Arcemis's Arc

Chapter 13 of 16

The great throne room doors were sealed shut. Arcemis pressed his palm to the black stone and felt the dark magic humming behind it. Rhademus was inside, wounded from the blade that still glowed gold in Arcemis's other hand. The guardians gathered close. Freyo nocked an arrow. Marina raised her shell staff. Circe held her spellbook wide. "He can't run now," Arcemis said. "We break the door." They struck together. Marina's water hammered the stone. Lira's frost cracked it. Tybore drove his fists through the splitting rock. Lucien tore the shards away with his claws. The doors gave, and the guardians poured into the throne room. Rhademus stood before his black throne, one hand pressed to his chest, dark blood steaming between his fingers. His red eyes found Arcemis, but for once the calm was gone. "Arcemis," the king said, breath thin and slow. "We are the same, you and I. We both fight for what we cannot lose." His voice dropped to a whisper. Dark threads coiled from his hands, but they came weak and thin now. Then the floor split. A ripple of red light tore across the stone, a seam between worlds. Green fire poured up from it, and through the fire came Vaphos, thrown down from Gaia's battle above. The demon crashed into the throne room, and where he fell the seam ripped wider. A gate opened, an endless dark mouth breathing cold. It pulled at everything. Skulls tore from the walls. The throne slid toward the black opening. Vaphos screamed as the gate seized him. His claws raked the stone, but the pull was too strong. It dragged him back through the red seam into the dark, and he was gone. Rhademus stumbled toward Arcemis, reaching. The gate caught his robes. "Help me," he begged. "Boy, I command you, help me!" Arcemis looked at the king who had sacrificed Amira with a black knife. He thought of his parents. He thought of Amira asleep in the temple, the shadow still inside her. He lowered his sword and did nothing. The gate took Rhademus. His fingers scraped stone. His red eyes stayed on Arcemis until the dark swallowed them. Then the king was gone. "We have to close it!" Circe yelled. The gate did not shrink. It grew, dragging them all toward its edge. Arcemis dug in his heels. "Together!" he shouted. He poured gold light at the seam. Freyo's wind pushed against it. Marina's water, Lira's frost, Circe's shield all struck the widening dark. The gate shuddered. It fought them. The floor buckled under their feet. But it was too strong. Their combined power slowed the gate, yet it did not close. It hung open, breathing cold, straining against seven exhausted guardians. Arcemis gripped his sword and held the line. Both enemies were gone into the abyss. Amira could wake now. But the door to the underworld stood open, and it would not seal.