Chapter 57

Chapter 57
The castle loomed before us, shrouded in a bitter fog. We stood at the edge of the courtyard, weapons drawn, magic thrumming at our fingertips. I stood at Axe’s side, my heart pounding like a war drum. The power of the seers burned within me like wildfire, steady but fierce. I was not the same woman Polar had thrown from the cliffs.

Ingrid had just completed the final chant. The spell that would disrupt Raza, the dark magic Polar wielded, was ready. We only needed the moment to strike. But getting that moment would mean facing hell.

Ally adjusted her stance, one hand tightening on her dagger. Beliard gave me a small, solemn nod. “We end this tonight,” he said.
I exhaled. “Yes. We do.”

The castle gates exploded open with a blast of cold air, and there he was. Polar. His form outlined in shadow, the Orb behind him, pulsing with cruel energy.
“So,” he sneered, “the broken girl returns.”

I took a step forward. “I am no longer broken. And your time is over.”

He laughed, but there was a crack in his bravado. “You have no idea what the Orb has given me.”

Ingrid stepped up, lifting the scroll. “And you have no idea what it will take in return.”
Polar snarled and threw out a blast of dark energy. It ripped through the ground, tearing the stone apart. We split up immediately, dodging left and right. I could feel the hum of his power—wild, unstable, and poisonous.

“Move!” Axe shouted. “Get Velvet to the Orb!”

Ally and Beliard rushed Polar, keeping his attention with a flurry of weapons and magic. I ran beside Ingrid, who was muttering protective incantations under her breath.

Polar’s attention snapped to us. He raised his hands and the Orb shimmered, spitting out a beam of sickly green light.
I stopped, turned, and raised my palm. Seer magic swirled within me, glowing silver and white. Our energies collided midair, and a deep tremor shook the courtyard.

“Velvet!” Ingrid called out. “Now!”

I closed my eyes and reached inward, calling forth every drop of magic. I could feel the Orb—its hunger, its anger, its desire to dominate. I pushed against it, hard.

“Release him,” I commanded. “Let him go.”

The Orb pulsed, stuttered… and then it screamed.

Polar’s body arched backward as the Orb turned on him. The magic reversed direction. Light bled out from him, and his scream split the air. The Orb fed hungrily, ripping his soul apart piece by piece.

But the Orb was not done.

The air cracked with a deafening boom as a wave of shadow erupted from it. Dark tendrils lashed out like whips, sending Ally sprawling and knocking Beliard backward into a broken column. I steadied myself with a shield of light just in time, but even then the impact shuddered through my bones.
“Velvet!” Axe’s voice came through the storm. He was fighting his way toward me, slashing through the beasts that had begun to pour from the Orb. These creatures were made of nightmare—shadow and bone, shrieking as they leapt at us.

Ingrid raised her hands again, beginning the sealing ritual, but one of the shadowbeasts lunged at her.

“No!” I screamed. I vanished in a blink of silver light and reappeared between them. With a surge of will, I unleashed a torrent of radiant energy that tore the beast apart.

“Ingrid, do it now!”

She dropped to her knees, carving glowing runes into the cracked earth with her fingertips, her voice steady despite the chaos.
Axe was beside me now, his blade coated in dark ichor. “We hold them off,” he said. “Give her time.”

We fought like wildfire. Ally was a blur of motion, daggers flashing as she danced between enemies. Beliard limped into position, back to back with Ally, defending her flank. The air was thick with the scent of blood and scorched magic.

And then—I saw him.

Polar, or what was left of him, hunched near the Orb, trying to regain control. He was skeletal now, his skin stretched thin over bone, eyes glowing with a desperate fury.

“You will not win!” he shrieked.

I ran for him.

“Velvet!” Axe called after me, but I did not stop.

Power pulsed in my veins as I closed the distance. Polar raised his hand for one last spell, but I caught it midair with my own. We struggled, magic against magic, will against will.

“I was chosen,” I whispered. “You were warned.”

With a final cry, I poured everything into him—all the light, all the seer magic, all the truth he had tried to destroy.

The Orb roared.

It latched onto him like a leech, and the moment it did, Polar let out a howl that echoed through the heavens. The Orb fed, not just on his magic, but his essence. It drained him until he was nothing—just dust in the wind.

The beasts fell still. The energy trembled, and then collapsed. Ingrid’s spell snapped shut like a steel trap, locking the last of the chaos away.
I stumbled back, gasping.

Axe caught me. “Is it over?”

I looked to where the Orb sat—cracked, dark, and silent. I nodded. “It is over. He is gone.”

Around us, the battlefield was still. The dawn had broken. And with it, the world had changed.

We had won—but not without cost.

And I would never forget the way the Orb screamed.