Twin Mages Book 4: Convergence

Chapter 17: The Exodus Begins

Alan stops in the hall, feeling the ground underneath him shake. "What's going on?!" He asks.

He hears footsteps coming from behind him, and turns to see Karina carrying a limping Jordan. "You two okay?" he asks, getting over to Jordan and helping him stand. Karina slumps over to breathe, bleeding and bruised. "No." She sighs. "I'm almost out of mana, and Jordan got hurt picking up my slack."

Jordan shakes his head. "This is something else. It's like they won't stop coming. No matter how many of these purple robed punks I take down, more keep coming through those damn portals."

Alan nods. "I'm glad you two are okay, at least." He glares around, seeing the devastation The Moon has caused. Holes in the walls and ceiling large enough for whole bodies to fit through, blood staining brick and hardwood like crimson paint.

"You two need to get to the infirmary." Alan says as he glances from side to side. "Neither of you should try to fight anymore."

Jordan shakes his head, forcing himself off of his sister. He staggers forward, nearly falling before he's able to regain his balance. "What's that?" he stammers, looking down the hall past where Alan is standing. The Master turns to see smoke filling the halls, followed by a burst of flames from the floor.

He stomps his foot to the ground, sending a wall of stones up to protect him from chunks of hardwood and concrete flying toward him. He glances over to see Karina holding one hand forward, holding debris stationary in the air. Her other arm is clutched around her waist. "Jordan! No!" Karina shouts, drawing Alan's gaze to the spot in the ground where an explosion caused a hole to open up like a mouth threatening to swallow them whole.

Near the crater, Jordan lies on his stomach with shards of wood riddled through his body. Karina tries to run forward, but is stopped by a vine wrapping around her waist. It whips her backward as a chunk of the ceiling falls in the spot she was standing. She lands on the ground, her eyes full of tears and looking back to Master Venus. "We can't leave him, Master!" she screams.

He opens up a plant bulb around the two of them and Alan, sighing as it closes. "He's already gone, Karina," he says, "but you can still live." She falls to her knees as the plant bulb sinks down into the ground.

***

"Dez, watch out!"

The redhead Mage looks to his side, ducking out of the way of tendrils whipping out of the crater Sai created. The silky strands grow near Amaya before Sai jumps in front of them and allows them to pierce his body. He winces as the threads pull themselves out of his chest and shrink back to Weaver, who is climbing out of the crater with blood dripping from his body.

"I'm getting really sick of being this guy's damn pincushion." Sai grunts, glancing back to his sister and seeing the fear in her eyes. "Chin up, Amaya." he chuckles, "I've gotten us through tougher fights than this. Just back me up, okay?" Amaya nods hesitantly, her ink black hair cascading over her eyes as her book floats in front of her. "Heal!"

Weaver cackles, standing on the edge of the hole in the hardwood floor. His arms are lying useless and limp at his sides. He steps to the side as Sai flies forward and opens his mouth wide. In one quick motion, threads spring from Weaver's throat and puncture the light mage's wings. Weaver shouts, slamming Sai into the ground and riddling him with hundreds of the threads. "Die! Die! Die!"

Amaya looks on in horror at her brother being mutilated, unable to take her eyes away from his body as threads slice through like needles through fabric. An effortless violence. Suddenly, she sees a wave of pink and orange energy surge forward, and Weaver is thrown away from Sai into the group of Crux mages waiting along the walls.