Flames of Cobalt and Crimson

A Blazing Star

Azriel

I grabbed onto Antares, clutching him close to my chest to keep him away from the shadows and bodies that surrounded us. My heart sank further as the beacons of light that signified Feyre and Helion's locations snuffed out, no longer supported by the sun. Everywhere I looked was a slaughter, with dead warriors wearing different insignias sprawled across each other.

I forced myself to focus, drawing back one enemy shadow at a time, but each one I took was quickly replaced by another, a never-ending stream of them being generated to replace the previous. I was too slow, too solitary; I was going to watch my entire family die.

I winnowed a little further away, still holding Antares, and set him down, turning to look him in the eye. "I need you to run," I told him seriously. "Use your shadows to hide, to stay undetected, but you need to get as far as you can from here." Tears welled in his eyes, but I continued, forcing myself to ignore the ache in my heart they caused. "You have to stay safe, Antares," I urged. "Please, for me."

He nodded, and I pulled him into a quick, tight hug. "Go now," I said, not waiting to see if he obeyed before plunging back into the fray to protect his retreat, drawing in shadows as quickly as I could manage, the violet Siphon on my chest glowing like a beacon.

I was immediately surrounded, deflecting shadowy blades left and right as I attempted to recapture them. I lost sense of direction as I fought my way deeper and deeper into the teeming mass, occasionally stumbling over fallen bodies both friend and foe. The shadows were endless, though, and difficult to distinguish in the dark even with my eyesight, and cut after cut landed on me, my armor deflecting some but not all. I would have pitied the poor captive shadowsinger Keir was clearly killing if I had a thought to spare, but around me was nothing but darkness.

One particularly tough blow caught me in the chest, knocking the air from my lungs and causing me to stumble to my knees. Agonizing pain tore through me as my wings were immediately subjected to half a dozen shadow knives, with more just behind them. I gritted my teeth against the pain, simultaneously trying to even out my breathing and absorb the attacking shadows, but I barely managed to struggle to my feet.

Though my friends and I had faced long odds before, I always thought if we were to perish in battle, at least we might be together. Instead, here I stood, alone in the dark, surrounded by the shadows which had always been my salvation and ruination. I hoped Cassian would find a way through, that the other half of my soul could somehow continue on without me as I raised my sword again and again, only delaying the inevitable.

More cuts landed across my hands, face, and wings, each sapping my strength as they came faster than I could block. My hands slipped on my sword, slick with my own blood, and a shadowy blade caught the edge, knocking it from my grip. I reached for Truth-Teller, but the knife was no match for the multiple full-sized blades all pointed at me. I offered up a silent prayer that it would be over quickly.

I bared my teeth and deflected the first sword that swung at my head, dipping and dodging as quickly as I could, trying to keep as many shadows as possible within my sight. I was so focused on them that I didn't notice the glow at first, nor the lack of blows on my wings. It became impossible to ignore, however, when it grew brighter and brighter, illuminating the battlefield and dispelling the shadows around me.

I squinted against the unexpected light, my gaze automatically moving toward the sky, but the sun was still fully obscured, just the slightest halo of light visible around the moon. I looked around, wondering how Helion or Feyre was managing their power without it, but to my surprise the form glowing with pure, pale light, standing atop a nearby hill, was much too small to be either of them.