Chapter 618: The Eighth Sun
I closed my eyes against the blinding destruction of the last sun. My soul still quivered from whatever strange backlash I was suffering, filled with a foreign power I couldn’t access. Fable was hurt, and though he’d regenerated enough to shelter me against the sun’s heat, it wasn’t going to make a difference.
We were alone. No matter how badly I wanted him to, Luke wasn’t going to–
The light dimmed, allowing my eyes to crack open. A shadowy silhouette stood above us, soul gleaming as brightly as the descending sea of light. Dark wisps of curse mana, smelling faintly of decay and whispering with unseen voices, rose from the ground and curled around him. A tattered black cloak billowed around the figure, shielding me from the light’s intensity. The air crackled, and a primal fear, cold and sharp, pierced me.
Could it be one of Fyren’s curse demons? Had it actually managed to catch up?
A wave of darkness erupted from the shadow, momentarily soothing the sting of the sunlight. A rising mountain of blackness surged upward and smashed against the descending tide. The miniature sun detonated on contact, blossoming into a fireball that illuminated the night-stricken sky with unnatural, searing light.
Fable growled softly, pulling me closer to him with his tail. I winced as the motion squeezed the broken section of my tail, but couldn’t take my eyes off the heavens. It was a battle of twilight, the line between light and dark, only...it was the day I feared, and not the night.
The sunlight ate through the shadowy power, drawing closer with every heartbeat. More power poured from the shadow, but slowly, agonizingly, it was forced back. The figure staggered, a flicker of violet in its eyes, as the last of the aura was consumed, leaving only the tattered silhouette between us and the encroaching, deadly light of the Coming Dawn.
"It’s over," I whispered, lowering my head. Even if this was somehow an eighth-level demon, it couldn’t survive a direct hit of sun magic while still protecting us.
The figure turned, its face hidden by a cowl, save for those piercing, violet eyes. "You can’t die here, not after I finally found you. I won’t allow it."