Daughter of Dusk

Soren drops to one knee as I rush to him. My body numbs with horror and I’m unable to speak, to think, to do anything.

He pushed me out of the way and took the hit himself . . .

The thought sends the most intense guilt I’ve ever experienced rushing through me, enveloping me in its hold.

He doesn’t deserve this. Not for me. I should have taken that hit, not him.

The darkness around us intensifies and I look up, my horror transforming to anger as I set my sights on Father walking toward us. Soren breathes hard next to me, but I don’t see any blood on his fingers, or any cuts on his shirt, now that I consider it.

Maybe he’ll be okay. But then . . . what exactly did Father do?

Soren gets up with a determined exhale and I follow.

“I’m okay, I think,” he breathes. He still seems to be in pain, but I can help him with that later. Right now, we have a far more imminent threat.

I nod, setting my sights back on Father as he comes closer, now within earshot, unable to hide the ire in my eyes.

“I said stay away!” My anger bubbles to the surface as I draw a horizontal line in front of me with my arm, sending a wave of darkness toward him – one that he barely misses.

I throw attack after attack at him, all of which he blocks or dodges, but I can’t stop myself.

He can hurt me all he wants, it’s what he’s done all my life anyway, but hurting Soren is too far.

I can feel the flame of anger flickering within me, desperately trying to take control and leave any sense of rationality behind me.

I take a deep breath. I’ll let it fuel me, but I’m not going to lose myself. Not again.

My attacks cumulate into a beam made of the darkest shadows I’ve ever made. Father presses against it with his hands, resisting it from coming any closer. He’s not in a place where he can counterattack, so this is a waiting game now; either he gives up or I let my guard down.

My hands begin to shake as several moments pass, locked in a never-ending strength test. The prophecy says I’m stronger than Father – in theory. But I haven’t trained nearly as much as Nox and Melinoe. I don’t know what the full scope of my abilities is. But even with all the hatred in the world I have towards him, I don’t know how much longer I can do this.

But then, my mind flashes to my previous confrontation with Melinoe.

The Light cancelled out the Darkness – could that work here?

My hands vibrate as I try to shift my energy mid-attack. Pushing away the darkness, letting the light flow through my veins . . .

I watch as my beam of shadows lightens to a gray.

Okay, keep going. Just a little more.

The gray continues to brighten until a shimmering white light exudes from my fingertips. Noticing what I’m doing, Father tries to move out of the way, but the light cancels out his dark attacks and it hits him before he can do anything to dodge. It knocks him backwards, but he manages to stay on his feet.

I look to my right as Soren narrows his eyes at Father, compressing dark energy between his fingers into a ball. Father is too focused on me to even notice Soren – maybe this is our shot!

I quickly make a shield for myself as Soren lets the compressed energy go, sending a shockwave of darkness through the entire area. Father doesn’t notice until it’s too late, and the attack blows him backwards to the other side of the clearing. It knocks him to the ground, but not for long.

He quickly gets up, rushing toward us as I breathe hard, letting my pounding heart guide me as I create a swarm of translucent arrows and let them fly toward him. His path becomes a zig-zag as he dodges the flickering points, but it at least gives us a moment to catch our breath.

I glance at Soren, who is still breathing hard from Father’s attack, but seems strong enough to hold his own.

But even the thought of him in pain is enough to make me spiral.

Father makes his way through the swarm of arrows and throws a collection of knifelike attacks at us, the very same attack he used on me back in the study. I breathe hard as I create a clear shield, blocking out the memory as the shadows hit the glasslike surface of my barrier with several loud thuds.

I keep the shield up, even when he is directly in front of us, his presence stabbing holes in my determination. But I ignore it as much as I can.

I maintain the glassy defence with one hand and ready a light attack in the other. But before I can get much of anything going, he rolls his eyes with a frustrated sigh and . . . reaches through my shield?

A black hole appears where he reaches through, spreading darkness through the clear protection, like an infested spiderweb. He grabs my wrist so tight it’s a wonder he doesn’t break my bones. “This ends now.”

“Let go!”

My blood turns to ice, my skin igniting with chills, the parasite of fear now worming its way into every part of my body, tightening my throat. But the fire of determination and anger still burns somewhere within me, pricking my core with sparks.

“Stay away from her!”

Before Father can do anything, Soren is able to get close enough to place his hands on Father’s head. Soren concentrates hard as Father releases me, and he collapses on the ground before us, just as Nox had.

I drop to the ground as my heart pounds out of my chest, the relief and disbelief mixing in my mind as one entity as my breath returns to some semblance of normalcy. I can still feel Father’s grip on my arm, the very thought making me feel nauseous.

But through it all, one thought stands out.

We did it. I can’t believe we did it.

I look at Soren as he comes towards me, giving me a weak smile as he pulls me close to him, the action pushing whatever darkness I was still hanging on to out of me. I fit my face into the crook of his neck and let his embrace ground me. There’s something lingering in his energy, something I can’t put my finger on, but I’m too elated to focus on it.

It’s over. This is finally over.

“There’s no way I could have done that without you,” I breathe. “Are you all right?”

“Thank me later.” He chuckles, still breathing hard, “I’m fine, let’s get to Kera.”

I help him up, losing myself in his eyes for what feels like the millionth time. But every single time, it’s as though I’m falling for him all over again.

And I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Suddenly, whatever was hiding in the background of his energy becomes stronger, unignorable. It’s something I’ve never felt before, not attached to him at least. It’s something . . . sinister. Ominous. I can’t pin it down to one thing.

I glance at his shoulder as a collection of black, intricate lines climb up the side of his neck and onto his face. It looks like the infested spiderweb on my shield when Father reached through it before, but here, it’s as though Soren’s veins are being traced with the deepest, darkest ink.

The sight makes my nerves stand on end. “Soren? Is everything okay?”

I look back to him and . . . time slows again. I watch the colour drain from his face, leaving his skin paler than a ghost.

He glances at me for a split second as pain envelops his eyes before he collapses against me, sending my mind and heart into a downward spiral. But I can’t focus on it right now. All that matters now is helping him – no – saving him.

He looks up at me, grimacing. “I’ll be fine, I think, whatever Darius hit me with is . . .” He trails off as I help him lay on his back, my eyes hot with tears as my heart breaks into a million pieces.

“No, you’ll be fine. Everything is going to be fine.” My voice cracks.

I glance down and notice the lines of black expanding, heading toward his face and down his arms

My stomach twists and turns.

What is happening? What did Father do to him?

“You’re going to be okay.” My hands shake as I hover them over his body, trying, praying that I can get a hold of the darkness, that I’m not too late. That I can still save him. That the history of Rhea won’t repeat itself here.

No, it won’t. It can’t.

It just can’t.

“Please, you have to be okay.”

Please.