We stepped into the marsh at twilight, still on our crusade to gather the banished clans of the Abyssal, for them to join our resistance.
Even Freasia has flown all the way from the camp to join us, he flew beside me like a guard.
Thumpan had said he knew an ancient means with which we could escape the Abyssal, but alliances had to be forged first.
The air was brittle, too still for anything living. Frozen lilies lay beneath our boots, their petals crystalized into shards that cracked like glass under each step. Mist hovered low, brushing my ankles with icy fingers. It smelled of pine sap and decay, like something ancient had died here long ago and never quite finished rotting.
"Stay close," I whispered, duskfire coiling faintly around my fingertips. "This place doesn't welcome guests, it smells like death"
Pyrax flared his wings behind me, twin arcs of embered flame rising like scimitars. "Guests? We're not guests, we are a rebellion."
Sorin gave a tight smile, his mirrored blade flashing as he sliced through a tangled branch. "And rebellions always leave footprints."
The marsh was a labyrinth of frozen water and shifting ground. Every path twisted with thick roots and floating isles of ice. Haunting lights of will-o'-the-wisps drifted between trees, glowing white. something feels off here, and I could feel it. I could sense bad magic.
Freasia touched my arm. "They're not spirits," he murmured. "They're lures, a bait."
"Then don't follow them," I said, squinting my eyes.
We kept moving, deeper into the frostbloom maze, each breath sharp enough to sting. My wings stayed close to my back, burning low with golden duskfire to keep the cold from freezing my blood. Behind me, the rebels we'd gathered from scattered corners of the Abyssal whispered prayers to the old Guardians.
Bellatrix had stayed behind to guard the rear. But I needed her here because her tides would've given us cover.
That's when the mist shifted, it didn't drift, it shifted, like it had intent.
A crack of ice echoed ahead, then silence.
Then suddenly.....
"Incoming!" Pyrax roared, diving forward just as the frozen earth exploded.
Figures emerged from the fog, moving with bone-snap precision. They moved fast like lightning but quiet. Armor encased them like second skin, pale as ice and rimmed with black veins. Their faces were empty masks of frost-glass.
The Iceborn, demon minions of Morgana, I knew almost immediately.
I raised my hand to everyone to stop "Hold!"
But I spoke too late, because Sorin had already launched forward, striking at the ice born Infront of him.
The battle began immediately as we tried to fight off Morgana' s minions.
Duskfire surged from my hands, lashing through the mist. It melted armor, seared flesh, and left the air thick with steam and magic. I moved between rebels, shielding one with a burst of flame, dragging another from a frozen spear's path. My heart pounded so loud I couldn't hear my own thoughts.
One of the Iceborn locked eyes with me...or what passed for eyes. Blue fire glowed beneath his helmet.
It threw a spear at me, I dodged.
I dropped, flying low, rolled, came up burning, my duskfire flared from my palms, searing through its chest.it screamed, but no sound came out only steam and crumbling ice.
They kept coming.
"Why don't they die?!" Freasia shouted, ducking behind a half-sunken log.
"They're bound to her magic!" I screamed back. "They're not alive!"
Pyrax flew overhead, a trail of flame in his wake. "Then we burn until there's nothing left!"
The ground quaked as another wave poured in. I heard a scream, one of ours had been hit followed by a sickening crack. My fury ignited, I didn't think, I lost control, I let go.
The duskfire inside me surged up, hotter than it had ever burned before. Gold flickered at the edges of the violet flame. I threw my arms wide, wings unfurling with a scream.
"ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!"
The firestorm I released swallowed the marsh in searing light. The Iceborn shrieked as their bodies shattered into frozen ash. Steam rose in columns. Water hissed into the air. And for a moment, everything stood in silence, the battlefield smoldering, the mist burned away.
I panted, hands shaking, smoke curling off my palms.
Freasia moved beside me, bruised but breathing. "Are you ok Eva, woooow, That... was new."
I nodded, chest heaving. "I didn't know I could do that."
Pyrax grinned at me, his face streaked with soot. "You were born to burn through lies."
We gathered our wounded, put out lingering fires, and nursed their wounds. As the mist cleared, we could see the wastelands of the Abyssal clearly now, then suddenly I saw it, half-hidden beneath the roots of a frost tree: a cave mouth, black as night, something moved inside it.
"I feel something," I said, stepping toward it.
Inside, the temperature dropped like a blade.
We heard the clinking of chains.
The cave walls were crusted with frost, we all walked inside the cave, Freasia walking besides me wielding his sword. As peered in deeper into the cave, we found them.....rebel prisoners, dozens of them, frozen in place, bound by chains of enchanted ice. Their eyes fluttered as we approached, but none could speak. Their lips were blue, their skin pale but they were all alive.
I stepped forward walking towards them, the others behind me retreated a little. My duskfire ignited softly at my fingertips "Don't move," I whispered, I touched the first chain but the magic resisted my power, it hissed and snarled.I steadied myself and for the second time I pushed back with my flame, the metal cracked, then melted away from the first captive.
I heard my companions gasp in awe.
One by one, I freed them all. The moment their chains fell, warmth returned to their cheeks. Some collapsed sobbing, others simply stared at me like I was a dream.
A woman with half-frozen wings dropped to her knees. "You... you're the princess."
I didn't correct her.
Another one knelt beside her. "You saved us."
Their voices were soft, reverent.
A ripple passed through the freed rebels as they murmured with happiness, rejoicing for their freedom
They knelt before me, all of them.
"We pledge ourselves to the duskfire," they said in unison. "To the Guardian of Realmus."
My throat tightened. I hadn't asked for this. I didn't feel like a savior. But I nodded,my wings glowing faintly, but my heart heavy.
Then suddenly we heard a small cry.
Freasia turned sharply. "Did you hear that?"
"Yes, the sound is coming from inside the cave, we need to look deeper"
We followed the sound deeper into the cave, then we saw before us, wrapped in a veil of frost and surrounded by runes, sat a child barely older than ten, her skin glowing faintly with seer-markings etched into her cheeks. Her eyes were clouded, but shimmering with silver.
She blinked at us. "You came."
"Who are you?" I asked gently.
"I see dreams," she said, voice distant. "And I saw you burn through the ice."
Freasia knelt beside her, his voice gentle. "What's your name, little one?"
"Lume," she whispered. "The throne is bleeding and the sky is breaking."
I froze at her words, how did she know that.
"What do you mean?"
"I saw it in the shimmer... The king falls. The witch queen rises, but only the duskfire can stop the crown of rot."
My blood turned to stone.
Pyrax stepped closer to where we stood before the child, his face grim. "We need to get her out of here."
I lifted her into my arms and carried her. She weighed nothing, just bones and prophecy.
As we stepped out of the cave, the wind blew strongly at us, above us the sky had gone from violet to red.
Blood red.
Sorin looked up, eyes narrow. "She's accelerating the coup."
"She knows we're coming," I said.
Lume rested her head against my shoulder. "Then go faster."