“Goren seems to be the only leader around here. They only listen to him,” Bijarki said, his gaze fixed on the bulky Destroyer.
The snake sat in front of a campfire, grinning to himself as he warmed up. It was still summer outside with dry, hot air persisting even in the late hours of the afternoon, but given his serpent nature, I assumed he appreciated the additional heat like Draven.
“From what Aida told us, they’re not happy to be what they are. At least some of them aren’t happy,” I replied.
“You can tell from the way they behave, particularly around Goren. They avoid eye contact, and they jump every time he raises his voice.”
“I wonder how they must have felt when they conceded to Azazel in the first place.”
“They probably thought they were doing the right thing, living to fight another day.” Bijarki sighed. “By the time Azazel’s magic worked them over, it was too late for them to resist. Their will succumbed, and they found themselves stuck as his snake-tailed puppets.”
I rested my head on his shoulder, seeking the warmth that his body emanated. I needed the comfort of his presence. With everything going on, it felt so good to have him near me.
“What alliances can be made against him?” I asked. “What else can we do to defeat him?”
“Everything we’re doing right now is building up to one final battle,” he replied. “Every pawn, every move, it all leads us across the board, closer to the king, until we all get close enough to cut the snake’s head off and rid this world of his poison. Alliances are not easy to come by these days. Most of Azazel’s enemies have been wiped out or reduced to a handful of rogue settlements scattered across the planets.”
“What about other Druids?” I asked. “I mean, I know Draven said they were all turned or killed, but do we know that for sure, beyond a shadow of doubt?”
Bijarki shook his head.
“We don’t. But we figured we would have seen one or heard of one by now. Marchosi was the last standing Druid I knew of, and he’s obviously gone. Almus’s planet was decimated when Azazel invaded it. Scores upon scores of young Druids, some with just a few years in this world, were slaughtered in the process. And yet, there is no absolute certainty that there aren’t any left somewhere, perhaps hiding as we speak.”
It then occurred to me to ask Aida and Phoenix to focus on that during our next visions. I couldn’t think of much I could probe with the future, but the past and present would surely yield some answers about other Druids. And since Draven had taught us how to focus on specific periods and subjects as Oracles, I figured it would be another great opportunity to practice. After all, it had worked surprisingly well during the last round.
Phoenix showed up on the lawn to our left, looking around nervously, his eyes wide and gaze darting left and right. His breath was ragged. He’d been running.
“Phoenix,” I called out, capturing his attention. “Are you okay?”
He shook his head. “I can’t find the Daughter,” he said. “She was in the banquet hall with me, going over the swamp witches’ spells. I looked away for a minute, and she was gone, and now I can’t find her!”
Bijarki and I sprang to our feet and scanned our surroundings. It took us a few minutes to find her. Phoenix used his True Sight on the eastern edge of the property, but Bijarki was the first to point in her direction on the opposite side. I recognized her beautiful reddish pink hair flowing down her back.
I had to squint to get a better look.
My breath hitched. She was standing in front of Goren.
Phoenix
My heart stopped. My blood froze.
The Daughter was about fifty yards from us on the western edge of the property, barely inches from Goren.
“Get away from him!” I shouted and darted toward her.
Vita and Bijarki ran after me. I reached her in seconds, only to realize that she hadn’t left the protective shield and that Goren wasn’t aware of her presence there. Or ours, for that matter.
I opened my mouth to ask what the hell she was thinking, but I stopped myself at the sight of her violet eyes glowing like incandescent lightbulbs. She stared at the massive Destroyer. Her breathing was even, and she was calm. Her gaze was absent yet fixed on Goren, who was busy ordering his Destroyers around, occasionally reaching a hand out to the fire behind him. He looked around, his eyes squinting, probably wondering what was beyond the invisible shield.
“Don’t let this whole area out of your sights!” he barked. “Someone’s in there. I know it. I just can’t see the little birdies. But sooner or later, they’ll have to come out.”
“What are you doing?” Vita asked the Daughter.
There was no response. The Daughter was still and quiet, eyes beaming as she watched the Destroyer.
“His name is Goren, son of Kalispera and Osteus, both Druids of the Ninth Kingdom,” she said, her voice sounding like a million people overlapped, speaking as one.
It sent chills down my spine.
“Kalispera and Osteus never acquired all their rings. Kalispera only got fifty, and Osteus got sixty-seven, so they were considered of lower rank, barely of administrative capabilities in the Ninth Kingdom,” the Daughter continued. “Goren happened by mistake and was the reason they were married in the first place. For many years, they both blamed his birth for their failure to ascend as Druids. Goren grew up with that weight on his shoulders, constantly feeling inadequate. Osteus often beat him as a child, taking out his frustrations on him.
“By the time Goren made it into his eighteenth year, it was his turn to beat Osteus. But he didn’t stop at a few payback punches. Goren beat his father into the grave and enrolled in the Druid Academy, never seeing his grieving mother again. He became an aggressor, a fighter, a violent creature with hatred buried deep beneath his muscles.”
We all looked at Goren and listened as the Daughter told us his entire life’s story in astonishing detail, from his first crush to his last Druid ring before he became a Destroyer willingly. And it all sort of made sense. I could see the frustration in his yellow eyes, the undertones of guilt and anger that had been his companions for centuries.
“Goren never got his hundredth ring, although he’d often seen himself as the next ruler of the Ninth Kingdom. In fact, Goren never made it past his thirty-seventh ring when Azazel invaded his planet and made him an offer he found he didn’t want to refuse. Goren accepted Azazel’s offer. He was given an army of treacherous incubi and a legion of Destroyers to obey his every command. In return, he allowed Azazel’s dark poison to eat away at him, until he lost his Druid form and magic and became what he is today, the slithering sum of all his poor choices, each fueled by his desire to show his dead father that his birth had not been in vain.”
Vita, Bijarki, and I looked at each other in awe, listening as the Daughter then told us Goren’s future—also in mind-blowing detail.
“Goren will not live for much longer,” she said in her million voices. “His head will roll down the black marble stairs of Luceria. His body will burn, and a succubus will laugh as the flames consume him and remove every trace of him in this world. He will die the same way he has lived—cruel, vindictive, and bloody.”
“What’s Luceria?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper.
“It’s Azazel’s castle on this planet,” Bijarki replied. “It once belonged to Genevieve, Draven’s mother. It was her royal residence.”
“The one made of black marble and stone,” Vita gasped.
“Yes.”
“It’s where all roads end,” said the Daughter. Her eyes rolled back, and she passed out.
I caught her before she hit the ground. I took her in my arms and headed toward the mansion, surprised that I myself hadn’t passed out with her.
Vita tried to follow, but Bijarki stopped her.
“She needs rest,” the incubus said.
I glanced at him over my shoulder and nodded, then looked at the Daughter, fragile and unconscious in my arms. Wha
tever the heck that had been, it had taken its toll on her. My heart thudded in my chest as I flew into the house and up the stairs to my room.
I laid her on the bed, brushing locks of her reddish pink hair away from her pale beautiful face. Her eyes were closed, her lips parted. I listened to her breathing as I sat next to her.
With a single glance, she’d been able to look at a creature like Goren and tell his entire story, from conception to death, without ever having seen, spoken to, or even heard of him before. The concept of omniscience sprang to life in the back of my head, and I wondered whether she’d be able to do the same with me, my sister, and my friends.
Would she be able to tell our stories the same way, from beginning to end, as if we were just another few pages in a giant book of Eritopia? We weren’t born here, so maybe she wouldn’t be able to. Though something told me that our Oracle abilities tied us to this place.
As I looked down at the Daughter and watched her sleep, I wondered how long my story would last.
Jovi
We took turns patrolling the edge of the shield to further analyze and understand how the Destroyers operated. We needed to identify their weak spots and hope there were lots of them.
Anjani and I took the first shift as the sky turned indigo and glinted with stars. We walked along the shield for a while, watching Destroyers gather in clusters of five and six in front of small fires. Some returned with fresh kills from the woods, sharing the raw meat.
My gag reflex threatened me as I watched them swallow creatures whole, their jaws opening unnaturally wide, like the half-serpents they were.
“That is just…disgusting,” I managed.
“You thought the fires were for cooking?” Anjani’s question was rhetorical, her eyebrow raised at me.
“Seriously? They warm up to it but can’t figure out a way to use it to cook their food?” I couldn’t fathom eating raw meat. If I’d been a full wolf, I probably would’ve stomached the concept better, but the mere thought turned me inside out.
“Destroyers are very primitive. They eat the animals whole and raw. They swallow, digest, then regurgitate the bones and other parts that cannot make it through their digestive tract,” Anjani explained.
It took me a while before the information really hit me.
“Oh,” I scoffed. “And is Draven the same? He hunts critters, gobbles them up, and then spits their bones out later?”
She shrugged. We slowed our pace as we passed by a patch of thick woods submerged in darkness.
“Pretty much, yes. Although I know he’s very private about it, from what Bijarki told me. I haven’t seen him feed since I’ve been here,” she said.
“Yeah, me neither. I didn’t need this level of detail, I shouldn’t have asked... I just can’t look at him the same way anymore.”
“He’s still Draven.”
“Yeah, but jeez. Serena will have to watch out for her parents’ pet lynx if the guy ever visits The Shade.”
Anjani laughed lightly, and I enjoyed every second of her crystalline voice, but our moment was short-lived.
A rustle in the leaves beyond the shield drew our attention. We both stilled, watching the obscure forest in front of us. A branch broke. I focused my attention on the source of the noise and saw several shadows moving toward us.
I heard Anjani gasp. I recognized the succubi from her tribe. There were twelve of them, two barely reaching their teenage years, poking their heads out through the dense foliage. They looked around, then ahead, frowning.
“What do we do?” one of them whispered.
“The area ahead is too open. They’ll kill us before we reach the other side,” another whispered back.
“By the Daughters,” Anjani mumbled. “They’re the survivors Aida mentioned! We need to get them in here!”
I looked to our right, then our left and froze at the sight of three Destroyers approaching. A couple more yards, and they would find the succubi hiding in the bushes in front of us.
“We have to do something, Jovi,” Anjani’s tone gained urgency.
She stilled for a moment, then darted beyond the shield.
“Anjani, wait!” I croaked, but it was too late.
She’d gone past the protective spell and could no longer see or hear me. She shot through the small clearing several yards away, unseen by her sisters. She passed the Destroyers and smacked one over the face before she vanished between the trees.
The creatures were befuddled for a second. They hissed and slithered after her, drawing their spears. They went into the dark woods, and I could no longer see them.
My heart raced. I cursed under my breath. Anjani had done a very reckless thing, but I couldn’t blame her. She was diverting the Destroyers’ attention from her sisters, which meant I had to step in.
From what I understood, the ancient wards in charge of this protective shield registered all those who entered, allowing them to return whenever they wished. The Druid had once said that he had control over who could pass through the shield and that anyone he’d allowed in could bring someone else with them, provided there was some form of physical contact.
The coast was clear, and I took a step forward through the shield, making myself partially visible to the succubi. They all stared at me, eyes bulging, probably wondering how they could only see part of me.
“Come here,” I whispered, offering them my hand. “It’s a magic shield. You can’t see anything beyond it!”
One of them came out of the bush and cocked her head, frowning at me.
“You’re Anjani’s mate,” she whispered. “Where is she?”
“On her way back, and we have no time for this! Take my hand, then have your sisters hold hands with you, so I can bring you all in. It’s the only way this will work.”
I found her frown irritating, as if I wasn’t good enough for her sister, or something equally untrue. But my ego could wait. She was prompt in her response and took my hand, beckoning the others to hold on to her. The others nodded and quietly stepped out.
She looked over her shoulder to make sure they were all in contact, then shifted her focus back on me.
“We’re ready,” she muttered.
I pulled her in, and the others followed. I couldn’t help but grin when I saw it had worked. I’d managed to bring the succubi in to safety.
They all looked around, marveling at the mansion, the lush garden, the Destroyers, and the green fireflies’ inability to get past the shield.
“This is incredible,” one of them said.
They talked among each other as I waited on the edge of the shield. My eyes searched for Anjani. She was out there somewhere, running away from three extremely pissed off Destroyers. My heart pounded as I listened for any sound that could tell me whether she was coming back.
A minute passed. One of the succubi approached my side as she gazed beyond the shield.
“Where’s Anjani, wolf-boy?”
“She ran out to create a diversion for you all to get in here safely. She should be back any second now,” I murmured.
“You let her out?” her tone was sharp and accusative.
“Since when did you think I could control a succubus like her?”
“Fair enough,” she conceded.
Anjani would’ve ignored me completely even if I’d advised against it before she ran off. Not to mention she would’ve smacked me ten ways to Sunday if I’d forbidden her to go out in the first place. I was crazy about that creature but well aware of her strong will.
We stood there in silence, all of us waiting.
Another minute passed as we scanned the dark forest ahead, but nothing moved other than a few leaves rustling in the evening breeze.
My stomach tightened. The anticipation was killing me.
Then a twig cracked, and Anjani pierced through the bushes like a silver arrow, her feet barely touching the ground. She ran fast as the three Destroyers slithered out of the woods, hot on her trail.
She passed the shie
ld and crashed into me. I caught her and held her tightly, as relief washed through me.
The Destroyers tried to follow but rammed into the invisible wall. The force of the impact knocked them backward. They tumbled through the grass, cursing and hissing.
“Come here, you little rat!” one of them spat.
He got up and started punching the shield with no effect whatsoever.
The succubi laughed and cheered as they gathered around us. Anjani squealed with joy as she hugged her sisters, one by one, before they all fused into a group hug and caught me in the middle.
I chuckled and took a step back, giving them the space they needed for their reunion.
“I’m so proud of you,” Anjani told one of her sisters. “You followed Hansa’s signs and found us! Well done!”
“For a second there, I thought it was all some sort of twisted joke,” the succubus replied. “We got here, and all we could see was an area surrounded by Destroyers. I thought someone had faked the message, sending us to our deaths!”
“Yeah, it’s not that easy to find,” Anjani chuckled.
I watched her as she interacted with what was left of her tribe. Her skin glowed gently, a sign of intense emotions. It warmed me, seeing her so happy, so relieved to see some of her family had survived the Destroyers’ and Sluaghs’ atrocious attack.
I wished Anjani could glow all the time. She was stunning when she was this happy.
Serena
“Tritones,” Draven repeated the word. “Interesting creatures, quite rare.”
“That’s what you think,” the young Tritone in front of me smirked, without taking his azure eyes off me.
I moved my arms and legs, putting some distance between us in the water. My instincts were on high alert. Despite the Tritones’ beautiful features, I feared that something dark and deadly lurked beneath.
“You shouldn’t be afraid,” another Tritone said. “Unless you mean to harm us.”
I looked at him and noticed he was older but with similar physical traits—the long blond hair, the light blue eyes, the dashing smile. They all seemed to be related, sharing the same physiognomy. The only clear differentiator was in the color of their tails and fins.