Her Elemental Dragons: The Complete Series
Her Elemental Dragons: Kiss the Sky: Chapter 31

For the next three days our group continued through the endless desert, sleeping when the sun was high in the sky and continuing on through the evening when it was cooler. We had little time to talk at all with the sand whipping at us and the camels’ movements making it hard to do anything but continue forward. By the time we camped we were all too exhausted and sore to do anything but pass out or grumble at one another. Brin was the only one who remained cheerful, and if it weren’t for her guidance I knew we would have certainly gotten lost out there.

On the third day we finally spotted something in the distance: a tower that reached high into the sky and disappeared into the clouds hovering over it. Around it was a small lake surrounded by palm trees, a welcome oasis in the middle of the harsh desert sands. The setting sun behind the tower kissed the sky with gold, and I understood why the Air God’s Dragon was that color now.

We rushed toward the tower with renewed vigor, bolstered by the thought that our journey was nearing its destination. Enva’s words still worried at me, but there was nothing I could do except move forward.

As we neared the tower, Brin let out a startled cry. “The tower…it’s been destroyed.”

Huge chunks of the tower had fallen off and now surrounded the structure, which I was surprised was still standing with all the damage to it. Brin lowered her camel to the ground and then jumped off it and rushed inside a crumbling doorway, calling out for Nabi, the High Priestess we were supposed to meet.

My mates and I followed after her, and once we were inside the temple the destruction was worse. A large spiral staircase that must have led up the tower was now in ruins and impossible to climb. Everything inside had been smashed or turned to rubble, as though the place had been abandoned for years—except Brin had claimed to have visited only a year ago.

We found Brin kneeling in the corner of the rubble, holding her hands to her face as shudders wracked her body. I rested a hand on her shoulder, but then I caught sight of what she was crying over: a burnt, broken body that had a woman’s shape, with four larger bodies beside her. My stomach twisted at the sight, and at the memories it brought back of my parents’ deaths.

“Nabi,” Brin cried. “Who did this to you?”

I had a feeling I knew.

A prickling on the back of my neck alerted me to something behind us. Two glowing yellow orbs moved through the dark corners of the rubble, and I grabbed Reven’s arm to get his attention.

“We’re not alone,” he said, as he reached for his twin swords.

Darkness gathered and began to form a human-looking figure across the room, and I realized the glow came from its eyes. Thin shadowy arms that ended in sharp claws reached toward us as it began to glide across the floor.

“What is that thing?” I asked, backing away.

“It’s a shade,” Auric said. “Don’t bother with your weapons. Like elementals, they can only be killed with fire, earth, air, or water.”

A shade? I stared at the thing before us in disbelief. I’d heard stories about the ghosts trapped between this world and the next, but I never was sure they were real. Few people saw them in person and lived to tell the tale, especially since shades wanted nothing more than to consume your life force. And I had a feeling they’d want mine most of all.

Brin backed up behind us, holding her long, thin blade despite Auric’s warning. “How can we stop it?”

“Stay back,” Jasin told her. “We’ve got this covered.”

He formed a ball of fire in his hand and Brin gasped, but I supposed there was no keeping the secret from her any longer. This was the only way to defeat the shade.

Jasin launched the fireball at the shade and burnt it up almost instantly, but many more glowing eyes began to emerge from the shadows and from higher in the tower. They moved through the rubble in front of them as though it was nothing but air, their dark forms tapering off near the floor. Shades could turn invisible and insubstantial, making them deadly to most people. But we weren’t most people.

Reven summoned shards of ice at the nearest shades, Slade gathered stones from the rubble and coaxed them to attack, and Auric blasted the shades with a tornado-like gust of wind. Jasin kept throwing fireballs and I conjured my own as well, though I hesitated before releasing them. What if my fire got out of control again?

Despite the men’s efforts the shades soon surrounded us, and I couldn’t believe how many there were. Eerie yellow eyes glowed from every direction, all fixed on me. One lunged toward Brin and she swiped her sword at it, but it simply passed through the monster’s shadowy form. I threw a ball of fire at the shade and it sizzled and disappeared into a cloud of smoke, but there were still more coming.

The men worked together to fight the shades back, and I conjured fire whenever one slipped through and got too close to me or Brin. It was a lot like fighting the water elementals, except the shades had a cold, cruel hunger unlike anything I’d ever seen before, which terrified me in a primal way. These were the things that came for you in your nightmares, except they were real.

Another shade got too close and nearly reached Brin, but I shoved her out of the way and took it out with a burst of fire. Something slashed into me from behind that was both freezing and burning at the same time. Pain consumed me and I stumbled forward as I let out a cry, but then turned to blast the shade behind me as it lunged for me again with its claws. My knees gave out, and Slade caught me in his arms.

“Kira’s hurt!” he called out.

The men formed a tight circle around me while the burning freeze continued down my spine, along with something wet. I reached back and found blood coming from the gash running along my back, which must have been from the shade’s claws. Oh Gods, a lot of blood. A wave of dizziness washed over me and I would have collapsed if it weren’t for Slade holding me up.

“Hang on, Kira,” Slade said in his low voice that rumbled through my body. I rested my head against his chest as he carried me out of the ruined tower and into the darkening night.

“I’m okay,” I managed to get out.

“Put her down here and I’ll clean the wound,” Brin said, as she rushed around us.

Slade set me down on my stomach and I closed my eyes as my face pressed against the cooling sand. I soon felt something soft press against my back, while I heard movement nearby.

“They’re gone,” Jasin said. “We got them all.”

The men kept talking, but their voices blended together and I began to drift away. My back throbbed relentlessly, and I could only hope that my gifts from the Spirit Goddess would be enough to heal me.