Web of Aeons - Chapter 42: The Dragon’s Throat

Akari ran outside and found Relia kneeling in the street, cradling her sister’s head on her lap. The strike had crushed Elise’s sternum, caving in her ribcage, and distorting her entire torso. Akari couldn’t bring herself to look at the wound; she’d seen her share of injuries this past year, but nothing this bad.

Blood covered the remains of Elise’s armor, staining the surrounding puddles. It looked like too much blood to fit inside a single person. Bursts of green and gold mana flashed around the wound, but Elise’s body didn’t react. Life mana only worked on living things.

No . . . This was a trick; an illusion within an illusion. Elise knew their plan would fail, so she’d made Valeria think she’d killed Ashur Moonfire’s daughter. It was crazy, but brilliant. Exactly the sort of thing Elise would do.

“What happened?” Arturo’s voice asked over the comm channel. 

“She’s gone,” Kalden replied a moment later. He was still several blocks away, but their link let him see the world through Akari’s eyes.

“Who?” he pressed. “Talk to me, shoko.”

Another pause followed, and Akari relaxed into her Silver Sight. No dream mana came from Elise’s body. In fact, she saw no mana at all. Nothing but Relia’s failed attempts to heal her.

Kalden said something over the comm channel, but Akari didn’t hear it.

Tears streamed down Relia’s face, and the realization hit Akari like an instant later.

This wasn’t fair. She’d done everything right. She’d forgiven Elise and chosen to trust her, despite everything. She’d helped her team with their training, and she’d stopped overtraining herself. She’d even given up her chance to become an Aeon, and, and . . . she couldn’t think straight, but this all felt wrong.

They’d barely gotten to know Elise, but it was the start of a real friendship. A friendship that could have lasted decades—maybe even centuries. She’d imagined all six of them going back to the interschool games and breaking records. She’d imagined them advancing together, through the Master realm, all the way to Mystic. She’d imagined them returning to the Archipelago, saving the people they’d left behind. Maybe even following Elend’s dreams and fixing the world itself.

Now, it was over. Whatever happened next, they’d do it without Elise by their side. All because of one stupid fight. It wasn’t even a fight to save the city. It was just . . . nothing.

A part of her knew she was being stupid. Real life wasn’t some story where every battle mattered and the right moves brought a happy ending. Real life followed a different set of rules—rules that involved mana counts and probability. No team of Apprentices could fight a Master without casualties. She’d known that from the start.

For all that, she couldn’t believe her own eyes. She couldn’t believe she’d lost a teammate today.

Clearly, Relia didn’t believe it either, because she was still pouring life mana into her sister’s body. And just like before, the mana turned to vapor in midair, never reaching her channels. Somehow, the waste of resources snapped Akari from her own thoughts, and she stepped forward. “She’s gone, Relia.” 

The other girl didn’t answer. She just held Elise close, pressing her cheek to her forehead.

Akari turned her gaze to the sky. Only a few seconds had passed, and Valeria was still in sight. The chase must have exhausted her because she’d moved much faster before. Akari raised her right hand toward the sky and cycled mana to her wrist launcher, firing a dart at maximum speed.

“No,” Kalden said over the comm channel. “Don’t even think about it.”

She didn’t think, mostly because there was no time for thinking. The dragon was getting away, and Akari scrambled to form her thoughts into a cohesive plan. This would have been a lot easier with Kalden’s battle mana. Even talking was too slow, so she sent him a thought instead. ‘You gonna help me or not?’

‘No,’ his voice snapped back in her mind. ‘I’m serious, Akari. You were right before, but you couldn’t be more wrong about this.’

She normally preferred this version of Kalden—the rare moments when he stopped being indecisive and stopped arguing for its own sake. The times when he finally took a stand and wouldn’t back down for anything. But now it was just a hindrance. Akari had already made up her mind, and she wouldn’t back down, either.

‘Damnit,’ he said. ‘Think of how you feel right now. You want me to feel that way when you die?’ His aspect flooded her mind with the data, including her odds of success if she tried her plan.

Akari ignored it all. She didn’t have space in her head for numbers or hypothetical futures. Her thoughts flowed down a narrow tunnel, focused entirely on the next few minutes. Kalden was right, of course. She knew that deep down, but she still didn’t care.

Kalden cut the link with his Second Brain, attempting to stop her displacement technique. That might have worked a few weeks ago, but Akari had been practicing this technique non-stop since then. She held the revelation firmly in her mind and trusted her body to see it through, with or without Kalden’s help.

She took another step forward and met Relia’s eyes. “I’m gonna kill the dragon. Are you with me?”

Relia rubbed the tears from her eyes and nodded once. 

Good, at least someone understood. Akari sent a spacetime Missile toward the sky and swapped her body with the dart. This one had already been flying for a good fifteen seconds, and the swap brought her a mile into the air. The winds blew fiercer up here, cutting through her armor and clothing. The rain struck her face like tiny daggers, and lightning flashed on every side. 

Her body flipped over until her feet faced the sky. It felt like falling toward an endless void of swirling blue clouds. Her muscles tensed, and she Cloaked herself against the elements. Fortunately, she’d faced far worse in Vordica.

Akari extended her right hand toward the ground, cycled more mana to her wrist launcher, and pulled back the first dart. Then she raised her left arm toward the sky and shot a second dartat the retreating dragon.

Her body flew upward until gravity caught up with her. When that happened, she swapped herself with the second dart and began the process again. Her body soared faster with every swap. The g-forces sent blood rushing to her head, but that was no problem. She was almost an Artisan, and she had enough control over her cardiovascular system.

Once she’d built up some momentum, Akari switched to portals, aiming the first one upward toward the dragon, and catching her body with the second. 

Her clothes and hair grew stiff with ice. Her glasses would have frozen, too, if not for the protective sigils. 

Her skin froze next, and she couldn’t breathe. 

Just a few more seconds . . .

Her last portal brought her above the dragon. Valeria sensed her at once and spun through the air, preparing a blast of fire mana from deep within her stomach.

Time slowed as Akari raised a shaky hand and cycled more mana to her wrist launcher. Finally, she aimed for the dragon’s throat and unleashed her team’s strongest weapon.

~~~

Relia appeared in a dark tunnel, surrounded by fleshy walls, crisscrossed with veins of dark red. The scent of sulfur stung her nostrils, and wisps of smoke swirled around her body. The air ahead felt like a furnace, mixing with the cold of the sky.

Kalden had spent the last minute sharing Akari’s plan over the comm channel. He didn’t sound happy, but he knew they wouldn’t succeed without him. 

Fire raced upward from the cavern’s depths, and Relia formed a sphere of Moonshard around her body. The sphere filled the entire tunnel, trapping the flames in Valeria’s stomach. The dragon’s throat pulsed and contracted, and Relia could practically taste her fear. 

Or maybe that was her own fear? Relia had no idea if this next part would work—no one did. But this was worth it. If Valeria Antano got away, then she would just keep on killing weaker mana artists. Even one more casualty was too many.

Relia waited for several heartbeats for the flames to settle. The dragon coughed, swung her head, and thrashed around the sky. All the while, Relia held her Construct in place, straining with all her mental might. 

Now or never.

She split the shield into a dozen smaller shards, then she pushed out from her channels, sharpening each piece into a blade of Angelic mana. Blood erupted from every side, and space warped around Relia as Akari pulled her to safety.

She appeared back on the street a second later, and the dragon’s body plummeted from the sky above.