Darkov appeared at the doorway, panting , his face carved with obvious worry. The sight before him made every hair on his body stand on end. It was the first time in his life he had ever seen a Death-Bringer.
He'd trained to hunt them for years, obsessed, prepared for this moment , yet now that one stood before him, he was frozen.
Seeing what you've always chased appear uninvited is nothing like the dream. His throat locked; even the reflex to swallow abandoned him.
All those years working, training, preparing to grow strong enough to face a Death-Bringer , and for what?
In theory, he'd gained so much.
In practice? Nothing.
He couldn't move a single finger. Fear paralyzed him from the inside out.
"AAAH!"
It hurts!
When she fell, the pain exploded through her ribs, but oddly enough, the fear was gone. Because the Death-Bringer hadn't touched her again in a short while , not yet.
She was furious, though, visibly trembling with rage, and every second that passed made her fury build a thousandfold.
She turned her head toward Darkov, but his eyes didn't find his. His face didn't carry the look of someone who wanted her dead.
The hit she'd taken made it impossible to focus properly on him anyway.
The Death-Bringer grabbed her like she was weightless and slammed her to the ground again. The man standing in the doorway didn't even catch his attention , the monster assumed he'd deal with him next, after finishing her off.
The noise of the struggle echoed down the hall. Ravion came running - fast - his boots slamming against the floorboards. For a heartbeat, he thought Darkov had hurt her.
He'd heard screams like that only a few times in his life, and every time they meant something irreversible.
Cassira was right behind him, but not with Ravion's reckless courage , her steps faltered, her whole body trembling.
"DARKOV!!"
Ravion screamed with everything in him. His voice cracked mid-yell, rough and splitting, but he didn't care.
When Darkov didn't move - didn't do anything - and the screams kept coming, Ravion stopped thinking entirely. Instinct and pure, reckless courage flooded through him like a pulse. The moment he burst through the door, he released an echo that rippled through the room.
A delayed, deafening impact followed ,a vibration that made every cell in every body shudder. For a fraction of a second, the Death-Bringer staggered backward.
The echo that rippled through her struck her fallen body like an arrow. A moan of pain escaped her throat , sharp and involuntary.
Darkov, thrown back by the echo's force, couldn't even rise.
Ravion, though terrified, saw the bruised and broken boy , and something inside him snapped. His fear melted into sudden, furious resolve. He lunged again, blind, desperate.
The Death-Bringer tensed for an instant, annoyed, then smirked wide , a cruel, wolfish grin. He caught Ravion mid-motion, slammed him into the wall with bare hands before the boy could even echo again.
My eyes barely opened , my skull felt split in half. Even hearing my own thoughts was a miracle. Consciousness flickered at the edge of darkness. I had to stay awake. They'd never ask 'me' for help , but maybe if I kept my eyes open… but maybe I'd wake up back home.
Ravion screamed as the fifth punch landed, his body collapsing to the floor before he could stand again.
"YOU BASTARD!"
A strange, heavy warmth pressed against my body - that voice… was it real?
Sound reached me in fragments now, faint and filtered, but I knew that voice. I forced my swollen eyes open with everything I had left.
Ravion… He was on the floor.
Was he dead? My heart kicked into overdrive , blood rushed to my head like fire.
"DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!"
Cassira's voice shook as she screamed, her body trembling so hard her breaths came in sharp bursts. She tried to keep Darkov from falling, her hands gripping him like her life depended on it.
My eyes flickered toward him, even though my vision had gone soft around the edges. I could 'feel' everything , his vibration, the pulse of the air, every coordinate in the room mapping itself in my mind.
There's no such thing as 'the last bit of strength.'
Strength is 'always' there , somewhere.
If I can still move my hands, I can still push myself from the ground.
She pressed her palms against the floor. Pain seared through her arms, and she clenched her teeth to keep from screaming. The sound that escaped her anyway came out half growl, half cry. The Death-Bringer paused, distracted by the noise , Cassira was no longer his focus.
A spark. Then a tremor.
She pushed herself up onto her knees; her hands tingled violently, pins and needles crawling through her skin. The pressure wasn't much, but something deep inside her chest , something hot and heavy , started to rise. From her stomach to her lungs, it surged like a tide about to burst. She almost gagged from the intensity of it.
Rage clouded her sight. She hadn't been this angry in her entire life. She looked down , and there they were, right in front of her knees , those filthy, mocking feet. A better invitation she couldn't have asked for.
She hurled her fists forward, smashing them toward his feet.
The first second: a crack rippled through the air , faint, like lightning behind clouds.
The second: her fists struck harder, and heat flared under the Death-Bringer's feet - flames crawling up like a curse awakened.
The third: the shockwave blew backward through her body - the windows shattered, every object in the room lifted and tossed like dust in a storm.
The Death-Bringer was thrown backward, crashing into the glass. Even he seemed stunned , his body twisted midair, scrambling for form , and then, in a flash, he shifted, shrinking into a single insect, a crawling ant scuttling away before reforming elsewhere. Clever, even in retreat.
Her hands burned like they were on fire , alive with energy, her brain frozen under the overload.
That was 'too easy.'
She hadn't even used everything.
Oh no… now my body's done for.
She collapsed slowly toward the ground. Even the floor felt soft, as if her bones had lost all weight, all hardness.
Ravion was in front of her , somehow, still holding her with his arms despite his own bruises and blood.
"You… you just bent an echo,"
he breathed.
And an ant left the house..