Page 228 of Spring Guardians & Songbirds

The mist twirled around me and turned to skitters of electricity before darting to the beast's direction.

The thing didn’t even flinch from the hit. Not from the many others. It was merely feet from me when it jumped in the air and above me. Thankfully, the mist reacted quicker than I did, solidifying above me like a shield. The thud from the beast landing above me reverberated through the ruins of Myrdur and the mountains groaned.

“I command you,” I whispered to the mist, my voice transcending through it. And it obeyed me, to my command.

The white fog roared as it rolled down the Volants towards us. Arms made of white mist grew from within it—hundreds of them. Moving from under the mist shield, I backed further and saw the elder Elding magic take action. White phantom hands grabbed onto the beast and tied around it while the thing struggled and roared.

Once the beast was tied to the ground, I unsheathed the whitestone sword I’d grabbed from the Kvan soldier. The weapon felt heavier than the one I used, but it would do.

The beast lay trapped right before my feet, its heated breath vaporising my leather boots. In one swift swing, I impaled one of its arms and then the other.

The zgahna trembled when the thing roared so loud the ground shook. My skin pebbled and every sensation in my body prepared for a fight. Something felt unnaturally wrong. Not like the sense Foglings gave you. Not like the sense of darkness. Something far worse. Far more sinister. A call of a magic I could not recognise but still felt familiar with.

I stumbled a step back, aghast at what was happening before my eyes. Flesh materialised and crawled from where I cut his arms to grow into a new pair. The green beast breathed hard as the flesh regenerated, its green eyes lifting to meet mine.

I stumbled another step back when its mouth twisted almost to a smile. “Should have gone for my head. That grows slower,” the thing growled.

Blessed seven sweet hells of Celesteel. The thing spoke. The thing was conscious in this form? But—

Bracing itself in its new hands, the beast rose itself up, tugging the tentacles of mist hard enough they snapped and dispersed in the wind. One after the other, the beast was free from their hold and standing eight feet tall before me. Those malachite eyes went to my sword and its fang filled mouth twitched more.

I looked down on the borrowed sword I held. Then it hit me, my attention going from the three visible scars on the pale green abdomen to the arms to the non-existent ones where I’d cut its arms. In Hanai, I’d struck it with my brother’s sword, and it had worked.

For each step forward the beast took, I took another back.

“Scared now?” the thing growled, still chasing my steps.

My steps wobbled, a sense of fear marring my features and I trembled with each step I took back. The way the beast's expression grew into what one can only call amusement made me realise how entirely too human it appeared to be.

The thing hadn’t made a move to attack me, only chasing my steps back and revelling in my fear—almost enjoying it. “I spy with my green eye,” the beast crooned in its gravelly breathy voice. “A little fearful—” The beast didn't finish. He was rather preoccupied with choking and gasping for air.

I stopped and lifted a brow, a smile stretching wide below my face covering. “Welcome inside the zgahna.” Demir.

The thing cocked its head to the side and frowned, still heaving for air.

I took another step back. “Welcome inside the hell with no air,” carried by the wind, my words echoed around the mist. “I command you to kill.” Like the hiss of a snake, senseless words and buzzing carried through the air and the fog thickened around us till it became so dense that breathing was impossible.

Choked sounds and then a hard thud signalled the effect. The mist parted for me while I stepped toward the unconscious beast.

“Ugh,” I gagged, wrapping my hand around its slithery wrist. It took me a full hour to pull the thing's body from the mist. I would have left it there like I’d left many others, but now I knew it could regenerate. How long could the thing breathe without air? That is if it even needed air to breathe. How long till a new pair of lungs grew and it could die and regenerate itself all the way across the zgahna? The more I thought about it, the more worrying scenarios formed inside my head. Perhaps father had figured the way inside the ancient magic.

When I reached Myrdur ruins, I slashed the sword through its neck and bolted along with it and its head right in the middle of the Hollow Sea. The waters were icy, within seconds hypothermia was going to set in.

“Hope something in here finds you tasty, Demir.” I pushed from it as it began sinking underwater and then bolted back to Taren.

My breath misted and I left water puddles all along the blue lit corridors of the castle. I saw him first amongst the others. Shedding his jacket as he rushed toward me.

I sighed when the lemon flower scented warmth surrounded me. He breathed furiously, holding me tight, running his hands to my sides to warm me up. “To gods,” he swore. “To gods you do that again.”

“It speaks,” I breathed out. “It speaks and it's conscious in that form and it grows limbs. It can grow back its head, too.”

He pulled back, staring at me like I had gone half wild.

Eren showed up to our side and he ran his hands over my head and through my hair. “Did you hit your head somewhere?”

I took a moment to stop the chatter of my teeth. “The beast from Hanai. I am sure it was Demir—it had the scars I gave it back then. He was in Myrdur, crossing through zgahna.”

Nia came into sight. “That thing was in Myrdur?”