Playing with Fire [COMPLETED]

31 ~ an attack

I'm halfway to the room where the others are when the whole house shakes violently. I gasp, feeling all the wards come crashing down. Ruin bursts into the hall, followed by Death and Rogue. He runs up to me, his face pale, his eyes consumed by the orange glow.

"Mirage came to me," I say.  I tell them everything. Then, I notice something.  "Where's Fear?"

"Oh, gods," whispers Death. "He's the one who let them in."

There's a loud explosion in the lower portion of this house, and Death snarls. "Rogue, you're with me. Ruin, get her to safety."

"I can fight!" I protest.

"Trust me on this, Ruin," says Death.  "Losing her is worse than anything they could ever do to you." She and Rogue vanish.

I look at Ruin, whose face has gone even paler. He takes my hand in his.  "No! We can't run! They need our help!"

"I can't lose you," he says, his tone sharp.

"I know, but you won't," I promise.  "I'll always come back to you. No matter what."

Tears swell in his eyes and he crushes my body against his in a firm embrace. He then steps back and looks at the hall around us. He waves a hand, and my nightgown is replaced with scaly, black and red armor. His own clothes are changed to match. He looks at me then.

"I trust you, Elorha," he says. "Do you trust me?"

"I think you know the answer is yes."

He smiles.  "I love you."

" I l—"

There's a huge BOOM that rocks the hall, sending dust and debris down on top of us. Ruin conjures a shield at the last second, and a huge stone cracks, breaking in half over the shield as it crumbles on the floor. He takes my hand and we run toward the fight.

The two of us reach the end of the hallway, and stop.

Erasmus stands there, grinning at us maliciously. "Well, hello there, Elorha, and Ruin."

"Well, well. What do we have here? Another maggot to squah beneath my boot?" Ruin says, grinning. He moves too fast to be seen, stabbing Erasmus in the chest and twisting the blade, then ripping it free. Erasmus screams, and there is a burst of energy that throws me back several feet. I land on my back, crushing my wings beneath me. I cry out, rolling over to free them.

But a man is there, grabbing me by the throat, and slamming me against the nearby wall. He laughs in my face and shoves me to the ground, where a series of glowing blue runes appear, freezing me in place. I gasp, pulling against the runes.

"Oh, it is no use, girl," the man says, scoffing. "You are trapped." He kneels before me, taking my chin in his hand. He grins. His eyes are cold, pure black, and his dark skin is marred by scars and dark veins that seem to pulse with strange energy.

"Let go of me," I growl, spitting at him.

"You've spent too much time around the demons," he growls, and laughs. "Come with me, little demon girl." Suddenly, I am lifted off the ground and I am floating after the strange being with strange energies.

"Elorha!"

I turn my head, and see Ruin is trapped, frozen in place like I was, on his hands and knees on the floor surrounded by runes. He flares his wings, smacking another man with odd energy with his wings.

But someone is behind Ruin. And they are holding something in their hand, something I don't understand. It is a strange object, round and silver. The person advances on Ruin, and raises the object over their head. I watch as Ruin is sucked into the object, fading from this hallway, and as he is trapped within the object, I hear him screaming my name.

A scream breaks from my throat, and fire explodes all around us. The heat blooms inside my veins, inside my chest. I scream and scream, and my rose gold flames burst in every direction, striking the man — or whatever he is — who is holding me.

I fall to the floor, and my power envelopes the hallway.

But then, I feel something strange. Something I cannot explain. It is almost like .... like a shiver down your spine. But it is more than that. I turn, and then, everything goes black.