Chapter Fourteen
Sunlight streamed in through the dark curtains, and Olivia opened her eyes to find herself curled into Wes’ chest. Smiling softly, his eyes opened to meet hers, full of warmth and love. Reaching forward, he brushed an unruly snarl of hair out of her face, and she leaned into his touch. With a happy sigh, she bent back slightly and brought her lips in to meet his.
“Good morning, master.”
“Olivia, you’re still glowing. Look at your skin.”
He was right. Even hours after the intense scene that they had shared together, her skin still emitted a pale white aura. She felt whole and complete, and owned in every sense of the word. Her blood still pumped feverishly underneath her flesh, and she felt herself moisten as she thought about the events that had unfolded here in his chambers the night before.
Every second of it had been incredible, and she couldn’t wait for it all to happen again. Pressing her thighs together, she felt her face flush with desire.
“The magic of a Servus Agonia comes alive when she submits to her one true mate.”
“Indeed.” He paused for a second, his face turning more serious. “We mustn’t waste much time this morning. As we speak, Dante and Kade are probably preparing the airship. I have to make sure you’re comfortable with the controls as well before we depart for the magical border.”
“You’re right,” she said, pressing her hands down on the bed so that she rose to a sitting position. Swinging her feet over the side, she rose from the bed, her naked body still deliciously sore from their lovemaking the night before. As she walked, she felt the residual soreness in her bottom cheeks from the leather paddle, and smiled. It pleased her to know that she would feel his mark on her for the entire day, calming her from the stress of thinking about the upcoming battle with Lord Nero.
Today was the day. Finally, they knew how to destroy him and save both D’Lormere and Legeari from the terrors of the evil Soul Eater himself.
The two of them readied themselves in record time, and met the others down in the armory. An airship bay was being made ready, with one of the king’s best models being prepared for flight.
Wes and the king were corresponding with some of their highest ranking officers. They were planning the envoy that was going to travel behind them, just in case they ran into any of the opposing enemy along the way. Dante was adamant about keeping his people safe and added a few more escorting ships, and she noticed that Wes vehemently agreed. The great lion Asad, and another wolf she had met, Tala, red and brown in color, sat beside them. She had no doubt they were offering their thoughts to the conversation as well.
Kade and Morgana were off to the side, discussing a few things. At one point, Olivia noticed that Kade had grabbed her chin and pressed his lips down to hers. The redhead looked up at him, breathless as he pulled away, and Olivia nearly laughed when a smirk graced the man’s lips at the success of his conquest.
Looking elsewhere, she saw Lana approach the king, and smiled when the girl silently laced her small fingers into his much larger hand. He turned back to her and smiled, pulling her closer to him and pressing a kiss into the top of her head. Seeing all her friends together and happy made her feel warm inside. She wanted to preserve this moment forever in her mind, yet she wanted to destroy the one man who could ruin everything.
Lord Nero had hurt all of them. He had kidnapped Lana and hurt her in ways that the poor woman still found difficult to talk about. He had stolen Morgana away and tried to breed her, only for her to escape away with the man that he had given her to. Nero had hurt her too, both in the times of the past when he treated her like something less than dirt, and in the city square, only days before.
He was a vile man. A true evil like no other. She had seen him do things that still made her skin crawl, but she forced herself to push those thoughts away and focus on the important events ahead.
She had a mission. It would take all six of them to work together to destroy the shadow. Taking a deep breath, she looked over at the airship. With purpose, she strode over to the hulking metal contraption and climbed up a sturdy ladder into the ship’s hull. The portion of the craft dedicated to passengers was large, but rather barren. This model was not engineered to passenger comforts. It was made for war.
Entering the cockpit, she sat down and took in all the controls. It didn’t take long for her to familiarize herself with the panels in front of her. She jumped when the door opened behind her, and she whirled around to see who had entered the tiny space with her.
It was Wes, and a wave of comfort at his presence passed over her. He sat down in the accompanying seat, pointing out a few things to her, and clarified which levers or buttons controlled what, including where her guns were located, as well as where her missiles were if necessary. He flicked a switch, and a soft hum began to emit from the ship.
“Powering up our shield. The dark matter needed to fuel this ship is immense. Neither the king nor I wanted to cut any corners. This mission is too important to fail based on a budget. We need everything in our favor, until all of us have the chance to destroy Nero.”
“He’s as good as dead.”
“I couldn’t agree more, kitten. Now,” he paused, “look at me.”
Turning toward him, she saw that his expression was steeled over, his mouth set in a firm, no-nonsense line. His hand pressed forward and took both of hers within his large palm. Holding her small fists to his chest, he began to speak, his tone more serious than ever before.
“Olivia. Should today’s mission get too dangerous, or something happens in which failure is more likely than success, you are to get out of there. If I tell you to run, you will go and not question me. I am your master, and you are my submissive, my love. I could not handle losing you too, like I did Emma. Am I understood? I will not be questioned in this.”
“Yes, master. I will not put myself in unnecessary danger. I will obey you, no matter what happens out there,” she relented, strangely calm.
“Good girl.”
The look of relief that passed over his face was immense. Smirking, a look of determination replaced it, and he gazed back at her.
“Now let’s get this show on the road. There’s a bastard out there who needs to meet his maker, once and for all.”
The next hour passed by in a rush, and before she knew it, the ship and her flanking escort were flying over the Smoky Ridge Mountains. The craft moved faster than any she had ever flown before, and they soared over the kingdom at breakneck speeds. By early afternoon, the company had reached the southern reaches of D’Lormere, and began the process of landing the great warship.
With their descent, she watched as the magical boundary rose up before them, gateway to the New World, a place where no one had ventured in several thousand years. She knew that the ancients had erected the great wall in order to seal off a great evil, but to this day, not even Morgana knew what was beyond it. Far up into the sky the barrier rose, dark purple in color, with flashes of rainbow light shimmering beneath.
When the feet of the craft touched the ground, she sighed with a small measure of relief, knowing that at least they had made it this far. They had flown over the city of Drentine, likely activating some sort of perimeter surveillance equipment. It shouldn’t be long now. Lord Nero would soon meet them and they would begin the process of what needed to be done.
Landing gear deployed, Olivia activated the outside doors, and the six of them climbed out to the grassy field below. The girls looked at each other and moved forward with stark determination, knowing the first thing they had to do was master the power of the wall. This would allow them to take the portions of ancient magic that they didn’t have into their bodies, strengthening their own abilities. It would take great power to destroy Lord Nero, and they had to use everything at their disposal.
The women held hands and walked to the wall. At the same time, they all pressed their fingers into the magical boundary, and all at once, the air around them shifted. Each woman was bathed in a lavender-purple light, and their feet lifted inches off the ground. For a few long minutes, the valley was silent, until once again, the women’s soles were firmly back on the grass beneath them.
Olivia felt the strength of ancient magic pouring over her and settling deep within every cell in her body. Her nerve endings danced with mystical power and she sighed at the feeling.
The men took watch over their women, and not long after, Dante looked out into the sky and spotted an approaching ship. He pointed it out and everyone moved closer to him in order to see what he was talking about. Standing together, each woman behind her mate, they waited for the enemy to arrive, ready to put an end to the evil that this man had brought to the planet once and for all.
The small pinprick visible in the sky slowly grew larger and more pronounced until it came to a stop not far off from their station. As it hovered above the ground, Olivia watched as the airship gently extended its gear and came to a stop, safely on a grassy hill a short distance away. The door to the hull opened slowly, the sounds of hydraulics working meeting her ears, loud in the silence of the fields surrounding them.
Black boots descended the stairs, and she scowled as Lord Nero came into view. His black eyes, still striking no matter how many times she looked at him, took in the sight of the six of them with some sort of strange admiration.
A roar sounded off in the distance, and seconds later, Morgana’s dragons appeared. This time, there were at least a hundred of them, all led by a slightly smaller dragon, blood red in color, yet fierce in manner.
“Ragoth,” Morgana breathed with a happy sigh as the dragon landed behind her. The other massive beasts took refuge not far off, ready to jump in at any time that they were required to turn the tide of battle.
“What’s this? A great show of force to intimidate me?”
“We will destroy you,” Morgana growled.
“Impossible. You don’t know the first thing about me.”
“We know a lot more than you think, you bastard,” Lana said, calm resolve keeping her voice steady and strong.
“Unlikely. Anything written about me was destroyed long ago.”
Stepping forward, Olivia held up her palms, soft white light emitting from her small fingers. Glaring back at Lord Nero, she then smiled faintly, feeling confident as the magic of the wall and the mystic power of submitting to her one true mate surged through her system. All at once, they became one. She began to speak, her quiet, but mighty voice echoing around them all.
“And how wrong you are, Nero. You see, all three of us—Lana, Morgana, and I—came upon a place that had been hidden for thousands of years, long before you ever came into creation. You see, there was this place called ‘The Chambers of Prophecy,’ and it opened solely for the three of us. Deep inside our bodies is a special magic. Lana has within her the magic of innocence, Morgana has strength, and I, regardless of the fact that you enslaved me for years and did terrible things to me, am a Servus Agonia, which means that I control the magic of freedom. It has been foretold that one thing, and one thing only, could truly destroy shadow. Do you want to guess what that could be?”
The man took a step back, his face taking on a nervousness that broke through his confident façade. Ragoth rose his head high and growled, the heat of fire yet to be shed billowing forward from his clenched teeth.
“It’s not possible. You’re just bluffing. You don’t really know what I’m capable of. No one knows that; I’ve made sure of it.”
As he held his arms out straight at his sides, the air around them grew heavy, dimming in shadow as the darkness overtook him. His abilities had so great a reach as to block out a portion of the bright sky, eclipsing the sunshine that had warmed their bodies not moments before. Spheres of some sort of mystical conjuring grew larger and larger in his palms, and his tan skin darkened to a shade blacker than onyx. He was prepared, having taken on his shadow form in quick seconds.
The world felt gray and sad, almost as though his magic was sucking all the light and joy from the world. Morgana threw up her hands, and a brilliant clear, yet mesmerizing shield surrounded them, scant moments before Nero threw his terrible magic at them. A slight crack rang out through the valley, but the barrier held, despite the appalling power being thrown their way.
Dante’s eyes were blood red and Kade had already shifted into his wolf form. Wes had his arms around her waist, and she simply breathed, calming her head. It seemed like the men had grown two feet taller, each of their faces firm and resolute to destroy Lord Nero and protect their women. Olivia turned back to see Wes staring at the darkness, his anger and need for revenge written all over his face.
Nodding and squeezing her hands around his fist, she fell to her knees, the first step in their mission. Once her knees touched the grass beneath her, all three men shot forward. Kade reached Nero first and reared back on giant black paws, dealing Nero a crushing blow that careened the man’s shadow form to the ground. Wes and Dante each grabbed an arm and twisted them backwards, effectively stopping the man from escaping their clutches, unless he wanted a dislocated shoulder.
“Now!” Wes shouted, his chest heaving at the exertion of keeping the terrible man still in his grasp.
Dante’s red eyes and Kade’s yellow ones turned back to them, and the two women each put a hand on Olivia’s shoulders. Murmuring softly, the three of them chanted as the mystic energy around them swirled with purpose.
“In the darkness, there is only light.”
Over and over they said this, until their voices became one. Behind them, the magical barrier hummed, its power reaching out to the three women, surrounding them in a brilliant light. Behind them, faces began to form in the wall. Voices rose up with them, disembodied cries joining the chant. Olivia knew the power of the ancients, and those lost to the darkness were now there with them, helping them to defeat the evil before them.
The dragons roared around them, breathing their fire into the sky. The fiery blazes swirled throughout the air, snapping as their own energy was offered up into the fray. A great wind took up around them, almost as if a mammoth storm was brewing and about to unleash its fury upon the land. The ground beneath them quaked and shifted as the planet offered its own power to the mix.
The air crackled with mystic energy, pushing the darkness away one slow inch at a time. Lord Nero began to scream, his eyes wide as he struggled to escape the three powerful men, but to no avail. The blinding light crept closer and closer to him, until it breached his right foot.
The screams emerging from Lord Nero’s throat chilled Olivia to the bone, but she kept going, and so did the queen and the king’s sorceress by her sides. All three men leveled their stares on Nero and slowly stepped away, using their alien powers to keep him stiff as a board. His eyes wide, he watched as they joined their women, each man now touching their chosen mate. With their touch, the women’s power grew to even greater heights. With all six friends working together, Nero’s eyes grew wide, his fate now suddenly very clear.
The squall behind the wind grew even more terrible, the light even brighter, more brilliant, more blinding as it overtook the shadow, bathing Nero’s shadow form in a luminous rich aura of magical power. All at once, his terrible cries were cut off, and the shadow disappeared in the light. There was no silhouette of gray slinking away, only the gradual fading away of the dark outline that had once marked Nero’s shadow form before them.
All that was left was a beautiful radiant light that bathed everyone in its warmth. The storm around them died down to a soft drone, before fading away all together. For a long moment, the light seemed to linger around them, before that too gradually waned as well. The six of them were left utterly alone.
The only thing left of Lord Nero was a pile of dusky ash not far away. A soft wind blew, picking up the particles from the grassy meadow. As they drifted south, the dust connected with the magical boundary, each speck sounding with a quiet pop the second it passed through the brilliant purple color. The faces in the wall appeared again, and Olivia opened her mouth in shock at the sight.
Disembodied hands reached forward, grabbing each particle of ash and pulling it deep inside. Glancing back, the entire pile of what remained of Lord Nero was swirling off the ground in the shape of a small tornado, heading directly for the barrier. A face reminiscent of Lana’s features gazed back at them, smiling, before it disappeared in a glimmer of rainbow light.
“Julia,” Dante breathed, his tone sad, but warm.
“Who are they?” Olivia murmured, watching as the ash was taken up by the ancient powers before her.
“This barrier is not just a wall made of magic. It was created with the power of both dark and light, breaching into the underworld the moment it was formed. Those people you see before you are the ones who died at the hands of darkness, victims of Soul Eaters of centuries past. It’s safe to say that Lord Nero will never be seen again, and those you see before you will make sure that the rest of his afterlife is spent in the deepest pits of hell in utter misery,” the king offered, his voice harder than before.
A short time later, the magical boundary returned to normal, its purple veneer shimmering with flashes of rainbow colors once again. Looking around, she smiled, feeling the wonderful embrace of peace and harmony enveloping them.
It was finally over.
Lord Nero was no more. He would never be able to hurt anyone again, and this thrilled her to no end. Twirling around, she was unable to contain herself and threw her arms around Wes’ neck. She kissed him with wild abandon before he took charge, plundering her mouth with his tongue and fisting his hands in her hair.
She was vaguely aware of the fact that Dante had Lana in his arms as well, and Morgana and Kade, back in human form, were locked in a tight embrace beside them.
It was done. Their mission to destroy the great evil had been a success. Prophecy had been fulfilled, and the great shadow had been drowned out by the light.
Around them, the dragons took flight, growls of victory echoing throughout the valley. Olivia watched as Morgana and Kade swung up on Ragoth’s back. Waving, they took off in the direction of Eridell, toward their home.
Laughing, Olivia pulled Wes back toward the ship, and the king and queen followed. The mood light, everyone in a delirious glaze of joy, they shot off in the direction of the capital. The time for celebration had come and all of them were ready to partake in the festivities. Smiling back at Wes, he leveled her with a fierce, yet promising stare, the promise of pleasures yet to come in his eyes, and her thighs clenched together at his silent threat.
She couldn’t wait to see what the future held.