Indigo (NaNoWriMo13)

Chapter 46 - Daughter of Rathe

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Chapter 46 - Daughter of Rathe 

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Shift felt pain in his chest as if the dagger had struck him instead of Athira. 

He screamed her name as shock crossed her face. Her hand pressed to his slipped against the blue shield he couldn't penetrate, Shift forced to stand and watch as the blue Warden stalked towards her, as Athira slid down the wall, clutching the hilt of the dagger with shaking fingers. 

The Warden crouched in front of Athira, her lips moving in silent words. 

"Thira!" Shift slammed his fist against the shield he felt the cartilage in his hand crunch. "Thira, for the love of colour, blast her!" 

He dug his fingers into the shield, summoning any sliver of his colour that remained within him and trying to get it to shift something. He'd take blue and all its bare truths if it meant he could break the bubble holding Athira, but his colour refused. The intake of black was expended and had burned his green out in the process, leaving him effectively colourless. 

That didn't stop him trying to beat the shield down as Athira's blood continued to pool beneath her. 

Athira's strength finally gave out, her upper body falling towards the Warden, who, to Shift's surprise, caught her and wrapped their hand around the hilt of the dagger. It was something in that action, the almost tender grip that triggered realisation for Shift.

They're not trying to kill her, so what are they--

The Warden pulled out the dagger. 

Athira's head jerked back. Her fingers clawed the ground behind her as pure, fierce black colour bloomed in her chest and exploded. It thrashed around the edges, a far cry from the smooth edges Athira usually lined herself and her targets with. It was rough and thick as it raced down her arms, her legs, her head, covering her entire body and runes in a matter of seconds. Not even the Warden's shield could stop it as it lunged through the shimmering blue surface. 

Shift scrambled backwards, panic in the back of his mind. The colour, it's going to--

"Where's Athira?" asked Zoe, stopping beside him. 

The Warden stood there, bloody dagger in hand as she accepted her fate with a triumphant grin. 

"Run!" cried Shift. 

He grabbed Zoe's shoulder and dragged her with him when she hesitated, pulling her back, as far away from Athira as he could get them in the seconds they had. She ran with him reluctantly, throwing backwards glances in the direction of the cloud of black colour. 

"Her colour," Shift panted. "It's going to heal her and--"

An invisible shockwave rocked the air, knocking Shift and Zoe off their feet and throwing them several metres forward. He grabbed Zoe mid-air in a bear hug, taking the brunt of the impact as they hit the ground rolling. 

Shift caged Zoe's body with his limbs as he glanced back. The blue sphere had vanished along with anything in a ten metre radius of it, a list that included the top halves of an Elite or two on the ground, the nearby tower and the ground, leaving only a craggy, torn chasm of earth beneath. 

In the centre, one figure remained levitating above it all. 

"Is that... Athira?" asked Zoe. 

Shift didn't have an answer for that. 

He figured it was, but something wasn't right about her. At this distance, the details were hard to make out with the exception of the cloak still fluttering around her form, the cowl in place as it always was.