Chapter 116: Unity
The dark creatures emerged from the trees like living nightmares.
They had too many teeth, too many claws, and eyes that burned with ancient hate. "Guardians’ hunters," Darian whispered. "They’re here for Elara."
The pack members who had just been freed from Elara’s power took one look at the monsters and screamed. Some fainted. Others tried to run but tripped over their own feet. "Protect the civilians!" Kael ordered.
The triplets moved as one, making a defensive line between the creatures and their people. But they were overwhelmed twenty to one.
Above them, Elara’s silver form was trying to break free from the space between worlds. The twins’ light was guiding her home, but Vex was holding her back with chains of pure darkness.
"You belong to us now!" the Guardian growled. "I belong to my family," Elara shot back. She pulled harder, following her babies’ innocent power. But every time she got close to breaking through, Vex’s chains tightened.
Down below, the first hunter jumped at Kael. Its claws cut across his chest, leaving deep gouges that burned with unnatural cold.
"These things are poison!" he gasped. Ronan’s berserker rage exploded outward, but when his energy hit the hunters, they just took it and grew stronger. "They’re feeding on our power!" Darian realized.
A hunter pushed him to the ground. Its breath smelled like death and rot. Darian tried to use his shadows, but the thing ate them like candy. "We can’t fight them individually," he wheezed.
"Then we don’t," Kael said, a crazy idea forming in his mind. He grabbed his brothers’ hands just as three shooters lunged at them. Instead of fighting separately, the triplets let their powers move together.
Ice, rage, and shadows combined into something totally new. A barrier of crystallized rage surrounded them, freezing the hunters solid while burning them with contained berserker fire.