Prisoner of Chaos (Redemption Book #4)

Chapter 50

Kyla

"Rift!" I scream, sobbing for both the blade of a dagger I just witnessed go through my own father's body and for the sudden searing pain overtaking me as my father's life extinguishes. Something is happening, the moment Rift ended my father's life. My body is altering where I stand. Bones shift, and skin peels away. It burns so badly that my claws rake over my crawling skin.

My skin alarmingly falls off as if I were a snake in shed. Dry bits of it pepper the white snow.

"Kyla!" Rift stumbles from my father's fallen form, withdrawing the dagger from my father's body. I can't bear to look at the blood of my father staining the blade. "Arlite, what is happening to you, Princess?" Rift's voice is strained. The magic he used has injured him, but he sounds grief stricken by what he had to do. There is comfort in knowing Rift isn't cold as he was when I first met him. I recall him not batting an eye when he'd Scourge people for their energy.

I hardly have time to think on this, because another constriction of my burning skin racks my body. I'm being strangled by this skin. I writhe against the coolness of the snow, attempting to stop the burning, attempting to release myself from it's suffocating hold. My beast roars into the blizzard.

"Kyla, let me take your beast form from you," Rift says with a desperate groan, clutching his chest as if bracing himself for the energy drain it will cause. His eyes glow amber and his brow pulls together in pain.

"No, Rift, I don't want to lose you too!" I scream through my pain.

Before his magic hits me, my skin seemingly splits open and I emerge out of it wet and smooth. The terrible burning sensation subsides and Rift's eyes widen, his expression consumed by shock. "Kyla, you're--wha-what are you?" he asks in awe, before collapsing in the snow.

A newfound energy resonates within me, a buzzing electricity shivers over my new skin. My exhaustion, my pain, my struggle with the beast side of myself... it's as if all of it has vanished. The only thing I'm struck by is the sorrow over my father's passing and even then I recall what I heard him say to Rift.

Alvar, the great king of Underland and Guardian of Axus is at peace. Something he's longed for his entire life, he achieved. Rift and I succeeded in stopping the Dark Lord from using him and causing him more agony and guilt.

I curl my claws in the snow. I wish I'd had one last embrace. One last conversation to tell him how much he meant to me.

Time was too short to properly greet him when he came back to Axus to help. Tears slide down my cheeks once more, yet I fight them. Longing to not accept that he's dead.

And still time is not on my side.

The bitter cold of Erlund will bite into Rift now that he's fallen and cannot use his magic to protect himself.

I must get Rift and my father's body back to the Sanctuary.

Rift cannot die today too. Somehow I intuitively know there is no hope for my father returning to this life, but Rift is in dire need of healing and the only person I know with that skill is Rift's father, Ryland.

I fly to Rift's fallen side, and reach for him with my front claws. I find in my sightline as I reach that the skin on my front legs are smooth, instead of gnarled, the sight of it sends shivers through me.

I've physically changed since we broke the Curse of the Dark Lord.

But how am I still in the form of a beast if the Curse is broken?

"Rift, can you hear me?" I ask, nudging him with a paw. "Rift, I'm going to get us out of here."

Rift inhales sharply much to my relief. His eyes fly open burning with magic. "Kyla?" he exclaims, a question as he gazes up at me. "You're eyes. They are blue. Your face, it's changed."

"I'm going to fly us out of here. Can you hold onto my back?" I ask him, hopeful. I want to carry my father's body back for a proper, dignified burial.

"Yes," Rift manages, sitting up while supporting himself with his hands. "Your wings, they're beautiful, Kyla."

I turn my head momentarily to get a quick glance at them. Stretching one down to Rift so he can clamber up onto my back. The membranes in between the black fingers of my wings are as blue as my eyes and glitter like gemstones. I've never seen anything like it before on a wild dragon.

Rift touches the surface of it and it shimmers under his fingers. "This is magic," he says, he stares at me as if looking at me for the first time. "You have magic energy all your own. It isn't Light magic and it isn't Dark magic. It's... it's something entirely different."

"Hold on, Rift, let's go," I say, ignoring his comment even though the idea of this bothers me for unexplained reasons.

I cradle my father's body in my fore claws and take off effortlessly through the wind. My new wings are stronger than my old wings. My speed picks up and soon I'm high above the mountaintops. Rift weakly holds to my back, warmed by my skin.

I find Father Ryland's Sanctuary already has guests when I arrive with Rift at his doors. I purposefully don't try to take my human form. I'm too overwhelmed with grief to deal with any more surprises.

Kalvar, Helle, and Anette, stand outside the doors. Fear overrides Kal's features. His hand grips Helle's tightly. "My love, she cannot die. She saved my skin many times. I cannot live to see her die."

"Ryland is the best healer in Axus, Kal," Helle soothes. "She's in good hands."

"That witch will not live another day," Kalvar snarls, his eyes narrowing in a horrified memory.

What is happening here? Kal talks as if something happened to my mother!

"Kalvar, Helle, what is going on?" I ask, landing in the gardens outside the Sanctuary.

"Kyla, is that you?" Helle asks, her ashen face changes to one of confusion.

"The king is dead," Rift interrupts the questions, sliding off of my back and crumpling by my foreclaws where I gently lay my father's body. "He died with his honor intact. Now, let him not die in vain. We are here to end this war before it begins."