A Knight's Purpose (Book 1) ✔️

Chapter 35 - A Light in the Darkness

I groan as feeling slams back into my limbs. Cracking open my eyes, I find myself laying on the ground next to Sereya, who's also pushing herself up. Camden and April are hovering over both of us with terrified looks on their faces.

"Are you alright?" Camden is deathly pale.

"Yeah, but right now we have a bigger concern -" I drift off as the next wave starts building. But, unlike the buzzing, this is something I remember better than my own name.

A soft pulse, like the warm glow of a fire on a cold night, a candle flame in the dark, a cup of cocoa in the snow begins glowing in the corner of my mind. A feeling of such kindness pours from it that my breath catches.

As I wrestle with my guilt at having watched that light die thousands of years earlier, I notice April and Camden stand and turn to face East. Sereya hops up and wraps her arms around Camden's waist, but he doesn't do anything.

Jumping to my feet, I run around to stand in front of him. "Camden? Cam! Hey, I need you to answer me."

Nothing. April's similarly non-responsive as they both just stare directly East, from the point where that warm light is coming from. When I focus on the point, a startling message pours through me.

"Come to me," The voice whispers through the air. But it's so quiet, so difficult to hear only the urge to listen remains for those who aren't attuned to this particular voice.

I slap Camden, and while his head recoils, he only looks at me lucidly for a moment before staring at the wall towards the point again. "Sereya, look out the window and tell me what you see." I order.

She nods, terrified and darts to the window.

"There are people on the street like Cam and April. They're all just staring that way. A few people are wandering around but not many." She points towards the wall.

Gritting my teeth I make a decision. There's no helping it, since I can't fix this on my own.

I close my eyes and search within myself to my very core where a tight ball of magic has been encased in layers and layers of wards, like strong steel. Taking a deep breath, I drive my mind into the wards in one gigantic metal blow and crack the first three layers of wards wide open.

Warm magic erupts like a wave crashing through my body. But it isn't enough to compete with the warm voice so I break through the next set of wards, not waiting to unlock each layer.

This time there's a strong sting of recoil as the wards I had used to compact my magic break. I keep pushing, every blow becoming stronger with the magic I release as each set of wards breaks. With a ragged breath, I break the last ward and agony rips through my stomach, doubling me over.

When I catch my breath, I put a reassuring hand in Sereya's shoulder. I straighten and walk around to stand before April and Cam. Tapping into the deep well if magic that is sitting heavy on my chest, I put a force behind my words I haven't used in millennia.

"To those who hear me, you will ignore the call. I imbue you with my authority. Those to whom you speak and any who speak to them will receive this order and will ignore the call."  Each word lands like a hammer striking an anvil.

Camden and April both gasp and then freeze as they feel the power that suffuses the air. They slowly track the source and turn, eyes widening with horror, to face me.

"How..."

I shake my head. "That doesn't matter  I need you both to call everyone, shifter or magician, and tell them to ignore the call. Everyone you talk to will be freed but you need to act fast. Get the ball rolling and then we have to do something to stop this. I think a phone ringing will wake them long enough to answer a call."