“Fine, fine. Let’s go before someone gets fucking hurt,” Brogan shouted over the growing sounds of splintering wood and cascading rock.
With their hands clasped, Rorie and Renny took off down the hall and they turned the corner to run smack into the sentinels of the Daray family.
“Chand has teleported to safety; you need to do the same,” Alaric stated.
“No, I can help,” Renny argued.
“Mind your magic level,” Alaric replied. “Killian has taken the Draconises to where Chand is outside the gates. We need to find the elves and the rest of the shifters.”
“On it,” Renny responded. They took off in opposite directions, and Rorie wondered what was tearing apart the castle. Had the fairies figured out how to destroy it despite the layers of magic that protected it? If they had, he wondered what the fate of their world would be. There was no money to rebuild it, and he sincerely doubted his people would line up to create a new one as they’d done with the first. Setting those thoughts aside, Rorie concentrated on banging on doors to find the family he’d somehow gained the moment he met Renny.
“Hello?” a small voice yelled when they knocked.
“Pyxlevir, it’s Renny. Come on, we need to find your parents. Something’s happening to the castle.”
They thrust the door open. “My Dads’ room connects to mine, but I can’t get the door open,” the small elf told them.
Rorie rushed in to find that the inner wall had shifted enough that the wood could not move to allow entrance.
“Pyx! Pyx, are you still there?” Chieftain-mate Aristos Valzadari-Centaurus shouted.
“Aris, it’s Renny and Rorie. I’m going to use some magic to blast through the door; then I’ll teleport you guys to safety, okay?” Renny hollered back.
“We are moving out of the way,” Chieftain Kalthekor Valzadari answered.
“I will do it,” Rorie told his v’airsell nioll. Sending enough magic to eliminate the door without harming the elf and centaur on the other side, the pair raced in and Aristos scooped up Pyxlevir into his arms.
“Are you okay?” he demanded of their son.
“Yes, but I do not think I like this castle anymore.”
“Let’s get out of here,” Renny said. The familiar cast a teleportation circle and paused for only a second to allow Kalthekor to kiss his son on the cheek. After arriving at an area beyond the gates, Saura ran toward them with T’Eirick on their heels.
“They’re here, Brogan,” T’Eirick shouted.
“Thank fuck we have everyone,” Brogan hollered, sprinting over.
To Rorie’s dismay, the ground shook, and he realized whatever was happening it wasn’t limited to the castle. “What is going on?”
There were several deafening booms; then a wave of magic Rorie recognized as Drekkoril’s swept across the large group of people, protecting them. Rorie stood frozen as his childhood home collapsed and smashed to the ground. Around it, trees toppled, and that was when he saw the hole that had formed in the land right underneath the castle. A thousand thoughts slammed into his mind. His first one was for the safety of the fairies and bemollos, so his gaze sought them out as the smoke cleared.
“What the actual fuck?” Rafe whispered
Rorie gasped as one by one, his people changed before his eyes. Their ears elongated, their hair grew longer and changed color, and the beautiful paint on their skin disappeared. If they didn’t fall from the sky down into the nothing that was quickly spreading, he might’ve been able to handle such differences.
“Bétea help us,” Rorie said and didn’t fight as Renny pulled him into his arms.
“Whatever is happening, it is affecting the dark realm too,” Drekkoril stated in a flat voice devoid of emotion. Their gazes locked, and Rorie’s bemollo’s eyes were full of torturous pain.
Rorie’s attention went to the area of his realm that connected to the dark, and with the expanding rift, he could see deep into the heart of the Dark Fae. Like Rorie’s people, they were morphing and falling into the unknown.
“Please tell me we aren’t going to die in this fucking dream,” Brogan demanded.
“We cannot be hurt,” Drekkoril said. “Have no worry.”
A burst of fire hit the air, and he was ecstatic that it was Orlami above him.
“I know they can’t technically be hurt, but for their safety, I suggest you pull your Faedrekan into yourselves,” Rafe advised. It was a sound plan, so Rorie did as he was told. In the distance, fire ripped through the sky again and two other Faedrekan flew above a bemollo holding something tight in his arms alongside his fairy. One was black with the most beautiful moving silver swirls over his flesh while the other was a bright pink.
