Chapter 97 When Darkness Comes
NYX
I felt the rift open before anyone told me.
Time screamed. Reality bent. Something that shouldn't exist forcing its way into a world that didn't want it.
"Mother!" I ran from our chambers despite Isolde's protests. Found her in the war room staring at reports. "Something's wrong. Something came through. Something—"
"We know." Her face was destroyed. "A village. Three hundred people. Gone in minutes."
"Not gone. Consumed." I closed my eyes. Saw it through time's memory. "It fed on them. Not blood. Not life force. Everything. Memories. Souls. Existence. It erased them so completely they never were."
"Can you see what it is? What we're fighting?"
I tried. Pushed my sight toward the thing that had crossed over. And recoiled immediately.
"No. I can't look at it directly. It's... outside time. Outside reality. Looking at it for too long would fragment me." I grabbed Mother's arm. "But I can see its path. Where it's going. What it wants."
"Tell me."
"Here. It's coming here. To the palace. To Father." I felt the certainty in my bones. "Morvenna called it. Directed it. Told it where to find the king who trapped her."
"How long?"
"Hours. Maybe less. It's moving fast. Consuming everything in its path. Building power." I looked at her. "We need to evacuate. Get everyone out. Get Father out of—"
"Father can't leave. His body is here. Moving it while he's split between realities could kill him." Mother's voice was steady despite the terror in her eyes. "We defend. We fight. We find a way to kill this thing before it reaches us."
"With what? We don't even know what it is!"
"Then we find out. Fast." She turned to Marcus. "Get Theron. Get every fighter we have. And get Elena. She worked with Morvenna. She knows what's coming."
"Your Majesty, trusting Elena—"
"Isn't about trust. It's about information. She wanted Father to suffer. Can't suffer if he's dead in the first attack." Mother's logic was cold. Practical. "She'll help. If only to keep him alive long enough for proper revenge."
Marcus left. Mother turned to me. "Can you slow it? Use time magic to delay its approach?"
"Maybe. But it would cost me. Would drain everything I have left." I was already exhausted. Already running on fumes. "I'd be useless in the actual fight."
"Then don't. Save your strength. We'll need it when—"
The palace shook. Stone cracked. Reality bent.
"It's here." My voice was small. "It moved faster than I predicted. It's already—"
The wall exploded. Not broke. Exploded. Like reality itself rejected its presence.
And through the hole stepped something that hurt to look at.
Vaguely humanoid. Impossibly tall. Made from darkness that wasn't shadow. From absence that consumed light. No face. No features. Just void shaped into something almost alive.
"Run!" Mother grabbed me. Pulled me toward the door.
The thing moved. Fast. Impossibly fast. Blocked our exit.
A voice came from everywhere and nowhere. "The king. Where is the king who trapped my sister?"
"Not here." Mother had her blade up. Useless against this but up anyway. "Just me. Just my daughter. Let us go and we'll tell you where—"
"Liar." The thing's hand if that is what it was, reached toward me. "I smell time on this one. Smell power. Smell Shadowborn blood. Where. Is. The King."
"Far from here. Protected. You'll never—"
It struck. Mother flew backward. Slammed through a wall. Didn't get up.
"Mother!" I tried to run to her. The thing grabbed me. Lifted me off the ground.
"You will tell me. Or I will consume you. Erase you. Make it so you never were."
Terror flooded through me. This thing could do it. Could reach back through time and unmake my existence. Could destroy me so thoroughly not even memory would remain.
"He's in the west wing. Top floor. Catatonic. Defenseless." The words spilled out. "Please. Don't hurt my mother. Don't—"
It dropped me. Turned. Moved toward where I'd pointed.
I'd just sentenced my father to death. Had given up his location to save myself and Mother.
"I'm sorry." Tears streamed down my face. "I'm so sorry."
Mother stirred. Pushed herself up. Blood streaming from her head. "What did you do?"
"I told it where Father is. I couldn't, I was scared, it was going to erase me—"
"You bought us time." She grabbed my shoulders. "You sent it to the west wing. Father's in the east wing. You gave us minutes. Maybe more." She pulled me up. "Now run. Find Father. Get him somewhere safe. I'll slow this thing down."
"You can't fight it! It'll kill you!"
"Then I die buying time for you to save him." She kissed my forehead. "Go. Now. Don't waste the sacrifice."
She ran toward the west wing. Toward the creature. Toward certain death.
And I ran the other way. Toward Father. Toward the impossible task of moving his catatonic body while his consciousness fought battles in another realm.
SERA
I'd fought vampires. Humans. Half-bloods. Political enemies. Ancient queens.
I'd never fought something that wasn't supposed to exist.
The thing turned when it heard me approaching. Studied me with senses I couldn't comprehend.
"You are not the king."
"No. But you'll have to go through me to reach him." I charged. Blade aimed for center mass.
My sword passed through it like smoke. Like air. Like nothing.
Its hand connected with my ribs. Very solid. Very real. I felt bones crack. Felt my body launch backward into a marble column.
Pain. Blinding. Overwhelming.
"Weak." The thing moved past me. "Irrelevant. I seek the Shadowborn king. Not his pet half-blood."
Rage burned through the pain. I pushed myself up. Grabbed a fallen torch. Threw it.
Fire passed through the thing. Emerged on the other side unchanged. Useless.
"What are you?" I gasped.
"I am Arcturus. First of the First. Eldest of the Shadowborn. Brother to Morvenna. And I am here to free my sister from the prison your king built." It paused. Looked at me. "You love him. I can smell it. The bond between you."
"Yes."
"Good. Then you will suffer when I kill him. Will feel every moment of his death through your connection." It moved closer. "Morvenna was right. Revenge is sweeter when it includes collateral damage."
It reached for me. To kill me. To erase me. To destroy everything I was.
Elena stepped between us.
"That's enough." Her voice was cold. "She's mine. You don't get to kill her."
"Out of my way, child. Or join her in oblivion."
"I'm not moving. You want the king? Fine. I'll show you where he is. But the queen is mine. My revenge. My kill." Elena looked at me. "I've earned that right."
Arcturus studied her. Then laughed. "Very well. Keep your petty vengeance. I have larger prey." It moved past her. Toward the east wing. Toward where Kael actually was.
I tried to stop it. Tried to move. Broken ribs screamed. Body wouldn't respond.
"Why?" I gasped at Elena. "Why save me if you're just going to let it kill him?"
"Because you're right. I do hate you. But I hate rushing more." She knelt beside me. "I wanted you to watch him die. Wanted you to feel it through your bond. Wanted you to suffer the way I suffered." She stood. "But that thing? It'll kill him too fast. Too clean. No art. No poetry. Just erasure."
"So stop it."
"Can't. But I can slow it down. Give Kael time to... I don't know. Do something heroic and stupid." She pulled me up. Agony exploded. "Come on. Let's go save your husband so I can kill him properly later."
"You're insane."
"Probably. Seventy years dead will do that." She half-carried me toward the east wing. "Now shut up and move. We don't have much time."
We rounded the corner. Found Arcturus standing outside Kael's chamber. Studying the door like it was a puzzle.
"Strong wards. Ancient magic. Shadowborn construction." It looked back at us. "The time-walker put these here. Recent. Clever child."
"Can you break them?" Elena asked.
"Eventually. Everything breaks given enough pressure." It placed a hand on the door. Reality screamed. The wards held. Barely. "But it will take time. Time your king doesn't have. Time my other siblings are using to position themselves."
"Other siblings?" I forced the words out. "How many came through?"
"All of us. Four siblings. All freed by Morvenna's summoning." Arcturus pushed harder. The wards cracked. "We split up. Each taking a different target. I claim the king. Serath claims the resistance. Malakor claims the nobles. And Vesper..." It smiled. "Vesper claims the child. The time-walker. The one who could actually threaten us."
Horror turned my blood to ice. "Nyx. Where is she?"
"Running. Hiding. Delaying the inevitable." Arcturus shrugged. "Vesper enjoys the hunt. She'll make it last."
The wards shattered. The door opened.
Kael's body lay on the bed. Empty. Defenseless. Completely vulnerable.
"Finally." Arcturus moved toward him. "The king who dared imprison my sister. The Shadowborn who forgot what he really is. Time to remind him."
It reached for Kael. To kill him. To end everything.
And Kael's eyes opened.
Not red. Not black. Pure silver.
"Wrong king." Nyx's voice came from his mouth. "You want the anchor? You'll have to fight through me first."
The time-walker had possessed her father's body.
And reality was about to get very, very strange. Something whispered in the void's voice and promised power I should never have.
And it was only starting to wake.