Faye and Ruin

The Rising

Time resumed as a massive pulse of energy tore through the room. It blew me back, halfway across the ballroom as the walls shattered and ripped apart. The air chilled as we crashed outside. King Orym was thrown from me as that blast of force tore through us.

As I flew backwards, I looked towards where I had last seen Bayne. He was crashing through the air, his suit twisting as the scales crawled across his body and he tucked his knees towards his chest. His eyes caught mine and flashed with red hot flames and a wave of confidence burst through me.

So I copied him. Although it wasn't scales that I created, I grasped at the energy that was pulsing through my veins and dressed myself in black fighting leathers, adding two swords along my back.

Bayne crashed into the ground on hands and knees, the force literally cracking the stone below him and the talons shot through his fingers, scraping through the floor. His head tossed up towards the sky as it darkened with storm clouds and a massive surge of creatures flying towards us.

Black creatures that screeched and howled. Their piercing and horrifying sounds mixed in with the ringing in my ears as I slammed into the floor.

A manic laugh crashed through the air as creatures suddenly shimmered in all around us. Dark bursts of light proceeded each fae that drew weapons and hissed at anyone who attempted to approach Runa's body. Screams left the mouths of the royal's that had been in attendance and many began shimmering out as quickly as the dark faeries had arrived.

I pushed myself up to see Runa's body had begun to rise off of the wooden platform, a dark mist swirling out from her body. The mist slowly snaked its way to the floor as the sky darkened even more. Masses of screeching creatures were circling above, covering any light the moon or stars attempted to produce.

But it was the roar next to me that shocked me from my stupor. Bayne. He rose from his kneeling position as the scales across his back folded away, revealing the massive wing tattoo that encompassed much of his torso. As I brought my legs under me to stand up, the tattoo began to shiver and slowly peel off of his back.

Suddenly, massive wings folded outwards, encompassing nearly the entire length of the room and almost brushed the floor. Ivory membranous wings that looked like something from a creature Bayne had once told me about. His hair floated upwards, as if it had turned into white hot flames themselves and then he shot up into the air.

The scales of his armor enclosed around those wings as lightning, thunder, and torrential rainfall crashed down upon us. The faster he moved, the harder those wings flapped, the harder the storm became.

My moment to study him passed however, as the first dark fae, one who towered much taller than me but was nothing other than gray skin and bone lunged at me. I withdrew one sword and sliced him in half as a second one engaged me and I shot him with a blast of piercing ice shards.

Two more that looked so similar to the first, engaged me, and my sword clashed against one of theirs as the other slashed a knife across my arm. I stifled my grunt of pain while blocking another blow and sent a massive wave of water to encompass the second dark fae that had engaged me.

It swallowed him up and he drowned, as I was finally able to drive my blade through the center of this other fae. Another massive crash of thunder pulsed through the sky and a wave of those flying Ukledi suddenly slammed into the ground. Bayne was barrel rolling through the sky, his talons out and engaging in several creatures that terrified me.

More horrifying than the Ukledi, they looked like literal death. Black faces that dripped and oozed the same color. Every time they shrieked, I felt my skin crawl as they slashed and bit at Bayne. But he seemed to have it handled as another wave of faeries rushed towards me.