Veils of the Heart

Elena’s Point of view:

"Do you really think we are stronger together?" Orion's voice sliced directly to my heart like a knife in the tense quiet.

Against the glow of his shard, his tall form reflected the defiance in his eyes.

"Don't pretend this is about strength," I shot back, my breath hitching as I attempted to slow my beating heart.

"This is about trust; you have done all within your power to break it."His teeth clenched, and for a minute I could see the gaps in his armor, the remorse and terror he believed he could suppress.

"I meant not to lie to you.

You did lie to me," I said, my voice shaking with feeling.

"You kept secrets, Orion, secrets that could have greatly lessened all the suffering."He yelled, "I was trying to protect you!" and stepped forward.

Though it was almost intolerable, the heat between us burned quite differently than the kind of warmth that would have comforted us.

"I could not afford to lose Elena. Not following everything.I staggered back, fingers tightening into fists to prevent them from groping for him.

And check where that landed us. Still, you lost me.His expression dropped, and for a little instant vulnerability took place instead of the great will.

He said, "I never wanted to lose you," so gentle I almost missed it.

"You are the only thing keeping me fighting."The words were a two-edged blade, slicing through my rage yet starting a fight in my chest.

Not after all the treachery, but the pure honesty in his voice was impossible to overlook; I did not want to pardon him.

The shadows around us started to stir before I could answer, their terrible murmurs filling the area like a storm just about to strike. Orion stiffened, his shard blazing as he naturally sought for his weapon.

"Stay close," he advised, his voice stern but tinged with anxiety."I'm not helpless," I shot back, my own light flashing to life in protest.

"I can keep myself under control.

This isn't about handling yourself," he said, moving in front of me as the shadows merged into a hideous form.

"It's about surviving."

The thing lunged, its black tentacles cutting across the air like knives. Despite our conflict, our motions were exactly coordinated and we battled side by side.

But even as we pounded blow after blow, the shadows appeared to be limitless, their hate mounting with every strike.

"You cannot fight this forever," the menacing voice from the past echoed, laughter full of hate.

"Sooner or later you will have to decide.

Choose which?" I demanded, sidestepping another tendril and swinging with great force. My light briefly drove the gloom back. "What are you discussing?.

Her or your precious mission," the voice said, aimed at Orion. It is impossible to have both.I glanced at him, my heart sinking at the struggle carved on his features.

"What are they talking about, Orion?"He hesitated, and that one brief uncertainty cost us. With its tendrils encircling me and tugging me skyward, the shadow thing swung out.

"Elena!..." Orion lunged toward me, his shard flashing more brilliantly than ever, and his scream was deafening.

"Let Her Go!"The creature only laughed, its grip tightening as I struggled against the suffocating darkness. “She’s just a pawn in your game,” it hissed.

“Why fight so hard for something you’ll only lose?.

Because she’s not just a pawn!” Orion screamed, his light erupting in a flash of primal strength. The tentacles recoiled, and I fell into his arms, panting for oxygen.

Our eyes locked and the world appeared to stop for a heartbeat.

His hands shook as they held me, his eyes ablaze with feelings I couldn't completely understand: fear, guilt, and something that seemed perilously close to love.His voice low but firm, he said, "I won't let anything happen to you."

Not once again.The moment was broken before I could respond by a loud noise. The shadows split to expose a fresh danger, one even deeper and more frightening than the previous.

As Orion said, "Run," his hold on me tightened.Heart thumping in my chest, I stared at him. "What about you?"?His eyes grew sharp, and for the first time I saw the man prepared to give it all.

"Go Elena." I shall find you. The darkness surged forward before I could argue, and his light squared against it. As I was hauled away, the turmoil absorbed my scream and the shadows swallowed him completely.

Breath breathless, my light wavering as I watched the darkness swallow Orion, I staggered back. His shard flashed one last time, bucking the darkness in a last flash of light, then nothing.

Only quiet and the faint buzz of residual energy left as the shadows gathered about him like a choking tide.

"Orion!." My voice broke, resonating in the emptiness as the insight struck. He was gone. possibly worse.I laughed coldly, shivering from the inside out. Little light, did you truly think he could help you? Now the voice was darker, slanted with triumph and hate.

"Where is he?," I insisted, injecting power into my quivering voice.

Holding my shard in front of me like a shield, it flared and gave an unstable glow.

"What did you treat him to?"The shadows moved, and a form started to develop, twisting, tall, a terrible fusion of limbs and emptiness.

It's brilliant crimson eyes locked on me, towering over."He made his decision," the creature growled, its voice like corroded metal.

"Now it's your time. Will you run and survive or stay and face the same end?I spat, raised my shard higher, not running.

Although my hands trembled, my will burned through the terror. You will have to pass through me first.The laughing of the beast was a low rumble resonating over the space.

"Oh, how courageous you are.

How stupid. You believe your lamp will be sufficient to stop me? Its claws touching the edge of my sleeve, it rushed forward and I hardly avoided it.

My pulse thumping in my ears, my head whirled as I got to my feet.

I had to battle, searching for Orion, should he still be alive.

But the monster was correct.

My light lacked the strength needed. Not right now.The ground shook under me, and I staggered as shadow tendrils slit toward me.

One around my ankle, and I sliced with my shard, the light scorching the night.

But two more replaced every tendril I eliminated.The creature sneered, its huge form advancing, "you cannot win this little light."

"But I will let you decide whether to surrender and I might spare your life. Oppose me, and I will see to it you never see him once more.

I stopped, my hand gripping the shard as panic tore across my chest. What do you mean? Where is he?The creature didn't respond.

Rather, it surged once again, faster this time, requiring me to dive to the side. My shard rolled out of grasp, and the effect sent me whirling.

"No!," I ran for it, but the shadows closed in and cut off my escape.

The tendrils encircled my wrists, my ankles, dragging me toward the soaring monstrosity.

Hissed, with breath cold against my skin, "You're running out of time, little light." "Choose"Tears distorted my view as I battled the constraints, my mind screaming for a fix.

Then, among the tumult, I heard it, a soft, familiar voice.Elena... Weak, hardly heard, but it was him. Orion."Orion!," I shrieked, turning with fresh power against the darkness. Here I am.

I won't go from you!The chuckle of the beast changed to a growl, its hold strengthening.

“You can’t save him,” it growled. “But you can join him.

”A dazzling light exploded from the distance, piercing through the darkness like a sword.

The shadows recoiled, and the beast shouted in wrath. I momentarily felt as though Orion's shadow reached for me in the brightness.

And then the light disappeared, sending us back into darkness once more exactly as quickly as it came.

Although the creature's hold relaxed, its fury was evident.

"This isn't over," growled, its red eyes flashing as it sank into the shadows.

"You merely postponed the inevitable."Gasping for air, I dropped to the earth as the echoes of its laughing vanished.

My shard flicked weakly next to me, but I moved not to grab it.

Since now, more than ever, I realized the truth: this fight was far from finished. And Orion, wherever he was, might already be lost.