Chapter 41: Chapter 41

IRIS

The castle was surrounded by a garden of black flowers and burning trees, just as Ava had described.

Guards in black armor patrolled up and down the castle. They were huge, and under their helmets, their evil eyes sparkled in the darkness like those of cats.

“What’s the plan, how do we get to Ava?” Avery asked.

Devas looked around and considered what would be best for us.

But at that moment, I felt Alatus using a great deal of energy, and I inhaled heavily.

Avery and Jade were with me, holding me so I wouldn’t lose my balance and fall off the cliff.

A huge red cloud with thunderous lightning bolts formed in the distant sky.

“Alatus,” I whispered in a trembling voice.

“I am fine, my Iris... But you need to hurry... too many... there are too many... they are killing our friends...” I heard Alatus in my head.

“We have no time!” I said to Devas.

Avery and Noah were already prepared, their weapons drawn, ready to charge. But Devas stopped them.

“Wait! They are abandoning their posts!... They rush toward battle!” Devas exclaimed.

Our eyes followed Devas’s finger, drawing our attention as the guards moved.

“This is our chance. Go!” Noah said as we headed to the castle.

We quickly got rid of the few guards who were still there.

We were so close to our destination.

Now it didn’t matter if we used our powers; we had to get Ava out and get away from here as soon as possible.

Everything we had trained was put to use.

Avery’s power swept the enemies off their feet, while Noah’s power held them captive.

Suddenly, roots burst out of the ground, grabbed the creatures by their hands and feet, and pinned them to the ground.

Devas then stepped in front of us.

Black smoke billowed from his fingertips before he unleashed a powerful blast, the full force of his power.

It was easy to track Ava; her cell was the only one with a giant centaur guarding it.

Avery, Noah, and Devas combined and knocked the beast down.

Devas laughed as it dropped to the ground.

“With the power of friendship!” he shouted, amused.

Jade opened the cell with her magic, and as we burst in, we froze in place.

Ava lay motionless on the floor, and on a chair next to her sat the woman who appeared to us in Antaris.

She seemed to be already waiting for us. Her face was unimpressed by our appearance.

Ava wasn’t moving.

She was lying on the ground, her legs pulled to her chest.

Her body was naked, blood stuck to her skin.

Bruises all over, countless marks.

She had her hands bound with cuffs that carved into her skin.

I couldn’t tell if she was breathing or not.

If she was still alive.

“Ava,” I called out, my voice brittle.

She flinched slightly but didn’t move.

What had they done to her?

My heart shattered when I saw her like this.

So injured.

So broken.

“It’s Bana!” Jade exclaimed, startled.

My eyes immediately flicked from Ava to the woman.

She grinned evilly at us and laughed mockingly.

“Did you think... we would leave the eleven unattended?” she asked, while tilting her head slightly to the side.

The next moment, she grabbed her whip and whirled in our direction.

The leather hissed just past my face. I seized the opportunity to counterattack.

Devas and Avery immediately came to my rescue.

I could sense the panic in Avery when he saw Ava.

The questions in his mind... The fears.

I watched Noah take Ava in his arms as Jade opened the portal.

We had no more time to lose; we had to get out of here.

But Bana refused to give up.

With a quick swing, she let her whip whizz through the air.

One hit would be fatal, and she almost hit Avery.

I pushed him aside in the nick of time, just as the leather hit the ground. His eyes were wide as he glared at Devas.

One second later... and he would have been dead.

“We have to go!” shouted Noah, disappearing through the portal with Ava in his arms.

“Go... go!” Devas shouted.

But Bana swung again, her eyes boring into me.

Suddenly, I felt the power pulsing in my veins.

Everything around me seemed to happen in slow motion. I saw her movements before she even made them.

The air changed, the darkness turned a pale red.

The whip whizzed towards me, but I dodged out of the way.

My body turned instinctively, escaping the deadly blow.

I stared at the tip of the whip as it slowly slid past my face.

Then, with an explosive impulse, I pushed off the ground and grabbed Bana by the neck with both hands.

As fast as the flap of a butterfly’s wings.

Her eyes widened, frozen with dread.

I screamed, and her face began to contort.

Her laughter stopped. The darkness in her eyes died out.

It was as if I were sucking the life out of her through my touch.

Her body twitched wildly, out of control.

Then her bones began to break.

One after the other… until only an empty figure remained.

When I released her, she fell to the ground.

Nothing but a shell of the once so powerful woman.

Dead.

Destroyed by my strength.

An alarm rang out, bells chiming.

Each sound was like the scream of a creature in pain.

“Run…” Devas screamed, grabbing my hand.

Thousands of footsteps… louder and stronger, closer by the minute.

Bana’s death had been noticed immediately… had been felt.

My eyes widened as I stared toward the door.

A flood of creatures rushed toward us.

They ran side by side, on top of each other, intertwining—a howling, bone-shattering stream.

So fast. So relentless.

As if it were a race to see who could reach us first… who could tear us to pieces first.

There were too many of them. Far too many.

Their mouths gaped open, snapping greedily into the air while their claws tore up the ground.

Every move was a harbinger of death.

Avery dragged me along with him.

We plunged through the portal… but I still saw them.

The creatures reached the cell, and their horrific screams were the last we heard before the portal closed behind us.

“Alatus… we have Ava…” I shouted, recalling my amicus.

But there was no response.

We fell out of the portal. Avery pulled me toward him, bracing for the impact.

A gasp could be heard as we hit the floor.

Devas immediately ran to help us, but I scrambled on the floor to Noah, who was still holding Ava in his arms.

He gazed at her, pain mixed with grief.

Then he raised his eyes to me as I stood in front of him.

“She’s alive…” he said softly.

As I touched Ava, she flinched, her whole body trembling.

She was scared.

“Alatus… we’ve returned… home,” I tried to connect with my amicus again. “We have Ava.”

But all I could hear was silence.

No reply… no connection.

My body jerked as I stared at Avery. His eyes widened as if he could smell the shock. Fear was already eating its way through me, an icy burn crawling from the back of my neck, poisoning every nerve.

My hands shook as if they were no longer my own. The air in my lungs burned, but I couldn’t scream.

And Avery knew.

He felt it, this silent, strangling horror that choked my throat.

Death… I felt so much death.