The Shadow's Star

Chapter 22

"Aurora. We have to go." I heard a soft voice over my shoulder. I knew Callahan was right behind me, yet his voice seemed so far away.

"Aurora." I felt his hand on my shoulder gently tugging me back. I shrugged it off and held onto Xander tighter. I would not leave my brother in this wretched place. Not alone. Not ever.

"I'm not leaving him!". The pain I felt was excruciating. The damage is far worse than what any amount of physical pain could ever inflict. The moment the light had vanished from Xander's eyes was the moment I felt my heart rip into a thousand pieces. Only I felt the pain throughout my whole body. He is gone, my magic is gone and a part of me is gone too.

"We will take him with us. Come, Aurora, let's take him home." Callahan's voice broke and I could hear his tears in his shaky words. I raised my head, staring down at my brother's lifeless body as Callahan reached down and closed his eyes shut.

"I don't have any magic anymore. I can't take us home." I said, sobbing between each word. I closed my eyes, a brief moment away from this world, and steadied my breathing. I felt a warm comforting feeling like a pair of gentle arms wrapping around me, keeping me safe from the world. I knew it was him, Azra, reaching out through the heartbond, but I made no indication that I was aware of what he was doing. The overwhelming sadness I felt moments ago had somehow eased. When I opened my eyes, I didn't feel anything. I felt completely numb as I stared down at my blood-soaked hands.

"I will take you home." I didn't look at Azra when he spoke. Callahan helped me to my feet. I gripped onto his arm when my legs almost buckled. I took in my surroundings, there wasn't a living voiderz in sight. The ground was scattered with the bodies of the creatures and the fallen fae. My magic had taken out the entire swarm of voiderz. I should have felt relieved but again I felt...nothing. The remaining light and dark fae had all gathered around my brothers brother's body and, one by one with sorrow in their eyes, they all placed a hand over their hearts, bent a knee, and bowed their heads.

"What are they doing?" My words came out flat as I briefly glanced at each of them.

"You saved all of their lives, Aurora, and they are honouring your brother," Callahan said.

I finally turned to Azra, without looking him in the eyes, I took a deep breath and said

"I want to go home."

Azra snapped into prince mode, instructing all the fae to gather around us and then he used his dark power to jump us all back to the light realm, taking my brother's body with us.

I'm not sure why Azra chose to stay with us as we crossed the light realm border and headed back to the Golden city, to the palace. He even helped carry my brother's body through the palace gates and into the throne room to where my father and stepmother were waiting. Even though I wanted to rip him to pieces, I was too exhausted to react to anything.

Azra, Callahan and a few other soldiers from the light realm placed my brother's body down gently before the throne upon which the king and queen both sat horrified. Gasps from high-born fae filled the room when they realised the dead body of their next king lay before them.

"Leave us!" My father, King Helios, shouted above the growing murmurs. As the fae began to filter out the throne room, all of them glancing over their shoulders to get one last look at the scene, my father descended the stairs and approached my brothers body. He knelt down and placed a palm upon Xander's face and began silently sobbing. My father had lost his heartbond and now his only son, his heir. The Queen rushed to the top of the stairs, a hand covering her gaping mouth. Nuri and Yetta, the two people I longed to see the most, were nowhere to be seen. The Commander General Jarius spoke quietly to Callahan who was likely filling him in on what had happened. I could feel Callahan's eyes on me as he slipped out of the room, probably to inform members of the royal inner circle and to give the orders to start preparations for Xander's funeral.

My father stood and smoothed out his golden tunic before he stepped towards me. I felt his great power surround me, angry and threatening. I raised my head and when my eyes met his I felt the impact of his hand strike the side of my face. The sharp sting was nothing in comparison to what I had felt the moment Xander was taken from me. He blamed me and he was right to do so. Xander wouldn't have even gone to the void if it wasn't for me. If I hadn't been so selfish, if I hadn't trusted Azra, this was all my fault.

"How?" My father's voice rumbled through me, jolting me back to reality.

"How?!" He repeated this time louder. I flinched, not at my father but because he wanted me to explain how my brother had died and I couldn't. He raised his hand to strike me again.

"We were ambushed by thousands of voiderz." Azra blurted before my Father hit out at me again. "One of them killed him but not before he killed hundreds of them first. Aurora showed up and sacrificed her power trying to save him. She killed all of the voiderz and saved us all. By then it was too late. The prince had succumbed to his injuries." Azra spoke very matter of factly. Very much like a king in the making. A small part of me was grateful that he had stepped in and answered for me and was worried that my father would turn his wrath on him instead of me. I would stop my father if only to have the chance to kill him myself.

My father only glared at me as Azra told him briefly what had happened.

"Your son...and your daughter are both heroes" Azra added, and I cringed. Xander was a hero in every sense of the word, but I ...I am nothing more than a naive girl whose stupid actions lead to the death of her brother. 

My father glanced between us and opened his mouth to speak but the stomach-turning sound of blood splatter. He spun around, horrified. To his disbelief, a portal of darkness had opened and a voiderz crouched behind the queen with a long sharp claw pierced through her abdomen. The queen's body slumped to the floor as, one by one, a dozen more creatures entered the throne room.

"No!" My father flung a protective arm in front of me, to my surprise, and then raised his other hand, summoning his great power, which killed the voiderz lunging towards him in an instant. Another portal of swirling darkness appeared to the left of us. Long black limbs emerged and more creatures began rushing towards us, snapping down their powerful jaws with rows of sharp teeth, desperate to rip us to shreds. My father pushed me back so hard I slid across the marble floor before aiming his power towards the other creatures. The creatures didn't stand a chance against my father's power. They were dead before the full force of his power even reached them. The general commander Jarius was coming to my fathers aid slicing his sword through any creature that escaped the path of my fathers power. Beams of deadly light shot out in every direction. I looked to my left to Azra who was crouched low avoiding the light magic that could a dark fae like him. How have these portals opened up in the throne room of the light realm? It's not possible? There must be a source, something that has allowed these creatures passage. Only a source of powerful light magic could allow such things to enter this realm.  The creatures will keep coming. There must be a way to stop them, to close the portals.

I looked at Jarius who now stood back to back with the King, sword raised, ready to fight and defend him as he always had. The gleaming golden ring on his right hand caught my eye. It glowed brightly, emitting wisps of light as though the ring itself couldn't quite contain the power inside. I've never seen that ring before. It must have been a gift from my father. I raised my eyes, Jarius was staring down at me. His eyes flicked to the ring and back to me, realising it had caught my attention. I felt it in my gut, something wasn't right, something had always been off about him.  His black eyes locked with mine and with a malicious grin he plunged his sword into my father's back.