Fury and Flame | 3

7 | 5

D E L P H I N I U M

The helicopter blades chopped through the air, taking us low over the Romanian plains. We were too close to the ground to see far ahead, meaning the army was still out of sight. But we'd be there soon. Within minutes.

      We had been gone about two days, but it had seemed like weeks since we were in the mild rolling hills with our army. The morning sun gleamed through the churning blades of the helicopter. It would be a hot day compared to the ones past. Not a bad day to go out on.

      In the distance to the right, I could see the wide expanse of the forest approaching. The plains stayed relatively open to the left. Still no sign of the army. I bit my lip; this meant they were closer to the fortress than we expected. Perhaps even ready to march on it.

      It wasn't a shock, but my heart plummeted anyway, as human hearts tended to do when faced with certain doom. Though I was stronger than I'd ever been, though I had been preparing myself for this day, I was still feeling the effects this place always gave me.

      Glancing over at my friends, I saw that Gigi looked out the side window in wonder, taking in the wild beauty below. Riley—who'd never been one for heights—simply stared ahead with a look of pained concentration, determined to not give in to her fear.

      Like Gigi, I watched the golden-green ground pass in a blur beneath us. This could be the last time I was seeing it; this could very well be our last flight into Romania—one we wouldn't be returning from. I was suddenly very aware of the weights of my daggers, the coldness of the chair and the way the harness held me down. All the things that made me feel like I was alive were magnified under the anticipation of what was coming.

      There it was: on the horizon, I could just barely make out the massive fortress. It was a smear of iron-gray against the cerulean, cloud-peppered sky. A stain of darkness against the beauty of the earth.

      Just at the sight of it, so far away, I felt the power wake within me and rear its head. I wanted to bring it to the ground and then burn its ashes. But this time, I would make sure its brutal master died with it. No matter the cost.

      My gaze dropped to the ground below it. Gigi took in a slow breath behind me; their forces were massive, flooding the crater-like divot in the earth that the fortress was situated into. From here, it was a sea of black-suited men, tents and Scorpions. Somewhere down there were the children of Orion, the enhanced soldiers, and the secret weapon built specifically to deter us. A note of horror filled me—I had always known an estimate of the numbers Orion possessed, but this...this was insanity. It hardly seemed real.

      His plan was clear now: to let us win a few battles, therefore reeling us farther and farther into Romania with each victory until we were on his doorstep. Still high off our successes, he would crush us once and for all, thus destroying all his opposition.

      If we lost today, he wouldn't just win the battle: he'd win the war.

      My gaze fell to our own gathered army, smaller than the assembly of Imperium's full forces. We had Jaxon's father's weaponry, we had the hundreds of thousands of soldiers that had joined after my speech and we had desperation. I wasn't optimistic about our odds. No matter what angle I looked at it from, Imperium had the upper hand.

      Be that as it may, I would fight until the end, no matter what it brought.

The helicopter dropped lower. A flock of white birds flew by the windows, fleeing with the innate intuition that something bad was about to happen. I half-wondered if they were smarter than us for it.