Darkness carved in bone

Chapter 47

Helen

At first Helen didn't understand anything as the world became a tumult of chaos, and clashing swords in the darkness. Helen could see that someone had engaged the queens dark guard in fighting, as if they were trying to stop the ritual. Had they intervened on Ten's signal?

Without any doubt in her heart she grabbed his arm, that had been hovering over her protectively as Mørk ran to the queen protecting her.

"Ten, we have to save the world," Helen panted as she sat up on the altar and jumped down on the side of the birch tree, the snow crumpling under her feet, still holding his arm.

Ten looked at her with frightened eyes as he surveyed the situation, watching for threats.

Helen gave him a smile as tears filled her eyes. She didn't know how all of this had happened, but she was pretty sure that the uprising that was happening now was because of something Ten had done.

Ten looked at her with eyes that wanted to say more, that needed to explain himself, but Helen cut him off; "You don't have to explain, you just have to help me save the world."

Ten gave her a thankful smile. "How do we do that?" Ten asked, his voice nervous.

Helen bit her lip as she looked at the tree and touched the closest branch and got a reassuring pulse of life hum through her veins in response. She intertwined her fingers with his and looked into his eyes. The whole world seemed right again now that he was with her. Her heart beat steadily and calm in the midst of the chaos that was rambling around them.

"We do it together," she said, her voice calm and even as she planted her free hand, her bloodied right hand on the trunk of the birch tree.

The strangest feeling of being pulled and pushed at the same time raced through her blood as she touched the tree. The pulling felt as if the tree was draining her blood from the life-giving energy of the sun. It felt as if every drop of sun that had ever passed through her body needed to seep into the tree.

Amidst the pulling, something pushed back, as if the darkness that was already present in this world, the wrong darkness that had already leaked into the world resisted her light, resisted her life, not wanting to be pushed back to where it belonged.

So, with a push of her own lifeforce she tried to will the darkness back again. Her body was immediately weakened by the effort, her knees caving in, making her fall to the ground, kneeling before the tree, the world blurring around her. The snow was cold against her legs, but she barely felt the change.

Ten held her hand firmly, not letting her go as he tried to protect her from the queen and her guards. No one had bothered with them yet, as if the rebels were too much to handle as of now. If someone understood what she was doing, then perhaps the focus would be turned to them.

Helen felt light-headed as she continued pushing her own light and life into the tree, pushing back the darkness that wanted so badly to be released into this world.

Ten's hand and his lifeforce became a tether to this world, as the world around her disappeared, his life and love another source of power that filled her with energy as she pushed everything she had against the darkness.

Her every cell felt like it was being drained of the magic that the sun had given her. Now the weeks of being away from the sun filled her with such regret and sorrow. What if she didn't have enough? What if she wasn't enough? What if the darkness overcame her?

Her mouth dried up and her fingers shook as she tried to muster every last drop of strength and energy that could be found in her frail body. Ten's kind eyes beckoned her to continue, his love a source of reassurance as she tried to fight against this invisible darkness.