A Shade of Vampire 77 A Fate of Time - Bella Forrest Page 0,71

converged on the swollen crowd of specters. They jumped in and started eating every spirit they came across, while Seeley and the others did their fair share of reaping on the side.

I did feel sorry for these spirits. They hadn’t chosen to be a part of this. They deserved an afterlife, but until Death gave verbal consent to the Word's assistance, our powers were limited. We couldn't do anything other than reap them or let the ghouls eat them. Lumi and Nethissis glowed like light bulbs as they moved and cast protective magic shields to help some of our crew, but there wasn't much else they could do.

Taking the Spirit Bender down was proving to be a lot more complicated than I'd originally anticipated. Granted, I'd thought Brendel was my greatest foe, until she fell. Boy, had I been wrong.

But with the wards broken, the ghouls were unhinged and relentless. The crowd began to thin, and Spirit made his way back to Death. His worried glance darted across the battlefield, and I knew I needed to break him, one way or another.

"You're not invincible," I said. "The odds no longer favor you. Maybe this is the universe telling you something. You should take notice before it's too late."

The Spirit Bender scoffed. "You tart. It's already too late. I've spent centuries figuring out the right Thousand Seals to put Death under. Do you think she'll show forgiveness if I let her out now? Ha! Besides, I'm not one to get discouraged easily. Look around you, Taeral. Aledras is about to explode. Its blast will be so powerful, it will amp up the fae sanctuaries and it'll burn everything in its wake. I win."

"You know what? I've had enough of this insane crap," I declared.

Moving toward him again, I noticed Seeley and Kelara moving in closer. They'd come to some kind of agreement, judging by their conspiratorial looks. They were up to something. Spirit was too busy eyeing me to notice them, and I figured it might work out to our advantage.

Roaring, I charged him at full speed, my boots barely touching the ice. Upon reaching him, he vanished and reappeared behind me. I then zapped myself away just as his scythe came in from the right. Behind him, Seeley and Kelara materialized. They both attacked him, though Seeley was far more brutal in his offensive.

I watched for a moment, then teleported right in front of the Spirit Bender and brought Thieron down on him. His eyes bulged with sheer horror. Kelara moved away from him, hand behind her back, and vanished. Before Thieron could touch him, Spirit disappeared, as well. I didn't take it as a disappointment, though.

Seeley gave me a brief nod and moved to take down more specters, while the ghouls did most of the hard work, gorging on all the souls they could eat. Even Herbert was hard at it, despite his charred skin and slow movements. There was anger in him, and it needed channeling—so munching on spirits must've seemed like a good outlet.

The Spirit Bender was nowhere to be seen, and I didn't like that. I rushed over to Death and tried to break the ice again. A distant boom erupted in the distance, somewhere to the north. It was swiftly followed by a bright white light, stronger than Aledras's current incandescence. It spread outward like the biggest, most powerful atom bomb ever created.

I was breathless. I doubted even I would survive what was coming, regardless of Death's touch. Everything disintegrated in the light's path. The horizon shimmered and vanished, swallowed by whiteness. The trees and the cities disintegrated, blown to smithereens, utterly obliterated. Destruction was finally upon us, and we were staring right at it.

"Oh, no…" I heard Amelia gasp, somewhere to my left.

"It's too late," Herakles managed.

This is it. The ritual is coming.

The end of days we'd all dreaded and fought so hard against was unleashed.

I was so entranced by the horror unfolding before my very eyes that I lost track of the Spirit Bender. His scythe cut into my back, and I cried out in pain. Frozen on the spot, I felt my self-control slipping away from me.

My soul was under his dominion now.

Taeral

"Your spirit is mine," he whispered in my ear.

My worst nightmare had come true. We'd lost everything. Our worlds would soon be torched. Our families gone, turned to ashes and dust. Our lives destroyed. Our civilizations forgotten. All because the Spirit Bender had a bone to pick with Death, and