Chapter 144: Chosen by Tayun (1)
{Music Recommendation: Ancestors Calling Tribal Music by Infinity Realm}
"That’s my girl," Yoa’s smile grew as he watched Nova pull back from her position, absentmindedly in this state, wiping First Mark on her foe’s chest, her eyes rising to whatever she was envisioning.
Atia whooped at Nova’s crazy moves while Aiyana remained vigilant and signalled to the next wave of vampiras already heading in this direction. They instantly set into motion, acting as a barrier around Nova while she walked deeper into the caves that the vampiras had claimed their own.
It was only when they noted the black blood stains along the walls that the trio realised they’d been there before, back when they’d all been enchanted. Yoa felt the shift in energy along the ground, his eyes flickering to some pulsing light that grew dimmer. He blinked and the imagery disappeared.
Nova halted when the vivid golden specks of geometric patterns disappeared, and the haze that had fallen over her lifted, granting her seconds to look around, her heart skipping at the sight of bats and a few vampiras in their human forms zipping in their eery speed to meet her and the others.
Before her mind caught on that she was no longer dreaming, the blanket of warmth fell over her again, the patterns lighting the way again and she fell back into her daze.
Yoa frowned at Nova’s sudden stillness. Before he could question further one of the bloodsucking demons tried to sneak up on him. Without looking, his hand shot out, and he caught the fanged creature by the throat.
"Show off," Atia muttered, smirking, as he skidded along the rocky terrain on his knees, back stretching back, blades slashing the back of the knees of vampiras either side of him. They cried out in pain.
"Kairan help me," Aiyana pinched the bridge of her nose, staring up into the darkness, and releasing the creature that had suffocated slowly to death beneath her staff that had stabbed through its windpipe. Her strategy to kill them silently so they did not announce their arrival to more of their kind, just shattered.
’Oops,’ Atia answered in a mind link. Neither of them were aware of this, and had always assumed they could silently converse without speaking.
Aiyana rolled her eyes and rolled to the side, knocking out a vampira mid-shift, and collapsing as a woman with bat wings covering her face, slumped on her belly.
Nova continued to move forward, following the dimming light of the geometric patterns, the imagery now completely breaking up, shattering into pierces as a darkness started to pulse and branch out. The shadows slithered slowly along the ceiling and ground. So slow, it barely moved.
Yet, she knew, somehow it would expand, its power zapping out the light, and eventually reach beyond the cave. That darkness was a problem for all of Tayun. It wouldn’t remain at that snail’s pace for long.
Nova just knew. From the very depth of her being, the smallest disturbance, like that of a leaf landing atop water, would unleash a ripple far greater and quicker. There was no telling when this would occur.
But she had to stop it.
Yoa followed closely after crushing the bones of two vampiras daring to get closer to him and his mate. He recognised the route, wondering if he would be granted entrance, unlike last time. A shiver ran down his spine the closer they drew to the tunnel, his eyes drew skywards, sensing the darkness, the wrongness of another power destroying what could ultimately be the very life of the island.
THUMP.
Yoa’s head snapped back down, stance adjusting, but Nova stood tall, looking past the vampira that had dropped from the ceiling, wings spread wide, intending to scare her—and boy would she have freaked if she was fully awake right now—instead, her blade had sliced upward.
The vampira crumpled to the ground, clutching his organs. Nova stepped past him, so fixated on her task, dazed, she’d walked over his bat wings. He cried out, trying to scratch out but Yoa finished the kill swiftly. He released a breath, shoulders relaxing when the barrier from before, the power that held them back had dropped, allowing him to follow his mate.
Protector... Wind whispered along his hair.
Always. He silently vowed.
"Where did that wind come from?" Atia asked from further behind.
"Focus!" Aiyana clipped then called out to Yoa. "Should we follow?"
Yoa shook his head once, the darkness of the tunnel had already fallen over Nova and her stiff movements. "It is not much further. Make sure no more come here. Call me if you need help."
Atia and Aiyana nodded before shooting off in opposite directions. The sounds of scuffling and fighting followed. Yoa was confident they would be fine. There were only a few vampiras that had noticed their presence. Hopefully, whatever Nova was going to do wouldn’t take too long and they could escape before the colony notices.
Darkness fell over Yoa as the tunnel grew colder. He remained vigilant, ignoring the cold crawling up his neck, following his mate until they turned a corner. He halted, eyes widening, head tipping as he forgot how to breathe.
"The heart of Tayun..." Yoa murmured in awe.
That awe didn’t last long though. His eyes snapped to the darkening veins pulsing along the cavernous walls then looked to the strange creature inside of the gem. He stepped closer, and its eye popped open.
His beast instinctively hissed then growled, rumbling deep in his chest.
"Tayun needs help..." Nova murmured, her voice monotone as she placed her hand on the gem. The creature slowly looked at Nova, its body unmoving except for its eye.
"This does not belong here..."
"It is dark magic," Yoa hissed, glaring at the thing, wondering how it managed to form in this place. "Was it the vampira’s?"
Nova tilted her head, her voice not her own. "Partly... It is the final Ancient..."
"Final... Ancient," Yoa repeated, eyes narrowing on the thing. "We should kill it."
At the mention of killing it, he was thrust back suddenly like pure manic power crashed into him. His body crumpled against the cavernous wall, a crack branching out from where he’d fallen into it.
Nova didn’t look in his direction. "It is corruption itself... created from wrongdoers over the centuries..." That same voice responded to him.
It sounded familiar, almost angelic, yet he could not place it, and his mind could not form together its meaning. "The creature, like those of the Akhlut, the Ichtaca, Cihuateteo and Teju Jagua, is here by the bidding of another... Akura’s very own pet..."
Akura...
A chill fell over Yoa’s body, like icy fingertips grazed along his skin from one shoulder to the other as he paled at the goddess’ name. Only those foolish had ever sacrificed to her, prayed to her. She was a god of a very different nature.
Akura delighted in the love of any who prayed to her, yet she was the goddess of gifts that cut both ways. She was divine judgment, knowing the wrongness of mortal desire, twisting it until their wishes rotted into something darker than they had ever dreamt.
The vampiras were proof of this. Their power bought with the loss of the sun, to drink from the flesh of those they despised to stay alive or become weaker than ever before, withering into a husk when the hunger was not fed.
or become weaker than ever before, becoming living corpses until their bodies ultimately gave up on them.
The final ancient...
That sounded like the end of time.
Akura’s pet... Such a thing would drive every soul to bow, though the goddess would still turn upon them. Either from the cruelty of divinity or simply the joy of chaos.
Yoa stared at the creature whose eyes were fixated on Nova now. It did not attack her like it did him. It almost looked curious.
Is it because the being was nothing more than a newborn, stuck in the foetal position, watching Nova. Yoa could not sense any violent intent from his mate, yet he knew with certainty that she was not there to aid it. The creature was inside Tayun’s heart.
No. Nova was chosen by Tayun, and now he knew why. There was something she had that nobody on the island did. Whether it was to peacefully remove this being or something else entirely that only Tayun would understand, it did not matter. She was here and she had a task to complete.
The creature’s eyes locked on Yoa again and the same power flung him back into the wall as soon as he’d stood up. Pain flared across his back and he growled, wanting to rip the creature straight from the gem. But the gem pulsed with life, even if some of it was with corruption bleeding into the very stone above them.
Again, Nova did not look in his direction. She knelt before the gem and pressed her hands onto her chest. Yoa couldn’t see it, but he sensed a different essence thrumming from her being. He remained on the ground, watching his Serakai, his little mouse, this island’s Electa, as she helped their island from this disease spreading.