“Kill everyone,” he said to his army, his order undulating in the air on a wave to reach each man.
Dread iced through her veins. They surged forward, screaming sounds of lyrical beauty and destruction. Grand General Shenzhen whistled, and soundwaves ripped through their warrior force. It slammed into her, propelling her several feet into the air and then down to the earth. In a matter of seconds, it was carnage. Lightning sliced from the sky and thunder boomed as the Avindites fought with deadly grace to protect their prince.
Xian could pay no attention to the battle around her, for the General was her contender. Fire ranged around her, testifying that her Nurian warriors battled fiercely. "Sound the warning for King Ajali," she shouted.
A concentrated blast of fire shot through the sky like a cannon, but before it could reach beyond the skyline of the trees, a vacuum of sound sucked it from the air with a woosh. Fury blasted through her, and the ground below her feet started to smoke.
Gavyn…
She reached for their thread when it opened.
Xian.
The fire which had dominated his thoughts still writhed within him.
We are under attack in Tarrylion.
There was a pulse of cold rage, and then she felt shadows and darkness coat her sense, and she knew he came for her.
Cold eyes settled on her. “You do not deserve this gift,” the grand general said.
He clicked his tongue and power lashed at her, biting at her skin, drawing blood.
Fire rushed from her in a ball, barreling towards him, and with a flash of speed she could not track, he dodged it. The trees behind him burst into flames.
“Look at you! Unable to understand or wield the gift that you were given.”
“I do not need it to kill you,” she snapped low and hard, lifting her swords before her, parallel to the ground, bracing for his attack.
“My emperor will pull it from you princess. You may or may not survive the process. And then we will show you how the raw beauty of the Phoenyx is to be utilized.”
Her breath caught in her throat and fear cramped her stomach. When she realized he only wanted to taunt her, Xian charged, striking with a blinding speed slashing her sword in an arc toward his midsection.
The General’s speed as he flashed was a beauty to behold. But the writhing mass of fury inside allowed her to keep pace. He thrilled, the beauty and energy from his voice roiled the earth, shaking her with its purity. Pain exploded in her head, and she tasted the raw tang of blood as vessels burst in her ear and eyes. The casual strength and the power of how the General wielded sound was terrifying.
She pulsed her chakra, coatings her sword in molten flames of lava, and slashed her sword in a dancing arc, flames chasing him as he blurred to escape.
A force slammed into her back, and she flicked into the air and landed in a crouch, her swords held forward.
“Do not let them take her,” Prince Baku yelled.
Xian spun, her feet slipping, but she brought her sword up to meet the clash of the Grand General’s sword. The vibration echoed through her shoulders, and she grunted under the strain. She blew fire at him, and it barrelled toward him in a wicked arch.
Another Mevian attacked her flank, and she dropped her weight, kicking away the general’s leg with speed and strength, she rolled on the ground in a blur of speed to avoid a sword stabbing into the ground where her head had been.
With another flash of speed, she was on her feet, breathing through the rage humming in her veins. It crackled around her, and a wash of power blazed from her spinning in a ball of pure fire toward the general. He screamed, and the soundwaves created a vortex, compressing her fire. Before he could suck it away, see saw an openning and she charged with speed toward him summoning all her strenght. As she was upon him he smirked, she’d fallen into a trap, and with narrowed eyes, he clapped his hands together. She collided with a wall of sound. It was as if thunder crashed into her body. Her bones broke, her heart squeezed, and she felt the rupture that split through her organs. Blood spewed from her, and she stumbled, and the darkness of death hovered.
The general lifted her in his arms and leaped onto his kun, and slung her across the saddle before him. Her locks trailed the ground, and as the general's kun sped away toward Mevia, she saw Prince Baku charging toward her, riding a fork of lighting at an unfathomable speed.
“Do not let him take her,” Prince Baku yelled to the warriors flashing behind him. “The empire must not get the Tenzu!”
The sky darkened, the ominous boom of thunder shook the earth, and a bright flash of light spun toward her with dizzying speed. It was a lightning bolt…with a sword coiled within its energy. It plunged deep, ripping through her armor, and scything into her heart, piercing through bones and flesh and into the kun.
The beast screeched collapsing, the general flashed from the kun before its body hit the earth. And the impact as she landed jarred her body with agony. She clutched the sword buried inside her heart, and guttural groan slipped from her as her blood soaked the earth. Xian understood what the prince had done. Her death was preferred than the Phoenyx being in the hands of the Empire. Ajali would burn the earth…and Gavyn…tears leaked from the corner of her eyes.
My love….
“No!”