Page 4 of Fated to the Damned

All I’ve done is get myself killed, and not even at the hands of a dark elf.

I guess it’s poetic that I spent my whole life fearing them and they didn’t end up being the greatest threat to me.

It didn’t take me long to finish packing or slip out of the window. With the drunken nights the dark elves keep, it was all too easy to slip out of the farm and into the woods. I thought they would have tried harder to keep their slaves, but it seems they think threats and their magic will do enough for them.

Or maybe they think the woods are punishment enough for those who dare to run. I’m starting to think so.

I don’t know how much longer I can keep going on. I’m already stumbling, my body trying to give up but terror is pushing me. Maybe I should just find a cliff and throw myself off of it, accept death on my terms.

But just as I contemplate stopping and facing what is chasing me – or finding a new plan that isn’t running endlessly – I leap between two trees curved together to almost look like a portal. And the feeling is instantaneous.

Tiera was wrong.

"Wilsponts are real," I gasp as the magic coats my skin, lighting me up like a fire.

It feels like I’m in the air forever as everything changes. My senses are sharpened, the air turns sweeter, and suddenly, I can feel the energy pulsing through everything. The trees move on their own, the wind feels tangible, and the colors are so vibrant my eyes burn.

I’m stunned as I land to my feet, stumbling forward a little farther as my momentum dies out...

And the regret is instant.

3

NIKOLAI

"Do you know why the Council has summoned me?" I turn to Adelina as she walks silently beside me.

It shocks me as her hand whips out, faster than even my eyes register, to grip my exposed bicep. She turns me so that I’m towering over her, basically shielding her from anyone that could come down the corridor.

Not that anyone will.

No one comes to the temple anymore. Which is why she probably doesn’t mind having this conversation here. We’re less likely to be overheard here than anywhere else.

"I have convinced the Council to send you to the surface."

I blink slowly, processing those words. "You..." To the surface? Why would she want me to go to the surface? My role is here, at the temple. "Why?"

Adelina’s face is as impassive as always. "The above ground bases are what the First wanted." Her eyes pierce into mine, almost like she can look into my very soul. It’s always been like this with her, though, so I don’t flinch from her gaze like most will. "But they are not honoring her."

I nod. "I've heard the rumors."

"It’s worse than what the scouts are whispering." She peers around me and then leans closer, her tone hard and sharp. "The vrakken have been hunting too freely. They are draining humans, getting too close to the dark elves, and creating too many new fledglings that aren’t being trained. Our magic is growing weak, our line is being sullied, and everyone has lost sight of what we were bred to do."

"You want me to restore order," I say, realizing now what she was thinking. I, of course, already knew how poor the expansion was going, but my focus had been on rallying those still in the tunnels.

Never did I think I would be sent to the surface.

"They need to be reminded." Adelina steps around me, starting back toward the main cavern and I fall in step beside her. "The Council doesn’t believe so. They need bodies to fight, regardless of how weak they are becoming."

I think over her words for a moment. "But we serve our god and goddess first."

As we come around the bend that connects the temple to the rest of the cavern system, she looks at me out of the corner of her eye. "Exactly."

She doesn’t have to say what I now understand. I need to discourage this behavior. Exposing our kind, taking human mates, reckless feeding. It’s going to be our undoing before we have a chance to get vengeance for the First.

Or find her.

Many believe her to be dead, or perhaps passed onto the immortal plane to be with Akeldama. But vrakken do not die, unless struck by a god, and I don’t think Akeldama was ready for her purpose to be done. Otherwise, we wouldn’t still be fighting in her name.