Chapter 7: Battling Old Friends

LYDIA

The Fire Slifer and her comrades formed a small circle. If the Wizard Hunters were going to try and surround them, they would not leave their backs exposed.

“What do we do now?” asked Dorian.

“Fight like your life depends on it,” Lucius replied, “because it does.”

The Wizard Hunters had them surrounded, but seemed to be waiting on a signal to attack. Lydia thought about setting a protective ring of fire around the group but thought better of it. ~I want to see each one of them when they fall,~ she thought.

“At least we got the citizens to safety,” Marsie added with a smile. Leave it to her to be so damn positive in the face of struggle.

“Gives us more freedom to show off our skills,” Dorian retorted giddily. “I want to see how long it takes before the first one screams.”

Lydia looked to Dorian with wide eyes. She had never heard him speak like this before, but she had to admit she liked it. The Wizard Hunters had taken so much from her that revenge was always on her mind.

“Let’s do this for Queen Lis,” she said to the others. “And for everyone else who lost something to these murderous bandits.”

After hearing these words, Dorian conjured several celestial beasts: a wolf, a bear, and an eagle that circled overhead.

“What are you waiting for?” Lucius called out. “Step forward and decide which one gets their ass turned inside out.”

“That’s a terrible threat,” Lydia groaned.

“It doesn’t matter. We’re going to wipe these punks from the face of the earth,” Lucius spat in reply.

Suddenly, the Wizard Hunters began to part, leaving a gap in their ranks. The group looked from one to the other before returning their attention to the hunters.

“Well, well,” a deep voice called out. “If it isn’t our old friends…”

A figure materialized from the dust-filled haze. He stood tall, with long, blond hair and a scar covering his right eye.

“Jora Zayn,” Lucius growled.

Lydia’s breath left her lungs, and her heart dropped. Standing in front of her was a tyrant—the same man who had stolen Lis’s powers.

She could sense her anger growing as her arms turned to flame. During their last meeting at the ball, she had failed not only Lis, but the entire Kingdom of Imarnia when Jora escaped.

It was time to make him pay for his actions!

“By the Gods,” Marsie yelled, “we’ve got more company!”

She pointed to the sky as three glowing figures shrouded in dark energy floated to the ground, joining Jora and his men.

“Now we’ve got a party,” Lucius replied, his brash voice filling with uncertainty.

Queen Adria joined their ranks, descending from the sky. Hovering before her was a badly beaten Redmond, on display for everyone to see.

Lydia could barely believe her eyes. Their luck had surely run out.

“Redmond!” Marsie shrieked as she saw his body.

Lydia’s heart ached for the Earth Slifer and all he had been through—but her eyes were not trained on him. It was the woman to Jora’s right, surging with dark energy.

~Evine!~

***

LUCIUS

~Well if this hasn’t devolved into pure, unadulterated hell,~ Lucius thought. ~And right when my buzz is starting to fade...~

Queen Adria tossed the poor Earth Slifer to the ground. His body tumbled across the dirt and rocks until it rested at Lucius’s feet. It was a message—and none too subtle. They had come to destroy everything and everyone in this Podunk town.

And they meant business.

Lydia rushed to Redmond’s side. Tears glistened in the corner of her eyes. With effort, she pulled her fellow Slifer back behind an outcropping of rock that would help protect him as he tried to recover.

Lucius wasn’t one to feel emotions, but even this was a bit much. He fought back tears of his own and replaced the sadness with pure rage.

“This is all the people you’ve got?” he yelled at the smiling Evine. “I don’t think we’ll even break a sweat.”

Dorian’s bear and wolf roared in unison, unnerving a few of the Wizard Hunters. Marsie reached into her small satchel and pulled out a short stick. Even Lucius wondered what the hell that could do, but he quickly thought otherwise.

With a flick of her wrist, the small piece of wood grew into a long fighting staff. She whirled it with precision as she gritted her teeth into a frightening smile.

“For all of Ignolia…” she said proudly.

The others nodded their heads in reply. Lucius couldn’t hold back his own wicked smile. Adrenaline pulsed through his veins and filled the pit of his stomach with fire.

~Like a shot of warm rum.~

The first wave of Wizard Hunters swarmed the group, but they were ready. Dorian’s beasts took out several in mere seconds. His eagle sent out a piercing screech as it plunged toward their cowering heads.

Lucius felt youth fill his old bones as jolts of electricity danced from his fingers, frying men where they stood. For all the reinforcements the baddies had brought, it didn’t feel like much of a fight.

Maybe he was right after all. They wouldn’t need to break a sweat to take care of these minions…

~BOOM!~

A bright blast of light nearly blinded the old geezer. After his eyes adjusted to the light, his heart sank a few inches in his chest… Evine was glowing as bright as an exploding star, and around the entire village now stood a crackling force field.

Lucius had seen this same thing years ago. If it was what he thought, this force field was nigh impenetrable. You couldn’t go through, over, or under without risking death…

He wiped the gathered sweat from his forehead and cursed under his breath. There was always a way to escape. He just needed to find it!

LYDIA

Lydia looked at the Earth Slifer’s wounds. Her friend was badly hurt, but he was resilient. With a little time and some regenerative potions, Redmond would be good as new. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t share in his pain.

The young man had just fought in the most gruesome duel of his life—against his own lover!

She peeked over the rubble and watched as her friends battled the onslaught. Given how badly they were outnumbered, it looked as though things might turn out in their favor…

“Go,” Redmond said, holding back pain. “They need you.”

“You need me, too,” Lydia said, unsure.

Redmond smiled and coughed into his battered hand. “I’ll be fine for now. But if we don’t defeat them…none of us will be.”

Lydia knew that he was right. It was painful to watch her friend struggle just to breathe. But she had wanted to come on this mission for a reason. She even promised Lucius that if Evine showed up, she would be ready.

She had to keep her promise and prove to Lucius she could do it.

The air thickened with dust as the battle raged on. Lydia used this to her advantage, concealing herself as she snuck over and around the rubble. She was filled with raw energy and felt strangely alive.

In some ways, the search mission had gone better than expected. They managed to find one of the missing Royals and reveal Evine and Jora in the process. But they had underestimated the power they would be facing.

It would be hard to fend off their attackers much longer. If they didn’t do something soon, their mission would all be for naught. A message needed to be sent to Evine and her followers. Their reign of terror had to come to an end!

Lydia peeked through a crack in a section of the wall destroyed by Queen Adria. She had found a vantage point behind Evine and the others—their attention was focused entirely on the battle, and no one seemed to realize she was gone.

~This was her chance.~

She dived through a hole in the wall and broke her fall with a somersault, quickly hopping to her feet.

Evine floated over the few remaining Wizard Hunters, but she had forgotten to protect her backside. Lydia would make sure she felt the full brunt of the surprise she had planned.

Like a wick igniting under a match’s flame, Lydia’s entire body caught fire. She kept her palms close together before slowly pulling them apart, inch by inch. In the space between her hands grew a fireball, burning with unparalleled intensity.

“This is for you, Redmond,” she said as she aimed the fireball at the witch.

With a silent push, she sent it swirling through the air. A smile broke across her face as it looked to be heading straight for its target.

Evine sensed the projectile and turned to the side—but it was too late. The raging fireball singed her shoulder, the impact sending her spinning to the ground with a hard thud.

In a flash, the blinding forcefield around the village dissolved into thin air. Lydia couldn’t hold back her feelings of rage. She screamed at the top of her lungs—

~CRASH!~

Lydia found herself on the ground, struggling to breathe. Her vision was blurry, and her ears rang. What the hell had just happened?!

She turned onto her back, trying to suck in air. A dark figure was standing on a pile of rubble, staring down at her aching body. It was the silhouette of a man—tall with broad shoulders and bulging muscles.

A physique she recognized all too well...

~”Gabriel?”~

A green gem throbbed in the middle of his forehead, casting a sinister glow across his otherwise impassive face.

She had found him! Her long-lost lover, the mate who fueled her flames, had finally been discovered after three months. But why was he acting like this?

Lydia tried to shake the cobwebs from her mind. Gabriel stepped down from the rubble and held out a hand. Lydia thought it was an offer to help her up, but then she saw the shadowy spear forming in his hand. He lifted it over his shoulder and aimed its tip right for her heart...

A blinding white light took away her sight. Lydia fought to stand up but was lost in a haze of pain. Before she knew what was happening, her world went dark and silent...