Zodiac Academy 7: Heartless Sky

Ash and blood speckled my cheeks as I fought on the ground beside Orion, back to back as we were accosted by a ring of Nymphs.

Fire scored out from my hands in a blaze of death, taking down three of them at once and darkness curtained my vision for a moment as I stumbled forward.

A Nymph’s probed hand slammed into me, knocking me onto the ground but suddenly my mate was there driving his sword deep into its chest with a roar of anger that shook the foundations of my being.

I regained my feet fast, drawing on the power within me as fire weaved along my blood and begged for the death of my enemies. I blasted a Nymph to my right as Orion finished off another and he shot to my side, his breaths coming heavily.

We found ourselves among the rebels in a moment of reprieve as we healed ourselves of aching limbs and any wounds we’d gained in our last fights. I’d dropped my sword at some point and I ran over to pick it up where it was lodged in the ground, caked in mud and the blackish blood of Nymphs.

Orion spun his own sword in his hand, a knife in his other as he prepared to charge back into the battle and we shared a look that sent a shiver to the edges of my flesh. I flexed my fingers, magic tingling in them once more as the rattle of Nymphs died away around us, the delightful sound of their deaths filling my ears.

“Ready, beautiful?” he asked.

“Let’s make them scream,” I said just as a grey Dragon swooped overhead. Its jaws widened as it unleashed a line of hellfire down on us and the surrounding crowd, making my heart stall.

I acted fast, raising a hand and guttering the flames with air magic, a scream of defiance leaving me as I stole the air from the beast’s lungs too, cutting off its ferocious roar.

Then I sheathed my sword and raised my other hand, wielding the air around the Dragon, taking control of its enormous body and pulling it from the sky with my muscles tense and burning, sending it slamming down into a pond beyond the fight and letting go of it.

The Dragon skidded through the water, droplets spraying up everywhere as it thrashed, but I held onto the air in its lungs, stealing it all away as fury burned a path up my spine as it panicked and kicked.

My power suddenly locked down inside me and I gasped, my knees buckling and a ringing sounded in my ears.

I was half aware I was on the ground, my hands sinking into the mud while the din of the battle droned on around me.

“Darcy,” Orion gasped, grabbing onto me and drawing me back to my feet.

A quake ran through my body and I clung to him as I fought back the cloying darkness seeming to rise within me. But as I latched onto the shining silver rings in his eyes, my strength returned to me in a rush and I gripped his arms tighter, grounding myself in this moment.

“What happened?” he demanded, and I realised he’d cast a solid air shield around us, buying us a moment from the battle.

“Nothing,” I said, needing to get back to the fight.

“Don’t lie to me, mate of mine,” he snarled, seeing right through me as he gripped my face in his palm.

 “Alright, I’m not sure,” I admitted. “It felt kind of like…” I looked to Lavinia who stood on a tower of darkness beyond the endless line of Nymphs, my upper lip curling back. “It felt like her,” I spat. “I want to get to her, Lance. I want her to burn in my fire.”

He looked over his shoulder towards her, hatred twisting through his eyes as he bared his fangs. “I’d like to see that myself, Blue,” he said darkly.

“Then let’s move.” I let go of him and he dropped the air shield, forging my way through the rebels as Orion moved at my back, his sword raised as we set Lavinia in our sights.

Darius was in a furious fight with Lionel, the huge forms of the two of them colliding in the air and my breath caught as I pointed him out to Orion.

“Darius is here,” I called over the clamour of the battle, praying he could win the fight with his father.

Orion yanked me back against his chest a heartbeat before three Nymphs came barrelling through the crowd, knocking several Fae down beneath them and driving their probes into their chests.

A snarl escaped me and I raised my hands, releasing an inferno on the closest one while Orion moved to intercept another. The rebels all looked to me for orders, and I was more than willing to give them as I called out for them to cut down our enemies.

“Close ranks, don’t let them get to The Burrows!” I shouted.

“Yes, My Queen!” the rebels yelled, diving into battle with no fear in their eyes and my heart swelled as I witnessed the ferocity of my people.

Washer was riding on a wave of water, his body covered in the light blue scales of his Order and his clothes discarded. He cast whips of water which carried his Phoenix sword, sending it blasting into the chests of Nymphs before recalling it to him.

“Take a teenie weenie bit of that – and that!” he cried as he stabbed them, his skill and accuracy something to be admired.

The rebels took down the third Nymph with cries of my name on their lips, and when we’d laid out our enemies, Orion and I forged on.

Fae raced past us in countless Order forms, and it was hard to know who was with us and who was against us as a clash of fur and horns and magic collided everywhere.

Orion cast an air shield around us as we left the rattle of the Nymphs behind and I offered my own power to the shield to keep us safe as we picked up our pace and ran towards Lavinia, taking down any enemies we could along the way as I shouted out encouragements to the rebels.

I hunted for Tory as we went and saw her flying up over the head of a huge Nymph, battling to take it down and relief filled me to see her fighting like the warrior Queen Avalon had taught her to be.

I swore as a tide of rebels pushed back against us, slowing our movements as a row of Nymphs blocked their way forward and I looked to Orion, an idea forming in my mind.

“We can tunnel to Lavinia,” I said. “If we can get beyond her, I can come at her from behind.”

“I’ll move us fast,” Orion agreed, but before we went anywhere, I raised my hands and cast a tornado with my air magic, the monstrous vortex descending from the sky and slamming into the Nymphs who were attacking the rebels before us.

They were sucked into my power, the spinning grey storm making my hair fly around me as I poured my strength into it. The Nymphs shrieked as they were thrown to the ground, leaving them vulnerable as our allies fell on them, using the weapons we’d blessed with our fire to destroy them, my name carrying to the sky again as they shouted it in praise.

I disbanded the huge tornado with a breath of exertion leaving me and Orion gazed at me like I was a goddess of hell brought here to eradicate our opponents. And that was just what I planned to do.

I turned my hands towards the ground, carving a tunnel beneath our feet and racing down into it while Orion followed, and I closed it up behind us. I cast a Faelight as the muffled sound of the battle echoed around us through the dirt, and I took in the blood speckles on my mate’s cheeks as he waited for my next command.

“Let’s hurry,” I urged and Orion picked me up as I scored a path beneath the earth and he carried me along it at a furious pace.

The rumble of a thousand footfalls and the clash of the battle made the earth tremble around us, and my heart dipped with fear for my friends. But they were strong, I’d seen them fighting and had watched as they felled their enemies time and again. They could handle this battle, we’d been training for it for months and though it had been sprung on us, it didn’t mean we weren’t ready. We can do this.

When I was sure we had to be beyond Lavinia, Orion came to a halt and I turned my hands towards the dirt roof above us as he placed me down on my feet.

“Wait,” Orion growled, yanking me into a kiss that stole away every inch of fear in my body. It was barely a couple of seconds, but offered me endless courage as we broke apart, my lips burning from the contact of his. “Give her hell, Blue.”

“For Clara,” I swore and his eyes blazed with emotion at his sister’s name as he nodded.

I gave him a fierce look that swore I could do this, not letting myself dwell in dread about what might await us above ground as I turned my hands to the dirt and blasted it apart.

Orion lifted us out on a gust of air and I spread my wings as I raised my hands higher, finding us behind the towering darkness that Lavinia stood upon.

I didn’t hesitate for a single moment. I flew upwards with fire swirling along my limbs, burning in my very soul as I built a blaze of Phoenix fire in my hands which could level a fucking town.

I came to a halt, hovering right behind her, and a twisted smile pulled at my lips.

Goodbye, shadow bitch.

I released the fire, the short range blast sending me flying backwards through the air as the fireball collided with Lavinia, and I raised a hand to shield my eyes against the flames. I beat my wings to counter the blast, my gaze adjusting to the brightness as I flew forward with a ruthless determination to end her.

Her body was consumed within it and Lavinia shrieked and wailed, the dark tower beneath her crumbling away within my flames. I followed her towards the ground as she fell with a scream and triumph scored through my blood. Fire exploded from me once more as I circled down after her like a bird of prey and she hit the ground with a thwack, her body jerking and writhing within my Phoenix fire.

I came to a halt above her as I beat my wings, unleashing all I had on this monstrous bitch for all she’d done to me, to my friends, to Clara.

“Fuck you!” I cried, frying the monster who’d dared tried to curse me, who’d thought she could win with her brutality and darkness.

But she was nothing compared to our light.

My power stuttered out and my wings fluttered away as I went to land beside her, hitting the ground awkwardly, but managing to stay on my feet. Panic rushed through me as I reached for my Order, but my Phoenix didn’t answer the call.

Orion was at my side in an instant, watching as Lavinia burned and the rebels cheered nearby, the tide of the battle finally turning in our favour as I struggled to catch my breath.

I’m tired. That’s all it is.

Just breathe.

Orion cast a shield of air around us, holding the Nymphs back who tried to dive in to save their princess, but she was still burning within my fire and I wasn’t going to let anyone take her death from me now.

Lavinia’s screams died away and my flames simmered all the way down, leaving a husk of charred bones in their wake, and though exhaustion was falling over me and I couldn’t reach my Phoenix at all, I laughed my relief, my complete fucking joy. Because she was dead. Fucking dead and gone and without her, Lionel was nothing.

“You did it,” Orion laughed like he’d known I could and I turned and threw myself at him, hugging him tight as a choked sob of happiness left me. He kissed my cheeks, my head, anywhere he could get to as I buried my face in his chest and breathed in the scent of cinnamon and fucking victory.

“It’s over. She’s gone. That fucking nightmare is dead,” I sighed.

“Wait.” Orion stiffened and pushed me back, forcing me to turn and look at the bones once more. And the smile slid from my face as I found them standing there, a skeletal hand pointed at me as shadows wrapped around the horrid creature and clad Lavinia’s bones in skin once more.

From the bottom up, she was remade, her body reforming as the shadows twisted and writhed around her like a living beast and Orion and I backed up in horror as her face was reforged. Dark hair grew out the top of her skull, dancing in the ethereal wind her shadows created and as the darkness cloaked her in a black dress, she looked to me with a vicious sneer on her lips.

She was still pointing at me in a way that made my heart turn to a lump of solid ice in my chest.

I raised my hands as Orion raised his sword, but no Phoenix fire came out, no whisper of magic, nothing at all.

Lavinia twisted her fingers and something twisted in my stomach in response, making a gasp of agony leave me as I doubled over.

“Stay back!” Orion shot forward with a yell of defiance, his sword raised and flaming with the gifts of my Order and a scream of fear left me as Lavinia’s eyes snapped onto him. But as he swung his blade, she just knocked him aside with a blast of shadows that made him hit the ground hard.

A tendril of shadow ripped the sword from his hand, turning it back on him and holding the tip of it to his throat. She carved his air shield to pieces around us with her dark power in the next moment and we were exposed, at her mercy.

“For the true queens!” one of the rebels bellowed, racing forward to attack Lavinia but she sent shadows his way which cut him in two right down the middle, blood spilling and making me wince in terror as I continued to try and will power to my hands in desperation.

Lavinia walked towards me, unleashing her shadows on the crowd to my left and screams of terror carried through the air as they ripped my people to pieces.

“Stop!” I cried, looking to Orion in anguish as he struggled on the ground, panic making me shake as I saw his end so clearly that the fear nearly drowned me.

“Vega filth,” Lavinia spat, glaring at me with a sea of venom in her eyes. “You think your Phoenix is stronger than my shadows?”

I flexed my fingers, begging my Phoenix to rise or my magic to return, but it was as if neither of those things existed in me. I was a mortal willing power to come to me which didn’t live in my bones, and it looked like Lavinia knew it.

“Did you think you had beat my curse?” she asked with an evil smile pulling at her mouth. She twisted her hand through the air again and I was yanked forward by some dark pit inside me, pain making me scream as I clutched my stomach. “Your Phoenix has put up a good fight, I’ll admit. It wasn’t meant to take this long. But now you’re here and my power is far greater than ever, you cannot stop it.”

“What have you done to me?” I gasped.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” Lavinia sang as she ignored my question and I could feel claws ripping up my insides, making me scream once more as some dark thing seemed to crawl its way through my chest.

“Stop,” I groaned, staggering as the pain became nearly unbearable.

“Let her go!” Orion bellowed, but I was fully in Lavinia’s grasp now and as she came to stand before me, I saw a chasm of hatred in her eyes.

“Ambres tenus avilias mortalium avar,” Lavinia growled and my head fell back so I was looking at the sky, rage opening up in my chest and darkness racing into the place where my magic should have lived.

“Stop,” I begged again, my voice nothing but a puff of air leaving my lungs, my whole body taken charge of by her.

“You’ve been a bad, bad Vega. If you want to save all these people, then why have you been hurting them?” Lavinia purred.

Memories unfolded before my eyes and I watched in horror as I saw myself turning to smoke in mine and Orion’s room, slipping away under the door in the night with bloodlust rising in me. I was soon outside beyond the farmhouse behind the first set of guards who’d been found murdered. I followed one of them all the way to the barn and suddenly the smoky form my body was in shifted into a huge beast. I was coated in thick black fur, my paws equipped with razor sharp claws. And I was full of nothing but anger and hunger and hate.

No, that’s not me.

But it was. I was that beast and it had been responsible for the murders. I had been responsible. For all that death and pain and fear.

I watched the memory as I dragged the first man into the barn, killing him with claws and teeth, his screams echoing around me and drawing the other guards. But the moment they arrived, they fell prey to me, their power nothing compared to mine as I ripped into their bodies, devouring pieces of them while leaving the rest strewn across the hay in the carnage.

Memories tore through my mind of each of the murders, of me slipping in and out of our room in that smoky form at night then slicing into the victims I found. And all that I felt was rage. It was consuming and blinding and it ate away my power, my Order. Every time I killed, it grew a little stronger, and my magic was tugged from my grip more firmly. My Order had fought back, I could feel the beast’s rage at that, but now I stood before the queen of shadow and she owned this monster in me. This creature which had stolen away everything I was, and it wanted more, so much more.

“The Shadow Beast has taken root in you,” Lavinia purred as I snapped out of the memories and looked at her in terror, shaking my head in refusal of what I already knew was true. “It feeds on your power piece by piece by piece. You fought it well, but not well enough. And now it is sated and you are nothing but a mortal bound to a beast. And that beast is mine.” Lavinia twisted her hand again. “Come out and play, beastie.”

“No,” I gasped in terror, raising my hands again, trying to will my Phoenix to the surface, but it was gone. Like it had taken flight from my body and abandoned me, and I had never known anything so terrifying as this reality.

“Get away from her!” Orion cried and Lavinia glanced over at him where he was bound in her shadows at the mercy of his own sword, then she looked back to me.

“I think the beast is hungry. Novus estris envum magicae. Avilias avar!” She flexed her fingers and suddenly my rage was all consuming and my flesh was tearing apart, my armour bending and buckling as an enormous monster fought its way out of my body. The armour was forced off of me, falling to pieces around me with a series of clangs as they hit the ground, the sound like a toll of death to come. The necklace at my throat snapped and the Imperial Star tumbled away, lost to the mud.

My huge paws slammed into the earth as I towered above Lavinia and every part of me was forced to let go as the animal took over on the inside too.

Lavinia let Orion get up, offering him his sword too and my mate immediately pointed it at her.

“Release her from this curse!” he ordered, slashing the sword at her, but Lavinia knocked him backwards with a wave of her hand like he was nothing but a mild irritation.

“You’d better stop her before she hurts your little friends,” Lavinia taunted.

“I’ll never hurt her,” he snarled and she considered him, pointing me towards the rebels as my gaze turned that way and I salivated with the amount of prey I could see before me.

I prowled towards them with nothing but hunger and death within me, my mind a haze of darkness.

“No – Blue! Look at me!” a voice reached me, but I could no longer place who it belonged to.

I started to run towards the crowd as anger billowed up inside me and set my veins alight. I was hungry, so endlessly hungry I ached. And as I collided with the Fae and the first blood was spilled by my claws, I howled to the moon and felt the darkness within me deepen.