Matt gently wrapped his arms around her shoulders and tried not to put too much of his weight on her. “I’m okay,” he said as he kissed her as though she was going to disappear again. “I’m here, and I’m okay. I was so worried about you. I’m so sorry, Helia. I tried to get to you, and I just couldn’t. I heard you scream, and I tried, but I kept getting pushed back deeper under the ground.”
“Don’t be sorry,” she said as she smiled at him with tears streaming down her cheeks. “Come, let’s get you cleaned up.” She started to walk with him slowly toward the bathroom.
“Do you need help?” Lopt asked her.
“No, we can manage now. Thank you. Thank you for finding him and bringing him back to me.” She smiled at her father and then held tightly to Matt’s waist as the two of them walked down the hallway.
Brandt and Brenna stood in the middle of the room, staring at Leif. A massive wave of guilt fell over him, and he knew he would have to explain Kemma’s death to them, something that he could barely speak of himself without wanting to fall into despair. But before he had gathered enough courage to speak, Brenna ran toward him and threw her arms around him in a hug. Leif was shocked and speechless. He sat frozen with his arms at his sides in hesitation. After a minute, he wrapped his arms around her, too, and cried. Brandt came and sat down next to both of them and leaned his head against Brenna’s shoulder.
“It wasn’t your fault,” Brandt said softly to him. “We know it wasn’t your fault, and we know how much you miss her too. We’re going to get her back.”
“Yes, you are,” Erik said as the doors to the elevator opened up into the apartment, and Jerrik and Colby looked upon the others with relief. “I know where Kemma is, and I will take you there to get her.”
CHAPTER TWO
The dark sorcery didn’t discriminate between mortal and immortal realms. It slowly crept into each world and spread its decomposing illness over everything and everyone. Some worlds seemed more defenseless than others, and it seemed to come in strange waves without any discernable pattern. One thing was for sure, though, there was something else too. Something else had attacked Helia and Matt and had killed Kemma. The dark sorcery couldn’t have done those things on its own after just having left Leif. Something was steering it, pulling its strings like a puppet of destruction. Something, or someone, was behind the scenes.
Helia and Matt had “seen” it, but the thing was so cloaked in fire and dust, that the image of who or what was beneath the shroud was indistinguishable. It came with such sudden force that there wasn’t time to refocus and try to get a better look at it. Whatever it was sought not only to control the dark sorcery but to help amplify its spread of chaos and devastation. It wanted to stop them from curing the plague and obviously had no concern for the losses that would incur; in fact, it seemed to thrive on it. The same creepy and foreboding feeling that surrounded Brandt and Brenna at the pub in Hel, rode on the waves of the plague now as if it were all being orchestrated by the same hand.
Cai laid with the forest girl against his chest as he wrapped the strands of her long, white hair around his finger.
“You implied that I knew why I saved you,” Cai said to her as she traced her soft fingertips along the edge of his muscles. “And why I couldn’t seem to resist you. I honestly don’t know why I feel so drawn to you.”
“It is not just you,” she said softly. Her voice sounded like peaceful music that coated his thoughts with calm. “The forest and the light elves have always had a fondness for each other.”
“Yes, but I am no light elf.” Cai’s words sounded defensive and almost ashamed.
“I know that,” she said. “I don’t need to look at your red eyes or see the power thrum in your veins to see that you are the last of your kind, the last living Dark Elf. That is why you are meant to be with me. We share something, you and I, a force of creation that existed before many of the realms themselves were even birthed. I have waited for you for a long time.”
“How old are you?” he asked.
She couldn’t possibly be any older than he was; she looked as though she had barely passed a couple of decades.
“You and I are both older than we know, and the life-giving power that runs within us will perpetually keep us young.”
“Life-giving? All that my magic is good for is destruction.”
“That is not true. You have been deceived by many and protected too much by others. You have grown to think of your uniqueness as a curse, and this has affected the shape of it. I will teach you how to use your magic for wonderful things that create goodness instead of despair.”
The thought of being able to use his magic for joyful purpose and to stop being afraid of his power was a promise that Cai hesitated to even allow himself to have. He wanted that more than anything.
“Did you know I would save you when you came to the apartment?”
“No,” she answered. “I didn’t know it was you until the moment you saved me.”
“What do you mean you didn’t know it was me? “
“The one with whom I would spend my eternity.” She looked up at Cai, and he could see that her eyes were full of honest sincerity.
He didn’t quite understand all of it yet, but he did know she was right about one thing; they certainly shared some sort of connection.
“Well,” he said, attempting to be coy and playful now. “I suppose if we are to spend an eternity together, I should at least know your name.”
“I told you, I don’t have a name.”
“That’s just not going to do. You deserve to have a name. Would you mind if I gave you one?”
“Sure,” she said as she smiled up at him. Her starry eyes shone from the reflection of light in his bedroom.
He thought for a few minutes. “Astra. Because to me, your eyes look like stars. Do you like it?”
Her smile widened. “I love it. Thank you.”
They laid with each other for a few more moments and then were interrupted by the sound of Celeste’s scream outside the doorway.
Celeste.
Cai finally broke out of his passion-induced stupor and ran to the door. He threw the door open and stood within the doorway completely naked, his massive cock hanging between his legs as he saw Celeste lying in a heap on the floor in front of his feet. He saw the scattered bodies of other light elves littering the floor of the palace, light elves that had been trying to help Celeste defend the palace from the dark sorcery. He had been so enamored by his affliction to Astra that he had heard nothing of the noise outside his room.
As the wave of corrupted magic receded, Celeste had managed to make it to his door, but no farther. She had breathed in the plague-inflicted air and collapsed following the scream that finally jarred Cai to action. He scooped up her body in his arms and brought her inside as he slammed the door closed behind him.
“She’s not breathing,” he said to Astra in a panic. He laid Celeste on his bed and pressed against her chest, trying to get her to breathe again.
“I can help her,” Astra said as she touched Cai’s hand and bade him to move away from Celeste’s motionless body.