"Holy shit," I breathed, my voice hoarse. Violet was a force of nature. She was fighting them with words, with pure will, effortlessly bending reality to her commands. And I was just… standing here, a terrified, useless lump. My own power, the one that had just torn my apartment apart, felt like a joke in comparison. It was a sledgehammer, she was a surgeon.
The second Drainer, shorter and stockier, took advantage of its companion's disorientation. It lunged directly at Violet, its cloaked arm outstretched, a tendril of sickly green energy reaching for her.
"Barrier!" Violet commanded, her voice sharp, a desperate edge to it now. A shimmering, translucent shield of sapphire-blue energy erupted between her and the Drainer, crackling with power. The Drainer's energy tendril slammed into it, dissipating harmlessly, but the force of the impact made Violet grunt, a flicker of pain crossing her serene face.
"Cassandra, we need to move!" Violet yelled, pulling me with her. "My power is defensive. I cannot hold them off forever. They are too many, and they are fueled by the essence of the Mundane."
"But where do we go?" I stammered, my legs finally finding some semblance of coordination as I stumbled after her. The forest was beautiful, terrifying, and utterly alien.
"To the Heartwood," Violet replied, her eyes scanning the dense foliage, searching for a path. "It is the oldest part of Elara, where the veil is thickest, and their influence weakest. But we must hurry. They are trying to cut off our escape."
As if on cue, the taller Drainer, having recovered from Violet's sonic counter, raised its hands. Its green eyes glowed with an unnerving intensity, and a series of dark, shimmering lines began to appear in the air before it, twisting and weaving into a complex, malevolent pattern. It was a rune. A dark, corrupted rune, woven from their twisted essence.
"Chains. Bind!" the Drainer hissed, its voice a low, guttural command that vibrated with dark power.
From the glowing lines of the rune, shadowy tendrils, thick and strong as iron, shot out, snaking through the air, heading directly for us. They weren't threads; they were solidified darkness, imbued with a chilling cold. Rune Manipulation – twisting Ink with Thread, just as Lyra had warned.
"Disperse!" Violet roared, pushing me behind her, her sapphire eyes blazing with a fierce determination. A wave of pure, concussive force, tinged with blue, erupted from her, slamming into the shadowy chains. They buckled, wavered, but didn't break. The Drainers were strong. Too strong.
The chains wrapped around Violet, binding her arms to her sides, constricting her. She gasped, her face paling, her sapphire eyes wide with effort. "Cassandra! Run! Get to the Heartwood!"
"No!" I screamed, pure terror and a sudden, furious protectiveness surging through me. I couldn't just leave her. She was the only one who knew what the hell was going on, the only one who could explain this madness. My eyes, which had been shifting wildly, suddenly locked into a brilliant, furious violet. The tattoo on my arm burned, pulsing with an intense, internal light.
The rage, the fear, the desperate need to protect Violet, it all coalesced. My voice, my very being, resonated with a raw, untamed power. I didn't think. I didn't plan. I just felt.
"GET. AWAY. FROM. HER!" I roared, the command tearing from my core, not just spoken, but manifested with a force that shook the very ground.
It wasn't a word, or a phrase. It was a pure, unadulterated Echo Blast, amplified by my unique ability to re-weave reality. A wave of pure, concussive force, shimmering with a terrifying violet light, erupted from me. It slammed into the two Drainers with the force of a cosmic hammer. They didn't just stagger; they were lifted off their feet, flung backward through the glowing trees, their cloaked forms tumbling like rag dolls. The dark chains binding Violet shattered into dust, and the twisted rune they had created dissolved into wisps of smoke.
I stood there, trembling, my breath coming in ragged gasps, my violet eyes blazing with residual power. I felt utterly drained, weak, but also a terrifying, exhilarating sense of accomplishment. The Drainers were gone, their forms disappearing into the deeper shadows of the forest.
Violet stared at me, her sapphire eyes wide with shock, a mixture of awe and something akin to fear on her face. "Cassandra… you… you just manifested an Echo Blast with the force of a full Reality Distortion. And you shattered their rune. You truly are… something new."
My legs buckled, and I would have fallen if Violet hadn't caught me, her hands steadying me. The adrenaline faded, leaving me weak and nauseous. "Yeah, well," I gasped, leaning heavily on her, my voice hoarse, "I told you I was a walking, talking disaster. Now can we please, for the love of all that is holy, find a place where I don't accidentally blow up the scenery every five minutes?"
Violet didn't answer immediately. She just looked at me, her sapphire eyes filled with a profound, almost overwhelming mixture of wonder and grave concern. The faint smell of ozone lingered in the air, a testament to the raw, untamed power that had just erupted from me. My journey had truly begun, and it was going to be a hell of a ride.