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A howl rose up and met his cry, but it was little comfort.
Brand would never be the same again.
Lunara pressed her hand to the Forgotten’s jagged breastbone and flooded it with power.
Instead of desperately shoving or clinging to the dying heartbeat, she closed her eyes and followed the shadows as they scurried away. The creature thrashed beneath her moonlit cage, snapping its needlepoint teeth.
She ignored it. This one was too far gone for saving, anyway.
Her magic burrowed in until the shadows were condensed. Hardened. She chased them to find where they were hiding and—
Interesting.
They formed a wall in its mind, the realization dawning as the Forgotten went slack and drooling. Mindless. Blinking.
More interesting.
It was dangerous to delve further when she was alone and without someone to anchor her, but needs must. Besides, she’d never really tried this part while in possession of Illamiata.
Don’t get carried away and it’ll be fine. You’ll be fine.
Right.
The Forgotten twitched beneath her hand when she relinquished some of her control over Illamiata, freeing the stone to reach out its own seeking fingers. Together, they sank into the creature’s consciousness until they were right up against the barrier.
Exactly like Fern’s. Rock and grit and iron, the pitch of it so dense, Lunara may as well have been staring into eternity.
She gritted her teeth against a hammer of pain and raked her fingernails across the void, slashing. Granules of obsidian sand landed in her palm and scattered in a sourceless wind. The wall fought back when she fed it some of her power, its invisible claws slashing out at her as it expanded.
Like the beast, but weaker.
These shadows didn’t have a mind of their own like Brand’s did, and they weren’t nearly as ferocious or embedded as Fern’s. It might be possible for her to gouge a way through and make a hole as she had for Fern, but there was no point in wasting the time on something so tedious. She needed to do better than that. Push them out.
Extracting herself from the Forgotten, she sat up and was considering a new approach when the shadows erupted, geysering from its mouth like a broken fountain. They gathered in a mass and fled, back to the dark gloom of the Woodmaia Chasm nearby. Lunara gaped after it, no idea what in the realms just happened.
The creature spasmed, blinking once before the embers in its eyes cooled to nothing.
Dead. Stars fucking—
“Damn it! Fuck!”
Raw light exploded from her hand and into the carcass, disintegrating it. That was the second one in as many hours. The first fought too hard and she had no choice but to end it, but this one showed promise. Progress.
“Shite. Arse.”
She’d have to go back in and get another.
It’s okay. You have all night. You were going to be here anyway.
True, but she wanted more to show for it.
Axanderus swooped in and landed on her shoulder with a wide ruffle of his ghostly wings, blinking round, glowing eyes at her.
“The next one will be better.” With a sigh, she rose to aching feet and called up to the twin moons, replenishing the well. It cleared her mind somewhat, but she was due for a blood gift. “I’m sure of it.”
It was still an odd feeling, choosing to feed before she was so crippled she could barely walk.
What a difference a few months makes.
