Chapter Twenty-Six: Elda…

Gira stared at Sypher like he’d lost his mind, but Brady mirrored his grin and pushed herself to her feet, flexing her injured knee.

“I think I have a few short sprints left in me before this knee gives out,” she agreed.

“I can run too,” Edward added.

Elda set her hands on her hips. “You really want to use that thing as a battering ram?”

“Armies breach fortress walls using big logs. This demon can be our big log,” the Soul Forge shrugged. There was a ring of red in one iris and black in the other no thicker than a hair, and dark circles sat heavily above his cheek bones, but he was still standing.

“Is it even still alive?” Clover asked.

Sypher walked over and kicked it, watching the gnarled facial features twitch. “It’s alive.”

Julian cocked his head, silver eyes reflecting the light of the monolith. “So what’s the plan?”

“We make it angry, and when it chases us we smash it into the shield, right where the stones are.”

“That seems easier in theory than in execution,” Gira remarked.

“I’m pretty much dead, and numb up to my neck,” the half demon replied evenly. “I managed it. If I can do it, so can you.”

His stark admission seemed to sober the group. Julian started examining the wardstones again, sticking close to their bases while trying to touch the glowing rock with his damaged knife.

Elda, Gira, Clover and Edward dragged the red demon back towards the opening it had burst through, putting as much distance between it and the barrier as they could manage. Sypher helped to bind Brady’s knee, using the sleeve she tore off her tunic to wrap it tightly.

Everyone else’s slash marks and various injuries were wrapped in a similar fashion, though Sypher let his continue to bleed. Elda realised he probably couldn’t even feel them anymore.

“What happens when we’re through the shield?” she asked, stopping beside him.

“If the demon hasn’t smashed its own skull in, we apply the same principle to the monolith.”

“And if it has?”

“We hope Irileth and Aetheria have the power to crack it open instead.” He sat heavily on the ground, dropping an arm around her shoulders when she settled beside him.

“And what happens if the monolith does to Eden what it did to Bratus?”

Sypher’s free hand pushed through his pale hair. “I’ve been thinking about that, actually. Hephaestus said the life in Bratus wasn’t linked to the monolith, but to him. If Malakai somehow disrupted the link Hephaestus had to the lives he created, then it makes sense that they would die. The Corruption is him essentially stealing the power the monolith contains.”

“So you think Bratus would have become like Shade if we didn’t stop it in time?”

“I do.” He turned his head to study her face. “I’m confident that Eden will be unaffected. Its magic is tied to Hephaestus, not to the rock.”

“Okay.” She hesitated, hardly daring to voice the next question on her mind.

“I don’t have much longer,” he replied quietly, guessing what direction her thoughts has taken. “I’m starting to lose feeling in my face.”

“I’m not ready.”

“I know.” His arm tightened around her shoulders, drawing her in until his chin rested on the top of her head. Beneath her ear, his heart still beat steadily.

“Are you afraid?”

“I’ve died so many times now that it’s starting to lose meaning,” he answered honestly. “I’m afraid we won’t save Ember in time. I’m afraid my corpse will get back up and hurt someone. I’m afraid to cut our time together so short, and to leave you alone in a world with an uncertain future. But I’m not afraid of dying itself.”

“And what happens when we smash this monolith?” she asked. “Only one will be left, and Hephaestus said Aeon would notice if two of them were broken.”

“That depends on Aeon. He’s arrogant and prideful. My hope is that he’d try to settle things between the Spirits and leave Valerus alone, but my instincts tell me different.” He sighed. “And I won’t even be around to protect people when his anger is unleashed on them.”

“But I will be.” She pulled back and reached up to lay her palm against his cheek, thankful that it was still cool. “So will the rest of us. We’ll try to protect everyone the way you did for so long. And when our time comes, you’d better be waiting for us.” Her words choked off, stunted by tears.

“Not yet,” he murmured, wiping them away with a gloved thumb. “We still have work to do. Let the tears come later, when you’re safe.”

Elda nodded and scrubbed her hand across her face, catching the first drops of moisture before they could properly fall and taking a deep breath. “Has Vel spoken to you since our fight?”

“Yes. He knows we’re dying.”

“And he still won’t come out?”

Sypher’s head dipped. “He doesn’t want to see fear in your eyes right before he dies.”

Elda shifted to kneel in front of him, taking his face in both of her hands. “Vel,” she pleaded softly. “Even if you won’t come out, please listen to me. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for letting myself believe the horrible things our trauma caused me to think, even for a second. You don’t deserve that, and I’m not afraid of you. I have something much worse to fear than my memories. Now I have to fear my future without you.” Her voice cracked, but she carried on. “I love you exactly as you are, even when I’m irrationally afraid. I trust you. I need you.”

For the longest moment, there was nothing, and then something stirred inside Sypher. He spoke. “You need me?” And then he looked up and she saw the dark veins around his eye.

“Vel.” His name was a sigh, and then she was clutching him so tightly it must have been hard to breathe, but he didn’t complain. He buried his face in her hair and returned the embrace.

After a moment, she let go and smacked his upper arm.

“What was that for?” he asked, arching an eyebrow.

“You weren’t going to speak to me,” she scowled.

He let out a breath and nodded. “You’re right. I thought, after everything we’d been through, I’d found someone who wasn’t afraid of me. I thought we’d moved past what happened in Shade, and to see that you hadn’t, and how easy it was for you to go back there…” He looked away. “It crushed me. And then Sypher got scratched and I had no fucking idea what to do.”

“None of us did,” Elda agreed. “We still don’t. The only plan we have is to save Ember.”

“Then we should get started.” He stood slowly, wobbling a little when the lack of feeling in his wings caused them to droop. By the time he was straightened up, both halves of the Soul Forge looked back at her.

“I think one of the wardstones is placed at a thinner point in the shield,” Julian piped up, touching his dagger to the base and losing sliver of metal in the process. The weapon had been whittled down to half its thickness, the sharpened edge now flat and dull. “I can get my knife closer to this one before losing any of it.”

“Then that’s where we focus its attention,” Elda decided, watching her husband walk to the demon and crouch down, pulling at the fine hairs on its spidery legs until it twitched and growled.

“Get ready,” he warned. “Two of you stay near the wardstone and split off in opposite directions when it gets close. The rest of you stay out of sight and be ready to trade off if anyone gets hurt or tires.”

The group nodded, and Clover and Julian took up position in front of the stone. The others crept past the demon’s twitching form to hide behind the rocky entryway.

“What happens once it hits the shield?” Clover called.

“We run back this way and lure it over, rinse and repeat until the shield falls and hope this thing has a thick skull.”

“Got it,” the Vampire nodded. Elda took Edward’s arm and moved to the entryway to watch, carefully stepping over the demon’s limbs and hiding herself behind an outcrop of rock jutting from the uneven wall.

The Soul Forge waited until everyone was in place, and then he yanked one last hair. The red demon surged upwards with a furious cry, locking those three black eyes on him. He turned and ran across the wide space, forcing the demon to pick up speed.

Elda’s heart leapt into her throat when it’s stinger narrowly missed a black feathered wing, but then she saw the venom sac was deflated, the sharp tip snapped off and useless.

Clover and Julian started to make noise, confusing and angering the beast. It moved faster, forcing the Soul Forge to go faster too. He kept running until the shield was only a few feet away, him and Julian diving right while Clover leapt left. The demon crashed into the shield and bounced, the whole thing rippling under the force.

The dance repeated until the Soul Forge was spent and Elda took his place. Julian sustained a slash down his arm and traded spots with Edward, dashing towards the entryway before the demon noticed him go.

Elda fired a few weak energy bolts from her bow, enough to rile it up and keep it focussed on her without killing it. The moment it gave chase, she turned on her heel and sprinted for the wardstone, Edward and Clover yelling and throwing rocks to encourage it.

Throwing herself to the side, Elda came within inches of the deadly shield, rolling to her feet and staggering out of the way. The orc stopped beside her and Clover went the opposite way. Once again, the whole shield rippled, only this time it didn’t fade back to invisibility.

The demon shook its head and staggered backwards, its legs twitching erratically. Elda saw blood pouring from above its bulbous eyes and realised it was done. The ugly creature convulsed, then collapsed.

Raising her bow, Elda let Irileth’s power pour from her, dredging up the unfathomable light that Hepaestus had bestowed upon her when he intended for her to be born as a Spirit, and intertwining the two. The bolt that formed was so bright the others had to shield their eyes.

She released it, watching it zip towards that faint white nick in the barrier. The blast was so forceful that she covered up, protecting her head with her arms until the dust settled. When she raised her eyes, she saw a web of cracks covering the entirety of the invisible bubble.

Gira pulled his heavy sword from its sheath and drew his arm back, focussing his energy on the same point Elda had. He swung, the tip of his blade just missing the wall of power, but the wave of air that burst from the sword hit it like a boulder and reduced the shield to dust. The wardstone shattered too, firing shrapnel in all directions.

Elda winced when one buried itself in her forearm, but better that than her eyes. Ripping it out stung, but she tore another strip from her tunic - this time from the hem since her sleeves were already binding her shoulder - and tied it tightly around the wound.

Gira was already levelling Aetheria at the stone spire, unleashing another mighty swing. The clang of rock against steel sounded like a bell, all of the power of his wind forced into the monolith, but it barely even shuddered.

Elda fired several sizzling arrows of light energy and freezing ice, leaving several small chips in the surface but doing nothing to really damage it. The others approached cautiously, edging round the remains of the wardstones.

“I told you we’d need dragonfire,” Julian muttered.

“If you figure out how to get a two tonne dragon through that crevice you got stuck in, you let me know,” the Soul Forge quipped.

“What if we just treat it the same way we did the shield?” Brady suggested. “Concentrated attacks on one area will do more than hitting random points.”

“Whacking at it with axes and swords won’t work either,” the half demon stated, and Elda heard Sypher’s calm reasoning. “Augmented weapons like the Soul Blades and my sword might work, but anything else will just bounce off. They only worked in Bratus because of the dragonfire.”

“So we’re out then? We sit back while you do all the work?”

“Fuck no,” the Soul Forge snorted, Vel sneaking through. “I’m spent. One of you will have to use my sword.”

“You’re spent?” Julian echoed.

“Big time. The fever is setting in.” And when Elda reached out to touch his cheek, it was indeed burning hot.