“No!!” Amara exclaimed.

  She dropped to the ground and took labored breaths. Kyra and Eonis rushed to her side as the girl shook with fear. The vision of death shook her to her core. She knocked the doll away and struggled to regain her composure.

  “Amara? What is it?” asked Kyra, crouching down beside her.

  Amara’s eyes were glued to the ground and she saw her tears falling before she wiped her face with her hand. She closed her eyes tight and shook her head, stuffing the emotion deep inside her. She had to be brave.

  “I’m fine,” she said, looking up at Kyra. “Just don’t touch–”

  She froze the moment Gene was consumed by the shadows. Her eyes went wide and her breath hitched. She didn’t know how to describe it but in an instant, it felt like a part of her had been ripped away from this world.

  “Gene,” whispered Amara in a daze.

  Kyra’s brow furrowed and she gripped Amara’s shoulders, asking, “What is it?!”

  She couldn’t fight her tears any longer, she locked eyes with Kyra and her lip trembled as she struggled to tell her he was gone. Suddenly, the air behind Kyra began to ripple and shadowy claws slashed through the air to cleave her in two.

  Amara and Eonis moved on instinct. She erected a barrier in an instant and the cloud clang of steel rang out in the silence. Eonis drew twin blades and leaped through the air. He took wild swipes to no avail as a shadowy creature formed out of thin air. It turned on him and tendrils of darkness erupted from its void flesh. Amara threw up a defensive wall and it exploded as it deflected the tendrils back at the creature.

  It screeched and Kyra took the opening. She focused, raised her staff, and began to pray.

  “Embrace of the Undying Flame!” she exclaimed as she slammed her staff on the ground.

  Above the world, in the realm of the gods, Aliyah answered her prayers. The goddess of light tipped the torch of her undying flame and a miniscule portion of the flame fell. The clouds above Balora parted as a massive column of holy flame crashed down on the creature, vaporizing it in an instant.

  Kyra jumped to her feet and a barrier shot up next to her, deflecting a newly emerged claw. More shadow creatures rose around them and they rushed to stand back to back. They were surrounded.

  “Damn it. What are these things?” asked Eonis as he sheathed his useless swords.

  “Some kind of wraith but I’ve seen any like them. I sense void mana and something…else,” said Kyra as her eyes darted from creature to creature. They desperately clawed at Amara’s barrier but the young girl’s power held strong.

  Eonis grimaced. He saw Amara’s strained expression. They had tested her limits for weeks and he knew she wasn’t nearing them but whatever she sensed with Gene took her focus. Shadow claws raked across her impenetrable barrier

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  “Amara, breathe. Whatever it is, he’ll get through it,” he said, placing a hand on her shoulder and drawing her attention. She took a deep breath and he smiled before saying, “Now, do you think you can make me a barrier? About this small and this long? If they can’t penetrate your barrier then chances are it, it can penetrate them.”

  He motioned with his hands and Amara looked down at the ground in thought. She closed her eyes and focused. They had been training her to form shapes, change the density and flexibility of her barriers but this was something different. She heard the scraping sound of the claws against her barrier but she pushed it away. She drew into herself in the same way she saw Gene do so many times. She envisioned what she needed, blades to rend flesh, but didn’t stop there. She needed armor to protect them.

  Her eyes snapped open and she clasped her hands before shouting, “Astral Armory!”

  Blue light exploded out of her, sweeping through the land in pulsing waves. Glowing armor formed around them, enveloping them and their weaponry with her power. Eonis cackled and drew his glowing blades.

  He crouched low, grinned, and said, “A+ execution, Amara, now give me an opening!”

  He dashed forward and Amara flexed her barrier, repelling the wraiths with explosive force and opening a hole for Eonis to charge out of. He leaped into the air, delivering twin slashes to the nearest wraith. He wrapped the hilts of his blades in vines and dashed backwards as he whipped the swords through the air in swirling patterns.

  Energy swords ripped shadows into ribbons as Eonis moved with preternatural grace. He extended roots from his Everoak bracer, using them as quick footholds. They withered rapidly but he moved faster than the poisoned land could consume the plantlife, leaping through the air and swinging the vine swords wildly. He was a blur, bouncing around Amara’s barrier and with a final flourish, he tore through the last wraith and took a second to stare at the energy blades.

  He looked over at Amara and the little girl’s expression hardened as she shouted, “We need to go, now!”

  ?

  Kyrie frantically swung his blade at the shadowy figure engulfing Gene. All around them, swirling fog coalesced into more wraiths, surrounding them. Winnie fired off mana bolts, blowing chunks of shadow flesh away as Gene writhed in its grip. She ran to Kyrie’s side, pressing her back to him as the wraiths amassed upon them.

  All hope felt lost until Amara’s power washed over them. The wraith holding Gene exploded when the Astral armor formed around him, dropping him to the ground. He fell into Kyrie’s arms and gasped. He smoldered, his skin cracked from where the shadowy tendrils touched.

  The wraiths swarmed them and Kyrie charged forward with his energy blade. Winnie fired off mana bolts, warding off any approaching wraiths as she threw herself in front of the recovering Gene.

  Gene choked as he said, “Oh god. We made a mistake coming here.”

  From the ground, he watched Kyrie unleash his fury and go on a rampage.

  Kyrie was a vicious blur as he shouted, “Carnage Incarnate!”

  Stamina flooded into Kyrie’s body, enhancing his strength and speed to inhuman degrees. The warrior raged, brutally tearing through the wraiths all around them. When the last one fell, he turned back to see Gene frozen in horror.

  “We made a mistake coming here,” repeated Gene in a whisper.

  “We need to regroup!” shouted Kyrie as he ran over to Gene.

  Gene grabbed his hand and shook his head, saying, “There’s no time!”

  His eyes darted around unfocused and when he looked at Kyrie his fear was palpable as he said, “I couldn’t feel them before because I didn’t know what to look for. I see them now, all around the city, pressing at the walls that contain them. There’s thousands of them and they’re close to breaking free.”

  His eyes were frantic as he said, “We need to finish this now and before it’s too late, we need to destroy Balora again.”