Astelion POV
The dark air in the room felt thick as iron. Kiono moved toward me, his hands reaching out like cold talons, his face twisted into a mask I no longer recognized.
"Get away from me!" I screamed, backing away as fast as my heavy, aching body would allow.
Every movement felt like dragging my limbs through deep water. The heavy, swollen weight of my pregnancy slowed my reflexes, and my telekinetic magic flared in weak, pathetic sparks against the suffocating presence flooding the room. This wasn't the man who had held me through the long, quiet nights. This wasn't the father of my child.
I thrust both hands forward, throwing a sudden, desperate blast of telekinetic force straight at his chest.
The blast hit him hard enough to knock him back against the wall, smashing the wooden paneling. Before he could recover, I turned, threw myself out through the shattered window frame, and launched into the open sky.
I flew fast, my heart hammering like a trapped bird against my ribs. Below me, the landscape melted away, but the sharp, rushing sound of wind warned me I wasn't alone. I spun mid-air just in time to see massive boulders and jagged wooden beams hurtling straight toward my head. Kiono was right behind me, flying with terrifying speed, using his dark telekinesis to rip debris from the earth and launch it at me like artillery.
"Astelion! Stop running!" his voice roared through the sky, cold and commanding. "Come with me!"
I crossed my arms over my head, raising an elemental barrier of swirling wind to shatter a flying rock into dust. The impact rattled my teeth, shockwaves of raw pain shooting down into my lower back. I couldn't keep this up. My energy was rapidly draining.
Below us, the quiet, peaceful world had devolved into an absolute nightmare.
A full-scale war was tearing through the streets. Buildings crumbled in towering plumes of smoke and ash, fiery explosions painted the sky in sickening shades of red, and screams of terror echoed over the clash of steel. Magic collided in mid-air as the rebel army clashed with palace forces, turning the streets into a blood-soaked abattoir.
I slowed down, my breath coming in ragged, painful gasps as I looked down at the horror.
Then, the terrifying realization hit me. The sound of Kiono's voice had stopped.
"Kiono?" I gasped, spinning in a circle high above the burning city. The sky around me was empty. There was no sign of him—no dark aura, no sound of wind.
Where is he—
A sharp rush of displaced air hit the back of my neck, but it was already too late.
A heavy, kick slammed directly into my shoulder. The sheer physical impact hit like a falling meteor, throwing me downward from the sky in a blinding blur. I plummeted toward the chaotic battleground, screaming as the wind tore at my hair and nightgown. At the absolute last second, I threw every ounce of my remaining magic beneath me, catching my body in a cushioned air current that slammed me onto the ground.
I hit the ground on my knees, barefoot, gasping for air as my hands instantly flew to cover my belly.
"Look!" a raspy, bloodthirsty voice bellowed from the surrounding smoke. "It's another monster from that tyrant's bloodline! And she's pregnant!"
"Kill her! End the line!" a crowd shouted in terrifying unison.
Several rebel soldiers turned away from the main battle, their bloodstained swords raised high as they sprinted straight toward me. I scrambled to my feet, my bare toes cutting against the sharp debris on the ground. I thrust my palm out, throwing a jagged wall of earth upward to block their path, but the sheer effort sent a sharp, agonizing spasm straight through my lower abdomen.
I stumbled, my vision going white with pain.
Suddenly, a slender, firm hand reached out from a dark alleyway, grabbed my arm with surprising strength, and yanked me forcefully out of the street, pulling me behind the crumbling stone wall of a ruined building.
I spun around, my magic ready to strike—only to freeze completely. Standing in front of me was Arastella.
Her face was smeared with ash and dried blood, her hair wildly tangled. Before I could process her presence, she slapped a finger over her own lips, her eyes wide with urgent warning, signaling for me to stay completely silent.
Her gaze dropped down to the massive, heavy curve of my stomach, her breath catching in her throat.
"Gravida esie?" (You're pregnant?") she whispered in Varack, her voice trembling.
I pressed my back against the cold stone, holding my belly as tears blurred my vision. "Hwi esie varekos? Eenay Castel?"
("How did you get out? Where is Castel?")
Arastella looked away, her jaw tight with hidden emotion. "La Kralia drevan, avo Castel arken machora. Ota varekos kmio ota durfa… Ota vlisi ektora fti Aevra." ("The kingdom was attacked, and Castel started fighting. I escaped while I still could… I still can't get this bracelet off.")
She gestured helplessly to the heavy iron dambener locked around her wrist. Before I could reply, a sudden, warm gush of liquid soaked through the thin fabric of my nightgown, pooling around my bare feet on the stone floor. My water had broken. Arastella and I both looked down at the ground, our eyes wide with sheer horror.
"No... no, no, no!" I panicked, clutching my stomach as a violent, blinding contraction ripped through my core, bringing me instantly to my knees. "It's too early! It's too soon!"
"Breathe! Astelion, look at me, breathe!" Arastella urged, dropping down beside me and grabbing my trembling shoulders. Then, the world stopped moving.
The air turned to ice. The roaring screams of the war, the sound of crumbling stone, the clashing of swords—everything fell deathly silent as an overwhelming, crushing weight descended from the sky. It was an aura so immensely powerful, so absolute, that it felt like the very fabric of reality was bowing down to it.
Castel had arrived. With a deafening crash of invisible force, the ruined building we were hiding behind was effortlessly lifted into the air and thrown aside, exposing our location to the open sky.
Arastella instantly scrambled to her feet, stepping directly in front of my trembling body and spreading her arms wide to shield me. "Castel, please!" she cried into the smoke.
High above the battlefield, floating effortlessly amidst a storm of swirling magic, was Castel.
He looked terrifying. His powers forming an impenetrable barrier that effortlessly vaporized spears, arrows, and hostile spells hurled up at him by the rebel army below. He was absolute power incarnate.
His glowing eyes locked onto us. "Move," he commanded, his voice echoing like thunder across the heavens. "Or I will move you."
Arastella didn't budge an inch. "No!"
A fresh, contraction seized my body, and a blood-curdling scream tore from my throat as I doubled over on the dirt.
In the next instant, an irresistible telekinetic pull seized both Arastella and me. Our bodies were lifted off the ground, drawn smoothly upward through the air toward where Castel hovered. He caught Arastella effortlessly against his side, while my body was suspended floating right in front of him.
Castel lowered his head, his sharp, eyes inspecting my face, my long hair, and the prominent bump beneath my soaked dress.
"You carry my blood in your veins," he stated, his voice devoid of anger.
"It hurts!" I sobbed, clutching my lower abdomen as another wave of agonizing labor ripped through my hips. "It hurts so bad!"
Arastella turned her head, looking up at Castel with desperate, tear-filled eyes. "Cast... she is our blood!"
For a fraction of a second, the terrifying, icy glare in the Mad King's eyes softened. The suffocating pressure in the air eased slightly. He released his telekinetic hold on me, and pulled Arastella tightly into his arms, resting his cheek against her hair in a fierce, protective embrace.
Arastella held him tight, buried in his chest. Then, slowly, she turned her head to look down at me.
Tears were streaming down her face, her features twisted in an expression of profound, crushing sorrow. "I am so sorry..." she whispered softly.
My mind was in too much agonizing fog from the contractions to understand what she meant. Why was she apologizing?
With one fluid, horrifyingly precise movement, Arastella pulled a sleek, silver dagger from her belt and plunged the blade directly into Castel's chest, buried all the way to the hilt over his heart.
Castel gasped—a terrible, ragged sound.
A violent wave of instinctive shock flared from his body. His magic blasted outward, violently throwing Arastella away from him. She flew through the air, smashing hard into the side of a stone structure below, her body falling limp and unconscious into the rubble.
"NO!" I screamed, the sound tearing my throat raw.
Castel gritted his teeth, his hand flying to the dagger embedded in his chest as blood began to bloom across his dark robes. His concentration shattered, and his telekinetic hold faded, I began to fall.
As I dropped through the smoke, a cold, pitch-black shadow descended from above with sickening speed. Long, dark hands wrapped tightly around my neck, cutting off my air, while a heavy palm violently slammed over my pregnant stomach.
I choked, my eyes bulging as I looked up through the dark haze.
Kiono was holding me, his eyes glowing a sinister unholy green.
Down below, suspended in mid-air above the burning city, Castel was struggling to pull the blade from his heart. Blood spilled from his lips, but through the blinding pain, his eyes locked onto mine.
The last thing I saw before the darkness consumed my vision was the Mad King—my blood, my enemy, my protector—reaching his bloodstained hand out toward me in a final, desperate attempt to save us... as the world dissolved into pure, screaming nightmare.