Starkeeper of the Fractured Crown

I will offer you this, sometimes the only way to win is to become the darkest, cruelest player of them all.

Kyra

Iscreamed, unable to keep it in as Letak dropped, soaring through the demons flooding through the air. Letak cried out, his voice being drowned out by the rain and thunder and the roaring of the other demons as he tried to keep us safe.

Mark clutched on, sobbing.

I leaned over him, terrified, unsure of what happened as the rain assaulted us from above. “It’s okay, hold on. Don’t let go for anything,” I tried, fear pounding through me. “It’ll be okay.”

Snarls, cries, and screeches came from all around us,demons pounding through the woods below, wings beating the air around us, lightning lighting up the world.

“I don’t want to die,” Mark cried.

“You’re not going to die,” I whispered as Letak took a sharp turn. “I won’t let that happen.”

I had felt the world shake under me moments before I heard Letak scream from the clearing. Without thought, I had grabbed my bow and arrows and sprinted out the door, Mark on his back, eyes wide with fear.

“Something is happening,” he said, tears filling his eyes.

Letak had screeched and gestured wildly to his back.

I had wasted no time, but now we couldn’t get out of the way.

Now we were in the middle of a battle for the sky, and I was absolutely terrified.

Letak cried out, coming to a sudden halt in mid-air, chirping, his muscles tensing.

I looked up, holding on for dear life, finding three tycrons in front of us, watching us with feral hunger.

The tycrons were the most terrifying demon I had ever encountered. Covered in leathery skin, they had two bird-like legs, their arms connected to large, leather wings, their three fingers tipped with five-inch claws. Their faces were bat-like, ears pointed straight at the sky, and their spines protruded from their back painfully.

They had always terrified me, and after I had killed that one to save Letak, I had had this palpable fear that they would one day come after me.

Today was that day.

My eyes widened. “Mark,” I said as Letak beat his wings steadily. “Don’t let go. No matter what happens, you don’t let go.”

“What are they?” he asked, voice thick with tears.

“They’re the demons I saved Letak from.”

The middle one roared and dove.

Letak pulled his wings in, tilting forward, dropping like a stone towards the world below.

It took everything in me not to scream as Mark’s screams overpowered the rain.

Letak dropped and dropped before spreading his wings again, jerking up, sending my stomach straight to my ass, bruising my inner thighs.

He fainted left and then took a sharp right, the tycrons racing after us as Letak pushed himself through the storm.

Everything was going to be fine. This was fine.

“We’re going to have some hot tea when we get back,” I told Mark as Letak continued to dodge attacks. “A hot bath.” My heart was slamming in my throat, I felt like I might puke.

“Where is Uncle Cole? He has weapons.”

“Yeah, he…” I straightened a bit and looked down, finding my bow and quiver strapped to my chest.