Chapter 60: Chapter 60

IRIS

The words Evie addressed to us hit us like a blow to the core. A heavy silence spread as the truth sank in.

There was no escape.

The battle that awaited us was inevitable, and the certainty that we would soon have to face the darkest of enemies weighed like lead on our shoulders. He would attack us with everything he had.

Beings darker than the night, who craved the blood of the good. Abaddon had waited.

Patient, cold, calculating. He had watched Avery crumble piece by piece.

He watched the darkness grip him until there was nothing left of the shining warrior he had once been. And now that Avery had hit rock bottom, Abaddon would strike, with an army behind him, ready to descend upon Antaris like a flood of darkness.

Avery would have opened the gates for him without wanting to, and the bitter irony was hard to bear. But that wasn’t the worst part.

Evie had not only told us of the impending battle. She had also told us that this fight would be more than just a battle for territory or power. It would be a war for the very existence of good.

And then, as if that hadn’t been enough, she had left me with a burden that nearly crushed me.

“You... you shall be the savior,” she had said to me.

The words echoed in my skull as I tried to grasp their full meaning. This prophecy didn’t tell us much, yet we knew how much was at stake.

Evangeline had been waiting for us for centuries. She must have been searching for us.

Waiting for us. I couldn’t fail her... any of them.

But I wasn’t a hero. I didn’t have any answers.

And yet, fate now expected me to make the impossible possible.

The others felt the same helplessness. Ava was sitting a little apart, close to Bael and Evangeline, as if she was seeking support from them.

Her voice was barely more than a whisper as they spoke. Words of fear, preparation, perhaps even farewell.

Her eyes were heavy with the knowledge that many of us would not survive this battle. And Evie just gazed thoughtfully into the campfire.

It had to be hard for her too; she had been given a weapon she didn’t know how to use. This sword had so much power that if Abaddon got hold of it, we would be destroyed immediately.

Devas paced back and forth, but when he realized that our silence was devastating, he sat down next to me and Avery. His face was a mask of determination, but there was something glowing in his eyes that told me he too sensed the despair that threatened to overwhelm us all.

Avery didn’t say anything. He just stared at his hands, as if he was wearing invisible chains that bound him to the guilt he couldn’t shake off.

The air was thick with fear, with anticipation, with the inevitable storm that was about to hit. And somewhere in all this chaos... I was the one who was supposed to save them all.

“What are you going to do now?” Devas asked Avery.

My mate looked at him, eyebrows furrowed.

“We should prepare. Aidan is ready to lead the entire army into battle for you,” Devas added.

His voice was calm, but there was unmistakable determination in his words. He knew what was at stake, and he would stand by Avery’s side no matter the danger.

Avery lifted his head slowly. His eyes, still marked by the scars Timorax had left on his soul, searched Devas’s gaze.

“And what about those who can’t fight?” His voice was raspy but clear. “The children, the women, the old... I have to think of them too,” Avery replied.

A soft, almost incredulous chuckle escaped Devas.

Avery gave him a confused look, but before he could say anything, Devas grinned at him.

“Don’t scare yourself... but you sound like a real king,” Devas said cheekily.

For a moment the tension in Avery’s features seemed to ease. A hint of warmth slid across his face, and I sensed through our soul bond how deep his concern for our people truly went.

Antaris was our home, each and every inhabitant a part of him that he would protect even if it cost him his life. But the shadows of the past still weighed heavily upon him.

Timorax’s cruel game had cut deep cracks in his confidence, in his self-confidence. It would take time for these wounds to heal, perhaps more time than we had.

But now we didn’t need the broken Avery. We needed the warrior, the leader, the man who still carried light even in the darkness.

I let my thoughts flow through the bond to him, gently but firmly. “You need to talk, Avery... Only together can we achieve something,” I whispered softly.

His eyes met mine, and for a brief moment, that spark I had missed so much was there again. A barely perceptible nod, then he turned his attention back to Devas.

“You know more about Abaddon than any of us,” Avery said, his voice firmer now. “You know the beings that serve him...his vulnerabilities...his ways of war. I’d ask you... to help me.”

My heart throbbed proudly in my chest. He resisted Timorax’s venom.

The doubts were still there, the uncertainty, but he no longer let them rule over him.

Devas’s grin widened, and something flashed in his eyes... Respect, perhaps even relief.

“I thought you’d never ask,” Devas said, grinning.

The mood between them relaxed, if only for a moment. But there was something important in that brief pause. The hope we needed.

Devas’s words kept us all in breathless suspense. With every syllable he uttered about Abaddon, with every horrific creature he described that would strike us first, the scale of the impending danger became clearer.

This was not an ordinary war. Abaddon would not do things by halves; he would sacrifice his forces just to exhaust us before striking himself.

“Your warriors aren’t ready,” Evie said.

Evangeline’s voice broke the silence, clear and unmistakable. Her eyes rested on Avery, and there was no condemnation in them, only sober truth.

Devas nodded slowly.

“They could be...with the right training. If we had someone who could really fight, and someone else who knew the weaknesses of these demons, it would be a huge advantage...” Devas replied.

A brief silence followed.

Evangeline blinked several times, her eyes shifting back and forth between Avery and Devas.

“What’s your point?” she finally asked, her voice slightly suspicious.

Devas’s lips curved into a soft smile as he looked at her.

“My angel... you can teach them much more than Aidan and Inna can. And I...I can support you by telling you every detail about these creatures,” he explained to her.

Evangeline stared at him for a moment, then turned to me and Avery, surprised. The truth in his words was undeniable.

I glanced at my brother, lying exhausted on a plank bed after the healers had tended to him.

He would soon be a father.

I knew him. I knew that he had long recognized Evangeline’s strength and fighting skills. And I also knew that he would do everything he could to protect his family. Even if it meant admitting we needed help.

Avery took a deep breath, his eyes fixed on Evangeline.

“Devas is right. We need you. Not only as a fighter... but as a teacher,” he said.

A spark of determination flickered in Evangeline’s gaze. She may have been surprised, but she was certainly not a woman to back down from a challenge.

“And your people?” she asked.

“We will take care of the weak ones... we could take them out of Antaris, to a place Abaddon can’t enter,” Ava said.

Avery looked to his sister. He immediately realized what she meant. If Abaddon were to attack Antaris, then the best thing to do would be to bring those who could not defend themselves here.

“You can’t be serious?” Bael asked.

But I sensed in Avery that he thought it was a great idea.

“You can help them all keep their minds under control so that they don’t fall into the forest,” Devas said to Bael.

“You want me to stay here with the women and children while you fight?” Bael asked, almost offended.

“Well... I would stay with you... but I have a reason to go,” Devas replied, looking from Bael to Evie.

Her face blushed before she lowered her gaze to the ground.

“Then I’ll set it up with Bael and I’ll stay here with him,” Ava said.

Avery nodded, smiling softly, but I could feel the excitement bubbling inside him.

While Evangeline left the campfire with Ava and Bael, Devas remained seated next to us. His eyes were glued on Evie as she disappeared into the crowd.

“I’m sorry, Devas,” Avery whispered.

His voice broke the silence unexpectedly, heavy with a guilt he’d been carrying for too long. For a moment there was confusion, but then he took a deep breath, as if he had to force himself to continue speaking.

Devas’s gaze became gentle as he looked at him.

“It wasn’t your fault, Avery,” he said.

His words were firm, but not harsh.

“And don’t think anyone hates you for this. I promised your father I would take care of you if anything happened to him,” we heard Devas say.

Avery raised his head slowly, his eyes gleaming in the pale light.

I could feel his heartbeat quicken through our bond, a wild pounding of pain, gratitude, and an affection he had never dared to express properly.

“I will always fight by your side,” Devas said, placing his hand on Avery’s shoulder, his touch as firm as an oath.

“I will follow you till the end... Even in the fires of Portus Mali.”

The words echoed between them, heavy with a loyalty beyond life and death.

Avery gulped hard, his gaze lost in Devas’s eyes, and what he found in them left no room for doubt.

Devas would never let him down. Not in battle. Not in despair. Not even in death.

A tremulous smile played around Avery’s lips as he tried to hide the overwhelming emotions.

“So... if we’re going to die, I hope you don’t mind dying by the side of a broken king,” Avery said.

But Devas just shook his head, his own smile soft, almost sad.

“How about side by side with a friend?” he asked.

Avery’s breath caught in his throat. For a brief, unguarded moment, all his fragility was on display.

And then Devas nodded. Easily. With determination.

His eyes glistened with tears he refused to let fall.

He looked from Avery to me, and there was so much unspoken history in that gaze. Battles, losses, a promise he would keep until his last breath.

But before the silence could overcome him, he stood up abruptly.

Because some vows were too deep to be put into words. Because some bonds were stronger than the fear of the end.

And because Devas, the steadfast one, the fighter, the friend... simply couldn’t bear to let anyone see his tears at that moment.