Bursting through the ground as though it had erupted with bd hate-filled va, the colle of shadewraiths each took aim at a student. A split sed ter, half of the popution had beeaken and were glowing with white hostility. “Archaios Enas…yes…yes…what a gift…” One of the students tilted his head and smiled wide and bared its silver fangs. “Let us have the glory of telling the others, Archaios Enas. We want to eat their fusion.”
Rising like an angel of death, Archaios Enas rose up behind Tatum, their wispy white web tendrils surrounding the elder mage but not actually toug the mage. Archaios Enas’s bone-white head leaned close to Tatum’s ear. “I expected a little more from you, Miss Bckwell. How wonderfully disappointing, yes…your disappoiastes so good.” She ughed and surrouatum in a colle of webs, like a spider spinning its silk around a fly. “Don’t move, just listen.” She purred imperiously. “My beloved, she was trying to protect - “
Cut off in mid-thought, Archaios Enas watched as her pack of shadewraiths outside the shield disappeared in a howl e. A sed ter, the overtaken students all fell to the ground and turned into puddles as their shadewraiths howled with the same frustration. “Oh, magic-shell. You have talent hidden somewhere, don’t you?”
“You won’t be here long enough to find out.” Tatum smugly spoke and slowly palmed a fist full of bloodstone. Careful not to touch the tiny strands that loosely tained her, Tatum tilted her head until it erpendicur to her fist. With a fre of white from her palm, Tatum’s spell brought the entire tents of her hand to her nose and breathed in a full breath ced with bloodstone. Just as Tatum exhaled the dust, she felt the white wraith’s presence disappear. “What the?’ Tatum looked around fused as her supposed deadly dust breath hit the ground harmlessly.
Poundiaff twice, the ball atop of Tatum’s staff lit up and illumihe immediate area in white. She took a few steps off the pord saw a bck human form to her left close to her remaining students. “You certainly took your time, Heather.” Lettiher tinue her silent search of the area, Tatum turo the other dire and thought about the darkrealm as a whole.
While she’d never experie personally, Tatum learned how it looked and operated from Denise and her various captains through the years. A mirror to the living world, the darkrealm had been named by Denise because of its stant twilight look and plete silenbsp; What was more is that the others couldn’t cross into the realm with their own body, it took summoning a form that could adapt and accept its uure. “I am so gd I am not there with you, that pce freaks me out.” Tatum shoaff ba the dire where Heather was and saw Heather’s response as a simple bow and smile.
Hundreds of years taught Archaios Enas one important thing, patienbsp; Staying just out e from the white light searg for them, the white wraith blended into the small amount of billowing white fog that had risen from the earth as it tried desperately to cool itself from the ongoing fires.
-So, magic-shell, you have one iwilight. Three students, you and your twilight-walker.-
Floating away from the staff’s pierg light, Archaios Enas’s fog split into four ses and disappeared below the surface again.
Screams tht caused Tatum to wave her staff over to her st remaining students just in time to see the white fog turn into three separate versions of Archaios Enas and cim the young mages without aation. Watg as her fellow mage’s eyes went red and the three held up their palms, Tatum aimed her staff at the lead student and released a small white pulsing ball that streaked unerringly across her wn. A moment after the ball bounced harmlessly off of the quick shield that the overtaken student summoatum felt the strands of eerie white webbing encircle her legs and work their . “Oh…no you don’t.” Reag down to her side, Tatum desperately tried to find her bag of bloodstone dust.
“Missing something, magic-shell?” Archaios Enas announced after pletely eng Tatum. Holding the small bag with one of their amorphidrils, Archaios Enas waved the pou front of her captive teasingly. “Ahhh…there it is. Your fear.” She poio the other three copies of itself. “The twilight-walker is close, but running out of time.”
One of the copies took over the versation like a perfect e. “We will head to the portal…wait.” The other three of the captive students walked in different dires and held up their white palms and activated three fre-like bursts and fouher’s darkform.
“You watch her demise from my eyes, magic-shell, your fusion, fear and shock are all mine.” A momehe co that eatum drove itself into her form, howling with glee as the old mage screamed for help. Empowered further by Tatum’s desperate plea, Archaios Enas took her captive’s spirit and trapped it in an imperable clear box. “You get the honor of watg yially dispose of the enemy…just before I break you into a thousand screaming pieces.” Archaios Enas looked over at her three es, “The twilight-walker ot cast much more…or you three would be with me again.” Walking over to Heather’s revealed form, Archaios Enas bliatum’s new red eyes for the young mage. “e out..e out wherever you are.”
“We are headed to the portal, we will rejoin you shortly.” You look for - “ Audent stopped talking.
“I have every iion of finding the twilight walker, this shell has a fondness for it that is ..” Archaios Enas’s derogatory and diabolical ughter echoed between all of her es, “...feeding me. Nothing will stop us.” Archaios Enas spun on Tatum’s heels and walked with the staff into the house.
Panic-stri and frozen in her dark form, Heather hesitated too long and found that she had little to no kyao draw from in order to save her friend.
-Carrie!-
Was the only thought Heather had once her senses came back to her. While she was uo save Tatum or the others from their fate, she instantly transported back to her body thanks to the anchor her daughter provided. Once she opened her eyes, Heather first ed her arms around her infant daughter. “I won’t do that again, Carrie..I am so sorry.” It was the simple random hand movements and how her daughter grabbed Heather’s hand that sent waves of relief through her. “I want to be as happy as you, but sweetheart..” She kissed her daughter on the head, “...We are in a heap of trouble.” Initially near panic, it was the soothing coo of her daughter that focused Heather’s mind. “The potion..if I even walk…” Heather stood up and took two steps before her stomach betrayed her and growled in pain. “We’ll eat in a few…just a little longer.” F herself to the table, Heather reached for the heavy imperfect gss and drank the tents within. Feeling a slight shimmer and seeing a little fre of starlight dang in her eyes, Heather knew something happened but didn’t know what.
Stumbling to the stairwell, she froze in pce as she watched Tatum’s body alight with red eyes with sunken bck circles pass her without so much as a gnbsp; With a quiet and simple sigh of relief, Heather softly padded her the stairs a into the sunroom where there was still a healthy amount of kyanite for use.
-More for me, less for that thing. The Farm…head to the farm.-
Passing through Tatum’s small kit, Heather grabbed what she could that was close by, when she felt Dusty nudge her softly. Reag down to pet the dog, Heather looked into his eyes and whispered, “Let’s go home.” With a small lick Dusty darted out of the back door and into the hazy afternoon sun.
