Chapter 14— The Crystal Desert part 3
The creature charged.
Mira disappeared first.
Aeron followed.
Then Ilyra and Kael moved with them.
For the first time, the three young Fae weren't fighting Mira.
They were fighting beside her.
The creature shifted as it came.
Its body twisted through the forms it had already stolen from them, changing its stance with every step. One moment it moved like Aeron, driving forward with brutal force. The next, its body became lighter, its movements resembling Ilyra's evasive footwork. Then it dropped low and accelerated with Kael's aggressive style.
They knew what it was capable of now.
That didn't make fighting it any easier.
Mira crossed her Blooddaggers against a crystalline blade, the impact sending a sharp vibration through her arms. She immediately twisted away before the creature could copy the counterattack, while Aeron slammed into its side from behind.
"Push it left!" Aeron shouted.
"I've got it!"
Ilyra swept her hand forward, sending a violent current of wind across the desert. The creature dug its feet into the crystal ground, resisting the force.
Kael attacked from the opposite side.
For several seconds, the four of them moved almost perfectly together.
Mira noticed something.
The creature wasn't trying to kill them.
It was trying to keep them here.
Every time they moved toward the edge of the desert, it intercepted them.
Every time they changed direction, it followed.
Every time one of them created an opening, the creature closed it.
Mira's eyes narrowed.
It's guarding the desert.
She ducked beneath a strike and glanced toward the endless field of crystal behind the creature.
There were no signs that it wanted to leave.
No pursuit beyond its territory.
No attempt to chase them toward the path they had entered from.
It always returned.
Mira suddenly understood.
"It's not protecting itself."
Aeron blocked another strike.
"What?"
"The desert."
Mira pointed toward the creature.
"That's why it keeps stopping us from leaving. It doesn't care whether we hurt it. It cares whether we get out."
Ilyra's expression changed.
"So if we make it think we're attacking something else…"
"We can force it backward."
Kael looked at the massive crystal formations surrounding them.
"Backward where?"
Mira smiled.
"Deeper."
The three Fae looked at her.
Mira tightened her grip on her Blooddaggers.
"We don't need to beat this thing. We just need to make it retreat far enough for us to run."
Aeron nodded.
"Then we push."
Mira smiled.
"Exactly."
They moved.
Aeron struck first, forcing the creature backward.
Kael attacked from the opposite side, refusing to give it room to circle.
Ilyra filled the space between them with violent bursts of wind, disrupting its footing whenever it attempted to counter.
Mira became the spearhead.
She moved faster than the creature expected, her Blooddaggers flashing across its crystalline body—not attempting to destroy it, but driving it away from the others.
The creature adapted.
It changed forms.
Copied their movements, and their techniques.
But now that was exactly what Mira wanted.
Every time it mirrored them, it followed their rhythm.
And every time they changed direction, it was forced to follow.
"NOW!" Mira shouted.
Aeron drove forward.
Kael followed.
Ilyra unleashed everything she had.
A wall of wind exploded across the desert.
The creature staggered.
Mira appeared directly in front of it.
For a brief moment, she and the creature stared at one another.
Mira could see her own face reflected in its crystalline body.
Then she smiled.
"Go back."
She slammed both Blooddaggers into its chest.
Not deep.
Not enough to hurt it.
Just enough to give her leverage.
With a burst of vampire strength, Mira twisted and threw herself backward.
Aeron and Kael struck at the same time.
Ilyra's wind hit from behind.
The combined force finally drove the creature several dozen feet backward.
The crystal beneath its feet cracked.
The creature stumbled.
For the first time since the battle began, it stopped advancing.
Mira's eyes widened.
"It worked."
"RUN!" Aeron shouted.
They didn't hesitate.
The three Fae and Mira sprinted toward the edge of the Crystal Desert.
Kin followed behind them, struggling to keep pace.
His shadows dragged along the ground unnaturally, flickering like dying flames. The desert was still interfering with them, making every step harder than it should have been.
Mira glanced back.
The creature hadn't followed.
It stood in the distance.
Watching.
Then it slowly turned away.
The group crossed the final crystal ridge.
The moment they stepped beyond the desert's boundary, Kin collapsed to one knee.
Mira caught him before he hit the ground.
"You good?"
Kin breathed heavily.
"My shadows… hate this place."
Ilyra looked at him with genuine concern.
"They weren't supposed to be this unstable."
Aeron shook his head.
"The Veil itself is affecting him."
Kin looked up.
"What does that mean?"
"It means," Aeron said quietly, "if you don't learn to control those shadows completely…"
His eyes moved toward the endless world beyond the desert.
"…the Veil may become more dangerous to you than any creature inside it."
Before Kin could answer, Mira felt something.
She slowly stood.
The others noticed it too.
Footsteps.
Dozens of them.
Shapes emerged from the mist beyond the crystal formations.
Armored Fae surrounded them from every direction.
Mira's hands immediately moved toward her Blooddaggers.
Aeron's face went pale.
"No…"
Kael whispered,
"Royal Guards."
A tall Fae stepped forward, his armor marked with the insignia of the royal court.
His gaze moved across the group.
Then stopped on Mira.
A vampire.
His expression hardened.
"By order of the Royal Court of the Veil…"
Weapons were drawn around them.
"…you are to surrender."
Mira slowly looked around.
There was nowhere to run.
The Royal Guards had already surrounded them.
And for the first time since entering the Veil, Mira realized that escaping the Crystal Desert had only brought them into a much bigger problem.
The guards closed in.
They had been captured.
⸻
Darius stood alone in the middle of the jungle.
For several seconds, he didn't move.
Around him, the enormous trees stretched so high that their branches disappeared into the strange mist hanging above the forest. Thick vines wrapped around trunks wider than houses, while enormous leaves blocked out much of the light that filtered through the canopy. Strange flowers grew from the roots, some glowing faintly while others slowly opened and closed as though they were breathing.
But none of that was what made the scene unsettling.
It was the bodies.
They were scattered everywhere.
Something that looked like a six-legged wolf lay split open near one of the trees, its blood staining the grass a deep violet. Farther away, a reptilian creature with antlers protruding from its skull had collapsed against a tree, its golden blood running down the bark. Another creature, something resembling a massive insect covered in black armor, had been cut apart across the forest floor.
And standing in the middle of all of it was Darius.
His clothes were torn.
Blood covered his arms, his chest, and parts of his face. One of his short blades was still in his hand, its edge stained with colors that didn't belong to any human body. His breathing was heavier than usual, and several shallow cuts ran across his clothing.
But what truly made him look different wasn't the blood.
It was his face.
There was no smirk.
No calm confidence.
No amused expression that suggested he already knew how the situation would end.
For the first time since joining the journey, Darius looked like a man who had actually been fighting to survive.
He slowly wiped some of the blood from his cheek and looked toward the endless forest ahead.
"…How long has it been?"
His voice was quiet.
He looked up through the canopy, but the strange sky of the Veil was almost completely hidden.
The storm had separated them hours ago.
Since then, Darius had been moving.
Fighting.
Moving again.
Fighting again.
Every time he thought he had finally found a safe path, another creature appeared from somewhere in the forest.
Some had attacked from the trees.
Others had emerged from underground.
One had followed him for nearly an hour without making a sound before finally lunging at him from behind.
Darius had killed them all.
But there were too many.
And he still hadn't found the others.
"…The kids."
His fingers tightened around his blade.
"Blue, Mira, Kin, Rito, Gus…"
He paused.
"Lirael."
His expression hardened.
He couldn't afford to assume they were dead.
Not yet.
Darius had seen enough of the Veil to understand that this place didn't follow the rules of the world he knew. The creatures here were different. The land itself was different.
But there was something else bothering him.
Something he couldn't ignore.
"Lirael."
He lowered his blade and began walking.
The massive jungle swallowed him almost immediately.
"I still don't know if I can trust you."
His footsteps were quiet against the moss-covered ground.
"You knew this place better than anyone."
Darius ducked beneath a hanging vine and continued deeper into the forest.
"You knew where the entrances were. You knew about the storm. You knew what kind of creatures lived here."
His eyes narrowed.
"And now we're separated."
He stopped.
For a moment, he listened.
Nothing.
Only the distant sounds of the jungle.
Something screamed somewhere beyond the trees.
Darius looked in that direction.
"…Did you set us up?"
The question lingered in the air.
He didn't have an answer.
And that was what bothered him most.
Darius eventually started walking again.
"Doesn't matter."
His expression became cold.
"Whether she did or didn't, I can't waste time figuring it out."
He needed the cure.
That was the only thing that mattered.
Zak was dying.
Every hour they spent wandering through the Veil was another hour they couldn't afford to lose.
"I need to find the kids."
His eyes shifted toward the deeper forest.
"But first…"
His hand tightened around his blade.
"…I need to find the cure."
A low growl suddenly came from somewhere behind him.
Darius stopped.
His eyes slowly moved toward the trees.
Another growl answered from his left.
Then another from his right.
His shoulders relaxed.
Not from comfort.
From readiness.
"…Of course."
The leaves above him began to shake.
Something enormous moved through them.
Darius sighed.
"Can't even think for five minutes."
The first creature dropped from the canopy.
Darius vanished.
A flash of steel followed.
The creature crashed into the ground behind him, its strange-colored blood splashing across the roots.
Darius didn't even look back.
He simply continued walking.
Deeper into the jungle.
Deeper into the Veil.
And somewhere ahead of him, hidden beyond the endless forest, was the answer he had come here to find.
The cure.
But before he could reach it, Darius would have to survive whatever else this world had waiting for him.