Melody of Blood and Night

Seventeen

He watched her standing there, unmoving. She wore a different kind of expression on her face, which he had never seen her wear before. She looked almost....peaceful.

Although chaos ensued all around her. Zaivian had been shocked. Afraid even, when the frowning anger had, instead of turning to pale terror, vanished mere seconds after the onyx tentacle had shot out of Caelan's shoulder.

The Young Queen stood mere feet away from her sister, the whites of her eyes now engulfed by the obsidian in her pupils, controlling her dark tendrils. His gaze had snapped to his brother.

"We need to take cover. NOW." He had said.

"No, we need to get to Adreynia." Kai had hardly finished when he had spied a wisp slithering towards them with unimaginable speed.

His hand had reached for the gilded ornamental sword that had once hung at his hips as he had performed the Royal duties of the Crown Prince, every day.

Zaivian had thought it useless, a piece of show. Oh, how he wished for it to be here right now. But instead, all he had were an assortment of mismatched weapons that he had blindly snatched when he had rushed out here after the flash.

Zaivian managed to cut down the monstrous tentacle before it could rip apart his brother, and watched as it had withered away like smoke from a dying fire.

Adrenaline coursed through his veins, as he whipped his head to where Caelan had stood, ready to slash off any more snaky vines of darkness. But to his surprise, Ghislaine was kneeling near to where he stood, deflecting the continuous onslaught of the Queen's army of dark monstrosities, with her hand pressed against her flank.

He had turned to Aedlyn, who had not moved a muscle since when he had seen her just....shut down, still wearing that tranquil expression.

She looked ethereal. Like a deity on a pedestal. Pristine and pious. She was so close, yet so intangible. So humanly fragile, yet so indestructible. She was hypnotic, and he was utterly hypnotised and....distracted.

That was probably why he hadn't seen the tentacular darkness shooting out of the circular void, heading for him, until it was too late. His eyes had widened, lips parting in surprise, as it had slithered towards him with terrifying speed.

His forehead had creased, as he had squeezed his eyes shut, jerking his face away, bracing for the imminent pain to hit him. But it had never come.

He slowly drew open one of his eyes, curiosity and puzzlement arching up his brow. In front of him, panting heavily, had stood his brother, gripping a hunting knife with both his hands and a withering shadow tendril at his feet.

Zaivian had let out an audible breath, almost collapsing with relief. "Thanks, brother." He said. But before his brother could say anything, a deafening rumble, like that of the rolling thunder, had cut him off, followed by a pungent stench, rising through the air, so thick, that he nearly gagged on it.

He recognised it, and by the look on Kai's face, he did too. Their gaze snapped to the Queen. But she stood still, eyes as black as Hel's pits, controlling the darkness.

Zaivian's eyes nearly fell out of their sockets as he felt his heart stop. There, between all the commotion stood Aedlyn, with a sinister smile, and glowing, milky eyes, her hands stretched out to her sides, electric lightning bouncing off of her skin.

Above her, the clouds gathered, dark and threatening, lightning playing hide and seek between them. His jaw was nearly touching the ground when another bellowing rumble caused them to duck involuntarily, looking up.

Lightning gathered in the sky above where Aedlyn stood. Ready to unleash all of Inferos at her command.

His eyes snapped to where Caelan and the Vampyress were, the same, bewildered, incredulous expressions plastered onto their faces, even Ghislaine's, as they watched on, wide-eyed.