Chapter 717: Random Wins
Tried to.
So. Much. Resistance. The very plane fought me, the feeling of the stronghold pushing back so powerful I gasped for air. But held on, poured everything I had into it, and more.
Much more.
Mom fed me magic, a living stream of it, joined almost immediately from Bindi Braylen and her people. The Australian Council Leader nodded to me scowling at her counterparts.
"What are you waiting for?" She stood, swaying as we pulled on her Council power. "A witch is under attack. Defend her!"
They did, at last, their power joining us, though much slower than the Sidhe who leaped to assist, even Aiolainn, though I was sure only because Niamh sat beside her, hissing in her ear. The werewolves offered what they had, the soft iridescence of their power golden around the edges. And Meira, my sister, tore a hole in the veil and offered me Ahbi.
Meems, no, I sent. The Node. And opening herself like this made her vulnerable to Ameline.
Will be fine, she sent back. Crush him like a bug.
I tried. So. Hard. Felt everyone around me giving and giving even as Vasyl's laughter grew and Applegate's screaming ceased as she realized we would fail.
Damn it, if Trill was right, how could we fail?
At least she'd hit on one thing. He couldn't take our power, not through Vasyl, anyway. So that was a bonus. Still.
Double damn it.
Varity's mind touched mine. I've given all I have, she sent, faint, so faint. But I will give the rest if it will mean they fall.
No. I cut her off, forcing her to back out. I caught a glimpse of her panting, hands over her face, in the dark of a quiet room in the stronghold. Get your ass home. Now.
I'd find another way.
There had to be one.
And there was. Because random wins.
They appeared in a swirling ball of light, diving for the Black Soul sorcerer, threads of wild magic coiling into a spear of attack. Vasyl's laugh turned to a shout of fear, but they didn't hit him, turning at the last moment, coming right.
For.
Me.
I only had a heartbeat to draw a breath before they hit me full in the chest.
Right in the heart.
My insides exploded, power erupting from every cell in my body. I felt my consciousnesses meld, merging with the wild magicks, the others magic races falling away, still feeding me, but no longer needed.
Only Ameline, who had no choice but to join me.
Images flashed around me, shared with those who watched, fed me energy, images the wild magicks tried so hard to make me understand.
But this time, when they reached the flash of Belaisle holding the mirror shard, they didn't stop. Instead, they wound on and on, showing us the future.
What was coming.
Death. Destruction. Fire and earthquake and the demise of our plane. Normal cities falling to plague and volcano, continents shifting and sinking into oceans boiling from the exposed magma beneath the Earth's crust. The sky tinted orange, the very air burning as the last magic of our plane exploded in a massive exodus of energy.
But they weren't done, not even close. With Earth gone, they turned to Demonicon, the Node crumbling and collapsing, the planes broken apart, colliding, rupturing into massive chunks of debris until demons were no more. And the Sidhe realm, the green dying, withering, the waters drying up before darkness swallowed it and its shining people whole.
Other planes, ones I didn't recognize, races I didn't know, burning up in a fiery end while Belaisle's voice laughed.
And laughed.
And laughed.
The images cut off abruptly, my body compressing as the wild magicks left me in a pulse of power, a weapon against the darkness.
This time when they flew toward Vasyl, they carried my power with them. Mine, and that of all the magic users gathered to stand against him.
Varity. I reached for her, felt her answer. Now.
With a soaring song, the small, glowing ball of power punched through Vasyl's chest and exploded out the other side. While Varity Rhodes, her sorcery boosted by mine, cut the line between the Black Soul sorcerer and the stronghold.
For a long moment he sat there, staring at me in utter shock before keeling slowly over onto his side, toppling from the bench with a fist-sized hole in his sternum I could see through.
We'd hoped for a chain reaction when we freed Applegate.
And boy, did we get one.
In a clap of thunder so loud I was sure I'd never gain my hearing back, a giant black hole flared into life around the dead sorcerer, sucking in threads of emptiness from every single person in Applegate's party, including her assembled Enforcers. They shook as a unit as the taint of the Brotherhood left in a rush, slamming home into the black hole before it shrank with a sucking noise and popping out of existence.
Applegate staggered, catching herself on the back of her bench, looking up to meet my eyes.
"Sydlynn Hayle," she said in a shaking voice, "thank you."
And collapsed.
***
