Page 188 of The Last Syphon

It took a moment for her mind to catch up with her body. She fought through the wave of disorientation and focused on what was ahead.

She accessed Fraener’s formidable sight with nothing more than a thought. Her eyes heated. Everything came through with picture-perfect clarity. She took it all in quickly.

Deadhaven was far below, abandoned. Not a single soul was in sight. Relief filled her chest. Venerable Cias had done as she asked, and taken their people to safety.

Further ahead, The Arelian Army stood, some 2,000 soldiers strong, clad in their red-scaled armour. They were stationed behind a bright, golden force field, held in place by dozens of Shielders.

Beyond that was Prince Walder.

Inara would recognise that build anywhere. The ferociousness with which he fought. He was locked in battle with someone Inara couldn’t quite make out. They moved too fast for her to catch, even with Fraener’s sight at her disposal. They blinked in and out of existence as they swung their mighty swords, jumping with each strike and parry of their weapons.

There was something off about his opponent's sword. It seemed to glow, as if made of pure energy.

Their weapons clashed. They disappeared, rematerialising a few yards away, already swinging their swords again. Steel rang on steel, and they vanished once more, doing the same dance over and over again. Inara couldn’t even process it. They were fighting with such speed and accuracy, it was hard for her to fathom. The way their minds and bodies could move like that…

It was extraordinary.

Behind them, Inara saw something she never thought she would see, and it made her mind go blank in shock.

A Griffin.

The beast was nothing short of magical. It stood over a thousand feet tall, with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle. It rested peacefully behind its Chosen, not a care in the realm. It wasn’t worried or scared. It simply watched on, unbothered by the events taking place.

Tydus stood behind the safe confines of the golden shield with the 2,000 Arelian soldiers, not only watching his Chosen but also the Griffin, as if waiting for it to move so it could take the creature down.

Inara’s eyes ran over everything. Indecision beat in her mind. She wasn’t sure what to do.

The shield wall suddenly flickered. One of the Shielders dropped.

She focused on it.

The shield flickered again. Another Shielder fell.

Her syphon magic rose up within her. It wanted her to see something. She blinked, switching to her syphon sight. Thousands of spectral energies appeared, littered across the Borderlands, including one from the Griffin.

It was as bright as the sun.

Brighter even.

That wasn’t what surprised her.

The shield wall was bright and golden, but for the first time, Inara saw something else within her vision. Light seeped out of the force field from over a dozen different points, flowing right into the figure Prince Walder was fighting.

The force field flickered once more, and another Shielder succumbed.

The man was taking the energy from the shield, all while blocking and attacking Prince Walder with an ease that could only come from someone proficient in swordsmanship.

The implications were staggering.

In a fight, fatigue would eventually catch up with both fighters, but in this case, it was only Prince Walder. The Cursed King wasn’t getting weaker. He was getting stronger with every passing second he took power from that shield, and eventually, when it would crumble altogether, he would take it from the people behind it. That was probably why the shield wall was in place to start with. The Cursed King most likely attempted to draw power from the Arelian Army, and in an effort to stop him, the Shielders banded together to form a strong shield wall. Now, the Cursed King was taking from that shield wall, feeding on its power so that it would weaken and fall, and he could get to the power behind it.

Prince Walder was strong, but the moment the Cursed King got all that power, it would be over.

Go, Fraener!

Her Guardian shot forward, beating his wings against the wind hard.

Inara saw everything as if it were happening in slow motion. The Cursed King somehow got through Prince Walder’s guard. Prince Walder flew back, landing in a heap on his back right before the shield wall. Now with nothing in his way, the Cursed King pulled sharply, drawing more and more power into himself from the shield at an alarming rate.