Chapter 20

“ Who are they? Are they part of the games?” I asked, glancing at Zaden. But instead of answering, he exchanged a worried look with Deon.

My heart began to race as I noticed the tension in their eyes. Something was wrong.

Without warning, glowing orbs flew through the air—magic bombs. They weren’t elemental attacks; there was no fire, no water, no wind, or stone—just raw, explosive power. The first bomb hit the barrier that surrounded the spectators, designed to protect the crowd from stray elemental magic. The barrier shimmered, holding up against the onslaught for now.

" Who are they?" Deon muttered, his eyes narrowing.

" They’re not elementals. They’re something else."

Despite the protection of the barrier, the crowd erupted into chaos. People began to scream and push toward the exits, desperate to escape. I caught a glimpse of the attackers as they moved closer, their black armor gleaming under the torchlight. A strange symbol was etched onto their foreheads, but we were too far away to make it out clearly.

“ They’re trying to break through the barrier!” Mike shouted, his voice tense.

" We need to get Meara out of here!" Zaden barked. His hand shot out and gripped my arm firmly. He started pulling me toward the exit as the stampede of terrified people surged around us.

I stumbled, trying to keep up, but then I noticed something—Merilla wasn’t by my side. Panic flooded my veins. My head whipped around, scanning the chaos for her. And then I saw her.
Merilla’s small, white body lay crumpled on the ground, blood smeared across her fur. My heart stopped.

" Merilla!" I screamed. I ripped my arm out of Zaden’s grip and stormed toward her. People were rushing past her, their frantic feet carelessly trampling over her. I fell to my knees beside her, tears blurring my vision.

" Merilla, no..." My voice cracked as sobs overtook me. I reached out to her, but her body was limp—lifeless.

The sound of magic bombs crashing through the arena filled my ears. The barrier was weakening, the magic faltering. Seth used a gust of wind to deflect one of the bombs that had broken through, but more were coming. I felt a hand grab my shoulder—Zaden.

“ Meara, we have to go! It’s too dangerous!” His voice was urgent, but I could barely process his words.

“ What about Merilla?” I managed to choke out between sobs.

“ We don’t have time,” Zaden said, frustration and worry clear in his voice. He pulled me to my feet, forcing me away from her lifeless form.

I resisted; my legs heavy with grief. “I can’t leave her!”

But the words barely left my lips before Zaden yanked me further away from the chaos. Deon was shouting orders to the other guards, trying to re-establish the barrier, but they were struggling to hold it. The attackers were relentless.

“ Meara, you have to run!” Zaden ordered as we reached a clearing. “ Get out of the mountain and hide. We’ll come for you when it’s safe.”

“ What about you? What about Merilla?”

My voice was shaking, my vision swimming with tears.

“ We’ll hold them off,” Zaden growled. He turned to Seth,” Grab Merilla’s body. We’ll catch up to you, Meara. Now, run!”

I hesitated for a moment, my mind torn between the burning need to stay and the instinct to survive. Then, as another explosion rang out behind us, I made the choice I never wanted to make. I ran.

The mountain steps seemed endless as I sprinted down them, my heart hammering in my chest. The screams of the crowd echoed in my ears, mingling with the crashing sounds of magic bombs hitting stone. I forced myself to keep going, ignoring the pain in my lungs and the weight of my grief. I had to get out. I had to survive.

When I finally emerged from the mountain, the scene outside was no better. The battle had spilled out into the open. Fighters clashed in the fields, magic flashing through the darkness. I ducked behind a boulder, watching for a gap in the chaos. When I saw an opening, I ran for it, dashing through the rain-soaked battlefield, my dress clinging to my legs as I pushed myself further and further away from the mountain.

The rain fell harder, cold and relentless, but I didn’t care. My body was moving on instinct alone. My mind was a blur of pain and confusion. I kept running, past the trees and through the forest that bordered the mountain. My legs screamed in protest, but I didn’t stop.

Merilla was gone. The realization hit me again and again like a physical blow. She was gone. My heart felt like it was being torn apart from the inside, the grief too overwhelming to bear.
I had no idea how long I had been running, or how far I had gone, but eventually, I found myself stumbling into a thick, dark fog. The texture of the fog was strange, like moving through water. It clung to me, slowing my movement and clouding my senses.

I pushed through it, feeling the exhaustion finally catching up with me. My legs gave out beneath me, and I collapsed to the ground. The world around me was spinning, and the grief in my heart was so heavy that it felt like I could never stand again.

I lay there, the cold rain mixing with my tears, the fog swirling just behind me. My mind was a haze of pain and loss. Merilla was gone—the only family I had left in this world. I had failed her. Why didn’t I just pick her up when the stampede began?

I lay there in the mud, the weight of exhaustion and grief pressing me into the earth. The rain had miraculously stopped once I crossed through the strange fog, but the dampness still clung to my skin, cold and uncomfortable. It didn’t matter though. Nothing mattered. I felt numb. Not the kind of numbness that makes your limbs feel heavy or dead, but something deeper, something that came from the inside.

Merilla was gone. The only family I had left, the one connection to everything I was discovering about myself. I couldn’t even process the grief properly—just the endless ache of something missing, something irreplaceable.

How long I lay there, I did not know. The minutes felt like hours, the hours like an eternity. It wasn’t until I heard the sound of footsteps approaching that I was pulled from the void of my thoughts.

O lifted my head and blinked, squinting through the lingering mist. To my horror, three men stood around me, forming a tight circle. They wore black leather armor, the same strange symbol etched onto their foreheads as the ones who attacked us at the games. A cold shiver ran down my spine.

I scrambled to my feet, the mud slick beneath me, and instinctively took a defensive stance, though my body ached with fatigue.

“ Well, well, what do we have here?” one of them drawled. HE had shoulder-length deep red hair and wore a long black coat with a pointed collar and deep red undercoat. Everything about him screamed evil, his whole demeaner giving off major Dracula vibes. His smile was wicked, twisted with a malice that made my stomach turn. “ Looks like someone escaped Madam Morganna’s little funhouse after all.”

They all stalked closer, tightening the circle around me, pinning me in like wolves cornering their prey

“ What do you want?” I barked, my voice steady despite the terror gripping my insides.

The red-haired man chuckled darkly; his eyes gleaming with something that made my skin crawl. “ Do you have something to offer?” His smirk deepened as he moved closer, his gaze never leaving mine.

I could feel my magic simmering beneath my skin, the familiar sensation of Frostfire ready to burst forth. The strange mix of cold and warmth swirled at my fingertips, and I braced myself to release it.

But as I prepared to defend myself, the red-haired man raised a hand sharply. “ Now!” he barked, and before I could react, the two other men lunged at me.

The first man, With dirt blonde hair and a brutish build, reached me first. I threw a punch, landing it squarely on his jaw, but the satisfaction was short-lived as the other man—a shorter, fatter one with a greasy mustache—grabbed my arms from behind, restraining me.

“ You are a fireball, aren’t you?” the red-haired man sneered, his tone dripping with sarcasm as he grabbed hold of my neck. He pulled me roughly toward him, his breath hot against my face as he forced his mouth toward mine.