COF 5: The Secret Race

25 | Sacrifice (II)

Kymalin saw the flash of light before she understood what was going on.

She threw a dead soldier off her and scrambled out of the way as she felt a strong blast of magic heading for her. "Clear the way! Stick to the walls!" she yelled to the others who just felt the sudden surge of power just now. What was that?

Ice sprites, Cardovians, and Synkterians alike pushed each other away in an attempt to plaster themselves to the ice walls. Metal clunk against the floor. Guns clicked shut. Swords sheathed. Was this like when Nyxis dropped from the sky with that weird contraption of his? The one where he blew all of them away and none of the people present at that time could access their magic for a whole day. Was it another one of those?

"Kymalin!" Marin's voice floated to her ear through the chaos. "The eastern flank succeeded in securing the two-hundred and fourth floor!"

"Tell them to retreat," Kymalin said, eyeing the ice floor and trying to see through its opaque surface something from below to confirm this imminent threat. "We need to withdraw."

Marin knitted her eyebrows. She braced the doorway's pillar and glanced to the floor with unease. She could feel that as well considering her face paled. Now she knew why Kymalin issued a retreat.

"April!" Kymalin shouted at the space above her. Ever since the floors lessened and lessened due to their barrage, the air sprite had found more reasons to stay in the air. Now, Kymalin needed her to go down before she gets roasted by whatever's coming at them. "Get down! There's something coming!"

The sound of feathers flapping filled Kymalin's ears as April dropped from the sky, one of her wings bleeding and torn. What happened? April caught Kymalin staring and she bared her teeth. "That ice sprite general got me," she staggered to where Kymalin pressed against the wall. "She's good. You? What happened to that arm?"

Kymalin looked down at her own arm dangling uselessly at her side. She had quite forgotten she was injured. "A brownie sneaked up on me," she said before glancing down once more, straining her eyes to check if something was coming for them. "Got me real good. I couldn't even view his soul. Did you feel it?"

April followed Kymalin's gaze to the floor. She nodded. "Something was down there, right?"

Kymalin's gut felt horrible with its twists and churns. "It's after us," she said through her teeth. "Somehow."

April folded her wings to herself, wincing when it's the busted one's turn. "Ah," she grunted as she used her hand to tuck it in. "Remind me to kill that ice sprite when I see her again. This hurts like hell."

Kymalin opened her mouth to say something when she stumbled. All the air left her lungs. Her limbs turned heavy as her soul quivered within her. Water slid from her eyes as she gasped for air. What was this? Was April doing this? Kymalin forced her head to turn to where April was. She found the air sprite equally writhing on the floor beside her. Kymalin's ears rang with such an unholy sound of people gasping for breath. They weren't going to die but it sure was painful.

"Kymalin, what is this...?" April clawed at her throat, an air sprite a victim to her own power. "I'm not doing anything...!"

The ground erupted in front of their eyes, the sound of ice shattering almost like Kymalin's doom ringing in her ears Oh, gods. The shards flew upwards just as a huge stream of bright magic slammed into the remaining floors. It came from below. It's...

Kymalin gasped as the shards started coming towards her. She barked a quick summoning spell and sent a spirit on top of her. She didn't care if his soul suffered but she had to live. She tucked her head into her arms, a whimper slipping through her lips without her permission. That's when she saw the figure emerging from the lowest floor. It's a figure cloaked with light, magic swirling around it like burning halos. The figure floated through the hole its magic made and settled by Kymalin's eye level.

The figure turned its head towards Kymalin and through the slit between her arms covering her head, she saw eyes. Eyes that burned like the abyss where she summoned spirits from. They were dark, empty, and carried enough age in it that Kymalin felt like she was staring at the eyes of her ancestors from old.

Then it raised its hand towards her. Kymalin tightened her arms around her head, closing her eyes to wait for pain. Go, a voice said. Kymalin wrenched her eyes open. She was still alive. Who was that voice? Kymalin raised her head and came across a queen—no, a goddess—extending her hand towards her.

Go, the voice said again. The figure's mouth didn't seem to be moving. In fact, Kymalin realized that the figure had no face at all. The only thing that showed its features was the floor-length hair that billowed with the swirl of its own magic and the white robes that flourished and ruffled and flapped here and there. There was no design to it either but Kymalin was filled with a sudden sense of awe.

A goddess...

A goddess has come to reap Kymalin's soul.

Go, the voice said again. Somehow, Kymalin recognized it. She had heard this somewhere, many times. Some moments it was shouting in a battlefield. Other moments it whispered close to her ear. Somewhere...she knew this voice somewhere.

Tell your masters that I am back, the voice said again. Kymalin glanced at April and saw the air sprite looking up at the figure with the same confusion as Kymalin had. Could she hear the voice as well? Tell the Heiress who is back?

The figure turned to Kymalin as if it heard her internal question. Tell the Heiress and the Sovereign that the Virtakios is here. Tell them that I will finish this once and for all.

The Virtakios...?

Kymalin didn't finish processing because the figure stretched her arms on either side of her body and the cavern exploded. Kymalin, even though it's undignified and cowardly, knew when a fight was lost. She barked the shadow-bending spell and for once was glad when the darkness swallowed her.