Page 6 of Crown of Flame

That’s when the light starts to grow and expand, pulsating in space.

I move to get away from the light, rushing forward toward the cavern entrance, but I’m too late.

My senses are overcome by white light, and I feel an unfamiliar sensation overcoming my body.

This doesn’t feel like home anymore.

3

SERENA

“Son of a –” Nielsen whispers, clearly not expecting this turn of events.

Beth doesn’t look joyful to have betrayed us, but as we scatter away from Nielsen, we all come into full view, leaving the magical ring’s area of effect.

Somehow, Aldor is caught first.

He runs down the stairs by himself in a shitty gambit and winds up coming face-to-face with a series of dark elves, who had concealed themselves on the second floor using the same magic we used to sneak in.

Apparently, the floor wasn’t as empty as we thought.

“Shit,” he murmurs as four elves with drawn daggers corner him.

I’d rather not relive what happened to him. Clearly, they don’t care about keeping us alive. But I feel like something beautiful is lost as he falls to the floor, dead.

And even though my mind is screaming at me, memorizing and absorbing the gory details while it tries to keep me trapped and rooted in place, my feet won’t listen. Adrenaline motivates me while my world crumbles around me.

The one advantage I have is that I am the fastest among our group.

“Hey!”

One of the dark elves on the second floor calls after me, unleashing a torrent of lightning that temporarily illuminates the dank alchemy room. It grazes my arm, scorching me, but I keep running in spite of myself, feeling the pain move through my elbow and toward my shoulder.

When they corner Pierce, he doesn’t even try to run. He thinks maybe, if he’s reasonable with him, they’ll spare him.

But these aren’t just any dark elves. I don’t know if there’s such a thing as a good dark elf, but these are monsters with no concern for honor or ethics.

I watch in horror, running past one of the guards who brandishes Pierce’s own walking stick. I hear them beat him with it as I run down to the first level.

What we did was a testament to our own hubris. I feel terrible about abandoning people I once considered friends, excluding possibly Beth, but if we die without accomplishing anything, then we die for nothing at all.

I dash through the book-filled first floor, past dark elves who seem surprisingly immersed in their own element, utterly indifferent to my existence.

Then I realize I’m running into the unforgiving night and that I don’t have a plan. As I move through the entryway, glad the dark elves abandoned their watch for the good of proving an ironic point, I wonder how I’m going to survive at all.

But I am relieved to be free of the tower.

I push myself through the snow, running as fast as I can against the unstable terrain.

Then I can’t move.

I push my legs forward, but my brain fails to connect to my legs. My brain is trapped inside my body, unable to do anything but think.

What’s happening?

I can’t turn my neck, and the distant wilderness is getting farther away from me, the monotonous hum of the towers growing ever closer.

“No,” somebody behind me, now within earshot, says with amusement. “Let her keep trying to run. I want her to get farther away before we pull her back.”