26.1 || Sacrifice
WHEN THE REAPER charged, Josh had no choice but to plant his feet and brace himself. The air rushed from his lungs at the collision. Locking his jaw, he leaned forward and pushed back.
Eli was behind him. Josh repeated the fact until the words echoed through his bones and became the willpower holding his feet to the ground. He surged lightning into his shield. The reaper pushed onward, unaffected.
Light shot over his shoulder and slammed against the reaper. It threw itself back, the sudden upward jerk finally sending Josh into the air. He hit shoulder blades first, then continued with the momentum to a kneeling position.
Before he could dart forward, a small, shaking voice made him pause. "I'll do it," Eli said.
It? It what? Josh hesitated, though he didn't take his eyes off the reaper. It shook its head, trying to rid itself of whatever daze the beam leftbehind.
"It's very dangerous," Xander whispered.
"What is?" Josh demanded. He blasted a beam of light at the reaper. Even if he only hit its shoulder, he kept the creature back for a little longer. The grotesque figure at least provided one benefit: the reaper was easier to hit.
"You're not going to like it." Mara attempted to speak in a level tone, but the minor strain told him she didn't like it either.
"What? Don't really have time for indirect answers." Josh directed another blast the reaper's way. This time it dodged, so only the edge of the beam clipped its leg.
A wave of heat crashed into Josh as the room flared yellow. He winced. Moshe's avatar held a giant orb of fire over its head. With a cry from the Paladin and a mimicked action, the avatar brought the orb crashing down.
"We need the blood of a child."
Josh's next blast missed, and it had nothing to do with losing his advantage from the reaper recovering. He flashed back to the water-filled room, watching as Aharon ran up to the reaper, waving his bloody hand.
Except, a moment later, Eli's form replaced Aharon's.
"No," he breathed.
"What other way is there?" Mara asked.
He knew the reaper was his enemy, but at that moment, he wanted to dart back and protect Eli from Mara.
They needed the blood of a child, and there was only one left in that realm.
"I'm doing it," Eli said.
Before Josh could spin on Eli and tell him no, that he wouldn't risk something going wrong, Mara moved forward and pulled at his forearm.
"Come," she said, eyes forward. "We have something else to focus on."
Josh swallowed despite the bitter scoff caught in his throat. Yeah, they needed to fight off a reaper while his brother was perhaps preparing to do something stupidly dangerous.
Boomer directed a calm focus through the bond. Josh took a deep breath and let it wash over him. Memories of the reaper vanishing from Aharon's actions accompanied the feelings.
Josh forced another controlled breath and rushed forward, though he wasn't sure if it was because of Boomer's assurance or because Mara had already run ahead. He had to run full speed to get between her and the reaper before it brought its pronged-hand down on her.
She went to stab at its arm, but the reaper had learned. Before her dagger could make contact, the reaper retracted its arm and spun. Its tail slammed into Josh's legs. He went down. Mara jumped over the incoming sweep, but the reaper hadn't slowed its turn. It brought a momentum-carried mandible crashing into her.
It wasn't the sharp side, which would have been good if it didn't send her flying straight into a pillar.
Her head slammed into the stone with a sickening crack. She fell a few feet to the floor, where her limp body crumpled. A red spot smeared the pillar and shot a spear directly into Josh's heart.
"Mara!" He took a step toward her, but the appearance of a small figure froze him in his spot.
Eli stood, blood-smeared hand in the air, his face ghostly pale and arm shaking. "Pass!" he shouted.
The reaper shrieked, eyes turned on him.
A tear slid down his cheek, and he hunched in on himself, but Eli didn't budge. "Pass."
Come on, Josh mentally pleaded. He glanced between Eli and the reaper. Everything in him froze and raced all at once, unable to escape the waiting for the reaper to vanish. For the banishing to work. For this plan to work.
But, of course, it couldn't.
The reaper took a few steps forward, mandible spreading to reveal its needle-sharp teeth. It snarled, tail pulling back.
Josh leapt, wrapping his arm around his younger brother and tucking himagainst his chest, placing himself as a wall between Eli and the reaper. Maybehe could have positioned his shield in a way that would have protected themboth, but the thought appeared too late.
"Draznik terrath!"
The floor quaked beneath him. The reaper screeched as something crashed. The sharp end of its tail bit into Josh's back, dragging down across it. It couldn't be deep. The reaper barely caught him, but every nerve suddenly caught fire.
His scream built up in his throat, but it wouldn't come out. The pain closed his throat around it. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't think. He couldn't feel. Everything was just pain.
He could hear, though. It was a faint whimper, but it dragged him out of the dark haze that pulled against him.
"Josh?" Eli balled his fists into Josh's shirt. Emotions thickened his voice when he said once more, "Josh?"
Josh nudged Eli backward, a few steps closer to Xander, and turned. The floor where the reaper had stood had caved, bits of its back showing beneath the rubble. Cale's doing, based on the yell earlier. Josh glanced over.
Cale clashed blades with the one Shadow Knight who had broken away from the group going against Moshe—Peter.
Josh dragged his eyes back to where Mara lay, unmoving on the ground. The reaper wasn't dead. There was only one way to kill it. Dragon energy? No, a creature of pure energy.
He squeezed his eyes shut. The thought was distant, and grabbing it had been like grabbing water.
Everything hurt.
Mara needed him.
"Go to Xander," Josh instructed, his words slurred. He didn't look to see if Eli listened, instead dragging his feet over to Mara. He paused. Studied her for a moment. "Mara?"
No answer.
Fighting the darkness that flickered over his vision, Josh bent down and slipped Mara's arm over his shoulder. He pulled her up with him.
Pain.
A voice whispered beneath the darkness, and he thought he should know the voice, but he couldn't reach the name.
He turned, planning to walk Mara over to Xander, but the Paladin leader stood a few feet in front of him.
Xander took Mara's other arm and put it around his own shoulder. "Come," he said. He wouldn't meet Josh's eyes. "Let's get you as far from combat as possible."
The trudge back to the far corner was like walking on flaming needles, but after a handful of eternal seconds, they reached it. Xander lowered Mara to the ground.
Josh stood, swaying. Mara seemed oddly blurred.
"You too." Xander let Josh use his shoulder to sit. "Shi'raz have a strange venom in their tails. I don't see the boils yet, so hopefully the unbound energy didn't inherit it fully."
"I need—" Josh started, but Xander gave him a sharp shake of his head before moving to examine Mara.
"You need to rest. The venom shouldn't be deadly, but I have heard how it feels," Xander said.
A few moments of quiet followed. No, not quiet. The battle sounded so far away, especially when Josh didn't have the energy to turn his head, but he knew it was happening just down the steps.
Moshe against almost a dozen Shadow Knights that had already defeated Aharon. Cale against his own brother. Josh had seen bits and pieces earlier. Craters, jutting earth spikes, flames that seemed to burn off nothing, ponds of magical water. Broken pillars, shattered vases, and destroyed pieces of Nizar's statue.
He hadn't seen a body, though. Because Aharon had never been alive.
The world blurred, and this time he didn't think it was from pain. A tear ran down his cheek.
"Why didn't it work?" Eli clenched his feet, biting hard enough on his lip that he left teeth marks. "What did I do wrong?"
Xander removed his fingers from a pulse on Mara's neck, a flicker of relief on his face, before turning to Eli. "I don't know," he said. "I'm sorry I put you in danger. I truly thought it would work."
Eli said nothing, but he glanced at Josh, tears flowing freely.
"I am sorry I cannot do more," Xander continued. He placed his hand over the bracelet on his left wrist. "If we could just get the gate to open... Pure energy must remove these. They had to re-cuff me when I stepped through. If I had only realized I had my abilities for that split second..."
Xander almost seemed to talk to himself at that point. Hatred burned on his face, but Josh had a feeling it wasn't directed at anyone in the room.
"Josh, give me your sword and shield," Xander said, cutting off whatever he'd been saying. It had been something, though Josh had drifted off from listening. "Perhaps the material will be enough to still hurt the monster—Josh?"
Josh's eyes closed. The darkness consumed him, and he finally found relief from the pain.
Fun Fact: The shi'raz's venom creating boils is another call back to the plagues of Egypt! It was based on the sixth plague, which caused "festering boils [which] will break out on men and animals throughout the land." Much fun :D
Welp, things aren't going well. Josh is poisoned (but it shouldn't kill him!), Mara is knocked out, and... Eli cannot dismiss the reaper? For some reason? There goes that plan... But I'm sure something will pop up to save the day, because I so wouldn't end book one by killing everyone! Right? ... Uh, yeah, right...
Let me know your thoughts on the chapter down below, and if you enjoyed it, don't forget to vote and comment! I also have a discord open to anyone who wants to join, and we have a section there to discuss the book :D It's in my bio if you'd like to join!
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