I was sure I saw it.
Not a mirage. Not a trick of the light.
It slipped away, and I followed it, eyes locked.
The crowd around me laughed, danced, cheered.
No one noticed me. They simply moved aside, as if drawn by something greater, letting me pass wherever my intuition led.
I stepped off the dancing square and found myself by a row of benches, near tents that smelled of grilled meat and spices.
People were slowly dispersing.
Through a gap between bodies, I saw IT again.
A black shadow slipped past the chatting vendors and disappeared behind a house, dissolving into the dark as if it were never there.
I was right.
I'm not crazy.
And I'll prove it.
Without hesitation, I stepped around the corner, following the shadow.
I walked a bit farther and looked around.
Nothing.
In front of me was a dead-end wall of another house.
I was wedged between two buildings — an alley forgotten even by the wind.
I peeked into the window on the right — empty.
The house across was covered in dust.
Through the grimy glass, it was impossible to see anything.
Did it escape? Damn it.
I looked carefully. No cracks, no open doors, no passages.
Even the road beneath my feet was paved tight with stone, as if leaving no chance at all to disappear.
I was about to turn around and leave — and then, he appeared.
Tall. Dressed in black. A cloak draped over dark clothing. From the wide sleeves protruded long, black claws. His face was hidden by a mask, only his eyes were visible. Standing before me was the darkness itself.
I recoiled. A dull drumbeat pounded in my chest.
It... even my mind stuttered.
He was standing right in front of me.
An Avodanian.
My hands trembled. I instinctively stepped back and hit the cold wall behind me.
He was taller. Much taller. Even Blake would seem like a boy next to him. My throat tightened. Fear squeezed me from the inside, leaving no air.
He dissolved into a black stream and slipped into the window of one of the houses. The fear wouldn't let go. I was afraid to move.
"Bian!"
The kids' shouts broke through the noise and music, snapping me back to reality.
Kai. Lian. Lili.
The three of them ran around the corner and rushed to me, checking what was wrong, asking something, but I could barely hear them. There was only ringing in my ears.
"Well, isn't that nice." The venomous, low voice came from behind them.
The Avodanian was standing in front of me again. All three turned around.
"No!" I screamed and, breaking free from the chains of fear, stepped between him and the children, shielding them with my body.
"I'll deal with you later, human," he hissed.
A black tendril stretched out from the shadows, wrapped around my ankle, and yanked me away from the kids. I didn't even have time to scream — my body slammed into the stone. Pain cut through me, and my mind flickered.
The stone was merciless. It tore through the thin fabric of my new dress, cutting my skin.
I was thrown against a wall. The impact was heavy and dull. A ringing drowned out everything. The world blurred, swayed.
I fell, hitting a protruding part of the wall. My whole body went limp.
Through the haze and pulsing dimness, I saw fire. It burned in Lili's hands.
"Hel..."
The last flickers of thought whispered: call for help. But I had no strength.
I tried to focus my eyes with all I had, not to lose consciousness. Everything swam.
Kai hurled a water orb at him. Then another. Another. But the black tendrils — thin as needles stretched on thread — easily deflected every strike.
Lian stood behind them, motionless.
Damn it.
I pressed my hand against the stone. It was beneath me, hard, everywhere.
He can't use magic here. Shit.
"Help..." I shouted as loudly as I could, but my voice betrayed me. It broke. Went hollow.
"You damn blonde, shut up." His hissing voice didn't just speak — it crawled under my skin.
One of the tendrils lashed toward me, wrapped around my neck. It squeezed. Lifted me. Air disappeared. Everything inside shrank.
I grabbed it with my hand. It was like a shadow, but I could feel it — solid, flexible, slippery.
"Bian!" Kai shouted and hurled two more orbs. They hit the tendril, and it let go. I collapsed.
"Don't you dare touch her!" He didn't yell like a kid. His voice had changed.
Kai raised his hands, and wave after wave of water orbs burst from them, one after another.
Lili, covering Lian, flung firebursts, but not as fiercely as he did.
I saw his face. There was no boy there. There was a warrior. In his expression burned rage. Combat resolve.
"Hel...p..." I tried to scream again, but only a rasp came out. My voice broke like my throat was crushed from inside.
"You little bastard." Venom dripped from his words like from a poisoned blade.
One of the tendrils lunged at me, wrapped around my ankle, and hurled me aside.
I crashed into the wall of a neighboring house. My head hit the stone with a thud. Darkness crept in.
I couldn't move. I was afraid even to blink. My body didn't obey. The fear was stronger than pain.
I looked at his face. There was no boy anymore. There was a warrior. In those features I saw fury. A burning will to fight.
"Help... help..." I tried again, but it came out as a rasp. My throat felt crushed from inside.
"You little bastard." The poison dripped from his words like from a venomous blade.
A tendril lashed out at me again, wrapped around my ankle, and flung me aside.
I hit the wall of a nearby house. My head slammed against stone. Darkness closed in.
No... Not now. I can't let go.
They... I can't leave them.
Through the blur, I saw Kai still fighting. Still throwing water orbs, furious. The Avodanian stepped back. One step. He flinched.
If I'm chosen. If there's even a drop of power inside me. Please. Magic. Come back. Let me protect them.
But deep inside — only emptiness. The darkness didn't retreat. It seeped in like black smoke, crawling through my mind, erasing my will.
I fought it. Opened my eyes. Saw him gathering power.
Five tendrils rose into the air, thin like needles. They wove into a single stream and lunged forward.
Kai's magic couldn't hold it. The water shattered into pieces.
Lili kept throwing fire, faster and faster. Lian stood behind them, fists clenched in helplessness.
The tendrils rose even higher — and broke through.
Kai was pierced clean through.
He jerked. His eyes widened. He looked straight at me.
A moment. And his body hung limp on black threads.
No... no, no, no... I couldn't believe what I was seeing. My heartbeat pounded in my ears, turning everything around me into a heavy, echoing silence. Lili and Lian backed away in horror. The tendrils dropped Kai like a lifeless animal carcass.
Pain tore me apart from the inside. My throat burned, thoughts tangled, and my whole world shrank down to one thing — Kai's motionless body. He wasn't moving. No. He couldn't be dead.
I tried to crawl toward him, but my body wouldn't listen. It felt like my arms and legs weren't mine. My fingers trembled, scratching at the stone as I, drunk on fear and pain, tried to get even a little closer. Tears wouldn't stop flowing.
"Please... move..." the breath escaped almost silently. "I'm begging you... breathe..."
I wanted to scream, but I couldn't. I wanted to stand up, but my body kept falling back down. All I could do was crawl helplessly across the cold stones toward his lifeless body.
The Avodanian hid Kai's crystal inside his dark cloak.
"Tasty," he hissed, as if savoring our helplessness.
NOOOOOOOO!
My heart clenched into a scream. I saw Lili and Lian backing away, but there was nowhere left to run. The dead end pressed them against the walls just like reality pressed on me.
No... no... My lips trembled. Where's my power...
I prayed in silence, clinging to despair like a final thread. Heavens, please give it back... I'm begging you...
Tears blurred everything. Through them I saw Kai's body and two small figures pressed into the corner.
Blake... please... save them...
Someone... anyone...
But no one was there. Only us.
"Help!" I screamed with all my might. The voice wasn't loud, but it could be heard.
"When will you finally shut up," the Avodanian snapped at me.
One of his tendrils slithered toward me again, but before it could reach my ankle, fire tore it apart in the air.
Lili.
She was glowing from within. Not just her hands — her whole chest, her whole body was radiating with silver light.
I froze as she took two confident steps forward and began to attack him.
The Avodanian's needle-like tendrils rose above the ground. There were more than five already. They darted in chaotic motion toward Lili, and one shadowy tendril slithered along the ground toward her feet.
"Below..." I tried to shout, but my voice broke. Only a rasp escaped my throat.
Lili still heard me and jumped back. She deflected the chaotic needles with streams of fire. They scattered in all directions — except one. The lowest one.
It flew with purpose, weaving in a zigzag, changing direction, rushing toward the children. It slipped past Lili and...
My breath caught.
A black needle pierced Lian.
He didn't have time to do anything. Didn't have time to move.
His body dropped to its knees. He clutched the shadow with his hands, as if trying to hold onto life, but without a word, without a glance, he collapsed.
The needle, tearing free from his back, rose holding a green-silver living crystal.
The world tilted.
My heart was breaking.
Tears streamed down, and the scream inside me burst free.
"A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. "A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A!"
Again. And again.
Let someone hear. Blake... please... hear me... I'm begging you...
The Avodanian threw Lian's lifeless body aside, toward Kai.
The pain inside me began to turn into rage. A dull, burning fury at the monster before me, at this creature, at myself — for being helpless, for the emptiness, for not being able to do anything. But inside, nothing changed. Nothing awakened.
I remained an empty shell, unable to even scream.
A black tendril wrapped around my mouth and neck.
"I told you to shut up," the monster hissed.
I felt heat. As if a fire had been lit beside me.
I looked up at Lili. Her body was on fire. She was glowing entirely, like a living spark of flame.
No. She needs to be saved. Not fighting.
Run, Lili... please... run...
I wanted to shout for her to get away, but I couldn't. The shadow squeezed my mouth shut.
Lili hurled fire. The Avodanian staggered, but he didn't release me.
Another burst of flame hit, and his cloak caught fire. He extinguished it instantly, swallowing it with his shadow.
In one moment, he grew bigger and taller.
The darkness around him thickened, gathered, pulled into him.
I knew what that meant. I saw him preparing to attack again.
She aimed a stream of fire directly at the tendril holding me, completely ignoring the darkness growing around her. It wasn't a fireball — it was a furious, continuous stream of flame, scorching even the stone.
The tendril jerked and threw me toward the wall, but not with the same force as before. I fell, feeling the stone beneath me tremble from the heat in the air.
"Run!" Lili shouted.
Through her flames, I saw tears running down her face. They reflected in the fire, like two glowing cracks in her courage.
No.
NO.
I tried to crawl toward her, but my body wouldn't respond. It felt like it didn't belong to me — heavy, unmovable.
"Please... no," I whispered.
"Run, silly," she said and gave me a smile.
I couldn't breathe. Couldn't see. Tears filled everything.
The pain was the only thing I could feel. Not pain in my body — pain in my heart. My throat clenched, and the world turned into slow, sticky torment.
The Avodanian gathered a large wave of shadow and sent it toward Lili.
I couldn't say anything. Couldn't do anything. I could only watch this nightmare and pray for salvation. Pray that Blake would appear, like he always did, and end all of it.
But there was no Blake. No one else. Only me. Helpless.
Lili raised her hands and directed a stream of fire at the monster. The shadows rushed to meet it. It was a duel. An unfair duel between a monster and a child. A child who only wanted to be strong. A girl who had to become a warrior far too soon.
The wave of darkness was heavier, but Lili didn't retreat and shouted again:
"Bian, please, run!"
Her voice cracked. I heard it break, shatter from within.
I couldn't.
How could I run away from you?
How could I leave you?
How?
"Never," I whispered and crawled toward her.
I will never leave you. I will never run. Maybe it was stupid, considering I couldn't help at all, but I could not run away.
I'd rather die with them than leave them.
The black stream broke through her flames. In the very center of that darkness, a thin, black needle darted toward her heart.
"N...o..." My voice was barely a voice. There was almost nothing left of it. Just like there was almost nothing left of my strength.
The needle pierced through Lili. Everything collapsed. Her body twitched, but she just looked at me and... smiled. Faintly, quietly, sweetly.
The fire went out.
So did her life.
Behind her, a shadow rose, holding an orange, pulsating crystal.
Lili's crystal.
My eyes didn't move from her face. A face that no longer held breath.
The Avodanian dropped her body from the needle, just like before. He tossed it aside, toward Kai.
I didn't look away. My hands trembled. I clawed at the stones, crawling toward her.
I didn't care if he would kill me.
I just wanted to reach them. To touch them. To check. To be sure.
Maybe they were still breathing.
I didn't want to believe this was the end.
They couldn't be dead.
They couldn't.
I didn't hear whether he said anything. I didn't hear the music anymore, or voices, or footsteps.
Only my heartbeat and the cold void in my chest.
I kept crawling.
Looking at nothing and no one but Lili.
A black tendril lifted me off the ground, wrapping around my throat. He was saying something, but I wasn't listening.
Nothing else mattered anymore.
There was a sound. One of the swords, with a diamond in the hilt, cut through his shadow.
It was a sword.
It was... Eiron.
I dropped to the ground. I didn't listen to the Avodanian. I didn't hear the words. I just kept crawling.
To Lili. To the children.
I had to be sure.
Maybe there was still a chance to save them.
Another sharp swing of the sword severed a tendril that reached for me again. I turned and saw Eiron walking toward me quickly, spinning his sword in his hand.
"The children," I whispered, giving my last strength to those words.
He glanced at where their bodies lay.
"Shit," he said, heavily and harshly.
He was almost beside me. I managed to glance at the Avodanian. He tucked Lili's crystal into his cloak and, turning into shadow, disappeared into the window of one of the houses.
I had to crawl to them.
I stood, fell, tried again. Eiron helped me reach the bodies. I dropped to my knees in front of Kai.
He wasn't breathing.
His body was already cold.
Lian too.
Lili... please, at least you...
I touched her skin. It was still warm. I tried to feel for a pulse, but there was none.
I leaned against her chest...
Dead silence.
Her heart was no longer beating. Just like Kai's. Just like Lian's.
I couldn't stop it.
I couldn't help.
I just let him kill them.
I'm not the chosen one.
I held Lili's body close and prayed to the heavens for a miracle, but nothing happened.
I sobbed without stopping, holding her tighter, as if I could warm what no longer existed.
I raised my eyes to the sky.
Again.
And again.
I begged for salvation.
They were supposed to live.
But the sky was already shrouded in darkness.
And then, above the city, the lights began to appear.
Colorful.
Magical.
I held Lili close and watched as magical, sparkling bursts lit up the sky.
My soul was dying with them.
And the tears were burying it.