Chapter 17 - The Seven Who Defied Heaven

Kaelen reached Elara before anyone else did.

His rushed towards her the second she fainted without any delay or hesitation. He didn't care about the cracked Sealorn or the swirling currents or the chaos rising all around them.

"Elara."

His voice cracked as he nudged her shoulder, gently first and then started to shake her. No response.

The blood from her palm floated in golden threads through the water. Her eyes were still shut.

He growled as he pressed closer. He wasn't leaving.

That's when Vaerin started moving.

The guardian stepped down from his designated seat like he'd been waiting just to move. He started taking deliberate steps towards Elara.

Kaelen turned with his fins flaring wide, body shifting into a defensive stance. "Stay back."

Vaerin didn't even look at him.

He raised one hand and a streak of magic surged from his palm like a spear of ice. Kaelen didn't have time to dodge.

The blast hit square in the chest, sending him flying back across the arena floor, slamming into the wall. He didn't scream although it hit him hard and slid down, leaving a trail of blood in the water.

Still, he tried to rise.

His body shook and he couldn't move.

But his eyes, they never left

Vaerin didn't hesitate.

He kept moving towards Elara following Delkaris's command.

The whirlpool behind her was growing, a massive swirl pulling pressure from all sides. But he didn't care. His path was straight.

Dravion was already shouting orders, dragging confused civilians away from the arena edges. The balcony had started to crack. Glass coral snapped in places, guards scrambled to cover exits, but none of them had noticed Vaerin yet.

Arc Seer Sareth hovered near the Sealorn as he tried to contain the whirlpool. He faltered when she saw Vaerin descending.

"Stop," he called out, voice echoing through the water. "You're not permitted—"

He didn't answer.

He kept walking.

Alyssira tried to block his way.

He raised one hand.

A sharp burst of magic hit her shield and knocked her backward. She didn't fall but she moved out of his path.

He kept going.

Step after step. Closer now.

Ten feet.

Seven.

Five.

Then something shifted.

The current… stopped.

The water still rippled from the whirlpool, but something new moved against it. A different sort of pressure. Like a tide crashing inward.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

And suddenly—

They appeared.

Five shadows, then six, then seven — flickering into view like mirages, all surrounding Elara’s unconscious body in a tight half-circle.

They were Abyssari.

The moment they arrived, the water bent around them as if the ocean itself was trying not to touch their magic.

Seven of them. Clad in no armour, yet more fearsome than any army. Their presence sent a ripple through the Sealorn arena. Ancient, untamed power. Their bodies thrummed with raw energy and their veins beneath skin were etched with marks like living runes.

They weren’t here to debate. They were here to protect.

Vaerin paused. Just a few paces from Elara now. "Step aside," he said. "This isn’t your concern."

The one in front, slightly taller and wearing a sash of etched bone tilted her head. “You will not touch her.”

Vaerin tilted his head. “You think a few flashes of light will stop a command from the heavens?”

They didn’t move.

One Abyssari struck first raising both hands, and a spiral of violet lightning burst from her palms. It slammed into Vaerin’s chest, throwing him backwards across the arena floor. The impact shattered the outer ring and the stone platform exploded into fragments.

Vaerin rolled, coughed blood, then growled, rising with a snarl. “You shouldn’t have come.”

A second Abyssari answered with arms out, spinning. A rush of emerald flame circled her like a vortex, then launched outward in a line of scorching light. Vaerin raised a shield just in time, it cracked on contact, but held.

“Form the line,” another ordered.

Three of them moved in sync, forming a glowing barrier around Elara’s body. Golden sigils lit up in the water, sealing her inside an unbreakable ward. Kaelen stirred weakly at her side, blood drifting around him like red ink. One from the group bent beside him, checking his pulse, muttering something that healed just enough to keep him stable.

Vaerin roared and launched forward, blade of energy forming in his hand, jagged and divine. He struck down, but the fourth Abyssari caught the blow bare-handed, her skin flared with white-blue light as she grinned. “Wrong realm, Guardian.”

She snapped her hand upward.

The sword shattered.

Vaerin staggered with blood running from his nose now.

They didn’t give him time to breathe.

One by one, they struck him hard. The fight wasn’t fair, it was a warning. Every blow they landed sent shock-waves through the water, breaking tiles, buckling the floor, ripping chunks out of the Sealorn’s arena. A scream of power, light, and fury.

Vaerin tried to cast a return sigil but another hit slammed into his back before he could finish it. His armour was cracked. His chest burned.

The sixth Abyssari hovered above him, hands glowing with dark light. “We’ve already alerted the Forest and Land Realms. You won’t win this war.”

He spat blood. “You think she’ll be safe forever?”

The seventh Abyssari stepped in who was older, quieter, face carved like stone.

“She’s safer with us than with whatever throne-bound parasite you serve.”

Vaerin's hand twitched, fingers making the final sigil shape. Light sparked around him.

One last glare toward Elara. One last curse under his breath.

Then he vanished.

Not by choice.

The divine pull yanked him upward, back to the heavens. Wounded. Furious. And empty-handed.

Only the ruins of the Sealorn, the unconscious girl, and the Abyssari standing guard remained breathing hard, magic still in the water like an aftershock of gods.

✧𓂃⋆༶⋆𓂃✧

The whirlpool raged on, dragging chunks of platform stone into its spiral. Arc Seer Sareth threw another wave of calming magic, voice tight as he shouted chants. “Steady the pull! Focus the current! We need—”

A sharp snap echoed across the arena.

One of the Abyssari had raised his hand. That was all.

The whirlpool stopped.

Just—stopped.

Water stilled like glass. The pressure vanished. The golden crack across the Sealorn amphitheatre faded.

Sareth gawked. “How—” His lips fumbled over words. “I’ve been— I tried every containment chant known to the court—”

It was like watching a law of nature break in front of him but the Abyssari didn’t even look at him.

Another of them knelt beside Elara, her fingertips glowed as she traced a protective circle around her. Not magic from any realm the mortals knew. It shimmered with colours no merfolk spell ever dared conjure. It was raw, unfiltered, and ancestral. Not divine but older.

✧𓂃⋆༶⋆𓂃✧

Kaelen nudged Elara’s cheek with his snout again, frantic, but she didn’t show any signs of waking.

That’s when Dravion turned to the Abyssari, with blood on his brow, his chest still rising hard from the chaos.

“Come with me, all of you.”

The Abyssari didn’t move at first. One of them, the one with storm-light in her palms, tilted her head.

“Where?”

“To the palace,” Dravion said. “It’ll be safer for her there. And the King and Queen… they’ll want to speak with you.”

Another glanced at the cracked platform, then at Elara’s unconscious form.

Then they nodded.

One of them lifted Elara gently, careful not to press on her wounded hand. Kaelen darted after, still close. The Arc Seer looked like he wanted to object but said nothing.

Within seconds, the group vanished from the broken arena, leaving behind the fractured city, and far too many questions echoing in the deep.

✧𓂃⋆༶⋆𓂃✧✧𓂃⋆༶⋆𓂃✧✧𓂃⋆༶⋆𓂃✧