Zodiac Academy 6: Fated Throne
Fated Throne: Chapter 60

Fire blazed all around me as I stood before Lionel, gritting my teeth in desperation while I tried to stop myself from attacking Caleb. But it was no use, the bond forced me into action no matter how hard I fought it.

I held an air shield tight around myself and Lionel and the thump of my pulse in my ears was enough to make my head spin.

Caleb shot to my right with a determined yell and I lifted my hands to blast him with water magic, but just as the power reached my fingertips, an enormous blast of energy almost knocked me from my feet.

I staggered back a step as I sucked in a sharp breath, my magic pulsing through my skin in an unfamiliar wave of motion, feeling like sunlight against my flesh in the brightest summer’s day and an echo of something dark and forgotten brushing up against my soul.

My left arm burned in a way that sent shivers of pleasure racing through my skin and as I looked down at it, I found the Aries mark Lionel had branded me with fading as the shackles within my mind began to fall away.

I sucked in an astonished breath as my power surged within me and I swung my head around to look at the man who had stolen my crown.

The shield I was using to protect us disbanded as the compulsion to protect him left me. Lionel grabbed my wrist, shouting something I couldn’t make out as I narrowed my eyes on him, finally feeling nothing at all but hatred for this monster who had imprisoned and tortured me.

From the corner of my eye, I noticed a blur of motion shooting towards me, taking advantage of me dropping my shield for the first time and I gasped as a sharp prick smacked against my arm. 

Caleb was gone as fast as he’d appeared, but the effects of the antidote he’d just given me sped through my body like wildfire as my Phoenix woke up and fire danced within my soul.

‘What the hell have you done?’ Lionel bellowed, his grip on me tightening as he felt the bond between us falling apart too.

But he clearly hadn’t figured out that that was what was happening yet, and this single moment was the only one I needed.

With a roar of fury, my Phoenix form burst from my skin and I was swathed in flames which burned hotter than the surface of the sun as I shifted.

Lionel screamed as his hand was engulfed in the flames where he held me and a blast of air magic slammed into my chest so hard that I was thrown clean out of the royal box and down to the pit far below us.

The stench of burning flesh stayed with me as I fell, his magic driving against me so powerfully that I slammed down onto the sand within the pit before I could even try and fight it off.

The sand felt as hard as rocks as I hit it and my wings were crushed beneath me as my flames flared around me, agony ricocheting through my spine.

I gasped against the pain in my body, healing myself of the worst of it as I found myself in the thick of the battle taking place down here, though none of the Nymphs had turned their attention on me yet.

I cursed as I scrambled to my feet, and a charred, blackened hand fell from my wrist where his fingers had still been curled around me, thumping down onto the sand. A wild and savage smile filled my lips as I looked up at Lionel where he stood screaming down at me from the royal box, a blistered stump where his right hand should have been and his face filled with utter panic as he spotted the charred lump of flesh before me.

He threw a blast of magic at me, but I was far faster as he struggled to wield his Element single handed through the blinding pain of that injury and his attack ricocheted off of my air shield without effect.

Magic surged in my veins as I looked up at him, seeing my chance to end this once and for all and the flames coating my body built up all around me in a blazing inferno, gathering in my palms as I prepared to destroy him.

But before I could obliterate him, a woman clad in shadow leapt between us, shrieking my name in fury as she spotted me and yanking on the shadows which were latched to my soul, fighting to force me under their control once more.

But I was done being a plaything for the shadows and that motherfucking Dragon bastard. And as the shadows reared up within my veins and she tried to force me to fall still under her command, the Phoenix within me flared brighter and brighter. My entire soul was forged in fire and as I gave myself to the heat of the flames, they chased beneath my skin, hunting down the dark power which never should have been mine in the first place. The flames burned through the shadows one after another, freeing me from each and every one of their shackles until every single scrap of darkness within me was banished.

I gasped as the last of them was burned from my soul, standing taller as the weight of them released me and I was finally returned to myself.

I was free.

My smile widened and the shadow bitch screamed furiously as she realised what I’d done, shooting towards me with her fangs bared like she was planning on ripping me apart with her fucking teeth.

I threw a blast of Phoenix fire at her, forcing her to halt her advance as she called on more and more shadows to defend herself. But she didn’t stop there. Darkness billowed from her body in a cascade of endless shadows, coiling around her and crackling with dark power which seemed to suck all of the joy out of the air and sent the rebels closest to her falling to their knees in the sand as they screamed in agony.

I looked all around for and sign of Darcy or my friends, but my attention was caught on the Shadow Princess again as she managed to fight off my flames and draw even more dark magic to herself.

The cloud of black smoke began to whirl around her in a maelstrom which only built higher and higher as she smiled wickedly, preparing to destroy us all with the full force of her power.

‘Get my hand!’ Lionel bellowed as he threw a blast of magic at Caleb who was fighting him once more, managing to knock him back far enough to offer up a chance for him to escape. 

Lionel cast a blaze of fire behind him to keep Caleb back and leapt from the royal box, casting air to propel him towards me as I threw my flames towards the shadow bitch, trying to break through the shadows before she could do whatever the fuck it was she was building up to.

But fuck that. Lionel wasn’t going to be healing from that wound if I could help it. I’d promised to pay him back in blood and flesh for all of the agony he’d gifted me and this was just the beginning.

With a surge of Phoenix fire which burned its way right through my soul, I blasted the blackened hand which lay on the sand with the full force of my gifts, obliterating it with a yell of fury and bathing in the agonised roar Lionel released as he saw what I had done.

Reattaching and healing a limb was possible. But growing a new one? No fucking chance.

The shadow bitch screamed so loudly that I swear the entire sky almost tore apart as she threw shadows away from her in a deadly arc that slammed into the rebels, causing everyone they hit to shriek in agony.

An earth shattering roar broke through the clouds overhead and I couldn’t help but look up as the Storm Dragon swooped towards us, lightning crashing from him in an enormous blast that threw Lionel back towards the swirling shadows that engulfed the far side of the amphitheatre.

Dante swung around to chase after him, but the horned Nymph leapt at him from the stands, its probes slashing down his leg and tearing through scales and flesh as the Dragon roared in agony and wheeled away through the sky.

I’d lost sight of Lionel in the shadows and I threw a wild blast of fire magic towards the Nymph, forcing it away from me as I turned to try and get my bearings.

I threw a shield up over myself and turned desperately, searching for my sister amongst the carnage, knowing in my soul that if we were going to have any chance of surviving this then it needed to be together.

I spotted her blue hair first as she finished a Nymph with a roar of fury and she turned to look at me as if she’d felt my gaze on her.

I shifted back into my Fae form as we started running to meet each other and my heart ached with the need to be reunited with my other half. If our power merged then I was certain that there was nothing in this world that could stop us. Not evil Dragons or psychotic, shadow wielding bitches.

This fight wasn’t over. But we were going to end it together.

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