Chapter 15: The Darkness and the Light
The darkness was like quicksand. The more Riley thrashed, the more it tightened. She let her muscles relax so she could pant, but found that her system was blocked. Her longs shriveled and her surroundings went out of focus.
Riley closed her eyes. She had to face it- it was pointless. The only thing she could do was lie down and let die.
It was too bad. There were so many things she wished she'd done, and Sabrina-
Sabrina.
No. If she died, then there'd be no hope for Sabrina, either.
At that moment, Alex's words plagued her. There is no ordinary magic that can bring back the dead…
Well, she should at least try.
With that, she began to fight again. She fought with both her body and her mind, limbs throwing themselves everywhere and desperately ignoring her sore lungs so her thoughts of Get out get out get out would be free to ram into the darkness like a bull…
The darkness fought too. Just as Riley felt a drop of hope sink into her chest, the merciless black clawed at her, attacking with the eagerness of a rapid dog. Suddenly she was pinned even farther down then she had been before. She strained, her blood on fire and a drum beating in her head0
Then, just like that, it appeared.
It was just the size of a bead at first. Then like a bomb going off, a clean, untouched white light dawned, eroding the black.
Riley sucked in a deep breath. The air could not be more welcome.
But what was . . . happening . . .
Her mind spun like a top, and she tried to peer into the center of the light, only for a sting with the power of a thousand suns to bite into her pupils. She looked away, clasping a hand over her eyes.
She swore she heard a yell of agony, an explosion, somewhere faintly in the background . . .
She also swore that in the center of the light, that there had been something muddled, something dark . . . something that could have been a person . . .
But whatever this thing was, she didn't have time to dwell on it.
The darkness that had been killing her became light. The fire in her blood became water. The drum beating in her head became a violin.
The theurgist felt a soothing sensation wash over her, as if someone with very soft fingers were stroking her arm. This calm sensation was, like the darkness, too large to fight . . . but she didn't even want to fight it. . . . all she wanted to do was relax, and get some. . . . sleep. . .
Alex Legendstone had never felt this much regret in his life.
It'll be better in the end, he told himself. She's a theurgist, and that's a problem. If the others don't have her, then they won't have a theurgist, period, and then they won't be able to stop Valdus. She even thought she could bring back Sabrina, that fool. So what if you've known her? So what if she didn't deserve to be left at a Demon's mercy. . . .
He gnashed his teeth together. Oh great Angels above, he wasn't convincing himself, now was he?
He kept himself putting one foot in front of the other, kept himself from looking back. If he looked back, he would be tempted to actually go back-
And what would happen if he did? He was certainly an exceptional conjurer, but there was no way he would risk the Demon's wrath.
Did Valdus have any idea what he was doing when he recruited Tarlac Shadowsong? Maybe. Maybe not. Valdus was smart, but he didn't give off any signs that he knew Tarlac for being what he actually was. Of course, Valdus was good at concealing emotions and knowledge.
Did Sestiva? He doubted it. Despite her skill, she seemed hopelessly naïve-
His thoughts were cut off when a white light began to stretch on the walls. He chanced a look behind him- he immediately shut his eyes. That was bright . . .
He quickened his footsteps until he was running down the hall. Suddenly another bright light blocked this way. It was different from the one he ran from- that one was white and subtle despite being powerful.
This light, however, wasn't so subtle, as it also caused the ground to tremor under his feet and was accompanied by a sound akin to one of a rocket going off.
An explosion.
Alex skidded to a halt and clamped his hands over his ears, drowning out screams in the process. What was going on?
Whatever it was, he didn't want to see it. So he turned around and ran the opposite direction, back to where Riley was. He smothered his hand over his eyes and peered through the cracks of his fingers- there. Now he wouldn't go blind from the light.
When he got there he had to grit his teeth to keep himself from falling apart from the sheer brightness of the light. A piercing scream reached his ears-
His hand left his eyes for a moment to look around. Tarlac was screaming his head off, doing all he could to retain his dark power in front of all the light.
Alex relaxed momentarily to smirk at Tarlac's pain. The Demon deserved it-
He looked around some more, forcing himself to keep his eyes wide open despite the brightness. He held onto his willpower with every pore in his body, almost shaking from the effort as he located the very source of the light, the muddled form in the center and a pair of green orbs around the top . . .
And immediately froze.
Alex's breath hitched, and in that moment he was a statue- still and unmovable. The green orbs, the green eyes, sunk into him.
Alex was a Legendstone. As a part of an illustrious family, one tasked with protecting objects of great importance in the Spiral, he was trained not to be shocked by anything, and if he was, to not let it show.
But this . . . the sheer severity overrode all of his training and left him speechless. He never would have guessed . . .
At last the conjurer forced himself to move. He dipped his head to the light, muscles tight. He knew what he had to do.