CHAPTER 137: ENEMIES

Aelin

My blood ran cold.

They’d been looking for me? Me? Not any of the warriors. Not Draegon?

Me.

Terror clawed through me so fast it almost shattered my mind. I wanted to thrash but my body was locked in place, like prey in the mouth of a beast too large to fight.

I’ve felt helpless.

Tears pricked at my eyes, not from pain, but from the choking truth that I couldn’t do anything. I had been nothing but a burden since the moment I was born.

Weak.

That’s what I was.

That’s what they’d all think.

But then—

No.

Something snapped in me.

It wasn’t rage.

It wasn’t even desperation.

It was... resolve.

A solid, burning line in my chest that said: I will not be taken. Not like this. I can do something about this!!

I tried to push my magic out. My vision started blurring from the pressure on my lungs. My head was spinning — but I focused. I focused.

Light.

My power cracked through the haze like a spear of white-gold lightning. It flared from my hands — searing and wild. The tendrils around me screeched as if they were alive — recoiling for just a second — just enough.

I tumbled down.

Fast.

but I didn’t hit the ground.

Strong arms caught me mid-fall.

My vision swam — I blinked —

Draegon.

His eyes glowing like twin stars, arms locked around me like a shield of steel. I was still shaking, gasping for air, fingers curled into his chest.

He didn’t let go.

Not for a second.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his voice fierce, almost desperate, his hand holding my face.

I managed a shaky nod, though tears were burning in my eyes. "Y-Yeah. I— I think so." The words came out in a whisper, shaky, trembling. My legs were numb. My heart felt like it would tear out of my chest from the way it was pounding. But I nodded. "Yeah."

The wind blew cold against my back as we hovered there in the air, Draegon holding me as though he didn’t care if the whole world fell apart below us. For a moment, I let myself believe I was safe. Just for a breath.

Then—

A burst of sound broke through the forest below. Screams. Roars. Magic slamming into flesh.

Draegon’s gaze shifted before I could even ask. His head snapped down, eyes narrowing. I turned in his arms too, peering over his shoulder—

Shapes moved beneath us. Chaos.

But I didn’t get the chance to focus on what I was seeing.

Something collided into Draegon with the force of a meteor.

The impact was so violent it ripped me from his arms. I cried out — a strangled gasp — as his grip was torn from me. He was sent spiraling through the air, crashing with a sickening sound into the dense green part of the woods far ahead.

"No!" I screamed, reaching for him.

But I was falling again.

The wind rushed past me, tugging at my clothes, making my hair whip like a banner in a storm. My stomach plummeted — and so did I. But before the ground could meet me—

Dark tendrils lashed out of the trees and grabbed me mid-air.

They wrapped around my limbs like cold snakes, pulling tight against my arms, my legs, my waist. My cry was strangled this time, my breath cut short as the shadows yanked me toward the forest’s heart again.

"No—no, no, no—!" I kicked, twisted, writhed in their grip, but they tightened with unnatural strength.

My head spun as I looked down.

The clearing was no longer a ritual site — it was a battlefield.

Abyss creatures flooded the ruined glade — their monstrous, grotesque forms lunging and snapping, jaws drooling with black venom, eyes glowing like fireflies in the dark. I saw the soldiers fighting valiantly. And I noticed that the creatures weren’t big. They were about the size of regular monsters found here and there.

And then — I saw them.

Fighting amongst the monsters were... people.

No — not people. And the only was I was able to tell was because when they got injured, they bled black.

Ariston was locked in a duel with one of them, sweat clinging to his brow as he parried strike after strike. His blade met theirs in a flash of light and steel, but he looked strained

Vesper was a blur of red and fire, her blade dancing like a comet across the field. But even she looked unsettled, dodging creatures that once might have been human or demon. One of them laughed at her — a rasping, corrupted laugh.

Draken hurled a bolt of lightning into the fray using the magic stones he had with him, striking down a group of beasts, but more poured out from the trees like roaches from a crack. He couldn’t focus on them anymore since he got engaged fighting with a six armed man.

Drakkar stood beside him, his wings unfurled and his fists blazing. But even he wore an expression I’d never seen on him before — wariness. Doubt.

This wasn’t just another battle.

This was an ambush.

And I—

I was caught again.

No.

No, not this time.

The fear churned in my gut like ice water. My body trembled from the pressure of the tendrils, the dizzying drop, the chill of being snatched twice in one day.

But beneath that fear...

Something burned.

Enough.

The fire burst from my hands, wild and golden.

The dark tendrils screamed — actually screamed — as they burned away into ash, recoiling like wounded beasts. Smoke and black dust trailed through the air as I dropped again, my stomach lurching from the sudden plunge.

But this time, I didn’t panic.

I closed my eyes, summoned what I’d learned.

A shimmer of light spread from my hand like a ripple across water. The moment my body touched it, it softened my descent, gently absorbing my momentum and lowering me to the ground like a feather.

My knees bent, my hands braced the earth, but I was safe.

I let out a gasp of relief. "Bless that book..." I muttered, breathless. "I’m glad I finished reading it."

I stood slowly, brushing dirt from my hands. And then—

I looked up.

And everything erupted.

Vesper was a storm.

Her twin swords danced in a blur, one trailing crimson flame and the other coated in glimmering silver frost. Her hair — a wild mane of fire — was plastered to her face, streaked with soot and sweat, but her expression was fierce. She was fighting another bulky woman with black leathery skin. Looked like a bat demon.

She ducked low, slid beneath the enemy’s claw, then twisted up and cut through its abdomen with both blades. A burst of black blood sprayed the air. She kicked off its body but it stood up again and so she launched toward her again.

Vesper turned, grabbed it by the shoulder with inhuman strength and blasted

it point-blank with a fire spell.

The thing ignited

"Try me again, freak," she spat but the opponent wasn’t so east to kill.

Drakkar, though—

He tore through

His claws were soaked in abyss blood, and his hands glowed molten red. He fought like he enjoyed it — fangs bared, a grin on his face, charging head-first into the chaos. He grabbed one of the humanoid abyss-spawn — by the throat and slammed it into the ground so hard it cracked the earth.

And then there was Ariston.

Graceful. Deadly. Silent.

His sword moved like water, like it was a part of his body — effortless. He faced off against a figure that moved faster than any abyss creature I’d seen — a woman, or something that used to be one. Her body flickered between shadows, and her hair floated like she was underwater, strands writhing like snakes.

But Ariston didn’t flinch. He met her blade for blade, strike for strike. She hissed — inhuman — and lunged with a dagger aimed at his throat. He tilted his head just enough for it to miss, then responded with a cut so swift it left a glowing trail in the air.

The woman staggered back, clutching her side.

He didn’t stop.

He stepped forward, quiet as breath, and disarmed her in one clean motion.

As I looked at all of them, I came to realize that they were fighting creatures similar to Ruoxy. The abyss worshippers, while the soldiers were trying to fend off the beasts.

I needed to fight too.

I took a step forward, breath caught in my throat.

I had just told myself — I need to fight too, I need to help them, do something — when the sound of shattering branches came from the woods.

A sharp, unnatural crash echoed through the clearing.

Everyone turned for a split second. Even the abyss creatures paused.

And then — someone flew out of the tree line, crashing into the dirt with a sickening thud and skidding across the ground like a broken doll.

The dust exploded in a cloud, veiling everything. My heart stopped.

The battlefield felt suddenly silent, like it was waiting to breathe.

I stared.

The smoke began to clear.

A soft gust of wind swept across the clearing, blowing the dust away like fog peeling off a mirror.

And then I saw her.

I froze.

"No..." I whispered, barely able to get the word out as I saw the figure getting up from the ground.

It was Alishay.