My mind spun as the black beast's fist hung suspended above Vaela, casting a dark shadow over her battered form. There was no time left. No room for hesitation. I could see the muscles in its arm tightening, could see the sheer weight behind the strike as it began to descend.
Panic roared through my veins, threatening to drown out everything else.
And then, through the chaos, a memory surfaced.
The day the serpent had first attacked me beneath these same trees. The moment death had loomed just as close. The air had shimmered then. A translucent barrier had formed between me and certain death. I remembered the faint curve of it, like a dome of glass catching the light. I remembered the warmth that had pulsed from the book against my chest, steady and alive.
I did not shout this time. I did not try to force the word out in blind desperation.
Instead, I reached inward.
I focused on the warmth in my chest, on the faint thread that connected the book to the black dot in my forehead. I remembered the shape of the barrier that had once saved my life. The smooth curve. The faint shimmer.
I held that image firmly in my mind.
Slowly, I raised my hand toward Vaela, palm open, not with panic but with intent. I did not command it with my voice. I called to it with the same feeling I had sensed before.
The air in front of her distorted.
It rippled like the surface of water struck by an invisible stone. Then, in a breathless instant, a curved, translucent shield materialized between Vaela and the descending fist, its surface faintly shimmering under the filtered forest light.
The beast's fist collided with the barrier in a thunderous crash that seemed to split the air itself. The curved surface flared brightly on impact, its translucent body trembling under the sheer force of the blow. Fine cracks spread across it in an instant, racing outward like lightning branching across glass.
Then it broke.
The shield shattered into fragments of fading light, dissolving before they could even touch the ground. Even so, the force of the strike rippled outward, shaking the earth beneath our feet. Dust lifted into the air, leaves spiraled upward, and the ground groaned under the shockwave. But the full weight of that monstrous punch never reached Vaela.
And I stood there with my hand still raised, staring at the empty air where the shield had just been, barely able to believe what I had done.
For a fraction of a second, I could not look anywhere else but at my own hand. My fingers were still outstretched, trembling slightly. The air in front of Vaela still shimmered faintly where the barrier had just shattered. She was staring at that very spot, her eyes wide with shock. Even Charlie, who rarely allowed his composure to crack, stood frozen for a heartbeat, disbelief clearly etched across his face.
The black beast did not hesitate.
With an enraged roar, it drew its arm back and swung again, fury twisting its features. The sound of rushing air filled my ears as its massive fist descended once more.
This time, I did not panic.
I lifted my hand again, forcing my mind to focus on the same image. The curve. The translucent surface. The sensation of warmth rising from my chest to my forehead. I did not shout, I simply willed it to form.
The air rippled sharply.
Another curved shield materialized between Vaela and the incoming blow, faintly glowing and trembling as it took shape.
The second shield did not last.
The beast's fist collided with it, and the barrier splintered apart in a burst of fading light. Before the fragments had even dissolved, I forced another into existence. The air trembled again, bending to my will, shaping itself into that familiar curved surface.
It shattered just as quickly.
I forced myself to form another immediately but each barrier held for no more than a heartbeat before cracking under the monster's overwhelming strength. Every time it broke, a violent pulse hammered through my skull. Pain flared behind my eyes, sharp and blinding, as if something inside my forehead was being scraped raw.
My vision wavered, but I did not lower my hand.
Why is it so weak?
But even a fragile shield bought time.
Vaela did not waste the opening. The instant one of my barriers absorbed a blow, she rolled hard across the forest floor and sprang to her feet, sprinting sideways to create distance. The black beast snarled and lunged after her, muscles bunching as it drove forward with terrifying speed. I thrust my hand out again and forced another shield into existence directly in its path.
It slammed into the curved surface mid-stride. The impact staggered it for the briefest fraction of a second, its momentum disrupted just enough to throw off its balance before it shattered the barrier in a burst of fractured light.
That single second was enough.
Vaela regained her stance and immediately resumed firing. Her arrows cut through the air in rapid succession, each shot aimed for joints and already wounded flesh. At the same time, Charlie advanced from the opposite side, palms blazing as he unleashed relentless streams of fire that struck the beast's back and shoulders.
The beast's fury deepened with every passing second. I could see it in the way its chest heaved, in the wild gleam of its red eyes. One human kept placing shimmering walls in its path. Another pierced its thick hide with relentless precision. The third burned it again and again, flames clinging stubbornly to its fur.
It bellowed in rage, a deafening sound that rattled the trees around us. Blood streamed from multiple wounds, dark and heavy. Some were fresh from Vaela's arrows, others charred by Charlie's fire, and still more torn open from its brutal clash with the serpent. The injuries were piling up, slowing it little by little, yet it refused to collapse.
With a furious leap, it launched itself toward Vaela once more. I reacted on instinct, forcing two shields into existence in quick succession, layering them in midair directly along its trajectory. The curved barriers shimmered faintly as they solidified.
The beast smashed through the first with a roar.
The second cracked under the same relentless force, splintering into fragments of light that scattered like shattered glass. Its fist came crashing down near Vaela's position, and though she twisted aside at the last instant, the impact sent a violent shockwave across the forest floor.
She was hurled sideways again, thrown off her feet by the sheer force of it.
The beast did not pause. The instant Vaela was thrown aside, it pivoted with terrifying speed and locked onto Charlie instead.
Charlie reacted immediately, fire flaring in both palms as he stepped back to create distance. I forced another shield into existence between them, the translucent barrier curving outward just as the creature barreled forward.
It did not slow.
With brute force alone, it smashed straight through the shield. The barrier fractured and burst apart under the impact, fragments dissolving into faint light before they even touched the ground. The beast's massive arm swung in a wide arc. Charlie twisted his body at the last second, narrowly avoiding a direct hit, but the sheer force of the blow caught him anyway.
He was hurled backward, slamming hard into the trunk of a thick tree. The bark splintered under the collision, leaves raining down as he dropped to one knee, breath knocked from his lungs.
Then its red eyes fixed on me.
The creature bent its legs and sprang.
The serpent's massive tail shifted behind me, muscles tightening as it prepared to strike again. I felt the movement in the ground itself, a subtle tremor beneath my boots. Instinctively, I raised another shield between myself and the charging beast, shaping the curved barrier in front of me just as I had done before, expecting it to shatter under the next brutal impact.
The translucent wall formed in time, shimmering faintly in the air.
But the beast did not attack it.
At the last possible moment, just before collision, its movement changed. One massive foot slammed against the curved surface of my shield. Instead of breaking it, the creature used it. The barrier bowed slightly under the sudden pressure, and the beast pushed off from it as though it were solid ground.
The force of that launch twisted its body midair, accelerating it even further.
My breath caught as I realized what it had done.
It had not been trying to reach me.
It had used my shield as a stepping stone, aiming straight for the egg.
The serpent's tail whipped through the air with terrifying force, but the beast had already gained too much momentum. It tore past my position in a blur, claws outstretched, body fully committed to its target. The egg lay exposed for a fraction of a second, fragile and defenseless beneath the canopy of broken branches.