Ch. 139: Cleanse the Earth

CHAPTER 139:
Kyle~
I woke up next to the red wolf. Everyone was screaming or howling. It was chaotic and loud, which made everything that much more disorienting.
What I saw next killed me. Rachel out on the field alone, with all the shadow Dementor things charging at her.
“Rachel!” I’m screaming but no one can hear me.
I look to see Jake crawling towards her from too far away. He won’t get there in time. How did it get this bad? How long was I out for? I flail about, my arms and legs pushing to move but I’m not coordinated or strong enough to get anywhere.
“Why is no one helping her?!” I scream again, my voice cracking, my throat raw.
The red wolf just tugs on my shirt again, trying to bring me inside the packhouse. I have barely any magic left but I send it to the wolf trying to drag me away.
“Let go!” I scream. “We have to help her!”
I look around frantically for anyone I recognize. Where is Ally? Evan? Nick? There’s so many wolves and people rushing back, I can’t make them out.
I can’t do this on my own! I can’t be alone!
Just then light pierces out of the large cluster of shadows. The sounds around me get louder. There’s a group of wolves charging over at the beasts attacking Rachel and I want to help, I have to help. I’m pulling against the red wolf but it’s not letting go of me.
When I can’t stand it a second longer, blinding light explodes across the field. I turn away, trying to cover my eyes, and when I look back - my heart drops.
Jake is roaring, holding onto someone, rocking back and forth, exhaling sounds of despair and heartbreak. And there’s not a trace of the Soul Eaters around. They’re gone. They’re gone and they took her with them.
A strangled sound comes out of me and I can’t see or hear anything anymore. It’s all fuzzy and painful and I keep forcing air in and out of my lungs but to no avail. I can’t breathe. I can’t - I can’t.
Something warm goes around my shoulders and I hear a voice talking to me but I can’t hear it. I can’t focus on anything. I wail. I wail like my grandma has died again.
Something in me breaks and I don’t think I’ll come out of it this time.
“Kyle! Kyle!” I hear far away. “It’s Ally! She needs your help!”

Ally~
Nick is pulling me away when I see it. Movement where the Soul Eaters just left. It can’t be. He couldn’t have survived that. But in jerky, stiff movements, Callum is standing again. It’s like I’m watching myself watch a horror movie. I’m completely disconnected from my body.
“Ni- Nick,” I stutter out. “Callum - Cal - he’s-”
Nick turns and freezes.
“That can’t-” he starts to say.
Callum is burnt. Skin exposes organs where he isn’t burnt to a crisp. He’s raising his arms and facing us. The realization that he’s going to attack again forces me out of my daze. Nick is here. I won’t let anything hurt my mate. Never.
I stand up and push my feet firmly in the ground, a fighting position. And then I unleash everything I’ve got. I throw strike after strike, and while he deflects the first two, he is weak and unable to fight me off.
“How is this possible?!” I yell at Nick.
A huge light explodes behind us but I can’t afford to look right now. I keep throwing attack after attack. We get closer to him, but while his body is deteriorating, he’s still moving forward. Like the slowest, strongest zombie in history.
I keep fighting him and after a moment he says, “Elise shook Kyle awake. He’s not sure but thinks its - its a Soul Eater in there with him. He says - we have to attack his heart. He says you need to do a destruction spell on it.”
I nod and keep throwing everything I can. Wolves join us and they rush in to hold him still. They hold him like a starfish. Each wolf pulled on a limb and even his head. Nick quickly explains where to find the heart and I know it has to be me. I have to crush it with a touch of magic. And this spell requires direct contact.
“God- this is gross!” I scream as I run in and stick my hand in his chest where I think his heart is. I hold my amulet for focus with my other hand and quickly say the enchantment.
Bang. It pops like a loud balloon.
Bits of it fly out of his chest cavity. It’s so - nasty.
The wolves around me look at me with some look - a few shifting and looking at me with admiration or respect. Evan is there, grinning at me. Nick comes up behind me and puts his arms around me.
Then I vomit. In front of them all.
I heave and heave, and heave.

Amber~
I do not envy the Witchling as she continues to empty her stomach all over. Her mate holds on to her hair and gently rubs a hand up and down her back. I too have a sensitivity to gore, even with all the things I had to do, all the things I’ve had to see.
So I step in, hoping that’s okay, and destroy Callum’s corpse with the black flame. It’s something not taught too often, but I had seen him use it before. And now that the hellhound released his hold on fire, I think it can work. The black flame devours every last cell of life in a dead body. And I don’t think anyone is going to want to give this sycophant a burial.
I step forward and wave my hand steadily, chanting the incantation three times until the black fire appears, and in a few seconds his body is gone. That strong type of spell wipes me out. After all the fighting, and after so long without training, I am wiped out. I sink to my knees right out there next to the empty space where Callum used to be.
Evan is next to me then, an arm around me, and he pulls me close, inhaling me. But he stands up and walks away. That’s when I remember her. The brave girl who saved us all. Who called all the Soul Eaters to herself and saved us - destroying herself in the process. Her shaking, devastated mate - the Alpha - collapsed a few hundred feet away.
It’s over. And we’re left with so much destruction and blood. And so, so much loss. The Alpha lets out another wail and my heart hurts for him. He must have truly loved that girl. And like a good future Beta, my mate goes over to his Alpha to offer silent understanding and support.
The Witchling and her mate are next to move in that direction, followed by the other wolves around me, and everyone in the packhouse. They all come out and take in the destruction all around.
Bodies litter the earth. Blood soaks into the grass. Pain is imbued in the trees. The earth itself wants to weep. And weep it does.
It starts to rain.
I look at the Witchling, whose raw power surpasses my training by miles, and I feel her pain in the atmosphere. She’s making it rain. Thunder echoes and all that can be heard are cries, sobs, unintelligible sounds of pain, and the clap of thunder mixed with pouring rain.
The rain acts like a white noise and we all grow quiet with time until it’s just the rain.
The Alpha rocks his mate’s empty body, keeping his friends away.
No one says a word.
I take the time to look around and identify my old side. My so-called cohort, my so-called family, and all those around. After a breath, I use the last of my magic to bring out the black flame to remove them all from this earth.
After the Alpha’s sacrifice, he doesn’t need to see those responsible for his mate’s death. And maybe selfishly I do this for me too. I don’t want to see these sick beings anymore. I don’t need any reminders of what I went through, what my mate went through. I need to start fresh. Turn the page.
So little black fires appear checkered throughout the packland. I find myself up and walking off, to remove every last one of them from this plane of existence. To cleanse this place.
Evan looks at me, looking like he wants to come to me, but I hold my hand up. I’m okay. At least - I will be.