Zodiac Academy 6: Fated Throne
Fated Throne: Chapter 30

Orion rushed at me again and again while I used my Phoenix fire to try and keep him back. But I didn’t want to hurt him, so I cast flash fires at his feet, trying to slow him down enough to just keep him away. I could feel the power of the spell he was under, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

There was no way out. Nowhere to run.

I backed up against the far wall, casting an arc of fire in front of me to try and hold him off.

“Lance, stop!” I screamed as he lunged through it and I extinguished the flames fast so I didn’t kill him. The only thing worse than ending up dead myself, was him dying instead.

His hand wrapped around my throat and he pinned me to the wall, his fangs bared and his eyes swirling with nothing but hunger. He wasn’t there. He was a vessel starving for blood and I was terrified that there was only one way this would end.

He lurched forward, shifting his hand to try and get his teeth into me, but suddenly I was falling, the wall behind me spinning backwards. I stumbled into a hidden passage and managed to kick him hard enough to knock him off of me.

I twisted around and sprinted away down a steep set of stairs that spiralled off into the pitch darkness.

Orion shot after me and I released a flash of fire behind me with a cry of fright, making him growl like a beast and fall back. My feet hit the bottom of the stairway and I ran, replaceing myself in a winding maze, the corners tight and pressing in closely either side of me. The flames in my hands were the only light as I took turns at random, hearing a rush of air as he raced after me with the speed of his Order and I threw fire in different directions to throw him off the hunt. He growled in fury as he took wrong turns, but he was so close, his heavy breaths reaching me from just beyond the wall to my right. The only thing keeping me alive was pure luck, but it was going to run out. It had to.

I ran faster, left, right, left, right, my mind spinning as I got lost in the endless passages. I moved as quietly as possible, but every footfall I made sounded like a thunderclap in my ears. Terror bled through me and clouded my thoughts. Just keep going. Don’t stop.

I raced around a final corner as the rush of air behind me drew nearer. I had a second to act as I sprinted out into the centre of the maze, replaceing rows and rows of statues ringing a large sarcophagus. The statues were made of stone, standing tall and imposing in the shape of warriors.

The sound of the pulsing, pounding magic filled my head again, louder than my own heartbeat and I knew in my soul the Imperial Star was close.

I dove behind one of the statues and held my breath, making myself as small as possible as I tried to hide. I extinguished my flames and was plunged into darkness just before Orion shot into the space.

I heard him moving through the statues, hunting me down and fear rippled through me. The only thing keeping me safe was the thundering magic from the Imperial Star which must have been veiling the sound of my heartbeat. But if I couldn’t replace a way to stop this spell he was under; he was going to replace me. And I was surely going to fall prey to his fangs, because I’d rather die than kill the man I loved.