The Edifice

45. The Strife

LEE

I fucked up.

Story of my life so far and yet the words still ring in my ears over and over. They drown out the pain, the anger and the fear. Even the cries of anguish and fury from Olivia and Zagan are lost to the mantra that drills its way into my head, humiliation and fury lashing down into my bones.

I fucked up. I fucked up. I fucked up. I fucked up.

I brought Olivia here to this. I misjudged Zagan. I thought nothing could be worse than losing everything that turned the Edifice from my refuge into my home and worst of all I was wrong. Because somehow Olivia Porter is worth more than that.

Zagan launches a stream of flames at me. Wielding fire is instinctual enough that I need to do little to deflect it, the heat blasts against my cheeks, scorching my skin and hair without immolating me. His next curse is more potent- dozen words of ill-intent that release a flurry of small blades of magic towards me that would easily slice through everything but bone should they touch my skin.

I summon another barrier just in time to catch them but in doing so the one I erected to protect Olivia shatters.

She's through it in the blink of an eye, teleporting behind Zagan once again. Were it not for the danger of my loved one let alone myself, the sight of the godling in motion would take the cigarette singed breath straight out of my lungs. It's the sort of fight I'd pay to see at a distance.

Zagan is all of Otis's potential given form. Holding nothing back, each curse is stronger than the next, cast without hesitation or effort. Before Olivia is even halfway receding from view he's already turning, sparks dancing in his fists.

The brunt of the energy catches Olivia in the stomach, throwing her back with the crack of lightning striking. For a blow that would have killed anyone short of an angel, however, Olivia recovers before her body even half way arcs through the air. She disappears again, reappearing to Zagan's left.

He's faster than her, again, driven by loathing and blocks the punch she's barely begun to throw. They disappear for a second in a plume of Zagan's fire and my stomach drops, but when the flames fade back down he's the one in trouble.

Olivia returns her own burst of energy. With no training, it's nothing but an explosion of Otis's icy mana but given the sheer power behind, it the attack needs no accompanying directive. Zagan's feet are blown out from beneath him, the gale of ice shards and freezing wind sends him shooting across the floor to me.

I barely close my eyes in time as the explosive blast hits me too.

The ice cuts into the skin of my face, embeds in my horns, my chest. Hot blood follows the sudden pain and I have to wipe the sudden out-pour from my brow before I can open my eyes again. All shallow wounds, by the feel of it. Well, somewhat shallow.

"You should have listened to them," Olivia shrieks, hurling another burst of ice after the godling on the floor. "Lee was going to deal with you. Otis wanted to be your brother. But I'm going to beat the shit out of you-"

She freezes suddenly, fingers contorted like the branches of a withering tree. The thin muscles of her arms bulge, every joint and tendon straining against some invisible force. Even her eyes seem forced open, gazing panic-stricken as her lips flounder helplessly on words trapped behind her locked jaw.

To my side, Zagan rises once more from the ground, blood dripping from a gash across his cheek. The droplets hover in the air around him, circling his raised arm and splitting out in a complex rune in the air before him. It's a rune I recognise well. The last time I used blood magic that potent, the spellrot had claimed my right arm up to the elbow.