Eclipse: Time Thief (Romantasy)

31. Unleashed

The blood dripping from the tip of the spear sticking through Nash's chest snapped the last thread of reason in my mind.

"No!" My voice amplified, exploding throughout the mountain. Terror took control of my body.

A guard swung for Nash where he lay on the ground. Wren caught it with her blade, crying out in effort.

I turned in a drift of snow as two more spears shot through the air. I knocked them aside without even thinking about it, the power flowing from me increasing as I slowly stepped toward the guards. The ground didn't just tremble. It quaked. The arrows raining down shattered and fell in bits of wood and iron. The snow scattered in a wave that tore through the field, flinging eight camouflaged men into the air.

They hung there, suspended and totally helpless. I hardly heard their shrieks and pleas. The same force that caused the ground to tremble ripped at their bodies. With dozens of pops, their arms and legs snapped like twigs. Next I heard their ribs crackling like the flames of a fire, the kind that burned within me.

If before I'd managed to break through the walls blocking my power, this time, I pulverized them entirely. The energy exploded from me.

In my mind's eye, my perception rushed across the field with my power, closing in on the faces of guards who I ripped high into the air. Dozens, maybe hundreds, flew up from the ground high into the sky as they screamed.

I couldn't think. Couldn't stop myself. Couldn't control it. The power had taken over and it was spreading.

"Max..." Nash's voice sounded so weak.

Bones shattered while bodies jerked in unnatural positions.

"Max!"

I froze, really registering the people for the first time. The eight before me hung in a cloud of misty blood, the tiny beads suspended along with them. Broken bones tore through skin stretched tight. One man's skull had caved in. Another had arms that looked like balled up cloth. Several were bent backwards in half. They were all dead.

Those were only the closest ones I could see.

Blood fell in splatters of rain over the white. Bodies dropped to the ground with a ghastly rhythm.

I'd butchered them.

Fear filled me as I turned to see Nash lying on his side, his eyes half closed. "Max..." Blood darkened his chest and middle. "Stay here... Don't... Don't slip away."

The surviving enemies retreated, leaving us completely alone. They must have had orders to fall back after my last display, or all were too terrified to continue.

I crawled to Nash and reached for him, afraid to touch him. My tears dropped onto his neck and chest. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean..." I bowed my head. The tip of my hair that had pulled from my bun brushed his chest. Nash was right to look at me the way he had. I was Eclipse. I'd spent my whole life trying to outrun the name. It was who I was.

I sat up, carefully taking hold of the spear. Leif slid onto the ground beside me, holding my arm to steady me. It had lodged deep within the base of his chest on the left side.

Wren covered her mouth with one hand and gripped Nash's hand with the other.

"I've got you," I said. With a grunt, Leif and I both ripped it from his body. Nash screamed through clenched teeth, blood bumping from his wound. It took only moments for his eyes to slide shut.

I used my power to stabilize him the best I could. I could stop the blood loss and hold him together, protect him from any bile that might leak inside of him, but I couldn't heal him. That advanced skill was something I had never learned to do. It took a lifetime to master.