SWNOVELS Chapter 73
The shadow portal loomed before them, a writhing mass of darkness that seemed to devour the very light around it. Lyra stood at the forefront of their makeshift army, her staff clutched tightly in white-knuckled hands. The combined forces of humans, elves, and newly allied werewolves spread out behind her, ready for the coming battle.
Fenris appeared at her side, his amber eyes scanning the hellish landscape. “Something’s not right,” he growled, nostrils flaring. “This is too easy. Where are the shadow beasts?”
As if in answer to his question, a peal of laughter echoed across the barren plain. It was a sound Lyra knew all too well, one that sent icy tendrils of dread crawling up her spine.
“Veridian,” she whispered, her voice a mix of shock and dismay.
A figure emerged from the swirling vortex of the portal. Tall and imposing, with long silver hair that seemed to float on an otherworldly breeze, Veridian cut an impressive figure. But it was his eyes that drew the eye – once a warm brown, they now glowed with an eerie purple light.
“Welcome, my dear Lyra,” Veridian called out, his arms spread wide in mock greeting. “I’ve been expecting you.”
Lyra took an involuntary step backward, her mind reeling. “How… how is this possible? You were dead. I saw you fall.”
Veridian’s smile was cold and cruel, nothing like the mentorship he’d shown during Lyra’s years in the coven. “Death, it seems, is not as permanent as we once believed. The shadow realm has ways of… preserving those it finds useful.”
Fenris growled low in his throat, placing himself protectively in front of Lyra. “Who is this, Lyra?”
She swallowed hard, forcing herself to focus. “Veridian. He was the leader of my coven, my teacher. But he… he tried to harness the power of the shadow realm. It consumed him. Or so I thought.”
“Consumed me?” Veridian laughed again, the sound setting Lyra’s teeth on edge. “Oh no, my naive little apprentice. It elevated me. Opened my eyes to truths you can’t begin to comprehend.”
With a gesture from Veridian, the air around them shimmered. Suddenly, they were surrounded by ethereal figures – the ghostly forms of Lyra’s former coven mates. Some she recognized, others were strangers, but all bore the same corrupted purple glow in their eyes.
“You see, Lyra,” Veridian continued, his voice dripping with false benevolence, “I’ve built something truly remarkable here. A new order, one that bridges the gap between life and death, between our world and the shadow realm.”
Lyra’s mind raced, trying to process the implications of what she was seeing. The coven she’d fled from years ago, now twisted into something unrecognizable. And at its head, the man she’d once looked up to, now a conduit for the very darkness they were fighting against.
“This isn’t an order, Veridian,” she said, forcing steel into her voice. “It’s an abomination. You’re playing with forces you can’t control.”
Veridian’s expression hardened, the facade of welcome dropping away. “Control? My dear, I AM control. I’ve mastered the shadow essence in ways you can’t begin to fathom. And now, I offer you a choice.”
He extended a hand towards Lyra, purple energy crackling around his fingers. “Join us, Lyra. Take your rightful place at my side. Together, we can reshape Aether into something glorious.”
For a moment, Lyra felt the pull of her past. The yearning for belonging, for the family she’d found in the coven. But then she felt Fenris’s steady presence beside her, heard the rustle of her allies readying themselves for battle. She thought of all they’d been through, all they’d sacrificed to get here.
Lyra raised her staff, light magic coalescing around its tip. “My place is here, Veridian. Fighting against the darkness, not embracing it.”
Veridian’s face twisted with rage. “Then you’ll die with the rest of them!”
With a roar of fury, he unleashed a torrent of shadow energy. Lyra barely had time to throw up a barrier of light, the two forces colliding in a spectacular explosion of power.