Riley felt as if a hole had been blown through his middle. He had tripped when he saw the sword plunge through his friend's body. He pushed up and continued running at him, determined to slaughter the goblin and save his friend's life.
Though he knew it was too late. The placement of the blade was, without a doubt, instantly fatal. The way that Roland's body now slumped lifelessly over the box he had guarded was proof enough of that fact.
It was senseless, and meaningless, and hopeless. Why??
A sob somewhere between rage and grief welled in his chest. Three babies. Roland had turned his back on his enemy and left three babies fatherless. A white heat burned across Riley's vision. He knew what it was to be fatherless.
It was labor, and grief, and pity. And Riley's father hadn't left by choice. His death had been a tragic accident after the man had spent years raising him, giving him the tools and skills he needed to be a man.
Roland's babies had none of that.
After dangerous missions, after traversing worlds, and riding through the city covered in giant's blood on the back of a great cat hunted by a cloud of gargoyles… After all that, he had turned away from defending himself and laid his life down on a worthless piece of wood.
He could have commanded Judah to stay with him. He could have gone inside. Why hadn't he done any of those things?
It seemed like Riley's steps were in slow motion, bogged down in mud, or as in a terrible dream. He was only to the bottom of the steps when several strange things happened, all at once.
A bright light burst from the box. Blinding. The goblins keened in fear and outrage, covering their eyes and fleeing. The gargoyles, too, reacted strongly to whatever was happening, their semi-organized flights dissolving into a furious beating of wings and disoriented scrambling through the skies.
A wave of sound and pressure exploded from the box, splintering it and throwing Roland's body, and the goblin, backward onto the ground before spreading outward in a booming tide that knocked every living being off its feet, breaking nearby windows and spreading outward through the city.
The goblins screamed. The gargoyles panicked. Something about the wave was uncomfortable, even painful to them. Many grabbed each other or nearby objects as if afraid of being swept away in its pull.
And then some were.
The light from the remains of the box continued to brighten, and the skin of the nearest goblins caught fire. The wails reached a fever pitch, and Riley didn't know whether to cover his ears from the sound or his eyes from the light or his nose from the stench.
Burning goblins somehow smelt worse than anything prior.
He rolled from his place on the ground, turning his face away from the burning, unbearable brightness that was driving the gargoyles away… no, making them vanish?
It was as if they were being pushed out of existence as the goblins burned, and popped out of being. What had Roland done??
_____________
Finn continued humming a lullaby with a yawn. She was exhausted. The adrenaline crash she'd been anticipating was nearly upon her. But she couldn't afford it yet. Not until the danger was past.
Still, the fatigue was deep within her muscles, her nerves, her bones. How much longer could she hang on?
Ivan woke in her arms, his eyes popping wide open as if something had surprised him.
"Hush, now, everything is… you're safe in my arms," She changed directions mid-sentence. She never wanted to lie to her children, even if they were too young to understand her.
Ivan began moving. Struggling against her.
"Is there a problem?" Naomi leaned forward.
The women exchanged a significant look, both remembering the last time he'd begun acting strangely like this.
He cried out, somewhere between a laugh and a scream. Was he happy or sad? Finn honestly couldn't tell, and it worried her far more than she wanted to let on. He squirmed toward Naomi.
"Do you want me to hold you?" She asked uncertainly, and Finn frowned. All three babies preferred their mother over any other person. That would be very odd indeed.
Ivan squealed again, flailing his little arms, and Naomi lifted a hand to reach out to him.
"Your bracelet," Finn blinked at her.
"A gift from Caspian," the other woman explained. "Isn't the stone lovely?"
"It's glowing," Gabe said slowly. "Like… like Roland's leaf necklace. In the Darkness."
"Take it off," Finn demanded.
"I don't understand," Naomi complained, but the bracelet's luminescence was undeniable now, and brightening every second.
Finn stood, "Gabe, out, now, with Lily. Naomi, stand up."
The two obeyed, one more efficiently than the other. Gabe knew the tone of voice Finn used when argument was absolutely prohibited.
The light was becoming blinding, and Ivan's reaction was intensifying. What could have been cries of delight were now sounding more mixed with concern.
Impatient with Naomi's confusion, Finn reached over and yanked the bracelet from her slender wrist.
Throwing it into the far corner of the pantry, she ushered the woman carrying Roen out into the kitchen. Hesitating at the door, she looked over her shoulder in time to see a portal rip a hole in the reality of her safe little home.
It was bright and sandy, with an endless blue sky across the desert for a moment. Then black as night. The Darkness? Then flowing green grassy hills. It was as if she was flipping through a series of paintings of different worlds, never the same one for more than a few seconds.
A jungle with a green moon overhead. A cave made of white stone, with water dripping from the ceiling. Something moved to come through the portal, something furry and strange and not at all safe-looking. Finn slammed the pantry door closed.
"What do we do now?" Gabe asked with wide eyes. "Do we… tell somebody?"
_________
Edmar watched in confusion as the Void suddenly threw his father to the ground, shrank into the form of Tamas, and fled the battlefield. Why would he do a thing like that?
Before he could blink, Tamas stood before him.
"Quickly, we must go."
"What's happening in the city?" Brenna asked, pointing. Edmar followed her gaze. He'd been so intent on watching the field, he hadn't noticed the brightening cityscape.
In his peripheral vision, it had seemed as though the sun was just breaking through, but the clouds were still blocking the rays from the ground. It was something internal, and impossibly bright.
"What IS that?" He echoed, glancing at Tamas. The white-haired man's face sneered with a cold fury that made Edmar cautious of pushing too much.
"Sacrifice." He said with distaste.
The humans stared blankly, but didn't dare to ask anything further. When Tamas glared back, they dropped their gazes. Edmar's eyes widened.
"Your amulet… is it glowing?" He pointed.
"No… no…" Tamas's eyes turned from fury to panic and back again, ripping the chain from around his neck and throwing it to the ground.
Brenna chewed the inside of her cheek and leaned closer to the formerly black amulet which now glowed with a kaleidoscoping light.
"What's it doing?" She whispered more to herself than anyone else. Edmar took a step toward her.
"It's breaking." Tamas scoffed. "What have they done?"
"Brenna, let's step back from it a little." He glanced to Tamas, silently asking if that was the proper thing to do, but the powerful man's gaze had already moved back toward the city with fire in his eyes.
"Maybe you're right," Brenna conceded as the light from the amulet grew brighter. "It might be danger–"
Her words were cut off as the amulet burst, cutting a hole in the world. It was black and silent in the snow for several long seconds.
"The Darkness?" Brenna asked quietly, before it flickered and a new scene appeared. "What is that?"
Edmar took a step forward. The world on the other side was grey, like a vast slab of jagged, broken rock with a muddy river through the center. They were looking down at it from above, and Brenna leaned closer.
"What is that place? It's nothing like I've ever seen before." She marveled at the sight, and overcome by how pretty she looked, Edmar reached out to take her hand.
She startled, yanking her hand away, but was thrown off balance in the process. She tripped and fell through the portal, and down, far down, into the muddy river below.
"BRENNA!" Edmar screamed, as Tamas turned to see what was happening. "Tamas, you have to save her!"
"I cannot go to that world, I have no followers there–" Tamas said smoothly.
"Then I must!" Edmar cried without hesitation, jumping forward.
"NO!" The Void burst into a black cloud, its tentacles reaching to grab Edmar and prevent his descent into the unknown realm.
They slammed into the wall the ground made, unable to slip through. The Void flickered out of existence in the world as the portal closed behind Edmar.