Within These Tangled Tales

Chapter Fifty-Eight

 —Khae Falairas, Velara, Emma'Shalaar—

Screams echoed around her, startling her awake. Hands pressed flat against the ground, Ori shoved herself up in a fright, the sound of something cracking nearby alerting her to the danger. Her surroundings were unfamiliar, but she had no time to ponder. The massive building in front of her was crumbling as the ground beneath it gave way, sending its enormous façade tumbling directly into her path. Ori scrambled away as fast as she could. The ground was slipping from beneath her feet, but at the last moment, she was able to dive to safety. She watched in horror as the building toppled into the earth below her, leaving a wide view of the destruction surrounding her.

A city on fire. A sky filled with raining stars. She had seen this before. The metal beneath her hands trembled as another earthquake shook the land. Beasts were soaring through the heavens between the star shower, others stalking through broken streets, and everywhere, the people cried out for something, anything, to save them.

"Aer'Avyn!" the voice was familiar and tinged with desperation. Her head snapped in the direction, but she couldn't see who it was. There was smoke and fire everywhere, people racing along the streets in an attempt to flee the inevitable. The sound of the voice should have sent her panicking, but almost against her will, her body turned toward the sound, her heart flooding with relief as she pushed herself to her feet and raced in the direction of the voice.

But just as she spotted the owner of the voice, the ground cracked apart, further widening the gap between them. Ori was just able to stop herself from sliding down into the abyss. There, on the other side, eyes wide with panic, was the King of Bones, though he looked different than she remembered.

His black hair was cut much shorter, resting about his ears while his eyes, though they still resembled a dragon's, were no longer an unnatural orange, but instead, a deep, bottomless aquamarine that seemed to shimmer with every movement. His clothes were torn in several places, blood and dirt in equal measure showing the struggles he had faced to get to her. His panicked eyes searched along the crevice, but the gap was too wide for her to jump and too long to see a way around.

"Are you injured?!" he called to her.

She shook her head, numbly, not knowing how to respond. Everywhere, the world around her was dying, the people frightened beyond reason. A heavy lump settled in her throat, a few tears spilling from her eyes.

"I don't know what to do," she found herself saying, almost as though someone else spoke for her. "I...I can't..."

"Aer'Avyn, look at me," the King of Bones calmed his voice, gaze steady when he looked at her. "This is not the end. I promise you. We will see this through. We will leave here, together. But I need you to concentrate. Make a bridge so you can get across."

"Someone help us!" a terrified scream echoed through the chaotic din.

Ori turned at the sound despite the protests coming from the King of Bones. Through the smoke and fire, she could just make out the sight of a little girl huddled in her mother's arms as a tall, misshapen creature stalked toward them, a gnarled claw raised to strike. Without thought to her own safety, Ori made to run in their direction, but rather than sprinting ahead as she expected, instead, she found herself phasing through the air in the blink of an eye to shield them from certain death. Her emerald shield blocked the heavy-handed claw and with the slightest twist of her wrist, she wrapped the aether around the creature and ripped it from existence. It broke apart in sparkling aether that was still fluttering in the air when she turned back to the little girl and her mother. They both stared up at her in awe.