Ashley woke up to the sound of thunderous footsteps and the whipping wind against her face.
She wasn't on solid ground anymore.
Instead, she was high in the air, cradled on the shoulder of a massive troll bounding from cliff to cliff like a mountain goat on steroids. Another, even larger troll was behind them, its broad back riddled with deep, oozing wounds. He shielded them from a rain of unnatural projectiles flickering like black lightning.
Ashley's heart pounded. What was happening?
Below them, shadows warped and danced unnaturally. The sky was dull, choked with ash and mist, and the wind screamed like a mourning ghost. Something was chasing them. Something fast. Something wrong.
The larger troll roared, stumbling slightly as another strike pierced his shoulder. "Run faster!" he bellowed at his smaller companion. "The monsters… they're too strong!"
"They're not monsters," Ashley whispered, eyes wide with realization. "They're not human…"
The shadow knights—creatures that looked like men only in outline—moved like ghosts, blinking through space, appearing mid-air then vanishing, each time getting closer. Their eyes glowed faintly with corrupted divinity, like stolen godlight.
Ashley felt the familiar tremor of power inside her, but when she reached for it—nothing. Only static. Her divine essence was unstable, still broken from the ritual.
The smaller troll grunted, leaping to another ledge, then twisting mid-air to shield Ashley with his arms. Behind them, the larger troll was swaying, slowing down. His wounds were too deep now. One leg dragged. Another knight appeared above him, sword raised.
The blade slashed down.
The troll caught it with both hands, snarling through broken tusks. Blood spilled across the rocks.
"I'll hold them," the troll growled, glancing over his shoulder. "My time's done."
"No!" Ashley cried out, voice hoarse.
The large troll locked eyes with the smaller one. "You must protect her now," he said, then shoved the enemy knight backward with all his strength. "Go!"
Alex woke with a start to the sound of warcries and heavy breathing. The cave was gone. He was now sliding down the shoulder of a troll, wind screaming in his ears. Ahead, Ashley clung to the smaller troll, pale and stunned.
"What the hell is going on?" he shouted, barely able to hear himself.
Ashley's voice trembled. "Shadow knights. The king's made something... unholy."
Behind them, the larger troll had stopped running. He now faced off against the nightmare soldiers alone, swinging a jagged club of bone and stone. He fought like a mountain himself—slow, unyielding—but the knights were too fast, blinking around him, slicing him open piece by piece.
"They're dissecting him…" Ashley murmured, horrified.
Alex turned just in time to see a blade drive through the troll's neck. Still, he roared, grabbing one knight and crushing it into the rocks before collapsing.
It was over.
The smaller troll landed on a crumbling ledge but didn't stop. He leapt again, hurling his massive body toward the next cliff—
And then it happened.
Mid-air, the ledge he was aiming for crumbled. He stumbled, his body starting to fall. The troll looked down, then up at Ashley.
"I'm sorry… Goddess."
With a mighty swing, he launched both Ashley and Alex forward with all his strength. "Please… survive!"
They soared through the air like thrown stones.
Ashley screamed as the world spun beneath her. She tried again to awaken her divine power, to slow their fall—but the light sputtered. Failed.
Below them was jagged rock, the end of a cliff face.
Alex twisted mid-air, grabbing Ashley and turning so he would hit the ground first. His mind screamed. His body braced.
This is it.
But fate gave them mercy.
They didn't hit the cliff.
Instead, they slammed into a moss-covered slope just below the peak. The impact sent them tumbling, bruised and battered, but alive.
Alex groaned, clutching his ribs. He turned to see Ashley lying beside him, breathing, eyes wide with shock.
They lay still for several long seconds, the sounds of war now far above.
Ashley looked up.
"I… I don't understand. Why did they do that? They could have run."
Alex spat blood. "Because they weren't monsters."
He forced himself to sit up, clutching his side. "They saw something worth saving… even if no one else does."
Ashley's eyes welled with tears—not divine tears, but very human ones.
Above them, at the edge of the cliff, the last shadow knights stood watching. They made no move to follow. Perhaps they were regrouping. Or perhaps the trolls' final stand had bought them more than time—it had earned a sliver of fear.
Ashley curled beside Alex, silent.
Alex watched the mountain winds carry away the last echo of the troll's roar.
Meanwhile, far below
The king stood at the edge of a foul pit where the Seed of Darkness had been he was waiting for the massage.
He can't go back and say he failed again