The Defiance of Vim (Catalyst Book 4) by C.J. Aaron (graded readers txt) 📕

moment his eyes reopened. The venom was potent. Undisturbed. Ryl felt a sinking feeling as his willpower shattered.

The weight of Elias’s glare broke for a moment as he blinked his eyes. The look that greeted him when he opened them once more was startling. Gone was the hatred, the malice, the wickedness. The look was haunting. Ryl had seen it before.

It was an image forever burned into his mind.

Elias’s Harvest.

Ryl watched in horror as the corner of Elias’s mouth curled upward into a crooked smile.

Elias winked as he mouthed the words that made Ryl’s heart skip a beat.

“Farewell, my brother.”

The tip of Elias’s blade dropped from Kaep’s neck. With speed that defied convention, Elias spun the blade in his hand into a reverse grip. He screamed as he slammed the blade backward. The point buried into the chest of Leiroth before punching through his back with a spray of blood.

In the same motion, he thrust Kaep forward with his opposite arm.

Leiroth’s mouth snapped open as his eyes widened in shock and pain. The devastating pressure from the torment of his emotional assault snuffed out. The crushing weight of the Lei Guard’s assault faltered as the collective noise of thousands of blades freeing their sheaths roared through the square. As one, the line of Lei Guard converged on his position.

Freed from the burden of Leiroth’s assault, Ryl dipped into the speed that had begged for release. Time slowed to a crawl. He scooped up a single dormant blade with his right hand as he exploded forward. The force threatened to tear his body in two. The blade flashed to life, this time burning with the collective rage of the alexen in his veins.

The brilliant sun, speckled with the scattered black dots, throbbed with increasing waves of pain. The white glow swelled around his arm as he charged forward.

Though their motions were slowed, the Lei Guard moved with a speed shockingly similar to his phrenic companions. Kaep struggled to remove the gag from her mouth as she stumbled forward. The ring of blackened warriors closed in. Elias twisted the sword before wrenching the blade from Leiroth’s chest. A river of blood rushed from the devastating wound to the ancient phrenic’s body. He flipped his grip on the blade, spinning to meet the incoming charge. Ryl screamed as he was smothered, trampled by the raging bodies.

A sensation of anger, unfiltered and raw, washed over him as the Lei Guard lost control of their emotions. There was no denying a potent undertone of panic that registered amongst the sensation. While the unrestrained anger engulfed him from all sides, the panic was localized, coming from where Leiroth had vanished, swallowed by the wall of his approaching guards.

The glow from the sun tattooed on his arm was blinding. He stumbled as he felt the alexen rush to his left arm. As they moved, they left a disturbing chill, an empty weariness. His extremities felt hollow and lifeless.

Kaep was only meters away. The Lei Guard only steps behind. Ryl screamed as his legs gave out from under him. He lurched forward. Kaep caught him as he toppled over. Her hands were still bound at the wrists. She braced his falling body against her forearms. Her palms rested on either side of his face, covering the protruding scars from the brands that marked his neck.

The jolt of power, of unfiltered electricity, was overwhelming. It surged through every fiber in his body, covering him from head to toe. All external sensations ceased as the ripple of energy crackled through him.

The Lei Guard froze in their places. The light from his arm blossomed into a blinding white. For an instant, the glow banished the impenetrable shadows that darkened the upper half of their faces. Their eyes showed an emotion that contradicted the vengeful snarls that marred their lips.

Theirs was a look of profound longing. Excitement.

The white light enveloped all.

Chapter 51

Ryl found himself surrounded by nothing but white. His body still crackled with electricity, yet he could move nothing save his eyes. He had no concept of direction, though his insides churned with the perception of speed.

External sensation started with his toes. He felt the cool, smooth texture of the stone where he stood. Measure by measure the sensation returned to his limbs. He felt the weight of his body press upon his legs, the uncertainty flutter in his stomach. His heart raced. His vision cleared to an otherworldly scene.

The white nothingness that surrounded him faded, twisting and swirling away like mist parted by the breeze. To his left, the green, thriving foothills were heavily laden with growth. The rolling hills swelled into a massive range that teemed with color.

With life.

To his right, drab, gnarled vegetation dotted the terrain. Sporadic withered bushes grew blood-red flowers as they clung desperately to the fractured, jagged mountains behind. The terrain was bland.

Lifeless.

Ryl knew the vision. The nexus to where the awakening had deposited him. He felt the warmth of the glowing golden sun high in the azure sky to his left radiate on his cheek. His other side felt the chill as the black orb leached the color and life from the bleached sky.

His gaze traveled to the horizon. The tall, wild grasses of the landscape swayed gently from side to side, pushed by an unseen breeze. Though the air around him was still, his phrenic cloak flapped gently to the side. Ryl rotated slowly, his vision admiring the beauty of the diametric landscape.

He stopped abruptly. An extrinsic sensation gave away the appearance of another. It was a welcome warmth he’d grown to long for.

A single figure stood before him.

The long flowing phrenic cloak rippled at the hands of an unfelt wind. The lithe figure stood confidently. Strands of hair, burning brilliant amber as they captured the light of the sun, blew across her exposed face.

Kaep smiled, though the expression was pained.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it,” she whispered. Her voice resonated through his body.

“I’m sorry, Kaep. I couldn’t reach you,” Ryl