Page 192 of Heir of Broken Souls

Stiffening, my own hand drops to my weapons and I’m beside Delilah in a heartbeat.

“What is it?”

Naia’s gills have flattened, her entire body tense. She hisses, “Thatthinghas a mind of its own.”

Amelia releases a sound close to a growl. “And it wants us to fight.”

At first, I’m unsure what they’re speaking of, wondering if it’s another riddle but then I take note of where their eyes have landed and it’s not on me, butpastme. Slowly turning, I can’t help but drop the sword from my hand, the metal hitting the rocky terrain with a clang that rings in my ears.

“Gods,” I breathe.

Perhaps I’m calling upon them. We certainly will need them as I peer through the mirror that has shifted once more.

I’m no longer looking at my face, and the fear likely upon it. Instead, I’m peering through to a world of blood, gore, death, and war.

One that is upon the front lines of the war we have been fighting for weeks.

One that has the dark lord, Peter Maloone himself, marching alongside the lines of his demonic army as he overthrows Aloriah, leaving utter destruction in his wake.

Chapter70

Delilah

Ithink I’m going to be sick.

“We’re too late,” I whisper gutturally at the sight. Tears spring into my eyes.

Knox’s voice is full of anguish. “Why hasn’t Nolan sent word?” A sound close to a wail rises in his chest. “Gods, what if he’s?—”

“No.” Axel stiffens. “I refuse for that to be?—”

“It’s the vision I received before the human lands. It’s coming true.”

It’s just as I saw it. A wave of darkness moves through the lands of Aloriah, but where exactly I couldn’t even say. It’s littered in ruin. Buildings are torn down, people lie scattered, their bodies dismembered. Everything is set ablaze, and demonic dragons fly through the sky, raining terror on the citizens running for safety. All the while, on the ground, a demonic army so large and indestructible marches through it all, claiming what they have conquered.

Everything I have done, everything I have strived for, has been to avoid this moment and yet here we are, once again, too late to save innocents.

A deep growl rumbles through Knox’s chest as shadows linger around his clenched fists. They don’t stay for long but explode as he roars in fury.

Reaching behind his back, he unsheathes his blades. “We need a plan before we go in there.”

Naia glides forward, hatred burning in her gaze. The water from her movement laps against the risen island we now know as the hidden governing city. “There’s a lake behind where they march from. My pod and I will relocate?—”

Knox cuts her off. “You can teleport?” he asks disbelievingly.

“The matter of which powers my pod possesses does not matter in this moment. We will fight from behind with our power on those demonic creatures waiting to pounce.”

Knox stares at her with wide, incredulous eyes.

I can’t help but be shocked myself. All this time, they never had to remain beside our ship. They could have gone ahead. Perhaps Naia did speak in truth.

Perhaps she has always been on our side.

Naia slides her gaze to me. “What else did you receive down there, child?” My head rears back, and she waves her hand as if to hurry me along. “The prophecy.”

I stumble over my words at first before rushing on to the one Elysia translated when she touched the mirror, along with the one I received when I touched the dark magic book.

“One set was birthed the other forged, bring together their blood will pour.