The Crescent Hour ✓

Chapter 29. Dementia

A radiant orb appeared in Clara’s palm. Soft light burned the darkness away for one minute then faded out like a candle flame snuffed out by a gathering wind. She tried it again but the orb didn’t last longer than a few seconds.

Clara squinted in the dark. She adjusted her eyesight, making everything sharper and clearer. It worked at first. A podium stood sentry over the arena, elevated above the enclosing walls. Beyond the walls were thousands of tiers of seats, all divided by aisles and low wedges.

Her vision grew blurry until she could see nothing but a black void. She closed her eyes. Pressed her fingertips over her temple in small circles. When she blinked her eyes open, nothing changed.

“Eryx, what’s happening?” She fished out a flashlight.

“I don’t know.” Eryx created a ball of cerulean light. It flickered, small as a pebble and weak as a dying ember. “My power is fading.”

She could feel it too. A blossom of unease flourished in her stomach. She tried to channel her power to her hand, to feel warmth in the core of her chest but there was nothing there but emptiness.

A crack split the air. She directed the beam of her flashlight at it. Rai had stepped on ancient bones. Broken ribs and a skull. There were more skeletons strewn on the sand, large piles of blackened jaws, spines, collarbones, kneecaps, shoulder blades and other parts she couldn’t name.

Rai poked the fossils with the sole of his shoe. “The shape of the skull looks different.”

She passed the ray of light over the seats. There were writings carved on them. Numbers from a language erased by the passing of time.

Tamer had taken out a scimitar, a torch in his other hand. He squeezed the hilt. “It won’t ignite with fire.”

The breeze returned, a melancholic keening in the vast chasm. Clara flicked her flashlight left and right, up and down. Something whirled in the shadows, a hunched silhouette that disappeared behind the seats. She inched back, closer to Tamer. His fingers skimmed her shoulder, strong and warm.

“There’s something out there.” She waved her flashlight at the seats.

There was a low groan in the darkness, a scuffling of feet and a crunching of bones. She would have blamed the noise on mice if she hadn’t seen the silhouette.

“I sense an evil presence. It’s not safe here,” Eryx said.

Clara reached for her magic. Nothing. Not even a drop of it remained. She felt bereft. A shrapnel of her soul had gone missing. Without her powers, she had nothing to protect herself with. What was happening? Did Naaji’s entity deem her unfit to wield such power?

Another groan, louder and gravelly. More shambling of feet. Voices came next, mutterings of garbled words. She caught glimpses of the passing shadows. Stooped creatures, humanoid yet beastly.

Fear threaded through her body. The whistling wind awakened, a shuddering breath from the walls of the coliseum.

“Yumah’s mercy!” Rai pointed the light at one of the shadows.

It was a creature long-limbed and skeletal. Brittle hair dirty with grime stuck to its long neck. It stood on all fours, a bloated stomach expanding out of its torso. Pale skin, cracked and bruised, hugged its frame so tightly, she could see the outline of its skeleton.

Clara swallowed down a gulp. The humanoid creature moaned at them, face pulled taut and nose flattened between its cheeks. There were two black holes in place of its eyes. A pink tongue darted out of its mouth.