Shattered (Part two)
We passed a few corners before reaching the entrance of the torture room. My mum was taken out with two sages, slipping away through the same path we entered, and suddenly it was only me, Doya, Giselle and one sage left. Something in the air changed. A thickness. A warning. My heart was hammering so hard it felt like it was cracking my ribs.
When we reached the door, I did not wait. I kicked it open with every drop of anger boiling inside me. The forsaken inside jerked their heads up in shock, snarling as they charged forward, but Doya slipped in front of me and cut them down with no hesitation. His movements were sharp and clean, he was swift.
But I barely saw them.
All I saw was my dad.
He hung from shackles, his head bowed, his clothes soaked in his own blood.
My breath left me.
It felt like the ground tilted.
I ran to him. His skin was cold. His breathing shallow. Pain twisted every line of his face. My heart shattered. I whispered the healing spell, praying it would do something, anything.
Sae muraa akas silaa mier caer.
A few wounds sealed. Only a few. The spell barely touched the damage the forsaken had done.
My hands shook as I unlocked his chains and caught him just before he hit the ground.
"Oh... Dad, you're safe now." My voice broke.
Doya helped me carry him, supporting most of his weight while I kept his head steady. We started moving, but the moment we reached the hallway, two forsaken appeared, throwing fireballs that lit up the walls. The sage with us blocked them instantly and retaliated with a violent strike of her own, sending one slamming into stone. We pushed forward, running on adrenaline alone.
The path toward the sewers felt like it stretched and twisted, like the fortress was alive and trying to trap us. Forsaken attacked in clusters, their screams echoing through the narrow stone corridors. Giselle and the sage fought in perfect sync, the sage was awfully skilled with her spear, slicing through enemies with frightening skill.
Doya gripped my dad harder. "Faster," he muttered and glanced at me, eyes burning fiercely.
Before another wave of forsaken could reach us, he veil-walked us out of there. Then we landed back with the others.
My mum ran to my dad like a storm, falling to her knees and holding his face, trembling...
"Tahel... Tahel... oh my sweet sweet Tahel."
Her voice cracked apart.
Her tears hit his skin faster than his breath rose.
"The forsaken are coming, we need to get out of here," the sage urged.
"I still need to get my horse, scroll and compass," I insisted stubbornly, still breathing heavily.
But even before the words left my mouth, shadows moved. A mass of forsaken poured from every direction. Brainwashed gifted children followed behind them, their eyes empty and glowing faintly. We were surrounded.
I stared at Doya. "Can you veil-walk us out?"
"No. We are too many. My limit is five including myself."
Doya could veil-walk alone without thought, but carrying others dragged at him. The more weight added, the thicker the Veil became. Slower. Deadlier.
"Oh God," I whispered.
"They're increasing," one sage murmured, fear slipping into her voice.
"We have to fight," another said, raising her blade. "We're prepared for this."
"No we are not," I snapped. "My parents are weak. They cannot fight. We are outnumbered."
A sudden wave of wind blasted toward us. A sage shielded us with raw power, but that was it. That was the moment everything shifted.
Fight.
Or die.
The moon was full and bright, spilling pale light over the battlefield forming around us. Shadows stretched across the wet ground. The air felt like ice and fire at the same time.
Fire rained from above and Doya rose a glowing barrier of light, shielding us as flames bounced off it. Another sage slammed her hand into the ground, tearing a massive crack that swallowed several forsaken whole, causing a slight quake.
Forsaken surged forward. Screaming. Weapons raised. Preparing for attack.
I grabbed my sword. My grip was shaky but I held it tighter.
I wasn't dying tonight.
Not here.
Doya conjured his sword, the blade glowing sky blue, and stepped forward. Giselle tightened her fists, magic sparking around her fingers. The sages armed themselves.
We formed a circle around my parents as a form of protection.
Then the clash began.
The forsaken hit us like a wave. Screams. Metal. Fire. Blood. With clashes of blade.
The sound of bone snapping.
The sound of magic grinding against magic.
I moved fast, slicing, dodging, forcing myself to breathe even when fear clawed at my insides. I watched one of the sages get stabbed in the stomach and collapse with a gasp. Giselle fought viciously, her face twisted into something angry and raw.
But the circle broke.
And that was it.
I saw a fireball fly straight at my parents.
"Dad! Mum!" I screamed.
The fire exploded.
They shielded themselves just in time, but the force threw them to the ground.
My panic was rising like hot water in a pot, boiling and overflowing.
As the battle dragged on, some gifted children from the far end joined hands channelling and sent a massive tornado spiralling toward us. It took four sages just to counter it. The wind roared. Sand and stone whipped into our faces.
Then suddenly everything stopped.
My mum screamed.
I turned.
I saw my dad.
A spear lodged through his chest, sticking out from his back.
He coughed blood.
My legs weakened. My mind blanked.
I could barely breathe.
"D-Dad?"
My voice wasn't even a voice. It was a broken whisper.
The world blurred.
Sound drowned.
Light dimmed.
I ran to him. I fell to my knees. My hands trembled violently as I held him. I couldn't think. I couldn't speak.
Doya saw the spear. I saw the way his face changed. Rage. Hurt.
He stepped in front of me and cut down every forsaken trying to reach us.
Then...
My mum screamed again.
But this time it was pain.
I whipped around.
An arrow was in her chest.
Everything in me snapped.
I looked behind me.
Giselle's father stood there, bow raised, a sickening smirk on his face.
He launched another arrow directly at us.
Something inside my chest exploded.
Power surged out of me like a living thing.
The ground shook.
The air bent.
Magic poured out of my body like a storm breaking free after centuries.
I screamed.
And the world obeyed.
Arrows of earth shot from the sand, piercing through the forsaken closest to me.
Fire blazed from my hands without me commanding it.
Wind spiralled around me, howling like a wild beast.
Forsaken burned.
Forsaken fell.
Forsaken were swept away like dust.
The gifted children at the back choked as their blood bent under my power, but I held myself back. They were victims. I only forced them unconscious and sealed them with a spell so they would stay under for days.
I searched for Giselle's father.
I saw him.
But he slipped away.
He opened a portal and disappeared like a coward.
Power still surged through me. I could barely control my breathing.
The sages who survived stared at me with fear and reverence mixed into one.
Giselle's eyes were wide, shining with awe and something close to alarm and fear.
Doya looked at me like I had just torn open a secret he'd prayed would never surface.
Then the power left me at once.
My legs gave out. I fell to the ground.
I crawled back to my parents.
They were still.
Too still.
I touched their hands.
I held them.
The pain in my chest felt like a blade twisting slowly.
Losing a parent is devastating.
Losing both in one night is something only death should know.
I could not breathe. I could not think. I could only cry.
The fight ended. But it did not feel like victory.
The forsaken had won something.
Something irreplaceable.
And I lost... I lost big time.
I cried until morning. I did not leave their side. I could not. Rage simmered beneath my grief. Rage directed at one person.
Giselle's father.
I was going to find him.
I was going to end him.
But when I looked up…
Giselle was gone.
Where was she?!