react. The creature lunging for him sank all of its fangs into his right arm. Black blood exploded. Before Clara's eyes, it changed color to a sickly shade of green.
She wanted to make sure he was all right. However, another monster barreled toward her. Its gait was strange. It shambles on two legs, sprinting, tipping forward to run almost like a wolf on all fours. Its claws dug into the forest floor with every lunge forward, leaving deep gouges behind. It snarled and clicked at her, sniffing the air. It was all limb and bone and sinewy muscle.
Every instinct of self-preservation screamed within her, telling her to run. To flee. She held fast. She waited until she could see the dark pits of the creature's eyes. They looked more like husks, scabbed and scarred over, rather than anything that could be used for sight. It lunged for her.
A red crystal barrier rose in front of her and the creature slammed and got stuck on it. The monster shrieked as it tried to break free. But the crystal barrier seemed to have a life. It gave off an ominous red glow. It pulsed to the rhythm of a heartbeat. The creature's limbs thinned until only skin and bones were left. The crystal chugged its blood and the monster fell on the forest floor, unmoving. Dead.
Someone slammed a solid object into the base of her nape, setting her to sputtering. A spark crackled on the crystalized blood, making a collar around her throat, alight with Core-blocking magic.
She coughed at the shock of the cold. Her magic may be gone, suppressed, but her fight was not. Clara spun and raked her nails across that person's cheek. The master took the hit, laughing gleefully. "Petulant bitch," he hummed and shoved her against another crystal barrier.
Clara was stuck in place, but she did not feel her strength dwindling or her blood getting sucked like what happened to the creature. She just simply couldn't move.
And just as she thought she wouldn't meet the same fate, light exploded behind her eyes as the blood crystal forcefully extracted power from her. The master's magic assaulted the three Cores residing in this body and Clara felt nothing more than a funnel for his will. His abilities as Blood Att shone through, and he pushed the magic out of her, into the crystal barrier at her back, beseeching it to open for his dark desires.
The world shattered and Clara's head hung limply, her skin awash in the magic of life and blood. Her fingers and toes screamed in pain. She knew the next step would be numbness, and then they would turn black and dead. Clara fought against the blood crystal around her throat, now burning her magic.
"If they keep on taking you away, I'll just pull your magic out of your body, so that it no longer matters whether you're rescued or dead," the master said to her face closer than she'd like.
"Anneliese!" Emir roared in tortured and broken agony. His voice was as deep and dark as midnight. The monster's black and filthy blood stained his clothes and hair.
"Oh?" The master turned to Emir and beamed. "Seems like Prince Emir wants to come next. After all, what use would the princess' moon magic be if I don't get yours too."
The forest was quickly illuminated with the burning rage of the prince. Steam filled the ground as Emir's sun flame met a crystal barrier and vaporized it. He threw out an arm, sending another blaze in quick succession. The master blocked it with a surge of magic, controlling the spilled blood of the wounded and fallen warriors, Eirinian and Fyrian alike.
"Let her go!" Emir skidded to a stop, bracing himself, and Clara pressed her eyes closed for the next wave of heat.
"You always were the wild one! Running in head first, not thinking, letting your emotions and that unstoppable rage of yours get the better of you," the master bated.
Emir quickly reacted to the blood crystal that formed beneath his feet. A spiral of flame swirled about him, blocking further attempts to immobilize him.
"Emir!" Clara cried, hoping he would hear her over the din of the flames. "Free me!" She struggled against the crystal that held her. The master was strong and bloated on magic from the scattered blood everywhere, but Clara doubted he would be able to handle them both at once.
The prince's magic vanished at her words and Emir looked, really looked, for the first time past the master. Clara witnessed his rage deepen upon seeing her entrapped. He threw out a hand.
"NO!" the master screamed, horrified.
At first, the prince's flame was a welcome warmth. Like a familiar caress of an old lover or well-known friend. It was different from his usual flame. This one was white. It weakened the crystal and melted it around her. But warmth quickly turned to heat and then to agony as Clara burned for the first time by Emir's flames.
The blood crystal vanished around her, removing the barrier between flame and skin. She rolled on the ground, trying to snuff out the blaze. Every nerve in her body screamed in unison, alerting her to a blisteringly hot agony that seared across her flesh until it bubbled. The pain was indescribable as if she was being torn from her body.
The white-hot flames vanished when her screams echoed through Emir's ears. The master kneeled on the ground and Emir's face was one that witnessed horror. His face's pallor turned to ash. Both men were stunned out of their assault on each other by the woman sobbing and rolling on the ground. It was as if the battle around them paused. Everyone present watched in mixed confusion and horror as the face of their princess switched alternately from one face to another.
"Fool," the master chided darkly. "Even deception wouldn't stand a chance against your purification flame. Now, face the bitterness of reality that the princess you knew isn't what she's supposed to be."
Clara looked at Emir with pleading eyes. She wanted him to hug her, to soothe her. She wanted his reassurance that the pain would subside and everything would turn out all right.
But the way he looked at her broke her heart. His face was that of someone who had seen a monster. A monster even more terrifying than the Fallen. With each step he took back, a piece of her heart shattered.
Clara whimpered, alone, fragile, and helpless, on the ground. Betrayal, disgust, and resentment replaced the shock on the prince's face. And it was the last thing she saw before she succumbed to darkness.
In the middle of the darkness, frozen moments flashed before her. Moments with her friends. Moments with him. Until that too faded to nothing.