The final few of the Order's response team were still coming through when the lead one, a woman with dark hair stepped forward to speak.
"Unbounds!" she called. Cayden recognised the voice. He'd heard Melis speak enough to never forget it. "Surrender to the Order now and you will be treated fairly. Continue to resist us and we will take your keys and force your obedience. Make your choice now."
The last of the Order's team came through, and with it, the shadow that'd carried them slunk to the side, staggering along the ground in a ragged pattern as it solidified. Kat, her limbs shaking, made it one step before she fell to her knees, the rest of her body finding the ground soon after where she lay, quivering from exhaustion.
Shadow Mythics weren't supposed to take others along for the journey. They could, but it was a difficult thing. Pieces could get lost in their realm of darkness, including their own. From Kat's now jagged hairline and chunks bleeding from her legs, it didn't take a scholar to figure out that it'd been too much for her to cope with.
"Surrender?" called the djinn from the portal's edge. The Unbounds were forming up, creating a living wall between their leader and the Order. "Now? Upon the pinnacle of our triumph? Never. Bring me the oracle!"
The Oracle? thought Cayden, indeed finding one of the Unbounds leading a shivering Tia to the djinn. How in the ley did they get the oracle!
"Sister oracle," said the djinn, his voice holding nothing but respect. "Please, tell the Order what you saw that night. What you told me."
"I--I saw this moment," she said, her voice amplified by the djinn's power. "I saw you standing at the edge of this very portal. I saw you commune, and a great power erupt, so strong that it wiped the remainder of the scene from my memory. There was no stopping it."
"No stopping it," said the djinn. "And all I have to do is commune with the portal. Witness the reclamation, Order."
Melis' icy voice rose over the howl as the djinn summoned his ley and stepped on to the portal.
"Stop him! Order, attack!"
The Unbounds ran forward, knowing no fear in the valkyrie's presence, but Cayden was beginning to see. Though reviled at the thought of controlling chaotics, using them as forced soldiers, he now understood the Order's confidence, even if he thought it was an even stupider and reckless idea than the 'let's make Nazine attune to the portal after he almost died' one the previous day.
Chaotics were chaos incarnate. They were strong beyond belief, but their cracked mind made was their weakness. With someone else controlling them, someone else making the decisions, they were nearly unstoppable.
They hit the Unbounds like an avalanche in freefall, but the valkyrie's protection remained strong.
"Serena!" called Melis. "Shut down that valkyrie!"
It was a quick transition. Militaristic in execution. One of the chaotics that resembled a cloud of ley more than a physical entity drifted back--a wisp--only to be pulled back and coalesced by some other kind of energy Mythic, who threw the wisp's energy directly at the valkyrie.
Svala didn't stand a chance, even though she saw it coming. The chaotic wisp engulfed her entirely, dissolving the ethereal wings that kept her airborne and sending her crashing to the ground. A few moments later, cries rose up from the Unbound ranks as one after the other, the valkyrie's blessing left them vulnerable to the chaotics still breaking through.
Cayden grabbed Rena by the wrist. "Allegra, bring Nazine with me!"
They ran to the Order's backlines, allowed to pass after only a quick glance of assessment from Melis. Cayden stopped where Kat had fallen, pressing his fingers against her neck.
YOU ARE READING
Mythic (NaNoWriMo14)
FantasíaRena wanders a decaying land, searching for purpose to a life that was supposed to have been laid out for her. As a Mythic, the people worship the ground she walks on. To them, a Mythic is life, a living representation of the ley energy that sustai...
