I nodded decisively, then went back into the wide, darkened hallway, my makeshift hood covering my head as I entered the chamber Kyana had mentioned. It was a small space, the size of a pantry, and, as expected, a large Destroyer had fallen asleep on the cold, wet, black limestone floor. His serpent tail was curled up against the wall, while his head rested on a leather bag.
His snoring was loud and thunderous, echoing through the chamber as I lowered myself to my knees, moving slowly but quietly toward him. His mouth was wide open. He took a deep breath and gurgled in the process, then licked his lips and most likely slipped deeper into his dream. Whatever it was, it was a good one—the corners of his mouth were pulled up to his ears in an open and slightly goofy grin.
I looked around and saw the keys mounted on a thick, metallic ring attached to his leather belt. The one Kyana had mentioned was indeed small and cast in pure gold, with delicate filigree adorning its classic bow. It looked like a snazzy lever lock key, and had symbols engraved on its stem. I analyzed the ring’s setting carefully before I reached out to get them. One wrong move, a single noise made, and the Destroyer might wake up.
The large ring was set on one of the belt loops made of leather, slim enough for me to cut with a blade. My eyes darted across the Destroyer’s large body and observed a sheath tied to the other side of his belt. With trembling fingers, I undid the little strap holding the knife in the sheath, then slowly removed it. I held my breath as I put the knife’s sharp tip against the leather loop the keys hung on, gently pushing out to cut the loop. My gaze remained fixed on Heggel, who was still comfortably snoring.
I put one finger inside the key ring, holding it completely still as the knife snapped through the belt loop. I then rose to my feet, taking the knife and key ring with me, and moved away, careful of each step until I was out of the chamber and back by Kyana’s cage.
I gave her the keys, nervously looking over my shoulder as she used the golden key to unlock her obsidian shackles, her fingers trembling.
“Need me to help?” I whispered, watching her struggle to get the golden key into the tiny hole on her left cuff.
“No, I’ve got this. You keep an eye out, please,” she mumbled, then stilled when we both heard a click and saw the symbols engraved in the black surface glimmer green. Her left wrist was released. A grin crossed her face as she repeated the process on her right hand until we heard another click.
She looked up and gave me a warm smile, setting the keys in front of me in the cage.
“I cannot express just how thankful I am for this,” she said. “I will never forget this, Vita. And I will repay the favor. I promise.”
“Just get yourself out of here safely,” I whispered.
She nodded as her skin began to ripple. I heard bones crackle as she morphed into a large cobra-like snake with glistening scales in dark green and small patches of yellow on her belly. She slipped out of the cage and slithered away, taking the weight on my heart with her.
I grabbed the keys from the cage, eager to return the others to the sleeping Heggel—after removing the golden one. I had my own obsidian cuffs to remove. I managed to slide the golden key from the ring and was about to stash it in the pocket of my dress along with the knife, when a large shadow cast a blood-chilling darkness over me.
I turned around, keys jingling in my hands, to find Damion glaring at me. I froze as his yellow gaze darted from the empty cage to the keys, then back to the cage, ultimately settling on my face.
“What did you do?” he hissed.
I had no quick answer for this. I’d been caught red-handed and with absolutely no excuse. Worst of all, I hadn’t gotten a chance to hide the little golden key, my fingers clutching it to my chest while I held the knife in my other hand. He was livid.
I instinctively brought the blade up, but he slapped it away so fast that I didn’t even have time to react. I just gasped in response as the knife landed somewhere on the floor.
“I trusted you. I encouraged Azazel to trust you as well. You betrayed me. You… You have no idea what you’ve done to me.” Damion bared his fangs at me.
I took a couple of steps back and moved to flee, but he wrapped his large hands around my neck, blocking my airway. I struggled in his grip, dropping the keys, my sweaty fingers desperately scratching his as he tightened his hold. I felt lightheadedness slip through me.
“You betrayed me!” he growled, as my vision went blurry.
“You’re hurting me,” I managed to croak before I lost contact with the rest of my body.
Damion stilled, perhaps realizing he’d let his rage get the best of him, and immediately released me. I staggered, choking for a few seconds before I breathed in a lungful of damp dungeon air and felt it scratch my throat. This definitely wasn’t the time or the place to tell him about the other Druids, he was too angry and obviously devoted to Azazel. I needed a better setting if I wanted to sway him toward our alliance.
“You really need to get that temper under control,” I muttered.
That didn’t sit well with Damion either, and his arm shot out in a mind-numbing backhand that knocked me out of consciousness.
The last thought that crossed my mind before I faded was of Bijarki. Whatever was about to happen to me—whether I’d wind up in a cage or in a glass bubble—I knew he was on his way. My incubus was coming for me.
I just had to try to survive whatever Azazel threw at me next.
Serena
Come morning, we were all gathered in the archive hall, with more hands on deck to help sift through the Druids’ carefully labeled mountains of records, spell books, and information covering all twenty planets of Eritopia. Jax, Hansa, Jovi, and Zeriel each covered a section, along with Rebel and Thorn. Draven and I continued searching through the registries to find out more about the young Druids and Jasmine, who’d disappeared without a trace, based on the documents we’d read so far.
The Druid and I occasionally glanced at each other, his steely gaze setting me on fire whenever our eyes met, reminding me of the previous evening. Something had deepened the connection we shared, yet I knew we still had further to fall.
I made notes of everything I figured might be of use, including accounts of Master Druids regarding the young ones in the Grand Temple. One passage drew my attention in particular, and I read it out loud.
“Thadeus of Bellaria, third in his class and increasingly adept at fire spells, has a peculiar skill where his serpent form is concerned,” I read from the notes of Master Druid Yoran, who died during the Grand Temple siege. “Most of us can only shift into one specific serpent; whether endemic to saltwater or freshwater, desert or jungle, whether venomous or a massive eater, we can never take the form of more than one serpent. It is the creature we bond with during our First Circle Ceremony, during which we discover our inner ophidian, and it is the shape we live with for the rest of our lives. However, there have been cases of Druids with the ability to morph with more than one snake when they acquire their First Circle. Though anomalies, Druids like Thadeus can shift into any serpent they wish, of all sizes and origins. The last such Druid I had the honor to train was Patrik of Raymer City. While rare and strange, Druids like Thadeus and Patrik find it easier to adjust to hostile environments, unrestrained by a single serpent form.”
“Thadeus is one of the young Druids hiding on Marton, if I remember correctly?” Draven asked.
“Yes, he was taken by Destroyers along with Damion. Is this true?” I replied, flipping through the rest of Yoran’s journal.
“It is.” Draven nodded. “Such Druids are rare, but they do occur once or twice in a generation. They cannot be identified until they go through the First Circle Ceremony. However, I had no way of knowing Patrik was one such anomaly.”
“What’s the First Circle Ceremony?” Jovi asked from across the table, his lap filled with scrolls from Purgaris, the Third Kingdom, which Azazel had first been assigned to rule.
“When we turn seven, we are taken in
to a tent with a teacher or a Master Druid. We sit in front of a blue fire as the elder burns some highly noxious herbs and crystal powders—as dangerous as they may be to most creatures, they merely induce an otherworldly state in Druids. It takes us away from reality and deep into ourselves. We spend the next few days in a trance,” Draven explained. “Some of us take two, maybe three days, while others have been known to stay under for weeks. Once we find and commune with our inner ophidian, our serpent soul, we morph into it for the very first time. That is the First Circle Ceremony, the discovery of the snake. That is when the elders give the First Circle tattoo.”
“You don’t have one,” I said slowly.
“That’s because I never had a First Circle Ceremony like the others,” Draven replied, a hint of sadness in his voice. “My father was away for a whole year when my ceremony was meant to take place. I believe he was defending some shelters of disbanded succubi on the southern coast at the time, as they were constantly being attacked by Destroyers. If the process isn’t organized in a timely manner, the Druid runs the risk of developing a sort of split personality, where the snake refuses to commune and the body is broken between two minds. It often leads to madness. I was young, and so afraid of that happening that I rummaged through my father’s study, found the herbs and crystals, and burned them. I passed out and woke up three days later in my snake form. I don’t even remember how I managed to reach out to my inner serpent to begin with. When my father returned, he was obviously surprised to see I’d done it all by myself. He would’ve come sooner if he could, of course, but there was a war going on in the south, after all.”
I found that little morsel of Draven’s past intriguing. Stuck beneath the protective shield of the mansion, with his father away half the time, my Druid had reached major milestones on his own. I couldn’t even begin to imagine the loneliness he must have felt, but it gave me even more reason to keep him close and make sure he’d never go through that again. I’d been so lucky with my brother and Aida and Vita, not to mention our whole family and The Shade. I’d never experienced his solitude, and yet, as sad as it sounded, it had made him into the incredible creature sitting next to me.
A clock on the wall announced the passage of another hour, making it a good time for me to bring out the telepathy spell ingredients and reach out to the rest of our group. I closed my eyes and felt our minds connect as I called out to the others.
The first voice that came through was Tamara’s.
“Our home was raided by Destroyers.” I felt the anger in her words. I looked up and saw Draven and the others looking at me, their eyes wide with shock. “Many of my Lamias managed to flee when they came last night, but we’ve lost at least two dozen in the attack.”
“I… I am so sorry to hear that… We all are,” I managed to reply, unable to find anything else to say in light of such a tragedy. We had all known it was only a matter of time before the Destroyers made their way down to Pyros, but it still hurt us that it had happened.
“For every life Azazel took from the River Pyros, the Lamias will take ten in return,” Tamara said, her voice low. Given her cool composure, I could only assume she’d already made peace with what had happened, and that she’d had some time to process everything to reach that resolve.
“What will you do now?” I asked.
“I’m bringing the survivors together, and we’re coming to Stonewall. I’ve sent messengers across Antara as well. I know of a few small Lamia settlements that will be eager to join this fight,” she replied. “I shall see you all very soon.”
I exhaled sharply as I shifted my focus to Bijarki, hoping he’d have better news to give us.
“Bijarki, please tell me you’re still alive,” I called out to the incubus, while the others waited quietly around me.
“I’m here,” came his husky voice. “I got everything I need for the invisibility spell.”
I heard him groan at the end of the sentence, prompting my heart to skip a beat.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Yes, just an injury. Not as bad as it sounds, rest assured. Turns out procuring fire orchids was not as easy as I’d thought it would be. It’ll heal quickly,” he replied. “I’m on my way to Luceria now. I’ll be there in a couple of days, maybe more depending on the weather. It's getting stormy in these parts, and it's making travel very difficult.”
“Please be careful! Vita needs you alive and in one piece for this to work.”
“I will come back from the dead if I have to, Serena. I’m not letting Vita spend any more time than she already has in that wretched castle, with that abomination...”
I found his devotion to Vita heartwarming, and his determination gave me more confidence in his ability to get her out of there and bring her back to safety. Speaking of Oracles, it was time to check in on my brother and see if Aida had gotten any closer to finding the young Druids’ current location.
“Phoenix, Aida, you guys there?” I called out.
There was no answer, and that kind of silence was never a good thing. A chill ran down my spine.
“Phoenix! Aida! Anjani!”
“We’re here! Sort of,” Aida’s voice finally came through.
Jovi and I looked at each other, both breathing a sigh of relief.
“Good! Everything okay?”
“Not really,” Aida replied. “In fact, not at all.”
“What… What happened?” I asked, suddenly on edge.
“The Daughters took the Daughter.”
We all stilled, paralyzed by Aida’s rushed words. She was breathing heavily, as if running.
“The Daughters took the Daughter?” I repeated, dumbfounded and unable to react.
“Okay, let’s call her Viola. Phoenix calls her Viola,” Aida replied. “The Daughters came last night and took her away because she mutated some shifters who attacked us during our diversion to get you guys out of the mansion. They said she intervened in the natural order and they couldn’t trust her with us anymore. They said they’d take her with them and teach her how to control her powers, as we are, and I quote, ‘clearly unable to do so.’”
I leaned against the back of my chair, stunned by this development. ‘Inconvenient’ didn’t even begin to cover it. It was tragic, and the worst part was that my brother shared such a deep bond with the Daughter. I couldn’t even imagine what he was going through.
“What about Phoenix?” I managed. “Is he okay?”
“For the most part, yes. He’s pissed off, as you can imagine. Devastated, actually, but we haven’t really had much time to process her loss,” Aida panted.
I didn’t say anything, waiting for her to continue. Somehow, I felt the bad news didn’t end there. I braced myself for more while glancing at Draven—he was pale, staring ahead and looking right through me.
“The protective shield came down as soon as they took her.”
I felt something snap inside of me.
The protective shield came down.
“What… Aida, what do you mean?” My voice was barely a whisper as the worst-case scenarios started flooding my consciousness, making my head spin.
“The shield. It’s gone. We couldn’t stop any of it. The moment they took Viola, that was it. The protective spell just shattered, and we were left out in the open, the mansion perfectly visible to all the Destroyers surrounding us,” Aida explained. “We managed to grab some weapons and essentials as we rushed through the house before we made a run for the eastern woods. We’re coming to Stonewall now. We should be there in a day or so.”
“Are you okay? Is… Is everybody there?”
“Besides the Daughter, yes, we’re all here in one piece. Thing is, those shifters that Viola affected, they came with us. You’re not going to believe this, but they’ve actually been rewired to protect us. I don’t know what she did to them exactly, but if it weren’t for them, we’d probably be dead by now. They put up quite a fight, and can shift into flying horses and Destroyers. They’re freaking r
uthless!”
I looked up at Jovi and registered the horror imprinted on his face. Hansa was blank and quiet, as were Jax and Zeriel. Draven was simply livid, a nerve ticking in his temple as he balled his hands into fists, his knuckles white with fury. I heard a low growl coming from Rebel and Thorn, who sat several feet away from us.
“We’ve been fighting Destroyers for the past twenty miles at least,” Aida added. “We’ve killed some, maimed others, enough to gain some ground. We followed the trail you and Draven took to Stonewall, and got some help from Wren and the Green Tribe as well. They’re coming with us now, since our presence there basically left them open to Destroyer attacks. What can I say? Eritopia’s been quite the rollercoaster so far, and it sure isn’t ready to stop throwing us around like ragdolls just yet!”
I couldn’t even think of a reply at this point. My worst nightmare had come true. Worst of all, they were out in the open where Azazel could sense them.
“Serena, still there?” Aida called out.
“Yeah,” I said quickly. “Just trying to wrap my head around everything. Okay, you guys need to keep moving. Now that you’re out, Azazel can feel your Oracle presence. You basically have targets on your backs.”
“Phoenix and I are aware, and we are moving. We’ll need to stop for water soon, though, as we’re getting tired. We’ve been running for hours,” she said.
I looked at Draven and nodded, mostly to myself.
“We’ll start looking for some sort of concealment spell,” I said. “There must be something we can do to keep you and Phoenix cloaked from Azazel. Bijarki is on his way to get Vita now, too, so we’ll need the same for her. He’ll get to Luceria in a couple of days or so. Everyone else is on their way to Stonewall as we speak.”
“Okay, then provided nothing else happens along the way, we’ll see you soon!” Aida replied firmly.
“Please be careful, and don’t stay in one place for too long. I’ll check in with you guys a bit later, okay?”