Storm Gods - G. Bailey Page 0,66

utterly spent, and just staying upright seems to be taking all my energy.

Neritous flicks his hand almost lazily, contouring my magic with his own before unleashing a blast of life magic from his free hand. Sucking in a breath, I stumble to the left, barely able to keep my footing. Somehow, I’m able to get a new barrier up, shrugging off the bulk of Neritous’s power, but I can feel myself lagging, and one look at the force field tells me its already on its last legs. “Steady now, Karma,” Neritous says coldly. “Wouldn’t want you to overexert yourself.”

I can feel my knees buckle, and the world starts to close in around me. Neritous bears down on the wall, causing it to shimmer before dissolving completely and leaving me vulnerable. But I’m running on empty, and my body feels like it’s barely working anymore; even with concentration, I can hardly summon the smallest of sparks around my fingers.

Neritous comes to stand over me, his hand outstretched. “I’ll make this quick, Karma,” he promises, and red magic begins to gather in his hand.

This is it. Come on, come on, I think. Do something! But there’s nothing to do; our power levels are matched, and he’s got the upper hand. He has everything that I do…

Except.

The solution comes to me so suddenly it nearly makes me gasp. It’s so simple, and yet I’ve been overlooking it this whole time in favour of damage and destruction. How could I have forgotten my longest-lived advantage?

Digging deep, I shut my eyes and grab for that nearly-forgotten magic, those powers that I once took for granted, and allow them to consume me with a last, desperate prayer. Neritous’s lightning comes down on me all at once, with enough power to leave me a smouldering crater…but it doesn’t hurt me, absorbed by my old powers.

For all our similarities, I have karma on my side.

Neritous seems to realise what’s happening a second later, his eyes going wide as he backpedals, but it’s too late, and in an instant, his magic is rebounding, trapping him in a vortex of red lightning. It’s not loud enough to drown out his screams as he burns, reduced to a charred corpse in the middle of the square. What I’m not expecting, however, is the surge of green magic that emerges from his corpse, which seems to gather in the air for a moment before streaming back into me, seeking me out like a beacon and revitalising me. I can feel my strength coming back as the powers I gave to him return to me, filling me up with a desperately-needed second wind.

I open my eyes, and just like that, it’s over, the fight coming to a screeching halt as the others realise their leader is dead. Storm and Killian have taken out the brothers, and they race over to me, eyes wide, as I stare down at Neritous’s smoking body. “You did it,” Storm says, disbelieving, but my mind is already on other things.

“Seth,” I breathe and go tearing back to where the other justice twin lies on the ground. “Is he…?” I ask, dropping to my knees next to Mads.

“Not good,” she replies grimly. “Karma, I don’t…”

But I ignore her, an idea already forming in my mind. If killing Neritous made his powers come back to me, then… “Storm,” I say as the other gods approach. “Killian. Join your hands.”

“What?” demands Killian. “We need to help Seth!”

“I know,” I reply, looking at him. “Trust me. Please. We don’t have much time.”

The gods exchange a look before hesitantly clasping their hands together. I grab Storm’s free hand, and Killian and I each take one of Seth’s, effectively making a circle. “What—” Storm begins, but I shush him. I need to concentrate. Closing my eyes, I reach for the life magic, the magic that’s caused so much destruction, and allow it to radiate out of me, channelling through the hands of Storm and Killian and into Seth’s body. For a moment, I’m not even sure if it’s going to work, but then I see vine tattoos beginning to snake up Storm’s wrists, and I double down on my efforts. The circle glows with green magic, brighter than it’s ever been before, as I share the life powers with Storm, Seth, and Killian, imbuing them with the same strength that’s been given to me.

The light dies down after a few seconds, and nobody dares speak; for one tense minute, I start to doubt myself,