We had left the Lord of Fire behind to train the Fire Wielders in combat, those new to the power that had popped up after I pumped more magic into the crystals before they shattered.
Although the entire kingdom—the realm itself, really—was breaking down, creatures escaping from wherever they had been hiding, earthquakes and other natural disasters taking over, the Danes were actually fewer in number than ever.
Whatever I had done, had forced what had happened to Wyn hundreds of times over.
Some of the former Danes had gotten their Wielding back, while others got Wielding they never had before.
I hadn’t seen any other dual Wielders quite like Wyn yet, but I was sure they were out there.
And all Wielders, new and seasoned alike, needed training.
If we survived this, we would do our best to make sure they all had a place to belong: a place to feel safe, a place to use their powers however they needed.
A home.
A sanctuary.
But first, we needed to defeat The Gray.
I walked between Easton and Rhodes, all of us exhausted and silent. We walked up front, with Luken and Braelynn behind us as Wyn and Teagan pulled up the rear. We switched positions over time, but right now, I was between the two former princes, who were not talking to me or each other. Not because they were fighting, simply because there was just too much on everyone’s plate.
“You sure this is where we’re going to find that pirate king?” Easton asked, derision in his tone.
I held back a sigh as Rhodes answered. “He was this way last time we saw him. However, we know he has an actual ship that drones over the hills.”
“I’ve seen it. I still don’t believe he’s going to end up on our side. He never wanted to listen to what my mother had to say before. I don’t even think he sees me as a king.” Easton frowned and kept moving. “Not that I see myself as a king.”
“We can worry about titles later,” I whispered, trying to keep the peace. “I just need a united force against The Gray.”
“And behind you,” Rhodes said.
I frowned at him. “What do you mean by that?”
“I’m not saying anything rude. We will all fight with you. And when we defeat The Gray—because we will, damn it—then we can see what happens and acknowledge titles and royalty, if that’s even needed.”
“It would be nice if I didn’t have to be king,” Easton said offhandedly, and Rhodes and I shared a look.
I knew that Easton didn’t want the power and responsibility that came with being a king. He would shoulder it, but having all those lives in his hands? I knew the kind of weight he felt because I felt it, too.
And neither of us wanted our shoulders to break under the pressure. But we would do it. There was no other choice.
“We will find him,” I said.
“And hope he doesn’t kill us?” Easton asked, that smirk on his face again.
It almost reached his eyes this time, and I gripped his hand, smiling. “Yes. He’s going to be our little pirate king. And he’ll use his very fancy Earth Wielders to go against The Gray. They have powers I’ve never seen outside of their group.”
Rhodes nodded. “It’s true. They’re quite powerful.”
“And he never went against the throne, so Mother let them live.” Easton shrugged. “Frankly, they kept the peace amongst those who tried to prey on the weak, except for a few within their ranks.”
“The pirate who killed all those innocents is dead. We made sure of that,” I said, my voice shaking.
I still remembered the sight of that woman who had died for me. The one who had been a Seer, who had known she would die for me. That she would give me her power so I could break free.
I would not let her sacrifice be in vain.
I would not let the memory of so many deaths be in vain.
I opened my mouth to say something, not even sure what, when a screech echoed in the air. We all went on high alert, our Wielding in our hands, Luken’s sword at the ready.
“What the hell is that?” Rhodes asked.
“That…is a chimera,” Easton snapped. “Long extinct. Or so we thought.”
“That means the rift between the worlds is opening even more,” I said.
“And we don’t know what else came out of it.”
“How do you kill a chimera?” Wyn asked. She paused as another screech echoed in the air. “How do we kill multiple chimeras?”
Easton growled. “You have to cut off their heads, but their hide isn’t easily penetrated.”
I looked at the giant mass flying towards us and swallowed hard. It had the head of a dragon, not unlike Braelynn’s in her other form, but that was the only similar thing about them.
The chimera’s body was that of a lion, and it had talons on its feet, and falcon-like wings.
The realm was genuinely shattering. The horrors of ages past were coming forth.
And if we didn’t defeat The Gray soon and find a way to unite the realm and make it whole, it would bleed over into the human realm.
And more than one race and people would die.
“I count seven,” Teagan shouted over the screeching.
“Okay. Then we do this. Watch your backs.”
“Everyone take down one, and help those near you,” Rhodes said, each of us spreading out to confront the chimeras surrounding us.
I heard a deep growl and looked over my shoulder as Braelynn turned into her dragon form, fire slipping between her fangs.
I had already lost her once. I’d be damned if I did it again.
Honestly, I had already lost most of the people in this group more than once. We would not die today. None of us. Not by a chimera. Not even by many chimeras.
Everyone split off as the beasts lunged. I stomped my right foot on the ground, a wall of Earth rising into the air. It slammed into the lead chimera’s throat, but it did a barrel roll in the air and came at me, trying to slash me with its talons. I pushed myself back with my Air Wielding, flying backwards and then rolling to my feet, the claw coming at me missing my face by mere millimeters.
I shot Fire from my left hand, Water from my right, pulling from a nearby stream. The Wieldings pummeled the chimera, and its screams echoed in my ears, along with the cries of the others.
There were grunts, sounds of Water and Air and Earth and Fire all around me. My friends were on the ground, then back up again, blood coating most of us as the chimeras’ talons got too close, or if we hit the ground too hard.
But we were stronger than these creatures. We had beaten things worse than them.
And we would prevail here, too.
I dropped to my knees, slammed my hands into the ground, and moved them upward to pull a disc of Earth into the air. I spun it in the sky repeatedly until it created a sharp disc, and then used my Air Wielding to push it towards the chimera in front of me, flames licking the outside rim of the coin-shaped weapon. It sliced into the chimera, and the beast screeched so loudly, my ears felt as if they might bleed.
Its head fell off and dropped to the ground, its body following a second later. As it shriveled to ash, I turned towards Teagan, who was trying to use Fire to lash out at it. It wasn’t enough, not when he couldn’t cut through the beast’s head. I did the same, using my reserves to slice through the chimera’s head. Those with Earth Wielding were able to follow our lead, and Luken and Braelynn took down both of their foes—Luken using his sword, Braelynn using her dragon jaws.