Raven of Water

Chapter 34: Divine

I flexed my free hand, feeling my power radiating out and seeping into the ivy, which leaned into the magic's caress. Smiling, I took a breath to steel myself, the strain of the time magic trying to maintain the freeze turning into something painful now. Time would start moving again whether I willed it to or not.

I'd have to get to Daz first. Then the portal.

Above me, I heard the flap of raven wings, and that was the only warning I had that time was about to start moving again before everything snapped back into place.

Chaos. Noise. Violence.

Kai cried out, first in fear that I was no longer in his lap then in surprise as he noticed me standing with the knife in my hand.

Daz first. Portal first. Then I could check on Kai.

"Kai! Restrain grandfather and Jackson."

I didn't even take the time to look at him to determine if Kai was heeding my orders as I flew at Daz the demon who was still smearing my blood over the stonework, oblivious to what had just happened. Through the undulating purple, I watched clawed hands reaching out and scrambling for purchase on the stone, and I realized, to my horror, that heads of monsters were poking through. The gate was close to completely open. Daz had been the vanguard somehow summoned by my grandfather and Jackson. Now, the main force was ready to move, and I needed to shut the door down before they could step foot into this world. 

My world. That's what Tiamat had said.

Saying a silent prayer to the goddess I'd just met, I willed the ivy to lash out and start winding its way over the portal entrance. Layers of thick, intertwining vines soon blocked out the purple of the magic behind them. The greenery wouldn't stop the monsters, which were already tearing at the vines almost as rapidly as they could grow, but the ivy would certainly slow things down.

Daz, realizing something was amiss, turned to me and regarded me with a slack jaw, his pointed teeth rendering the look sinisterly comical.

"You're alive."

It wasn't a question, and I shrugged, willing the vines to wrap around the man but finding myself frustrated when he moved too quickly for my plant to catch him.

He laughed darkly, the sounds of slashing and growling coming from the portal as the demons sought to be let free.

"You really think that you can stop what's going to happen?"

"I know for a fact I will stop it."

"How are you alive?!" He snapped, having lost what little patience he had left and ignoring my words.

I chuckled, reveling in my magic as it surged to the forefront. I couldn't believe I'd thought of my powers as a well or a tidal wave or an ocean.

My magic was air. 

I breathed it now, felt it course through my body and radiate with a glowing, muted warmth like that offered by a night sky on a full moon. My magic posessed a stunning spiritual warmth, not a heat.

"Because this world is mine to defend. And Kai's."

"This was never meant to belong to you!" Daz spat, stepping nearer to me, though I easily trapped him against the stone using my powers. 

Had using my abilities always been this easy for me, this natural? My magic felt like an extension of myself. I didn't even need to consciously exert control over it anymore. It just was and did as I needed it to.

Beautiful.

I held the demon there like he'd been holding me moments before. With the man unable to flee, I willed the vines to wrap around him. Daz fought and thrashed, teeth and claws raking at the plants as they wrapped around him in a dark embrace before squeezing like a constrictor around its prey, winding and curving until only his head and the tips of his fingers remained exposed.