Pandora's Box

Chapter 13: Part III

The elemental magic had run dry. The crackling core of lightning in her wand snuffed out like a candle. And the wind charged wand suddenly felt as though it weighed a ton. A pair of angry tears rolled from the corners of Pandora's eyes. She locked her eyes onto the hovering Drake-beast. A surging column of his power poured into Kasaadi's tombstone. The ziggurat began shaking.

Insight suddenly flashed

He knew I'd focus on protecting Donovan at all costs until I had nothing left.

Anger stoked a burning ember in the pit of Pandora's stomach. It grew in pulsing waves, pounding in her veins like war drums. Nothing left?

Hardly.

Pandora screamed beyond the capacity of mortal lungs. The dark energy of the Blight answered her immediately, swirling around her body like an indigo serpent. The magical current flooded her eyes and mouth. Her neck twisted to an impossible angle. The forbidden power of the magic her mother had warned against flowed freely through her, reinvigorating her very core.

The princess looked down at her hands, only half aware of the muscle and bone showing where the Blight had consumed her skin. She smiled. "Beautiful." Pandora flexed at the knees and vaulted straight up into the air, taking a position twenty feet directly across from the Drake-beast.

"Pandora don't!" Donovan cried out.

The Drake-beast regarded the fledgling liche and the little flesh remaining on the creature's face twisted into a something resembling a smile. It's crimson eyes flashed. "So, the little princess has tasted true power."

Pandora let her eyes flash through several shades of glowing indigo.

"Then you've finally come prepared to fight." The Drake-beast's voice carried a note of mocking. Pandora knew it wasn't without merit: she was certain if he wished her dead, her ashes would simply be scattered on the winds.

A rising wind swelled and Pandora drifted closer to the Drake-beast. "No. I've come to join you."

The Drake-beast gave a quizzical look. The temple rumbled, rattling the terra cotta soldiers arranged in a half-circle around Donovan, keeping him pressed precariously to the ziggurat's edge.

"I'm tired of my mother's warnings and restrictions. What good is power if one can't wield it as desired?"

"The Fallen would smile greatly upon me if I returned to him with such a powerful new apprentice. One so gifted. So powerful." The Drake-beast leaned forward and floated closer to Pandora until it was nearly nose to nose. His eyes flared and Pandora felt the shriveled skin on her face warm.

"So deceitful."

Pandora cocked her head to one side. "Deceitful?" She gave a banshee's shriek, and thrust her arm toward Donovan. A jet of purple energy wrapped itself around the boy and swept him over the ziggurat's side. His scream held for a moment and then vanished. Pandora's eyes burned with violet fury.

"You were saying?"