Page 32 of Unseen Lord

I started crying again, and she rushed to me, holding me as we both apologized and hugged and cried together.

I told her everything.

She told me her stories.

And Uncle Sly filled a new cell in the dungeon with a Nirandel traitor who brought Devon over to fulfill this nefarious quest.

Uncle Sly told me the crystal came from Avakiri. That it was an ancient power that needed protection.

That it was too unstable to ever be channeled by anyone, regardless of their intentions.

That I was lucky to be alive.

Chapter 8

Iris

Strong hands pullme out of rubble. His hands.

"You still alive?" he asks, with a small bit of irony.

I choke out dirt and dig out of the mound that hurried me, standing beside him. Most of the cavern has collapsed and water is now rushing in from the ocean, but Arias has that under control. It stops before it gets to us, as if an invisible wall holds it there.

I can hear the storm continue to tear through the world outside, and in here it isn't much better. The memories from my past push into the present, shaping what I see. What I understand. What I know.

"I've seen this before," I scream as we look for a way back to the surface. But our path has been blocked by falling stone, trapping us and forcing us to go deeper in.

Totally not the direction I want to be heading, FYI.

"That's impossible," the Rider says, swerving as a rock nearly knocks him in the head.

"When I was sixteen. This kind of power was trapped in a crystal. Nearly killed me." I consider. "Actually, it did kill me. It was my first death."

My first death. Huh. Not a lot of people get to say that.

Let's just take a moment to marvel at what I can do.

Okay, back to the present catastrophic event.

Because this is truly catastrophic.

If this is the same power, and I can feel in bones it is, then this village is in danger. And I can only die once and come back. This thing could kill me more than that, I fear.

And I have way too much shit on my to-do list for that to happen.

Another boulder nearly crushes Arias and I push him out of the way with my body, saving his ass.

Then he pulls me aside as a lightning bolt strikes the area I was just standing, saving my ass. Okay fine. We're even. Sort of.

And then we step into a cavern that is the size of a baseball field. In the center is a metal orb made of what looks like trimantium. And it's pulsing with electricity and sending bolts of lightning everywhere. My hair stands on end and my skin glows white from the proximity.

What I felt before, in the Black Lotus dungeons…. That was nothing. That was a raindrop compared to a tsunami.

This is the tsunami.

"We're screwed," I say. "I faced this power once. But only a sliver of it, I realize now. Uncle Sly said it came from Avakiri."

"This is the fifth Spirit. The Storm that could tear apart the worlds. This island has deposits of trimantium throughout, and this cavern is lined with it. It helps stabilize the power. And that center sphere traps the magick here. It was created by the Ancient Ones back when the Storm first ravaged Avakiri, nearly destroying it. It should be stable. I don't know why it's responding like this right now. It never has before."