Clanging steel on shadow, a cacophony of violence and resolve rang through the air. Seraphine's sword sliced through the nearest shadow creature, its ethereal form dissolving into a cloud of dark mist. The creature's shriek was silenced as it faded from the world with its dying breath. But there were always more. More than Seraphine could count. The darkness was endless-seemingly an unending tide that swept toward them.
Garin's bow twanged with precision, and each arrow pierced through the shadowy figures as if with blinding light. Almost as fast as they fell, though, they reformed, woven from this dark stuff as if it somehow underpinned reality itself. Elara's face had creased tight with strain called up a barrier of bright energy; the spell barely held the creatures back long enough to let them regroup.
We can't keep this up forever!" Garin shouted, his voice full of grim urgency. Creatures assailed them from all sides, their numbers apparently endless, their strength growing with every passing second. "We have to get out of here!
Seraphine's eyes flew out to the horizon. The landscape around them was rapidly becoming a battlefield, as dark forms burst forth from the earth, as if the very earth spat its poison forth. The dying sun set the sky aflame, with crimson and purple colours as the light lurked on the precipice of fleeing from the tempest that was coming. Everything had the feeling of being ready to crumble.
"We cannot run," Seraphine said, her voice strong. "If we do not hold our position, we will not reach Lysandra. The forces of the Shadow King will shred anything in their path."
"We already are outmanned," Elara said, her breath coming in short, labored gasps. Sweat beaded on her brow, and her grip on her staff trembled. "If we do not find a way to turn this, it is all over.".
Seraphine's eyes fell to the earth beneath their feet. Dark energy ran through that earth, feeding those shadow creatures; it pulsed with something like the hunger of an organism. He'd set a trap: his minions weren't here by accident. The very land was infused with his magic.
Her eyes narrowed. There's got to be something we can do.
And then, as if in a flash of insight, something sparked within her head. She had felt it once: a thread of light woven into the darkness. She had felt it when they had fought inside the tower, just before the tome released its full might. That was the clue. To try harnessing the force, they needed to sever the connection the Shadow King had to the land itself.
Elara." Seraphine said desperately. "We have to cut the magic that is feeding those creatures. Do you have enough power to cast a severance spell that can break an attachment to the land?"
Elara regarded her, her eyes heavy with exhaustion. "I can try," she said, her voice tight, "but I'm going to need all the juice I can get.".
"We don't have a choice," Seraphine replied, her resolve hardening. "If we don't stop the flow of his magic now we'll be overwhelmed. Trust me. This is the only way."
Elara hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Alright. I'll do what I can.
She moved fast, sensing every moment, watching the battlefield. The shadow creatures were closing in; however, for a moment, they halted, almost holding their breath, waiting for something. Tension filled the air like thick sentry branches at dusk.
"Elara," Seraphine called again, "start the chant. I'll hold them off as best I can."
Garin stepped forward, his bow at the ready, his face set in grim determination. "I'll cover you," he said. "We'll protect you."
Seraphine's heart swelled with a sense of gratitude for her companions, but there was no time to waste. "Do it," she urged Elara.
She closed her eyes, raised her staff toward the sky, and let the light around them dim as she started speaking in low tones, murmuring the words of old with a power over her listeners that was curiously inexplicable. The earth itself came to respond, its tremors incorporating into her spell and vibrating beneath their feet. A faintly glowing barrier formed around Elara, shimmering with threads of light that pressed against the closing shadows.
The shadow creatures snarled with rage, their eyes glowing with a malevolent hunger. They charged again but were prepared for Seraphine. She advanced unswayed by one step or pace, her sword cutting through ranks with a swift decisive motion. Garin's arrows whizzed past her, striking down enemies trying to slip past her defenses.
But the more they fought, the more there seemed to be, reforming almost instantly after they died. It was clear that the spell Elara was casting took time, but the sheer quantity of enemies was beginning to overwhelm them.
"I need longer!" Elara shouted, her voice straining higher and higher. The light around her flickered, the strain of the spell graying out her face.
It was Seraphine now who couldn't breathe well. I can't let them fall now.
She felt the weight of her decision on her chest, but there was no other choice. She stood forward and got between Elara and the tide of shade creatures coming toward them. She could hear their whispers, their hissing voices calling her, trying to break her resolve.
Taking a deep breath, Seraphine raised the sword and thrust it into the ground. Her voice rose in power as she called out to the magic from the book, growing heavy with power, crackling energy that buzzed like a storm on the verge of unleashing itself. The ground would rumble beneath her feet as if the earth itself were coming alive to answer to the magic that had been let loose.
And then, like a lash of blazing light, the sword snapped through shadows over midnight, cutting through the darkness with a blinding fierce force. The shadow people screamed in anguish as the light flayed through them, their form dissolving into nothingness, and the ground under them cracked and splintered open a deep fissure in the earth.
Elara's chant swelled louder, her voice steady as the exhaustion etched across her face. The light about her intensified, pulsing in a sphere that repelled the darkness a little further with each new beat. The ground began to shudder violently, as the magic tore apart the fabric of the Shadow King's influence. Creatures faltered, their forms flickering as their bond to the earth was broken.
Seraphine can feel the magic cost her body, the pull straining at her very core. She hears the distant voice of the Shadow King in her mind, his anger a storm crashing against her resolve. She does not flinch. She cannot. Not now.
And with the last word of her incantation, the wall blew apart into the air, thundering as it swept across the land, a tidal wave of cleansing white. The shriek of the shadow things came one last time as they are washed away in the brilliance of the spell. Land groaned itself apart, cut off, severed as if, in one final resounding blow, the tie between Shadow King's magic and the world was severed.
Silence.
The earth's tremor ceased; the air cleared, and the shadows retreated into nothing. The battlefield lay still as if the soul of the earth had been washed clean.
Seraphine fell to her knees, and her sword slid from her hands. Garin and Elara stood by her side in an instant. Tired lines, relief-blossomed faces.
"We did it," Elara rasped quietly.
Seraphine nodded. That weight was heavy, knowing their victory would not last. The Shadow King had taken a blow, but he was still out there. War just wasn't won that way.
"We have to move," she said, her voice steady. "We just bought ourselves some little time. Lysandra is our next step. We can't waste it.".
Just then, the winds changed, carrying with them a small hint of something much more sinister. The war wasn't over yet. But Seraphine and the rest were ready for anything that was coming their way.