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“That’s good enough for me,” Enver says before looking to me with a worried frown. “But can you hold it long enough for allof us to pass?” He glances around at the wary faces. “It will not drain you?”
I give him a small smile, grateful for his thoughtfulness. “I’ll manage just fine.”
“How can we trust her?” a male with suspicious brown eyes says. “She’s a Sidus.”
“I don’t care if she’s a bloody mythical creature,” a female with short white hair says. “She’s the only one of us able to get out of here.” She turns to me. “How can we help?”
“Try to move as quickly as possible.” I turn back to the water and push out my warmth once more. Luminescent strings float a foot above the black water and slowly weave together to form a long path straight across to the other side.
“Go,” I tell them, but they’re still hesitant and move slowly toward it. And the slower they are, the more I feel the exhaustion catch up to me.
I try to focus on keeping the weaved light in a solid state, but any adrenaline I had previously starts to fall away the longer I hold my powers like this, draining me faster.
“If you are not quicker, I will not be able to make sure you all pass,” I warn them.
The white-haired female moves onto the net and walks across it quickly.
Once she passes without injury, the others are quick to follow.
I wince as the strain to hold my powers in this state starts to grow painful. The warmth of flames inside me grows sharp, wanting to unleash and destroy instead. Having to pull it back and contain it only drains me further.
“Seren?” Oryn moves closer to me with a frown marring his brow. “Can you hold it?”
Enver is the last of the group to cross, with just Oryn and me. I should be able to make it a little longer.
“Go. I can hold it,” I tell him—with hope instead of certainty this time.
He nods, taking my word for it before moving twice as quickly as the others to cross the weaved path.
“Come on. Now you,” Oryn shouts. The others wait behind him, not moving on, and the small gesture has my hope growing, making me push harder.
Grasping hold of the wavering light, I drag it to me and rush forward onto the weaved path. But the minute I touch it, it starts to shake and become unstable. I run forward as the path behind me slowly starts to disappear, becoming patches of path that dissipate.
Not ready to give up, I jump from one broken weaved path to another while trying to hold them as steady and formed as I can.
The sharp slash of pain grips me just as I near the end, growing into a blaze of flames that burn me from the inside out.
I know that if it releases, it will kill us all.
I shove it down and use the pain to push me forward when I spot the entire path disappearing completely.
Rushing forward, I push my body and mind and focus on the group in front of me before making one last run and jump toward them.
I misjudge the distance and realize it only too late, when my foot heads straight for the black water.
But just before I fall, a hand snaps out and reaches for me. I grasp on to it like a lifeline as it pulls me over the edge and away from the black waters.
Kneeling on the ground and breathing heavily as I shove down the raging wildfire inside me, I glance up to thank Oryn when my gaze meets a pair of soft deep green eyes.
“Thank you for helping us across,” Enver says before gently releasing my hand.
I nod to him with my own thanks, and together we move out of the end of the crumbling brick building and into the edge of the maze.
“Nearly there. Thank the gods,” the white-haired female says with a sigh of relief.
I nod, agreeing, but keep my eyes watchful. Hopefully, there won’t be too many surprises, but with the guards, I would not be shocked to find them leaving the biggest one until last.
We quickly move into the maze, only making it a few feet in before a loud shriek sounds out ahead of us, stopping us in our tracks. A sound that is definitely not another Caligo in pain, but more like a beast that seeks out bloodshed and violence.
